September 27, 2022: The Keegan Theatre is pleased to announce the cast and creative team of Elegies: A Song Cycle, a celebration of life and music penned by Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist William Finn (Falsettos, A New Brain, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee).
“Coming out of the pandemic,” production director Christina A. Coakley remarks, “many of us experienced giant losses that we had to grieve privately. Our hope in producing this musical is to provide a public memorialization for all members of our community and to temporarily resurrect those impactful people or experiences. Elegies is reparative to the soul and a celebration of these extraordinary connections that make life worth living.”
Music director Josh Cleveland adds that “Elegies is an ode to those we’ve lost. It dwells not, however, on their departure but on the ways they lived their lives and the connections they made along the way. The Elegies lyric I keep coming back to as a statement of the theme is: “the ending’s not the story.” What is the story, then? It’s the thousand little things that compose a life – the facial expressions, the Thanksgiving dinners, the neighborly chats, the memories one leaves behind. This cast and creative team is committed to interpreting the songs of Elegies with this sense of sadness-inflected, celebration-of-life energy at the forefront.”
About the play: Elegies commemorates the lives of people both real and fictional with rousing theatricality and unforgettable songs. From Finn’s friends, to his mother, to his dogs, to the victims of the World Trade Center collapse, these characters and their stories will enchant and enrich your spirit in this stunning masterwork that celebrates the human experience and life’s infinite joys.
The cast of Elegies includes John Loughney, Katie McManus, Harrison Smith, Brigid Wallace, and DeJeanette Horne. Allison Fitzgerald, Ben Clark, and Chris Gillespie (also assistant directing) serve as understudies.
In addition to director Christina A. Coakley, music director Josh Cleveland, and assistant director Chris Gillespie, the artistic team includes Jeremy Bennett (Projections Designer), Gabrielle Busch (Stage Manager), Shadia Hafiz (Costume and Hair Designer), Cindy Landrum Jacobs (Properties and Set Dressing Designer), Matthew J. Keenan (Resident Scenic Designer and Lead Carpenter), Elliot Lanes (Sound Engineer), Alberto Segarra (Lighting Designer), and Colin Smith (Dramaturg).
Elegies runs October 22 – November 20, 2022 with performances Thursday-Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and matinee performances at 3:00 p.m. on Sundays. There is a free “Meet the Artists” Audience Talkback after the matinee performance on October 30, and a Young Professionals Happy Hour before the evening performance on November 18.
