Kim Criswell and Louise Dearman celebrate Richard Rodgers

On Saturday March 8 Kim Criswell and Louise Dearman will join the Nash Ensemble (the chamber ensemble in residence at London’s Wigmore Hall) for a special concert, A Celebration of Richard Rodgers On Broadway: Act III, recalling the final works – over two decades – of Broadway’s most successful composer.

As part of the Nash Ensemble’s American Series, David White conducts the programme which includes highlights from the show Rodgers wrote with Stephen Sondheim, the rarely performed Do I Hear a Waltz?. Based on Arthur Laurents’ play The Time of the Cuckoo (filmed as Summertime, with Katharine Hepburn), Do I Hear a Waltz? tells the bitter-sweet romantic story of a group of American tourists visiting Venice.

Rodgers’ 60-year career fell into three parts, ‘Acts I and II’ with lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II, followed by ‘Act III’, in which he worked with such outstanding lyricists as Martin Charnin, Sheldon Harnick and Hammerstein’s protege Stephen Sondheim.

In addition to the section of the concert dedicated to  Do I Hear a Waltz?, there will be songs taken from the shows No Strings (the only Broadway score for which Rodgers wrote music and lyrics), Rex (lyrics by Sheldon Harnick), Two By Two (lyrics by Martin Charnin) and The Sound of Music movie for which he wrote new songs following Hammerstein’s death. Rex will be of particular interest to British audiences as it is a musical about King Henry VIII, never yet performed in his native country. Among the European song premieres is ‘Elizabeth’, a lullaby sung to the infant Elizabeth I.

The concert also takes a look at Richard’s daughter Mary Rodgers’ career. The two composers shared collaborators in Charnin (Hot Spot) and Sondheim (Once Upon a Mattress).

Joining Kim Criswell and Louise Dearman will be tenor William Burden.

Criswell comments: “There is a wealth of marvellous material in all of these shows which we will be exploring, it really will be an an evening of exquisite music which has been virtually unheard here. David White will be conducting the fantastic Nash Ensemble with his own original arrangements, and I will be joined by two rather fabulous singers – Louise Dearman (very well-known to West End audiences as the only woman to play both lead roles in Wicked) and William Burden (known to Glyndebourne audiences, as well as La Scala and Chatelet Paris audiences for his gorgeous portrayal of Candide). I promise it will be an unforgettable evening of glorious music.”

Go to http://tinyurl.com/oa5r3ym for more details.

* A new production of Do I Hear a Waltz? runs at the Park Theatre, London from 5–30 March.