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ABOUT

Adam Guettel is a composer, lyricist, and teacher living in New York City. He wrote the music and lyrics for The Light in the Piazza, with a book by Craig Lucas, which premiered on Broadway at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater in 2005, and won 6 Tony Awards, including Best Score and Co-Orchestrations for Guettel. In 2019, his work on Aaron Sorkin’s To Kill a Mockingbird was nominated for a Tony Award for best score. His musical Floyd Collins, with a book by Tina Landau, won the Lucille Lortel for best musical, and the Obie Award for best music- it is coming to Broadway's Vivian Beaumont Theater Spring 2025. His musical, Saturn Returns (recorded as Myths and Hymns) was produced at the Public Theater in 1998. He has several shows in the works, including Millions, directed by Bartlett Sher, with a book by Bob Martin- it is making its world premiere at the Alliance Theatre Spring 2025. He has won the Stephen Sondheim Award (1990), the ASCAP New Horizons Award (1997) and The American Composers Orchestra Award (2005). He attended Yale University, and received an honorary doctorate from Lehman College in 2007. His musical, Days of Wine and Roses had its world premiere in 2023 at the Atlantic Theater Company's Linda Gross Theater in New York City, and opened at Broadway’s Studio 54 in 2024. He was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in 2019.

Kelli O'Hara, Brian d'Arcy James, and Adam Guettel | THEATER: All the Moving Parts
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Kelli O'Hara, Brian d'Arcy James, and Adam Guettel | THEATER: All the Moving Parts

In this new episode of “THEATER: All the Moving Parts”, Stars Kelli O’Hara and Brian d’Arcy James, and composer/lyricist Adam Guettel discuss the bold and provocative new musical “Days of Wine and Roses” about love and alcoholism, based on the 1962 Blake Edwards film classic. In the first segment, O’Hara and James talk with host Patrick Pacheco about the development of the long-aborning musical and why they would risk taking on such challenging roles. In the second segment, Pacheco talks with Guettel who speaks frankly about his past struggles with addiction and how they influenced his collaboration on “Days of Wine and Roses” with librettist Craig Lucas, who has also been open about his drug-related struggles. Guettel is also revelatory about how he has been affected, as an artist and questioning adult, by his lineage as the grandson of Richard Rodgers, the son of Mary Rodgers, and friend of Stephen Sondheim, who served as a mentor. Says Pacheco, “The musical, ‘Days of Wine and Roses,’ is such a daring and emotional gamble that I wasn’t surprised that the collaboration among O’Hara, James and Guettel elicited such surprising facets from each of them as artists and individuals. I was struck by what the actors said took them by surprise in making their way, respectively, through the minefields of their volatile characters. What impressed me about Guettel was his blazing honesty and wry wit, very useful tools to have when you are the scion of a legendary show-biz family.” “THEATER: All the Moving Parts” is an hour-long CUNY TV show, featuring in-depth interviews with artists from every theatrical discipline. Premiering in March of 2019 with playwright Theresa Rebeck, the show has consistently garnered thousands of views deconstructing such wildly different shows as “& Juliet”, with its pre-existing hit pop catalogue, the immersive “The Jungle” at St. Ann’s Warehouse, the epic drama, “Leopoldstadt,” and a moving tribute to Stephen Sondheim. Rebeck recently returned to the show in an episode also featuring Charles Busch, another fan favorite. Said Rebeck of “Theater, All the Moving Parts”: “I felt like I was being interviewed by someone who knows me better than I know myself.” Go to https://bit.ly/36hhnIu to see these and other episodes. Follow CUNY TV: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CUNYTV Twitter: https://twitter.com/cunytv Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cuny.tv/ https://www.youtube.com/@cunytv LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cunytv/ Find more from CUNY TV at https://tv.cuny.edu Guest List: Adam Guettel, Actor, Days of Wine and Roses Brian d'Arcy James, Actor, Days of Wine and Roses Kelli O'Hara, Actor, Days of Wine and Roses Tape Date: 01/26/2024 First Air Date: 02/23/2024 On THEATER: All the Moving Parts, host Patrick Pacheco looks beyond the spotlight at the passionate and unheralded creative talents that are critical to the theatrical experience. From costumer designers to dramaturges and everything in between, Patrick looks at all the moving parts of a Broadway production. Watch more at: https://tv.cuny.edu/homepage/show/the... THEATER: All the Moving Parts playlist https://bit.ly/2N5eNLs​ Subscribe to the CUNY TV channel: https://bit.ly/2GmGb13 THMP06006_V1
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Adam Guettel Interview-American Masters-PBS

"When I was growing up, I first started listening to pop music through people like Stevie Wonder..."

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