Tickets went on sale yesterday for Guild Hall’s summer performing arts programs. In a conversation, Anthony Madonna, who took over the position of theater director and curator of performing arts in November, discussed his vision for the new season: “To integrate everything we can offer all of the communities in this area.”
The season is heavily but not exclusively tilted toward dance and music, but, whatever the medium, what links the programs is conversation, storytelling, and a focus on communicating the artists’ creative processes.
It will launch on May 24 with an evening featuring Jason Robert Brown, the Tony Award-winning composer, and Shoshana Bean, a Tony nominee with a vast repertoire and history on Broadway. Hosted by the entertainment journalist Frank DiLella, who has covered Broadway for over two decades, the evening will focus on Mr. Brown’s catalog, which ranges from “Songs for a New World” to “The Last Five Years” to “The Bridges of Madison County.”
Ms. Bean, who originated the role of Jersey in the Alicia Keys musical “Hell’s Kitchen,” has been a longtime collaborator and interpreter of Mr. Brown’s work and brings a deep connection to his compositions. In addition to sharing his stories, Mr. Brown will accompany Ms. Bean on piano.
As for the emphasis on dance, Mr. Madonna said, “We are one of the only theaters in this area that has a proscenium stage, a sprung floor, and a Marley stage where we can really platform dance.”
“Tiler Peck: An Evening of Music and Dance” (June 14) will bring the prima ballerina from the New York City Ballet, who is curating an evening of music and dance with her colleagues from the ballet, soloists from the New York Philharmonic, and alumni of the Perlman Music Program.
A shift to music will feature “The Case of the Stranger” (June 21), a new and original song cycle written and performed by Whitney White, with music direction by Ben Covello. The title is a reference to Shakespeare’s contribution to the play “Sir Thomas More,” in which the Bard imagines More making a plea for the humane treatment of refugees, whom he refers to not as refugees but as “strangers.”
Especially timely now, the performance will feature Ms. White, two other women, and a six-piece band in a theater piece mostly rooted in song. Ms. White began developing the project last year as a Guild Hall William P. Rayner Artist-in-Residence; five days after its June 21 performance, she will take it to Little Island, the floating theater in the Hudson River.
Two programs will bracket Pride Month. After leading East Hampton’s Pride Parade on June 7, John Cameron Mitchell, the Tony Award-winning actor and vocalist who co-wrote and originated the Off Broadway lead in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” will take the stage at Guild Hall for an evening of songs and stories.
“Hairy Situation,” a show of comedy by Alok, will close out Pride Month on June 28. Of Alok, Mr. Madonna said, “It’s comedy, but it’s really grounded in knowledge and experience, and it’s super-witty. They bring to light what’s happening to the trans community right now, but they do it through comedy and laughter.”
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis will make Guild Hall the final stop on its 2025 tour on June 29, in a performance that will bring together some of the finest jazz musicians in the world, under the direction of Mr. Marsalis, a trumpeter, composer, and cultural ambassador.
Several notable dance programs are set for July and August. The Gibney Company, whose founder, Gina Gibney, is a longtime East Hampton resident, will perform new works by William Forsythe, Lucinda Childs, and Peter Chu, all of which will premiere in May at the Joyce Theater in lower Manhattan before their second performance at Guild Hall on July 11.
The Dance Theater of Harlem will make its East End debut on July 25. The 18-member ensemble performs a dynamic repertoire, from classics to neoclassical masterworks by George Balanchine and its artistic director, Robert Garland. The company will present a free program for kids before its Friday-night performance in the theater.
The New York City Ballet will return with “On and Off Stage” (Aug. 8), featuring company dancers in performance and conversation. The evening, which will focus on “The Art of the Pas de Deux,” will be hosted by the company’s principal dancer Unity Phelan.
The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company brings “Story/Time” to the theater on Aug. 15. Mr. Jones is “in the family of Guild Hall,” said Mr. Madonna, having collaborated on two residencies there with his New York Live Arts. Inspired by John Cage’s “Indeterminacy,” “Story Time” will feature Mr. Jones reading 70 one-minute stories, each of which cues the dancers, the lighting choices, and the sound.
The dance programs will conclude with the premiere of “House is Open, Going Dark” (Aug. 22), a new work from Music for the Sole, which has been developing the piece while in residence at Guild Hall for the past two years. The performance is rooted in tap and jazz, with a nod toward Afro-Brazilian funk. It opens with a house party, where audience members can join the troupe and students from Our Fabulous Variety Show, who will be jamming onstage.
Other music programs range from “Musicians From the New York Philharmonic” (July 12), an intimate chamber music concert, to “G.E. Smith’s Portraits” (July 19), when Mr. Smith will be joined by Louis Cato, a multi-instrumentalist and the bandleader of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” In addition to playing together, they are likely to share stories about working on late-night television.
Also on tap are “An Evening of Jazz Guitar” (July 5) which will bring together Julian Lage — “the wunderkind of jazz guitar,” said Mr. Madonna — and Jorge Roeder, a celebrated bassist. The two have collaborated over a period of many years, including on their album “The Layers.”
“Seth’s Broadway Concert Series” (May 31) is another pairing, in this case featuring Seth Rudetsky, an actor, writer, radio host, and an authority on the music of the Broadway stage, and Ana Gasteyer, an actress and singer whose resume ranges from “Saturday Night Live” to “Once Upon a Mattress” in Los Angeles and on Broadway.
“An Evening With Isaac Mizrahi” (Aug. 10) offers an evening of storytelling, music, and humor from the actor, host, writer, designer, and producer. Accompanied by a six-piece jazz band, Mr. Mizrahi will perform a program ranging from Sondheim to Blondie; Comden and Green to Madonna.
Another show will bring Neil deGrasse Tyson, world-renowned astrophysicist, back to Guild Hall for “Startalk Live!” on Aug. 17. He will explore the mysteries of the universe along with a panel of “experts and comedians,” in a program likely to be as entertaining as it is enlightening.
Also returning is “Celebrity Autobiography” (July 26), a comedy show with notable actors reading aloud from some of the most outrageous of celebrity memoirs. The cast is to be announced.
Speaking of autobiography, in her new show, “The True Tales of Sex, Success, and Sex and the City” (July 18), Candace Bushnell, a best-selling author and creator of the iconic television series, will take the audience on a witty and insightful tour of New York City, from Studio 54 to “Lipstick Jungle.”
Mr. Madonna, who arrived at Guild Hall five years ago on a two-year fellowship, was its head of learning and new works until taking over the theatrical programming. Trained in music education and vocal performance, he sang in professional choirs before moving to London for postgraduate studies at — get this — the Guildhall School of Music.
There he worked in sound installation, some “jam band and big band-type things,” and choral composition. “I think the merging of performing arts and community is at the core of who I am professionally.”
The season’s complete schedule, including the Stirring the Pot, SummerDocs, and Academy Icons series, can be found on Guild Hall’s website.
