Library for the Performing Arts, Living Library, Summer at the Library: Reading of the Unproduced Musical Stranger by Michael Friedman

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In addition to published and well-known plays and musicals, the Library for the Performing Arts archive contains unproduced and rarely produced works from generations of theater artists. In this reading event, Lindsay Mendez, Katrina Lenk, Andrew Barth Feldman, and other Broadway stars read one such unpublished musical by composer Michael Friedman—Stranger.

Friedman, whose archive is preserved by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, was an American theater composer and lyricist. Best known for works such as Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and The Fortress of Solitude, Friedman died tragically at age 41, before some of his works ever saw the stage.

Stranger, with a book and lyrics by Micah Schraft, and directed by Trip Cullman, tells the story of a family who is visited by a beautiful and seductive young man. When the Stranger vanishes as mysteriously as he appeared, the lives of each family member are changed forever.

Director: Trip Cullman

Music Director: Jacinth Greywoode

Cast:

• Andrew Barth Feldman
• Valeria Ceballos
• Katrina Lenk
• Lindsay Mendez
• David Rasche
• Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer  
• Analise Scarpaci
• Will Swenson

For 60 years, the Library for the Performing Arts has provided a hub for artists, scholars, and lovers of dance, music, theater, and the performing arts at-large. In celebration of the Library's 60th anniversary, Summer for the City presents a series of events for all ages, including film screenings, storytimes, reading parties, dance recitals, exclusive tours of the Library's treasures, participatory workshops, play readings, pop-up shops, concerts, silent discos, and more! You’re invited to experience the cultural legacy of New York from an expert's perspective and explore the vast collection of one of the country's greatest arts libraries.  Learn more.

SEATING POLICY | Programs are free and open to all, but registration is requested. Check-in line forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. Five minutes before the advertised start time, all seats are released, regardless of registration, to our patrons in the stand-by line. If you arrive after the program starts, you will be seated at the discretion of our front-of-house staff.

STANDBY LINE | If registration is sold out or has ended, do not fret! We welcome you to come to the Library regardless of registration status and wait in our standby line, which forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Five minutes before the program starts, all remaining seats are released. While this is not guaranteed, we will do our best to get you into any of our programs.

ASSISTIVE LISTENING AND ASL | ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing accessibility@nypl.org.

BRUNO WALTER AUDITORIUM POLICY | Please note that any unoccupied seat will be released five minutes before the show begins and holding seats for anyone beyond that is prohibited. There is no food or drink allowed inside the venue.

AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING | Programs may be photographed and recorded by and at the discretion of the Library for the Performing Arts and will post signs indicating as such. If you would prefer your image not be captured, please let us know and we can seat you accordingly. Attending any program indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any and all purposes of the New York Public Library.

PRESS | Please send all press inquiries to Alex Teplitzky at alexteplitzky@nypl.org. Please note that all recording, including professional video recordings, are prohibited without expressed consent from the Library.