“Calder, The Musical” - Music by Dustin Klein and lyrics by Tom Alvarez. Book by Dustin Klein and Tom Alvarez.
“Calder creates a world in which there is no evil.” - Arthur Miller, Playwright
Description:
“Calder, The Musical” is based on the life of American artist Alexander Calder who created “a world in which there is no evil” through his art. The family-friendly musical explores Calder’s deep conviction that—in a world filled with discord, violence and war—art has the power to inspire peace. Also about the power of ideas and imagination, the homage brings Calder’s art to life and seeks to mirror its whimsy and joyfulness through drama, music, song, dance, and visual art.
Synopsis:
“Calder, the Musical” traces the life of American artist Alexander Calder and brings his art to life on stage through a theatrical experience of drama, music, dance, and visual art. Narrated by an unlikely muse, the show chronicles his beginnings as a young boy through nearly eighty years of artistic creation. The story opens at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City at the opening of “Calder’s Universe,” a major retrospective of his career. As the guests stroll, we flashback in time. We explore his whimsical creations beginning in his childhood workshop, to the streets of Paris, to his movable wire circus of the 1920s and 30s, new loves and paths to follow on ship journeys, hardships as a struggling artist, creation of his mobiles and stabiles, and more, all amid the ongoing conflicts and times of the 20th century. The musical comes back full circle again in the Whitney Museum near the end of his life. Within a world of increasing and continual dark influences, audiences will be transported to Calder’s imaginative world where art has the ability to bridge ideas of hope, and harmony.
A preview of “Calder, The Musical” was presented at the Indianapolis IndyFringe Theatre Festival, Aug. 18 - 28, 2016 and was named the 1 best-selling show.
The full production premiered at the IndyFringe Basile Theatre on Jan. 27 and ran through Feb. 12 was a critical and box office success. Our show still holds the record for most sold out performances at the Basile Theatre.
Magic Thread Cabaret – Dustin Klein, artistic director, Tom Alvarez, managing director
Description: Magic Thread Cabaret is the title for a series that features singers and musicians (piano or trio) performing jazz, blues, pop, Broadway and Hollywood songs from the Great American Songbook.90 minutes in length, the shows are presented in the intimate 92-seat The Cat Theatre in Carmel, Indiana, where audience members are seated at small tables. “Magic Thread” refers to the special connection between the singer and the audience that happens when the fourth wall is removed. An ideal explanation of the art form is this October is the following 2008 quote from the New York Times. “The peak cabaret experience is a three-way relationship among singer, song and audience in which performers with formidable acting skills, whose interpretations make you hear songs as though for the first time, pour their life experiences in thematic shows. In the shouting, brawling world of mainstream pop, the essential qualities of a cabaret performance — intimacy, emotional vulnerability and interpretive subtlety have little place.”
The Magic Thread Cabaret series launched with a two-night, four-performance run, featuring 2015 Songbook Ambassador Lucas DeBard, at IndyFringe Basile theatre on Thanksgiving weekend Nov. 24 & 25, 2017.
The 2017-2018 season which includludes four shows,including one that is part of the IndyFringe Theatre Festival, is currently in progress.