“If trouble is coming your way, just keep on smiling and say: it won’t matter a hundred years from today.”

—from Buddy DeSylva’s lyrics for “Just Snap Your Fingers At Care” (1920)

A century ago, the great American songwriters of the day—Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and many others—wrote timeless gems that spoke to the absurdity, stress, and (occasional?) joys of modern life. Featuring a rotating ensemble of singers accompanied by keyboardist Corey Jamason, this lively and laugh-filled program presents musical expressions that tackle the struggle of existing in a chaotic world, all the while offering cheeky, clever, and sometimes downright hilarious advice for keeping your sanity. The program will include songs by Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Vincent Youmans, Rodgers and Hart, and Cole Porter, performed by an incredible roster of vocal artists including beloved San Francisco Opera mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook. 

Co-directed by Corey Jamason and Eric Davis, Studio for the Early American Musical is dedicated to the revival of Broadway musical styles from shows that opened before 1960 and the advent of amplification in the theatre. Applying the principles of the early music movement to popular music from the New York stage, Studio for the Early American Musical utilizes historically informed performance practices and original orchestrations to recapture the original sound and energy of American musicals from the Golden Age of Broadway.

Studio for the Early American Musical
Eric Davis and Corey Jamason, artistic directors;Taylor See, soprano; Catherine Cook, mezzo-soprano; Katherine Growdon, mezzo-soprano; Brian Thorsett, tenor; Matthew Worth, baritone; Corey Jamason, piano