The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Theater and Music Theater will present From Wind to Wonder!, a concert of original and Broadway songs performed by the Princeton Playhouse Ensembles led by Solon Snider Sway and featuring several Broadway performers and musicians, including the viral, genre-bending Broadway ensemble Third Reprise, Andrew Barth Feldman, Mykal Kilgore, and Kuhoo Verma. Cosponsored by the Department of Music, the concert is on February 24 at 7 p.m. at the Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place on the Princeton campus, and is free and open to the public with tickets available through the McCarter Theatre box office. The Berlind Theatre is an accessible venue with wheelchair and companion seating available and an assistive listening system with headphones available. The performance will be open captioned. Guests in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week prior to the event date.
The Princeton Playhouse Choir and Princeton Playhouse Orchestra comprise the Playhouse Ensembles, both led by Snider Sway. The choir is housed jointly with the Lewis Center’s Program in Theater and Music Theater and the Music Department, focusing on repertoire beginning in a broad range of theatrical traditions and expanding into a realm of experimental and innovative music-making. The core of the group’s repertoire is music connected to theater and reimagined for creative ensemble configurations through new arrangements and interdisciplinary collaborations. The choir incorporates large and small ensemble singing, a cappella and accompanied singing, vocal solos, dance, spoken word, new music commissions, and collaborative projects with artists across departments to facilitate a vibrant and inclusive rehearsal environment. The orchestra is an instrumental chamber ensemble specializing in the performance of new music commissions, music theater repertoire, popular song, and film music. Open to all Princeton students, the ensembles hold annual auditions and include students with a broad range of musical backgrounds and interests.
Members of the Princeton Playhouse Choir in performance. Photo Credit: Resonance Vision
The concert, described as a musical celebration, will unite music theater storytelling, performance, composition, arranging, direction, and choreography featuring the work and leadership of current Princeton students and alumni. The Playhouse Ensembles will be joined by several Broadway performers and musicians, including Third Reprise and guest soloists Andrew Barth Feldman (Dear Evan Hansen, No Hard Feelings, High School Musical), Grammy Award-nominated Mykal Kilgore (The Wiz Live, Motown the Musical, Hair, Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ Superstar Live, Songs for a New World, Into the Woods), and Kuhoo Verma (Octet, Plan B, Murder Mystery 2. The Big Sick and Space Cadet). The concert program includes new student-written compositions alongside selections from the musicals Waitress, Wicked, In the Heights, West Side Story, Dear Evan Hansen, Sunday in the Park with George, Seussical, and more.
Solon Snider Sway is a composer/lyricist/librettist, music director, conductor, singer, actor, accompanist, arranger, and educator. He is a lecturer in music directing and choral programs at Princeton, where he directs the Playhouse Ensembles and Trenton Youth Singers and teaches courses such as “Creative Musical Leadership” and “The Musical: Past, Present, and Future.” Recent music direction credits include The Winter’s Tale at Princeton, Second Stage’s 2022 Gala, The Shape of a Child at Avaloch Music Institute, Sondheim on Sondheim at Theater 2020, The Fantasticks at Infinity Theatre Company, and Romeo and Juliet at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Recent writing credits include Thebes at Rattlestick Theater and Quinnipiac University, The Swallow and the Tomcat at Yale Summer Cabaret, The Tempest at Yale School of Drama, and Crescent City Baby and Cupidity at Yale University. Snider Sway has also written and arranged music for video games, television, choirs, and a cappella groups. He currently serves on the board of directors for The Walden School, a music education program focused on innovative and inclusive music composition pedagogy and on modeling community building through music. He holds a B.A. in Music (Intensive) and Theatre Studies from Yale University, where he served as music director for The Doox of Yale and The Whiffenpoofs.
Third Reprise is a genre-bending, community-bridging band that highlights the musicianship of instrumentalists and vocalists from both the Broadway and R&B/funk/soul scenes in New York City and launched online as a video series in 2023. Third Reprise was founded by arranger, music director, and pianist Daniel Rudin, whose arrangements for the group marry contemporary musical genres such as “yacht rock” and “synthwave” with a focus on storytelling. The group is known for reinterpretating well-known musical theater classics, aiming to connect audiences with familiar tunes while exploring new sonic dimensions.
Faculty member Tess James is lighting and production designer with staff members Kay Richardson as sound engineer and Milan Eldridge as stage manager and junior Charlie Roth as assistant stage manager.
Visit the Lewis Center website to learn more about the Princeton Playhouse Ensembles and the more than 100 public performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts, lectures, and special events, most of them free, presented each year by the Lewis Center for the Arts.
