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| Inside The Doors of The Museum of Life and Death University of Michigan professor and composer, Andy Kirshner, will soon bring his much anticipated multimedia music-theatre performance to the stage. "The Museum of Life and Death" will debut at Milwaukee's Marcus Center for Performing Arts in February of 2006. University of Michigan professor and composer, Andy Kirshner, is slated to soon bring his much anticipated multimedia music-theatre performance to the stage. “Is there anything Andy Kirshner can’t do in the vast realm of scholarship and creation loosely known as the humanities?” wrote Christopher Potter of The Ann Arbor News. “I can hardly wait until… ‘The Museum of Life and Death’ will debut in its entirety. The Earth may shake, ” exclaimed Potter, after a 2003 performance preview. On February 10th and 11th of 2006, The Museum of Life and Death will premiere at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The production then moves to Ann Arbor, Michigan from February 16th – 19th for four showings at the Duderstadt Center. The tour features performance artist Mark Anderson, along with a duo of dancer/actors, and featured choreography by Milwaukee Dance Theatre founder Isabelle Kralj. Rick Graham has designed the set – a futuristic Natural history museum made of solid steel, glittering chrome, and rays of projected light In a modern interpretation of the classic medieval play, Everyman, Kirshner blends a human ensemble with a computer-generated android, “virtual” sets, and a traditional jazz quintet and chorus. Those elements combine to explore the future and grapple with the “coming of death” in the 26th century- a time when advances in biotechnology and information science have made human suffering obsolete. If anybody can envision and bring to life this multimedia spectacle it is Kirshner. His past music-theater performances have included, among others, “An Evening with Tony Amore” and “Who It Is.” His music scores have accompanied performances at The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The American Dance Festival, Central Park Summerstage, The Joyce Theater, Lincoln Center’s Serious Fun Festival, and the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Kirshner is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan where he holds a joint appointment with both the School of Music and the School of Art and Design. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |