“We have public libraries. Why not public theaters?” said Joseph Papp, facing down Robert Moses, New York City’s infamous “power broker,” when the New York Shakespeare Festival was just two years old. David Amram who, from 1956 to 1967, composed the music for 25 productions of Shakespeare in the Park, joins Gail Merrifield Papp, Joe Papp’s widow and theatrical partner for 25 years, for this unique evening.

Amram had recently arrived in New York and was living in the East Village, composing classical music as well as performing with some of the great names in jazz, when Papp called to ask if he’d compose the music for Titus Andronicus, presented at the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in 1956. The following summer, he was appointed composer and musical director, an association beginning with Romeo and Juliet. The score was completed in just eighteen hours – for no money!

 The Music of the Bard: Words and Music of Shakespeare in the Park honors Joe Papp’s visionary endeavor and the founding of The Public Theater while at the same time, it honors David Amram’s remarkable contribution to Joe’s marriage of theater and civic responsibility – and David’s own belief in music and civic responsibility. Both men believed that arts make the world a better place. 

Selections from David’s music for 25 productions of Shakespeare in the Park, as well as selections from his opera Twelfth Night which he composed to Papp’s libretto, will be sung by Michael Kelly and Adira Amram, with Yaron Gershovsky at the piano. Actors will speak some of Joe’s favorite soliloquies, and Gail Merrifield Papp will reminisce and read from her recent memoir Public/Private: My Life with Joe Papp at The Public Theater. 

David Amram – composer 
Adira Amram – singer 
Michael Kelly – baritone  
Yaron Gershovsky – piano 
Gail Merrifield Papp – speaker

The Village Trip

Gail Papp Photo Credit: David Burnett
David Amram Photo Credit: Bob Krasner