Rags Parkland Album Celebration

THE HUB & STREAMING ON-DEMAND
Watch with an Ars Nova Supra Subscription

Featuring music by ANDREW R. BUTLER
Performed by RICK BURKHARDT, ANDREW R. BUTLER, TONY JARVIS, JESSIE LINDEN, STACEY SARGEANT & DEBBIE CHRISTINE TJONG

Originally Premiered: December 9, 2021
ESTIMATED RUN TIME: 75 MINUTES

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PROGRAM

ABOUT THE SHOW

The cast of Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future is reuniting for a concert to celebrate the March 2020 release of their original cast recording, released by Broadway Records! The night will feature the whole band, back together for the first time since they recorded the album. Expect songs from the Lortel Award-winning show, other music from the Rags Parkland universe (including cut songs!) and a very exciting announcement! We almost had this concert last year, so we are excited to finally celebrate the past, present, and future of Rags Parkland with you all!

ORIGINAL PRODUCTION TEAM

Created by ANDREW R. BUTLER
Directed by JORDAN FEIN
Scenic Design LAURA JELLINEK
Costume Design ANDY JEAN
Lighting Design BARBARA SAMUELS
Sound Design MIKAAL SULAIMAN
Music Director MADELINE SMITH
Casting HENRY RUSSELL BERGSTEIN
Production Stage Manager JHANAË K-C BONNICK
Assistant Stage Manager JOHN C. MOORE

Accessibility Information

This show will include live captioning in January.

RICK BURKHARDT is an Obie-award-winning composer, performer, playwright, and director whose original music, theater, and text pieces have been performed in over 40 US cities, as well as in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and Taiwan. As songwriter / accordionist, he has shared stages with artists such as Pete Seeger, the Indigo Girls, Utah Phillips, Holly Near, and Peter Yarrow, and his original songs have aired nationally on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and Pacifica’s “Democracy Now.”

ANDREW R. BUTLER (he/him) is an actor, writer, and composer. He performed at Ars Nova for the first time in 2010’s ANT Fest, premiering the very first iteration of Rags Parkland. Ars Nova’s 2018 production of the musical received 9 Drama Desk Award nominations, and won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical. The original cast recording, released by Broadway Records, is available on all streaming platforms! You might have seen Andrew in Futurity (Ars Nova/Soho Rep); The Skin Of Our Teeth (TFANA); Edelweiss (On The Rocks); American Cryptids (Joe’s Pub) or on screen in the Peacock series Girls5Eva. andrewrbutler.com

TONY JARVIS is a multi-instrumentalist (sax, guitar, bass clarinet) singer, composer, songwriter, producer, & music director. Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, he was a member of punk/funk band Tar Babies (Sst Records). In addition to his most recent original project, N to the Power (Ntothepower.com) Tony has toured with Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley and many others. Theater credits include: Fela! (Broadway, London), Miss You Like Hell (Public Theater), & music direction at Sleep No More & The Box. Television credits include HBO’s Treme, The Deuce, & Vinyl.

JESSIE LINDEN is a drummer and percussionist originally from Cleveland, OH. She plays in both Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, as well as numerous concerts and events. Recent productions include Come From Away, West Side Story, Beetlejuice, Aladdin and Rags Parkland Sings The Songs of the Future. Jessie is thrilled to be back amongst the Ars Nova family tonight!

STACEY SARGEANT a child of a Trinidad & Tobago parentage, Stacey Sargeant was born & raised in the East New York section of Brooklyn and is a graduate of LaGuardia HS of Performing Arts and Syracuse University’s BFA musical theater program. She received Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel nominations for her work in the NYTimes Critic’s Pick, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future at Ars Nova. Stacey can be seen in the Netflix film, The Forty-Year-Old Version, and in the latest season of Nat Geo’s, Genius: Aretha as Dinah Washington. For more info visit www.staceysargeant.com

DEBBIE CHRISTINE TJONG is a multi-instrumentalist, singer and actress. An alumni of Berklee College of Music, she has been working professionally as a singer and piano player for 10 years.In addition to piano and voice, she plays the bass, guitar and drums. She has appeared in numerous Off-Broadway productions, most recently being in the ensemble and understudying the female lead in The Wrong Man, helmed by the team of Hamilton. Off-Broadway: The Wrong Man (MCC Theater), We’re Gonna Die (Second Stage), Rags Parkland (Ars Nova), Red Roses, Green Gold (Minetta Lane Theater), Missed Connections: A Craigslist Musical (New Ohio theater).

2019 LUCILLE LORTEL AWARDS

Oustanding Musical

Nominations:

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical – Andrew R. Butler
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical – Stacey Sargeant

Outstanding Scenic Design – Laura Jellinek

Outstanding Lighting Design – Barbara Samuels
Outstanding Sound Design – Mikaal Sulaiman

2019 DRAMA DESK AWARDS

Nominations:

Outstanding Musical

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical – Andrew R. Butler
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical – Stacey Sargeant

Outstanding Music – Andrew R. Butler

Outstanding Lyrics – Andrew R. Butler

Outstanding Book of a Musical – Andrew R. Butler

Outstanding Set Design for a Musical – Laura Jellinek

Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical – Barbara Samuels
Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical – Mikaal Sulaiman

2019 DRAMA LEAGUE AWARDS

Nominations:

Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off–Broadway Musical

Distinguished Performance Award – Stacey Sargeant

The New York Times
CRITICS PICK

“Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future is a little musical with big, sad, beautiful ideas. It packs so much story into so little space that physicists will quail. This fusion of folk and science fiction is niftily sui generis. Mr. Butler’s music, a plangent folk style that broadens into roots rock, makes just about every syllable count. The show’s construction is so deft and its narrative so tantalizing that breathers — a whistled bridge, a harmonica breakdown — are almost unbearable. This hush testifies to Mr. Butler’s success in enmeshing us in his story. It also pushes us to think of other groups that have been interdicted, demonized, in America’s past and also in America’s right now. Still, the show holds out hope for a nation that tries to take care of its people.”

Time Out New York

4 STARS
CRITICS PICK

“Slyly provocative, glorious & deeply felt”

TheaterMania

“One of the most surprisingly delightful and imaginative musicals of 2018.”

TDF Stages

“Even though Rags Parkland is set centuries from now, like all insightful sci-fi, it addresses contemporary issues, asking provocative questions about what it means to be human, and how that label has been used to oppress different groups throughout history.”

New York Theatre Review

“If you are craving hope in these politically dark times, or simply an exciting concert story through folk and rock, run to Ars Nova.”

Stage Biz

“While Broadway plays it safe with jukebox musicals and movies-into-musicals Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future sings for its life – and wins.”

Interludes

“Since The Great Comet, Ars Nova, in its intimate black box space, has kept pushing the boundaries of what theater can be (KPOP, Small Mouth Sounds, and Underground Railroad Game being a few prime recent examples). Rest assured, that trend continues on.”

Theater Reviews from my Seat

“Wholly unique and effortlessly satisfying, this new musical is a winner on any theatrical planet.”

Lullavie

“A victorious, musically-gorgeous achievement”

American Theatre: Token Theatre Friends Podcast

“The most beautiful moment of that show for me was seeing Stacey Sargeant and she’s just singing with Debbie Christine Tjong who’s on the bass and they’re just playing together and I’m just like “Oh my God I’ve never seen this on stage. This is amazing; this is like a friggin’ Beyonce concert! I want this all time!! And I would like that cast album, now. Please.” – Diep Tran
“If someone out there wants to do the Hunger Games musical, hire Andrew R. Butler to do the score.” – Jose Solis

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