How Presidents have been portrayed in Off-Broadway and Broadway plays and musicals is the theme of an exhibit now showing at the University of Connecticut’s Waterbury Campus Library. The display includes Playbills from New York stage productions, as well as CDs and LPs of original cast recordings. The exhibit runs through November 11, 2016.
Items in the exhibit are from the personal collection of Dr. Stuart Brown, Director of Student Services at the UConn-Waterbury Campus. “I’ve been attending Off-Broadway and Broadway productions for over 45 years,” said Brown, who has hosted the radio program “On Broadway” at WRTC-FM, 89.3, Trinity College on Sunday from 5:30-6:30PM for over 20 years. “Many of these shows have had subject matter we associate with Presidential politics.”
Within the display there is material from well-known shows, noteworthy productions, and obscure oddities. “Of course Hamilton and 1776 are represented,” stated the West Hartford resident. “But I’ve also included the vinyl recording of the 1968 revue, How to Steal an Election, which has such songs as ‘Silent Cal,’ ‘With Tippecanoe and Tyler Too,’ and ‘Get Out the Vote.’” The Off-Broadway show, Rap Master Ronnie, has Ronald Reagan at the center and was co-written by Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau.
There are some musicals represented in the exhibit that one might not necessarily associate with Presidents such as Annie, Call Me Madam and Newsies. “Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt is a major supporting player in Annie,” said Brown. “He even sings along with the rest of the cast in the song ‘A New Deal for Christmas.’ Teddy Roosevelt is featured in Newsies and Call Me Madam has the famous Irving Berlin song ‘I Like Ike.’”
Other shows that are part of the display, which references 30 Presidents, include Frost/Nixon, Of Thee I Sing, MacBird, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. There is also the 2015 Off-Broadway production of Clinton – the Musical, which includes such ditties as “A Starr is Born,” “Monica’s Song,” and “A Place Called Hope.”
“I’m so happy I have the chance to share my collection with library patrons,” said Brown, a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle and the Outer Critics Circle. “I’m sure people will find the exhibit enjoyable and interesting.”
For days and hours of the UConn-Waterbury library, go to their website at http://lib.uconn.edu/about/library-location-hours/waterbury-campus-library/
For more information, contact: Stuart Brown at Stuart.Brown@uconn.edu