Alan Menken

On this week’s Dress Circle (7/12 7:00 p.m.), we’re going to look at an important aspect of a musical: the “I want” song. An “I Want” song appears in many musicals and is usually within the first 20 minutes or so. It lets the audience know the inner-workings of a character, usually the lead, and generally establishes the reasons for why that character does what he or she does throughout the evening.

We’re following up on an earlier program on this week’s Dress Circle (6/21 7:00 p.m.) with a program we’ve titled “Songs of Inspiration, Determination, and Hope. The previous program was in April which has been dubbed the “Month of Hope,” and that program contained an entirely different playlist of songs with “hope” in the title. This time, the songs offer inspiration and hope for characters and listeners, as well as show determination to overcome adversity. We believe that these are things that are truly needed just now.

Like all months, April is a month of many celebrations. We’ve already looked at shows that opened in 1965 in order to celebrate National 8-Track Tape Day – We are fully committed to our calendar art, and on this week’s Dress Circle (4/26 7:00 p.m.), we’ll be looking at something we think everyone needs right now: Songs of hope from the musicals as April is the National Month of Hope.

We’re revisiting a theme we presented over a decade ago on this week’s Dress Circle (9/21 7:00 p.m.) mainly because there are many new sources from which we can choose.That theme is International Disney, and we’re looking at sixteen selections from a variety of Disney films in fourteen different languages.

We hope you’re enjoying your holiday weekend, and on this week’s Dress Circle (8/31 7:00 p.m.), we’re hoping to add to that enjoyment with “work” songs for Labor Day. The fourteen songs we've programmed include physical work, allegorical work, mental work, and more.