SHALL WE JOIN THE LADIES?

An evening of songs celebrating women

Geoffrey Stephenson, tenor
Steven Naylor, piano

assisted by 

Keith Phares, baritone
The Golden Chorale, men's quartet

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

8:00 P.M. Bryan Recital Hall
Moore Musical Arts Center

Program

ACT I

Beautiful Girls from Follies (1971) | Stephen Sondheim

The Girl from Ipanima (1962) | Antonio Carlos Jobim & Norman Gimbel
The Boy from... from The Mad Show (1966) | Mary Rodgers & Stephen Sondheim

Pretty Women Scene from Sweeney Todd (1979) | Stephen Sondheim
            with Keith Phares, baritone

Every Day Is Ladies Day from The Red Mill (1906) | Victor Herbert, Blossom & Brown
            with The Golden Chorale Quartet

Her Voice from The Little Mermaid (2008) | Alan Menken & Steven Sater

That Face from The Producers (2003) | Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan

Lily’s Eyes from The Secret Garden (1991) | Lucy Simon & Marsha Norman
            with Keith Phares, baritone

ACT II

Shall We Join the Ladies? (1987) | David Collin Ross & Marshall Barer

Have You Met Miss Jones? from I’d Rather Be Right (1937) | Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart

Nina (from Argentina) from Sigh No More (1945) | Noel Coward

2 Lydias
Opus 4, No. 2 (1870) | Gabriel Fauré
from At the Circus (1939) | Harold Arlen & E. Y. Harburg

The Ladies Who Lunch from Company (1970) | Stephen Sondheim

My Mother’s Eyes (1980) | Tom Jans
Angels On Your Pillow from Peg (1988) | Peggy Lee & Paul Horner

Geof

Dr. Geoffrey Stephenson specializes in musical theatre history, literature, and vocal performance; serves as the academic advisor for the Department of Theatre and Film's musical theatre specialization program; holds a BFA in musical theatre performance from Kent State University, a master’s in music education from BGSU and a doctorate in theatre from BGSU; has taught voice for the National Broadway tour of Billy Elliot: The Musical; has acted in and directed Huron Playhouse productions from 1992-2012; has directed CMA opera productions of Dialogues of the CarmelitesHänsel and Gretel, an Evening of One Acts by Thomas Pasatieri and the CMA opera fall opera productions for the last 7 seasons; has taught vocal music in the Huron City Schools and Ottawa Hills Local Schools, and directed musicals at Otsego High School and Kettering Fairmont High School; awarded the Mark Twain Comedy Award by the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival; has worked in virtually every aspect of the theatre and has performed many roles with companies in New York City; Chicago; Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska; Bemidji, Minnesota and Ohio.

Naylor-Oct-22-headshot

Steven Naylor (b. 1999) graduated from Bowling Green State University in 2022, earning Bachelor’s degrees in performance and composition. A Michigan-native, he graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in 2017. His mentors have included pianists Laura Melton, Thomas Rosenkranz, and Michael Coonrod, and composers Elainie Lillios, Mikel Kuehn, Marilyn Shrude, Christopher Dietz, and Catherine McMichael, a piano and composition mentor. Steven performs frequently as a soloist and collaborator in northwest Ohio, and has presented several solo piano and composition recitals. He has been a Resident Artist with Toledo Opera since fall 2022. A fierce advocate for contemporary music, Steven performed solo works at the 8th International Conference on Music and Minimalism in 2022 and the virtual 2020 BG New Music Festival. Steven served as music director for Evil Dead: The Musical at BGSU in April 2023. His 2022 recording project New Piano Music from Bowling Green, Vol. 1, exemplifies his frequent collaboration with living composers. His debut album as pianist and composer, idyll, released in 2021. Steven’s micro-opera Visionary won BGSU’s 2021 Music Composition Competition, and was performed at the 2022 BG New Music Festival. The short film Play Date directed by Kate Schnepf, which Steven scored, was screened at several international film festivals. His recent compositions focus on ecological and astronomical themes, and have included works written for the Newphonia Ensemble, Keynamics piano duo, and BGSU Student Organization for Music Research. Steven is music director at First Presbyterian Church of Perrysburg, OH, and an engraver for St. James Music Press.

Thanks for attending this performance. If you have enjoyed your experience, please consider donating to the College of Musical Arts in support of our students and programming. Donate online at bgsu.edu/givecma, or call Sara Zulch- Smith at 419-372-7309.

To our guests with disabilities, please indicate if you need special services, assistance or appropriate modifications to fully participate in our events by contacting Accessibility Services, access@bgsu.edu, 419-372-8495. Please notify us prior to the event.

Audience members are reminded to silence alarm watches, pagers and cellular phones before the performance. As a matter of courtesy and copyright law, no recording or unauthorized photographing is allowed. BGSU is a nonsmoking campus.

Updated: 09/17/2024 04:31PM