BLOOMFIELD, CT, Sept. 23, 2013 — Broadway Musicals will be the subject of the next series of “Great Courses” at Duncaster Retirement Community. The nine sessions will run from Oct. 25 to December 29. All will be held on Fridays from 1:00 to 3:00. The courses are open to the public and members of the community can sign up for the series or individual sessions with pre-registration.
“The phrase ‘Give my Regards to Broadway’ opens the floodgates to a wealth of memories and feelings for many of us,” says Tom Jackson, the Duncaster resident who will be moderating the nine sessions. “We believe this series will give participants
that same experience throughout the course. It will be presented through videos by Professor Bill Messenger who gives the story and the music, as he plays the piano to illustrate insights, techniques, or subtleties of composition.” Professor Messenger is the creator of the “Great American Music: Broadway Musicals” Great Courses series.
The full series includes:
- Oct. 25 – The Essence of the Musical and The Minstrel Era (1828 to c. 1900)
- Nov. 1 – Evolution of the Verse/Chorus Song and The Ragtime Years (c. 1890–1917)
- Nov. 8 – The Vaudeville Era (1881 to c. 1935) and Tin Pan Alley
- Nov. 15 – Broadway in Its Infancy and The Revue versus the Book Musical
- Nov. 22 – Superstars on the Horizon and Transition into the Jazz Age (1916–20)
- Nov. 29 – Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern—Contrasts and George Gershwin’s Legacy (1919 to c. 1935)
- Dec. 13 – Rodgers and Hammerstein Era (1940s) and Golden Age of Musical Theater (1950s)
- Dec. 29 – Rock n Roll Reaches Broadway (1960s) and Big Bucks and Long Runs (1970s–Present).
The Great Courses program began at Duncaster in 2009, as part of Duncaster’s dedication to lifelong learning.
