Tesori Jeanine - Caroline, or Change

Table of Contents

PRAISE FOR Caroline, or Change

Caroline, or Change is a shining moment in American culture. Kushners finest work since Angels in America will outlive todays headlines and enrich our lives for years to come. Even by Kushners standards, the gentle masterpiece that is Caroline, or Change comes as a breathtaking surprise. Kushner and Tesori may not trip off the tongue like Rodgers and Hammerstein or Lerner and Loewe, but this teams first joint effort is the stuff of genius. Timeless, devastatinga play like no other.

OCTAVIO ROCA, Miami Herald

One of the best shows of the year. The most ambitious new musical of New York Citys theater season. Caroline is a breakthrougha story so grounded in the ordinary details of life that it almost seems to have discovered a new genre.

RICHARD ZOGLIN, Time

One of the best shows of the year. Caroline demands your attention and a deep emotional investment. The rewards, however, are rich.

MELISSA BERNARDO, Entertainment Weekly

A towering and, I believe, historic musical. There is nothing quite like Caroline, or Change in the American musical-theater canon. Tony Kushners first musicalhe wrote the book and lyricspossesses the theatricality, rich language and fascinating tangle of ideas that we have come to expect from him.

DAMIEN JAQUES, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Positively brilliant.

A show that really does have the power to change the cultural landscape.

MATT WOLF, Guardian

Miraculous. Lets get it over with and call Caroline, or Change a masterpiece.

LAWSON TAITTE, Dallas Morning News

Acute, smart and witty: a telling snapshot focusing with sharp clarity on characters captured at a fraught turning point in historya cultures and a familys.

CHARLES ISHERWOOD, Variety

Uncompromising and profound, Caroline, or Change may well prove a turning point in musical-theater history.

ANNE MARIE WELSH, San Diego Union-Tribune

When Caroline burns brightest, no other show surpasses its conviction, or the depths of its concerns: emotional, political and spiritual alike.

JEREMY McCARTER, New York Sun

A thoughtful, gracefully crafted musical-drama that sincerely involves characters, not cartoons.

MICHAEL SOMMERS, Star-Ledger

Unique and thrilling, funny and joyous, emotionally overwhelming. Its Kushner at his bestthe most exciting musical-drama to emerge from The Public Theater since A Chorus Line.

DAVID CUTHBERT, Times-Picayune

Thrilling. Youve never seen anything quite like Caroline, or Change and you likely wont again anytime soon. Theres never a moment that the part-pop, part-opera, part-musical-theater score Jeanine Tesori has conjured up doesnt ideally match Tony Kushners meticulously chosen words with clarion precision.

MATTHEW MURRAY, talkinbroadway.com

Intelligent and affectinga blend of spunk, soul, rage and redemption that features some of Kushners most ingratiating writing.

ERIC GRODE, broadway.com

Creative, exciting and refreshingly original. Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori have written a full-fledged opera, and a remarkable one.

BROOKE PIERCE, theatermania.com

Caroline began as a commission by San Francisco Opera under the leadership of Lotfi Mansouri, and I am grateful to him, and to Kip Cranna, for their enthusiasm, their support and their incredible expansive farsighted generosity.

All collaborative art forms are difficult, and musicals are collaborative to the nth degree, and hugely expensive besides, and working on a musical is a little like trying to steer an ocean liner with a rusty rudder through an obstacle course of icebergs in a typhoon. The playwright/lyricist/librettist/book writer wishes to thank the people who kept this enterprise from foundering.

John Dias was the plays first and best champion and he kept us on track from the beginning. The Public Theater was its first home, and I am indebted to every one of its hardworking, courageous staff: Michael Hurst, Mara Manus, Seth Shepsle, Rebecca Rugg, Joe Levy, Niegel Smith, and the ever-incredible Irene Cabrera. Our cast was assembled with loving care and dedication by Jordan Thaler and Heidi Griffiths.

Caroline opened at The Public because Carole Shorenstein Hays made it financially possible, with help from Freddy DeMann. When doom threatens, Carole calls and incants a spell, and doom dispels. Our further life, the move to Broadway and all our growing as we moved, we owe to our fearless and unstoppable hero/producers, who disregarded the usual signs, portents, readings of tea leaves and goat entrails, and even put aside their own hard-won business acumen to invest, purely, because they felt Caroline merited a life beyond its initial run. So thanks and kudos and weepy weak-kneed gratitude to Carole and Freddy and (alphabetically) also Jane Bergre, Roger Berlind; Kristin Caskey and Mike Isaacson of Fox Theatricals, the late Joan Cullman, Ruth Hendel, Greg Holland; Rocco Landesman, Paul Libin and Jack Viertel of the Jujamcyn organization, Margo Lion, Jennifer Manocherian, Elisabeth Morten, Scott Nederlander, Daryl Roth, Scott Rudin, Jeffrey Sine, Cheryl Wiesenfeld and Fred Zollomodern-day Medicis, all of them, but much nicer and more hands-on (in a productive way). Keri Putnam, Richard Plepler, Kary Antholis, Glenn Whitehead and especially Colin Callender of HBO Films made my year and changed my life. Rocco, Jack and Margo, unphased by the sniffers and the mickey-mockers, rode in immediately to the rescue.

Stuart Thompson, our general manager, has been an island of tranquil competence and passionate devotion in otherwise stormy seas, and Chris Boneau and Amy Jacobs have protected us from many terrors of the deep. The luminous Helen Bing made an important contribution. Paul Davis gave us a beautiful portrait.

Riccardo Hernndez and Paul Tazewell made smart and gorgeous sets and costumes for us, and Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer did their usual lighting miracles. The playwright thanks Jules for his habit of encouragement. Jon Weston figured out how to make it sound beautiful downtown and uptown, and Patrick Pummill made it sound beautiful night after night.

This is a script, not a cast album, but its impossible to write a list of thank yous without naming Carolines musical heart and soul: Joseph Joubert and Rick Bassett, two of the shows amazing orchestrators; Kimberly Grigsby, our brilliant musical supervisor; and Linda Twine, our magnificent conductor; as well as our orchestra: Steve Bargonetti, Ben Brown, Chris Cardona, John Clancy, Dave Creswell, Paul Garment, Matthew Sklar, Shane Shanahan, Stephen Wisner, Anja Wood and Paul Woodiel.

Rick Steiger is an adorable genius of a stage manager, and Lisa Dawn Cave and Kevin Bertolacci are also adorable and indispensable and without the three of them the whole caboodle would have sunk straight to the bottom.

That there is a cast album, Carolines purchase against oblivion, has most of all to do with Freddie Gershon of MTI, who jumped in all alone at the shows darkest moment and saved the day, or at least the spirits of the shows composer and librettist, and who helped make the recording possible. Were also grateful to the point of babbling for the courage, generosity and savvy of Hollywood Records Glen Lajeski, Mitchell Leib, Monica Zierhut, Steve Fickinger, Bill Rosenfield and Bob Schaper.