The Office for the Arts and the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club present a reading of “The Human Comedy – A Reinvented Musical” 4-6 pm Saturday September 21 at Agassiz Theatre.

Over the course of a week, Broadway producer Jack Viertel ’71 (Encores! Artistic Director, The Outsiders, Jelly’s Last Jam), Broadway director Sammi Cannold EDM ’16 (How to Dance in Ohio, Evita at A.R.T.), composer Sam Willmott (Bhangra Nation, Yo, Vikings!), and Broadway arranger Ian Chan ’23 (1776, Heart of Rock and Roll) to host a developmental musical theater residency to rework the 1983 Broadway show The Human Comedy, with original book and lyrics by William Dumaresq and music by Galt McDermot (HAIR). The team worked with 50 Harvard students participating in all aspects of the show.
 
Please join us for this exciting first reading of a new approach and reimagining of a Broadway musical! No tickets required. Just show up for the show. A conversation with the creative team will follow the reading.
 
The Human Comedy SYNOPSIS
As World War II rages in Europe, life in the quaint town of Ithaca, California, is fraught with tension and anxiety. Hoping to support his family in the wake of his father's death and his brother's deployment, precocious teenager Homer Macauley takes a job at the local telegraph office. Through the click of telegraph keys and the difficulty of delivering tragic news at front doors, Homer glimpses the lives of neighbors and strangers alike as they reckon with the circumstances at hand. From innocent, confused children and a weary mother faced with the news that her son was killed in action to a cockeyed optimist who finds comfort in a sunny disposition, The Human Comedy paints the picture of an eclectic community facing hardship and trying to find solace in life's contradictions: the wonderful and the sorrowful.