WORLD PREMIERE
Starring Mandy Patinkin and Taylor Mac
Direction & Choreography by Susan Stroman
It’s the end of the world as we know it. A flood of biblical proportions leaves us with only two people on Earth who discover their common language is song and dance. Together they chronicle the rise and fall and hopeful rise again of humankind through music that runs the gamut from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Sondheim, and R.E.M. to Queen. The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville is presented in association with Staci Levine Groundswell Theatricals.
Standing Room Tickets
A very limited number of standing room tickets for select sold-out shows (not including the final performance on May 31) will be sold on the day of each show, in person only and only 1 ticket per person, from A.R.T. Ticket Services. The Ticket Office opens at 12PM.
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PastPortInteractive
The A.R.T. is pleased to partner with local artists for the lobby exhibit inspired by the work on stage. Curated by Gretjen Helene and co-designed by Johnathan Carr, the Lobby Experience for The Last Two People On Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville features an interactive installation created by new media artists Cindy Sherman Bishop and Martha Bourne that imagines the future of Boston as sea levels rise. Our lobby will open at 7PM, so patrons have time to explore the interactive installation. Click here to learn more about the project and the artists who created it or click here to view photos from the installation.
#LastTwoPeopleART @americanrep
Need to know
This production utilizes strobe effects, racial epithets, and some sexual themes.
Read more
Read more about The Last Two People On Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville in our spring Guide
Read more about The Last Two People On Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville in the program
On a laptop, it may be easier to read our program and Guide by selecting fullscreen, single page view, and then scrolling to read.
Notable dates
Audio Described Dates
May 20, 7:30PM – May 23, 2PM
Age Appropriateness
Ages 12 and up/6th Grade and up
The production’s style references historical vaudeville performance, and the music includes some of the more obscure entries in the Great American Songbook alongside more modern pop songs. The production’s surreal and silly humor is suitable for theatergoers middle school-aged and up.
In consultation with the ASL team for the A.R.T., it was determined that the auditory nature of the vaudeville performance of The Last Two People On Earth made it not amenable to ASL translation. In lieu of the ASL interpreted performances on Tuesday, May 19 at 7:30PM and Sunday, May 24 at 2PM, open captioning will be provided for The Last Two People On Earth on Sunday, May 24 at 2PM.
Open Captioned
May 24, 2PM
The A.R.T. is proud to be a part of the Blue Star Theatres network. US military personnel, military veterans and their families can receive up to four (4) tickets to The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville at $5 off regular ticket price.
Press
Credits
Creative team
Conceived by
Paul Ford
A.R.T.: Debut. Ford was the pianist for the original Broadway productions of Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assassins (Off-Broadway), and Passion. Other shows and concerts include 25 years of concert touring with
Mandy Patinkin, the 1984 Follies concert, Sondheim’s 80th Birthday Celebration at Avery Fisher Hall, Anyone Can Whistle, Showboat, Sondheim – A Musical Tribute, South Pacific, My Favorite Broadway, all at Carnegie Hall, many of them telecast on PBS. He was the pianist for the Tony Award-winning revival of Assassins as well as of Pacific Overtures, 110 in the Shade, and Pal Joey, all at the Roundabout Theatre. Other Broadway shows and tours include An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, Annie, Rags, The Rink, Hollywood/Ukraine, High Society, and Tom Sawyer.
Conceived by
Taylor Mac
A.R.T.: The Lily’s Revenge. Mac is the author of seventeen full-length plays including the recent The Bourgeois Oligarch (a commission from A.R.T.), The Fre (premiering in 2017 at The Children’s Theater Company Minneapolis), and Hir (published by American Theatre Magazine and making its NYC premiere at Playwrights Horizons in the fall of 2015). As an actor Mac most recently played the title character in The Foundry Theater’s Good Person of Szechwan at the Public Theater (receiving Lucille Lortel and Drama League nominations), Puck/Egeus in the Classic Stage Company’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the title character in multiple productions of The Lily’s Revenge. Mac’s performance art concerts have headlined New York’s Lincoln Center, The Sydney Opera House, and literally hundreds of other theaters, museums, music halls, cabarets, and festivals around the globe. Some awards include: The Herb Alpert Award, an Obie award, a Helen Merrill playwriting award, a McKnight National Commissioning Award, three MAP Grants, a Creative Capital Grant, an Edinburgh Festival Herald Angel Award, and the first ever Ethyl Eichelberger Award. Taylor is a proud alum of the HERE Arts Center resident artists program and New Dramatists. For more information go to taylormac.org
Conceived by
Mandy Patinkin
A.R.T.: Debut. Patinkin has a built a career onstage, in film, television, and in the recording studio. Stage appearances include: Compulsion, The Tempest, Enemy of the People, Falsettos, The Secret Garden, Sunday in the Park with George, Evita, The Winter’s Tale, The Knife, Leave It to Beaver is Dead, The Shadow Box, The Split, Savages, and Henry IV, Part I. Feature film credits include: Wish I Was Here, The Choking Man, Pinero, The Adventures of Elmo In Grouchland, Men with Guns, The Princess Bride, Yentl, The Music of Chance, Daniel, Ragtime, Impromptu, The Doctor, Alien Nation, and Dick Tracy. Mandy has appeared in multiple television series including “Chicago Hope,” Showtime’s “Dead Like Me,” and the award-winning “Homeland.” He has toured stage concerts extensively over the last 25 years, domestically and internationally. In addition to solo concerts, Mandy has created concerts with both Patti LuPone and Nathan Gunn. Recordings include Mandy Patinkin and Mandy Patinkin In Concert: Dress Casual on CBS Records, Experiment, Oscar & Steve, Mamaloshen, Kidults, and Mandy Patinkin Sings Sondheim on the Nonesuch label.
Conceived by
Susan Stroman
A.R.T.: Debut. A five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer, Stroman has beenhonored with Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel, and a record five Astaire Awards. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2014, directing and choreographing The Merry Widow. Most recently she directed and choreographed the new musical Little Dancer for the Kennedy Center. She directed and choreographed The Producers, winner of a record-making 12 Tony Awards including Best Direction and Best Choreography. Her direction and choreography for the critically acclaimed musical The Scottsboro Boys continues to garner praise, with her recent production in London’s West End winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical. She co-created, directed and choreographed the Tony Award-winning musical Contact for
Lincoln Center Theater. Other Broadway credits include Bullets Over Broadway, Big Fish, Crazy for You, Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Young Frankenstein, The Frogs, The Music Man, Thou Shalt Not, and Steel Pier. Off-Broadway credits include The World Goes ‘Round, Flora the Red Menace, and Happiness. She has created ballets for New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Martha Graham Company. She is the recipient of the George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement in the American Theater and a 2014 Inductee of the Theater Hall of Fame.
Musical Director / Conductor / Arrangements / Orchestrations
Paul Ford
Musical Director / Conductor / Arrangements / Orchestrations
Paul Ford
A.R.T.: Debut. Ford was the pianist for the original Broadway productions of Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assassins (Off-Broadway), and Passion. Other shows and concerts include 25 years of concert touring with
Mandy Patinkin, the 1984 Follies concert, Sondheim’s 80th Birthday Celebration at Avery Fisher Hall, Anyone Can Whistle, Showboat, Sondheim – A Musical Tribute, South Pacific, My Favorite Broadway, all at Carnegie Hall, many of them telecast on PBS. He was the pianist for the Tony Award-winning revival of Assassins as well as of Pacific Overtures, 110 in the Shade, and Pal Joey, all at the Roundabout Theatre. Other Broadway shows and tours include An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, Annie, Rags, The Rink, Hollywood/Ukraine, High Society, and Tom Sawyer.
Direction / Choreography
Susan Stroman
Direction / Choreography
Susan Stroman
A.R.T.: Debut. A five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer, Stroman has beenhonored with Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel, and a record five Astaire Awards. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2014, directing and choreographing The Merry Widow. Most recently she directed and choreographed the new musical Little Dancer for the Kennedy Center. She directed and choreographed The Producers, winner of a record-making 12 Tony Awards including Best Direction and Best Choreography. Her direction and choreography for the critically acclaimed musical The Scottsboro Boys continues to garner praise, with her recent production in London’s West End winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical. She co-created, directed and choreographed the Tony Award-winning musical Contact for
Lincoln Center Theater. Other Broadway credits include Bullets Over Broadway, Big Fish, Crazy for You, Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Young Frankenstein, The Frogs, The Music Man, Thou Shalt Not, and Steel Pier. Off-Broadway credits include The World Goes ‘Round, Flora the Red Menace, and Happiness. She has created ballets for New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Martha Graham Company. She is the recipient of the George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement in the American Theater and a 2014 Inductee of the Theater Hall of Fame.
Set Design
Beowulf Boritt
Set Design
Beowulf Boritt
A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway: Hand to God, On the Town, Act One (Tony Award), The Scottsboro Boys (Tony nomination), Sondheim On
Sondheim, …Spelling Bee, LoveMusik, Rock Of Ages, Chaplin, Bronx Bombers, Grace, The Two And Only. Off-Broadway: More than 97 shows including The Last Two People On Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville, The Last Five Years, Miss Julie, Roundabout, MTC, Public Theater, Second Stage, Vineyard Theatre, MCC, Primary Stages, New Group. Other Designs: Little Dancer (Kennedy Center), The Seven Deadly Sins (NY City Ballet),
and the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. 2007 Obie for sustained excellence.
Costume Design
William Ivey Long
Costume Design
William Ivey Long
A.R.T.: Debut. Current Broadway: On The Twentieth Century, It Shoulda Been You, and Chicago, now in its 19th year! Other Broadway credits include: Bullets Over Broadway, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Don’t Dress for Dinner, Young Frankenstein, Grey Gardens, The Producers, The Boy from Oz, Hairspray, Cabaret, Contact, The Music Man, Annie Get Your Gun, Swing, Smokey Joe’s Café, Crazy for You, Guys and Dolls, A Christmas Carol, Six Degrees of Separation, Lend Me a Tenor, Nine. Recent Off-Broadway productions include Bunty Berman Presents, Lucky Guy and The School for Lies. William has also designed for Mick Jagger Steel Wheels Tour, Siegfried and Roy at The Mirage, the Pointer Sisters, Joan Rivers, and for choreographers Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Peter Martins, and David Parsons. He most recently designed the world premiere of Little Dancer at the Kennedy Center, and made his Metropolitan Opera debut with his designs for The Merry Widow, both directed by Susan Stroman. Mr. Long has been nominated for 14 Tony Awards, winning 6 times. He was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2005, and was elected Chairman of The American Theatre Wing in June, 2012.
Lighting Design
Ken Billington
Lighting Design
Ken Billington
A.R.T.: Debut. Billington has 98 Broadway shows to his credit including such theater milestone as the original Sweeney Todd and the current production of Chicago, the longest running American musical ever. Many touring productions over the years including Chicago (Worldwide),
Riverdance (lighting supervisor), Fiddler on the Roof (from 1976 till the present), Annie for almost as long, the seasonal White Christmas as well as 9 to 5, High School Musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, Doctor Doolittle to name a few. Other projects include Hugh Jackman Back on Broadway, many Las Vegas spectaculars and celebrity acts, for Seaworld Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio the Shamu shows, and from 1979 to 2006 the Radio
City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. Other projects include musical numbers for the TV series “Smash” and with Focus Lighting New York’s famous Tavern on the Green restaurant. Ken’s many awards include the Tony, NY Drama Desk, Outer Critics Awards as well as the Ace award for Television lighting and the Lumen for his architectural work.
Sound Design
Daniel J. Gerhard
Sound Design
Daniel J. Gerhard
A.R.T.: Debut. Gerhard has extensive audio design experience in theater, live and broadcast events. He has designed and engineered live telecast events such as the “Tony Awards,” “Grammy Awards,” “The 12-12-12 Concert for Sandy Relief,” “The Concert for Valor,” MTV “INK Masters,” “America’s Got Talent,” Comedy Central, “X Factor,” “Celebrity Apprentice Finale,” the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and numerous other specials. Dan has created studio designs for the “Late Show with David Letterman,” “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” “Survivor,” “The View,” and “The Today Show.” For over 25 years, Dan has been responsible for the sound design and music production for the famed Radio City Christmas Spectacular and its touring company Christmas Across America. He has designed theatrical and multi-media shows in the US, Europe, and Japan such as An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, Sinatra – His Voice, His World, His Way, Damn Yankees, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and The Pirates of Penzance. Dan is an accomplished flutist and graduate of the Eastman School of Music. He has performed with NY Philharmonic, Brooklyn Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Met Opera, as well as the Rochester Philharmonic.
Tour Production Supervisor
Production Core
Production Stage Manager
Jason Brouillard
Production Stage Manager
Jason Brouillard
A.R.T.: The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville. Broadway: Big Fish, Spider-Man, The Best Man, Bonnie & Clyde, Baby It’s You, West Side Story, Jersey Boys, LoveMusik, Hairspray, Frog and Toad, Dance of The Vampires, The Civil War. Tours: An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, John Lithgow: Stories by Heart, Ragtime, Chess, and Company.
Tour Press and Marketing
C Major Marketing
Executive Producer
Groundswell Theatricals, Inc
Exclusive Tour Direction
AWA Partners
Exclusive Tour Direction
AWA Partners
Represents the joint forces of AWA Touring Services, Off Broadway Booking/OBB and AVID Touring Group. The new roster includes, I Love Lucy Live on Stage, A Christmas Story—the Musical, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!—the Musical, Mandy Patinkin in Concert, An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, John Lithgow’s Stories By Heart, Celebrity Autobiography, among many others. Past projects include Green Day’s American Idiot, The Phantom of the Opera, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, DreamWorks’ Madagascar Live and Monty Python’s Spamalot.
Producer
The Dodgers
Dodger Properties is a producing partnership hatched at BAM in 1978 by Michael David, Edward Strong, Rocco Landesman, Des McAnuff, Doug Johnson and Sherman Warner. From the initial foothold in Brooklyn, the Dodgers grew, migrated to the NY Shakespeare Festival, then to off and on Broadway, where their productions have garnered a host of national (Tony, Drama Critics Circle, Obie) and international (Olivier, Helpmann and Dora) awards. Current Broadway: Matilda, Jersey Boys. Other Broadway: The Farnsworth Invention, 42nd Street, Urinetown, Dracula, Jesus Christ Superstar, Into the Woods (’87 and ’02), The Music Man, Titanic, Wrong Mountain, Footloose, Mandy Patinkin, High Society, 1776, …Forum, The King and I, The Who’s Tommy, Ralph Fiennes’ Hamlet, Guys and Dolls, Once Upon a Mattress, How to Succeed…, Jelly’s Last Jam, The Secret Garden, Prelude to a Kiss, The Gospel at Colonus, Big River, Pump Boys and Dinettes. In addition to Jersey Boys on Broadway, the Dodgers are producers of current Jersey Boys productions in Las Vegas, London, Holland, South Africa, and a National tour in North America.
Producer
Staci Levine
A.R.T.: Debut. Levine, the owner of Groundswell Theatricals, is a NYC-based producer/general manager. Staci has produced on Broadway, London’s West End, and on tour with shows playing both domestically and internationally. In addition to The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville other current productions include An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, John Lithgow’s Stories By Heart, the new musicals A Taste of Things to Come by Debra Barsha and Hollye Levin and Curvy Widow by Bobby Goldman and Drew Brody, and all of Mandy Patinkin’s solo concerts. She general managed the Off-Broadway play The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant by Fassbinder and was the GM for dre.dance, a contemporary dance company created by Taye Diggs and Andrew Palermo. Future projects include the new musical Let Loose the Horses, with music by The Rescues, a touring production of Sondheim on Sondheim, and Rooms of Light, a stage concert created by jazz pianist/composer Fred Hersch. From 1996 to 2005 Staci was associated with The Dodgers, working on numerous Broadway, off-Broadway and touring productions including Titanic, Footloose, High Society, The Music Man, 42nd Street, Wrong Mountain, Into the Woods, Barbra’s Wedding, Bare, Urinetown, Dracula, and Good Vibrations, as a member of Dodger Management Group.
General Manager for Groundswell
Tim Hurley
General Manager for Groundswell
Tim Hurley
A.R.T.: Debut. Off-Broadway: The Red and the Black, The Man Who Came To Dinner, and A Tree Grows In Brooklyn at Theatre at St. Clement’s, Cougar the Musical at St. Luke’s. With The Peccadillo Theater Company: The Ladies of the Corridor, Room Service. The Talk of the Town at the Algonquin Hotel. As a member of Dodger Management Group: 42nd Street, Urinetown, Barbra’s Wedding, BARE. Producer/GM of several videos for ArtsPass.com.
Band
Piano
Paul Ford
Piano
Paul Ford
A.R.T.: Debut. Ford was the pianist for the original Broadway productions of Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assassins (Off-Broadway), and Passion. Other shows and concerts include 25 years of concert touring with
Mandy Patinkin, the 1984 Follies concert, Sondheim’s 80th Birthday Celebration at Avery Fisher Hall, Anyone Can Whistle, Showboat, Sondheim – A Musical Tribute, South Pacific, My Favorite Broadway, all at Carnegie Hall, many of them telecast on PBS. He was the pianist for the Tony Award-winning revival of Assassins as well as of Pacific Overtures, 110 in the Shade, and Pal Joey, all at the Roundabout Theatre. Other Broadway shows and tours include An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, Annie, Rags, The Rink, Hollywood/Ukraine, High Society, and Tom Sawyer.
Keyboard
Grant Sturiale
Drums
James Mack
Additional staff
Assistant Stage Manager
Bernita Robinson
Assistant Stage Manager
Bernita Robinson
A.R.T.: Debut. Robinson is pleased to be part of this production. Broadway: Moon for the Misbegotten, Thurgood, Man of LaMancha, Beauty and the Beast, Aida, Ragtime (original company). Off-Broadway: Liberty (Theatre 80), Hereafter (Snapple Theatre), Inventing Mary Martin, Closer Than Ever (York Theatre). Regional: A Few Good Men (Pioneer Theatre, Utah), Ring of Fire (Alabama Shakespeare). Bernita has toured extensively, including On Golden Pond, Scrooge, Ragtime, Show Boat. Thanks to Kate and Tonianne. For Mom and Dad.
Associate Choreographer
James Gray
Associate Choreographer
James Gray
A.R.T.: Debut. Associate Choreographer and Resident Director/Choreographer for Woody Allen and Susan Stroman’s Bullets Over Broadway. Choreographed “The Mel Brooks—AFI Lifetime Achievement Award,” which won the 2014 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special. Directed and Choreographed Peg O’ My Heart, June Havoc Theatre NY (MITF Best Musical Award). Broadway Associate Choreographer for A Christmas Story. Associate Director/Choreographer, national tour of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. Associate Choreographer, Carousel for New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Performances include: The Producers (Broadway, West End, and the musical film), Young Frankenstein (Broadway, also understudied and performed the role of Igor).
Associate Scenic Designer
Alex Distler
Assistant Scenic Design
Jason Lajka
Associate Costume Design
Paul Spadone
William Ivey Long Studio Director
Donald Sanders
Lighting Supervisor
Mike Billings
Associate Lighting Designer
Anthony Pearson
Sound Mixer
Ellen Fitton
Synth Programmer
James Harp
Spot Ops
John Borecki, RJ Lamura
Tour Photographer
Paul Kolnik
Legal Counsel
M. Graham Coleman, Davis, Wright, Tremaine, LLP
Production Management
PRODUCTION CORE
James Cleveland, Chasmin Hallyburton, Jared Goldstein, S.M. Payson, Dave Upton
Special Thanks
Victoria Traube, Scott Taylor, Scott Bishop, Tara Young, Shelley Carter, Rachel Chavkin