Warren Miller Performing Arts Center summer performances

WARREN MILLER PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

The Proxy Marriage

On July 20 at 7 p.m., Broadway returns to Big Sky with a homegrown twist: WMPAC presents a staged reading of a new musical about a unique Montana law.

A cast of Broadway actors will be joining forces with Big Sky and Bozeman-based performers to bring together a staged reading of a new musical called “The Proxy Marriage,” a story based on Helena-born author Maile Meloy’s eponymous short story published in The New Yorker.

The story follows teenagers William and Bridey, who both have weekend jobs at a family law firm as wedding stand-ins. The firm has made an entire practice out of Montana’s proxy marriage law, which states that brides and grooms do not have to be physically present at the nuptials for the union to be legal. 

William and Bridey graduate and move apart to pursue their artistic dreams, but each summer their stand-in job brings them back together for a week.  Fifteen years later, they begin to wonder if what they were longing for all along was each other. 

The Proxy Marriage is a collaboration between Adam Gwon—whose music theater compositions have been performed on six different continents in over half a dozen languages by luminaries such as Kelli O’Hara and Audra McDonald—and Michele Lowe, author of the Broadway show “The Smell of the Kill” and recipient of several national awards for her plays and musicals.

The reading will be directed by Marc Bruni, director of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” on Broadway, and brings back Big Sky favorites John Dossett and Michele Pawk, the Tony-Winning actress featured in Stephanie DiMaggio’s Levity, which was a huge hit in the 2018 winter season at WMPAC.

Learn more about The Proxy Marriage and get tickets online at warrenmillerpac.org

The Crossing

Two-time Grammy winning ensemble The Crossing returns to Big Sky to develop major new work for film and choir.

The WMPAC welcomes back The Crossing for their fifth summer here at the Big Sky Choral Initiative and second summer working on Montaña, an epic new work for choir and film. 

With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, this choral work is an ongoing collaboration between composer Michael Gordon and filmmaker Bill Morrison, and investigates the amazing landscapes of the United States, from their history to their beauty, struggles, and expanses. 

While in residence at the WMPAC, The Crossing will be expanding presenting the second of four installments of this large new work on Aug. 7 at 6 p.m. 

Under the direction of Donald Nally, the 24-member group has garnered two Grammys in the past two years and continues to push the boundaries of vocal music with their innovative new works. Hailed by the New York Times for “their radiant sound and the vibrancy of the repertory they’ve cultivated,” they are the most highly sought after modern vocal ensemble and have performed at globally acclaimed venues, such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Lincoln Center in New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

They will be returning to Big Sky annually to continue creating and leading the future of modern music.

For more information about their other projects, visit crossingchoir.org.  Tickets and more information are available at warrenmillerpac.org