The Princeton Playhouse Ensembles in concert in 2024. Photo credit: Frank Wojciechowski.

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- The Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Theater and Music Theater will present Foibles and Fables: Songs of Magic and Memory!, a concert of original and Broadway songs performed by the Princeton Playhouse Ensembles led by Solon Snider Sway and featuring guest Broadway and Grammy performers and musicians. Directed by faculty member Aaron Landsman and cosponsored by the Department of Music, the concert is on Saturday, March 1, 2025 at the Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place on the Princeton campus. Showtime is 7:00pm.

Tickets are $20, $10 for students, available through the McCarter Box Office. The Berlind Theatre is an accessible venue with wheelchair and companion seating and an assistive listening system with headphones available. The performance will be open captioned. Guests in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at [email protected] at least one week prior to the event date.

The Princeton Playhouse Choir and Princeton Playhouse Orchestra comprise the Playhouse Ensembles, both led by Snider Sway. The choir is housed jointly within the Lewis Center’s Program in Theater and Music Theater and the Department of Music, focusing on repertoire beginning in a broad range of theatrical traditions and expanding into a realm of experimental and innovative music-making. The core of the group’s repertoire is music connected to theater and reimagined for creative ensemble configurations through new arrangements and interdisciplinary collaborations. The choir incorporates large and small ensemble singing, a cappella and accompanied singing, vocal solos, dance, spoken word, new music commissions, and collaborative projects with artists across departments to facilitate a vibrant and inclusive rehearsal environment. The orchestra is an instrumental chamber ensemble specializing in the performance of new music commissions, music theater repertoire, popular song, and film music. Open to all Princeton students, the ensembles hold annual auditions and include students with a broad range of musical backgrounds and interests.

The concert, described as a musical celebration, will unite music theater storytelling, performance, composition, arranging, direction, and choreography while featuring the work and leadership of current Princeton students and alumni. Audiences will hear selections from Hadestown, Pippin, Shuffle Along, Stephen Sondheim’s Evening Primrose, and more alongside world premieres.

The Playhouse Ensembles will be joined by special guests, including Broadway performer and two-time Grammy-nominated songwriter Becca Stevens (Broadway debut last summer in Illinoise) and two-time Grammy-winning violist and composer Nathan Schram (collaborations with Björk, Billie Eilish, and David Crosby). Schram is also a Ph.D. candidate in music composition at Princeton.

Snider Sway is a composer/lyricist/librettist, music director, conductor, singer, actor, accompanist, arranger, and educator. He is a full-time faculty member in the Department of Music and Program in Theater and Music Theater at Princeton, where he directs the Playhouse Ensembles and Trenton Youth Singers and teaches courses such as "Creative Musical Leadership" and "The Musical: Past, Present, and Future." A music director and conductor for Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional events and shows, he has worked with artists ranging from Brian Stokes Mitchell to Billy Joel and collaborated with groups such as the Story Pirates comedy group and the Young People’s Chorus of NYC. A composer for musicals, films, choirs, video games, and chamber ensembles, he currently serves on the board of directors for The Walden School, a music education program focused on innovative and inclusive music composition pedagogy and on modeling community building through music. He studied music and theater at Yale University, where he served as music director for the Doox of Yale and Yale Whiffenpoofs. As a conductor and ensemble director, Sway notes that he aims to facilitate creative and welcoming communities full of experimentation, growth, wonder, and imagination.

In addition to director Landsman, who is also producing, the production team includes faculty member Tess James as lighting designer with staff members Kay Richardson as sound engineer and Milan Eldridge as stage manager.

Visit the Lewis Center website to learn more about the Princeton Playhouse Ensembles and the more than 100 public performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts, lectures, and special events, most of them free, presented each year by the Lewis Center for the Arts.