Maury Yeston

Celebrated but impetuous film director Guido Contini succumbing to the pressures of filming his latest film epic (a musical version of the Casanova story) suffers a midlife crisis. One by one women from his past and present - including his mother his wife his mistress and his leading lady - haunt instruct scold seduce and encourage him until he finally learns to grow up. This new Ensemble version of the hit Broadway musical has an updated score and offers more flexible casting for productions featuring fewer performers. Ninewas also adapted into a major motion picture from Rob Marshall the acclaimed director of the 2002 film version ofChicago. Of the Broadway musical Marshall said it is "a sumptuous and emotional work that translates naturally to the film musical genre because of its seamless relationship between fantasy and reality." Composer and lyricist Maury Yeston worked on the film adaptation and created three new songs for the movie musical which was released in December 2009.

In Death Takes a Holiday, it's just after World War I and the loneliest of souls arrives at an Italian villa disguised as a handsome young Prince, and for the first time experiences the joys and heartbreaks of life. The show began as an Alberto Casella play from the 1920s that was made into a much-loved 1934 film starring Fredric March as Death, disguised as a debonair nobleman. The original film was remade in 1998 as Meet Joe Black, starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins.

Adaptation from the Italian by Mario Fratti Musical / 1m, 22f, 4 boys (or 10 m, 13 f, 4 boys) / Unit set This spectacular winner of the 1982 Tony Award for Best Musical delighted Broadway theatergoers in a hit revival in 2003 starring Antonio Banderas. Based on Fellini's classic film 8 1/2, Nine is the story of a celebrated film director Guido Contini and his attempts to come up with a plot for his next film as he is pursued by hordes of beautiful women, all clamoring to be loved by him and him alone. Flashbacks reveal the substance of his life-which will become the material for his next film: a musical version of the Casanova story. "A rich and thrilling night of theatre." -N. Y. Post "A galloping fantasy [with a] ravishingly inventive and tuneful score." -N. Y. Times "Has been impressively reborn... Yeston's score comes across with extraordinary power." -N. Y. Daily News

There are many books on counterpoint and harmony, but few indeed on the theory of rhythm. Those few approach it through its graphic notation, or in terms of metrical feet, as if it were poetry. Maury Yeston treats rhythm instead in the context of sounded music, with a view to clarifying its ambiguous and little studied, but crucial, relationship with pitch. Although his work is strongly influenced by the methods of the German theorist Heinrich Schenker, it is a strikingly original contribution to musical theory in its own right. Maury Yeston begins by developing analytic procedures for understanding the rhythm of tonal music in terms of pitch levels. He then focuses on certain structures that arise from the interaction of these levels, thereby discovering some fundamental aspects of logical form in the system of musical rhythm. In the course of the inquiry, Mr. Yeston redefines traditional notions of meter, syncopation, and accent. In addition, his study provides a basis for understanding the relationships by which unique rhythmic designs are integrated aesthetically in a cohesive musical composition.