Tags
Bittersuite, Bittersuite Songs of More Experience, Elliot Weiss, Francine Birns, Holly Budney, Levis JCC Sandler Center, Lisa Fishman, Michael Champagne, Music, musical, Robert Greenberg Performing Arts Series, Shane Tanner, song cycle, theatre
Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience
at the Levis JCC Sandler Center
March 22nd & 23rd Only
Sheer brilliance… An inspired cabaret presentation with the kind of provocative Broadway songs that draw people back to relish them again and again.”
John S. Wilson – The New York Times
“Riveting, thought-provoking, superb”
Curt Davis – The New York Post
For Immediate Release
Contact: Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244 February 11, 2025
February 12, 2025
BOCA RATON, FL: Elliot Weiss and Michael Champagne’s award-winning song cycle, Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience, will run for two performances only at the Levis JCC Sandler Center March 22nd and 23rd. The production is part of the JCC’s Robert Greenberg Performing Arts Series.
Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience is a extension of the acclaimed revue Bittersuite: Songs of Experience which ran in New York, San Francisco, and for two years in Los Angeles where it was singled out as a “critic’s choice” by the LA Times, LA Weekly, and Daily News. In this edition the cycle continues to explore the American Experience in song, but from a more mature perspective. Bittersuite explores growing old in America, what it feels like, and what it means – how do the issues of love, loneliness, success and failure, change, and accommodation, impact our lives as we age?
“Michael Champagne and I had just completed a workshop of our first musical Casanova – A Musical Romanceand we were having trouble attracting a producer due to the size of the cast,” Bittersuite composer Elliot Weiss recalls. “We decided to scale down and write a song cycle for four singers and piano. We envisioned it to be performed with no props or sets. To let the material speak for itself. But – what should we write about? Seeing as both of us were rapidly approaching middle age, it seemed that how people feel when their youthful expectations collide with their present-day reality could be a fertile field to explore.”
“Bittersuite grew out of our interest in exploring the realities – both sweet and bitter – of American life,” Michael Champagne says. We first presented the show in a seedy little Off-Off Broadway theater in New York, where it caught fire and moved into the cabaret theatre scene in a stylish uptown location. Bittersuite: Songs of Experience has had great success, won many awards, and has been performed many times all over the world.”
“Years went by, and lo and behold Michael and I were now approaching our golden years.” Weiss continues. “It seemed with so much more knowledge, regrets, wisdom, foolhardiness, and everything else that comes with aging it was time to update Bittersuite and call it Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience. This latest version of the show, which has been tailored and updated specifically for South Florida audiences, won the New Jersey Broadway World Best Musical award when we first performed it!”
Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience is a musical ‘selfie’ taken forty years later,” Champagne concludes. “And reflects some of the deeper perspectives time brings with it.”
Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience will be staged by Holly Budney, and Weiss will serve as the show’s Musical Director. The production will feature Francine Birns, Lisa Fishman, David Hyman, and Shane Tanner. The four actor/singers will use narrative song, set pieces, humor, and pathos to express the currents flowing through the American psyche to produce an unflinching view of who we are and what we hope as we grow older.
Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience will be performed at the Levis JCC Sandler Center on Saturday, March 22nd and Sunday, March 23; both performances will take place at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $35/$40 each and are on sale now. For tickets and information visit https://levisjcc.org/culture/performingarts/ or call 561-558-2520.
For more information about Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience, to speak with Elliot Weiss, Michael Champagne, or anyone else involved in the production, or to arrange to attend a performance, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.
~
Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience
Music by Elliot Weiss
Lyrics by Michael Champagne
Written and created by Elliot Weiss and Michael Champagne
Saturday, March 22 & Sunday, March 23 at 7:30 pm
Tickets: $35/$40
For tickets and/or more information:
https://levisjcc.org/culture/performingarts/ or
Call: 561-558-2520
Both performances will take place at
The Levis JCC Sandler Center
21050 95th Avenue S.
Boca Raton, FL 33428
Rehearsal photos – credit:
Carol Kassie
Carol Kassie 