“Key Change: A Return to the Beach!”
with Hermitage Greenfield Prize Finalists Daniel and Patrick Lazour and Returning Fellow Mark Sonnenblick
Daniel & Patrick Lazour’s Hermitage Artist Residency generously sponsored by Carol White Bold & Larry Bold.
Mark Sonnenblick’s Hermitage Artist Residency generously sponsored by Jane & Bill Knapp.
Thursday, June 26 at 6:30pm
Hermitage Beach (entrance at 6660 Manasota Key Rd. Englewood, FL 34223)
Register here.
Registration is required. $5 per person.
We’re back on the Hermitage Beach! Hermitage Fellows and award-winning musical theater writers Daniel Lazour, Patrick Lazour, and Mark Sonnenblick have been the artists behind some of the most memorable Hermitage programs in recent memory. Fresh from his West End collaboration with Elton John on The Devil Wears Prada, Sonnenblick beguiled Hermitage audiences with an in-depth look at the elusive process by which songs are written and incorporated into a narrative musical. In a stripped-down acoustic set, the Lazour brothers presented songs from their acclaimed musical We Live in Cairo, just a few short weeks before it opened Off-Broadway – and just before Hurricanes Helene and Milton brought a devastating storm surge to Manasota Key. Join these celebrated composers, lyricists, and librettists, for a triumphant return to the Hermitage’s celebrated beach programing!
Daniel Lazour & Patrick Lazour, brothers and musical theater writers, were finalists for the 2024 Hermitage Greenfield Prize. Their musical We Live in Cairo premiered at the American Repertory Theater and recently had an acclaimed Off-Broadway run at New York Theatre Workshop, earning them a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Music. Projects in development include a musical adaptation of Ritesh Batra’s film The Lunchbox (Lincoln Center Theater) and their sing-along theater experiment about patients and caregivers, Night Side Songs (A.R.T./Philadelphia Theater Company co-production). Their movie musical Challenger: An American Dream is being developed with Bruce Cohen Productions. Original songs by the Lazours can be heard on their independently released albums: Freres, Flap My Wings (Songs from We Live in Cairo), Beth’s Homemade Cowboy Breakfast, and Lullabies. They are Jonathan Larson Grant and Richard Rodgers Award recipients; Hermitage Artist Retreat, MacDowell, and Yaddo Fellows; and New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspects. Patrick holds a B.A. from Boston College, and Daniel holds a B.A. from Columbia University.
Hermitage Fellow Mark Sonnenblick is an Emmy and Drama Desk-nominated songwriter for theater, film, and television. His projects include the current West End production of The Devil Wears Prada (starring Vanessa Williams, in collaboration with Elton John, Shaina Taub, and Kate Wetherhead), Theater Camp (with Ben Platt and Molly Gordon, Sundance Special Jury Award), Spirited (with Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell, Oscar shortlist), Lyle Lyle Crocodile (with Shawn Mendes and Constance Wu), Harlem (Amazon Prime), The Good Whale (podcast for Serial and The New York Times), Midnight at The Never Get (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics’ Circle nominations; NY Times Critic’s Pick), and Independents (“Best Production” Fringe NYC, NY Times Critic’s Pick). Mark collaborates with writers across multiple genres, including Elton John, Pasek and Paul, and The Black Label. He’s won a Jonathan Larson grant (American Theater Wing), the Harold Adamson Award (ASCAP), a MAC Award (“Show of the Year”), and Best Production at the New York Fringe Festival; he has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.