Event Videos

Concerts from the Library of Congress, the Library's concert series, has offered concerts, interviews, and lectures free to the public since 1925 when Coolidge Auditorium was constructed and opened its doors. Check the concert series website to see the latest information about in-person and/or virtual offerings for the current season, as well as programming from past seasons.

Concerts from the Library of Congress

Music Division staff often highlight concerts, lectures, and interviews via the Library's performing arts blog, In the Muse. Musical theater-related blog posts are tagged and easy to browse.

In the Muse musical theater-related blog posts

Lectures

The Library of Congress has programmed and recorded numerous lectures on topics in musical theater by Library staff and guest scholars. The following is a list with examples of such lectures, available to view on the Library's Event Videos page and/or the Library's YouTube Channel External. Search both platforms to find additional relevant lectures.

The video below features senior music specialist Mark Horowitz discussing his one-year project examining, selecting, transcribing and editing the correspondence in the Library's Oscar Hammerstein II Collection. The project, under the auspices of the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, revealed insights into the life and work of this extraordinary American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, director, and humanitarian.

West Side Story: The Creation of a Classic
Senior Music Specialist Mark Horowitz presents on the creation of the 1957 musical West Side Story, drawing on materials from the Leonard Bernstein Collection, Arthur Laurents Papers, and Oliver Smith Papers to illustrate his talk. After his presentation, Music Reference Specialist Cait Miller highlights digitized West Side Story materials in the Leonard Bernstein Digital Collection and connects attendees with relevant research guides. The webinar wraps up with a Question and Answer session led by Music Archivist Janet McKinney.
Diversity & the Birth of Broadway: Early Female Authors of the American Musical
Ben West offers an exciting account of the American musical's early female authors, from vaudeville headliner Nora Bayes to legendary hostess Elsa Maxwell.
Diversity & the Birth of Broadway: Early Black Authors of the American Musical
This second of a two-part lecture sequence by Ben West, discusses the American musical's early Black authors. In the first three decades of the 20th century, against a backdrop of segregation, social discord and rampant racism, emerged such seminal figures as Duke Ellington, Bert Williams and Bob Cole. These African American innovators laid the foundation for both the American popular song and the American musical stage.
Jonathan Larson and the Creation of the Musical Rent, 1995-1996
In a lecture co-presented with the American Musicological Society, Alex Bádue discussed his research on Jonathan Larson's Rent, based on lyric sketches, letters and scripts held in the Library's Jonathan Larson Collection. Bádue focused on the final year of the composition process, from January 1995 to January 1996, and established a timeline that included major events in the making of the musical that have not yet been accounted for in the historiography of Rent and its original production.
"Jonathan Larson: The Man Who Died Too Young"
Mark Horowitz discusses the life and work of Jonathan Larson, composer of the hit musical RENT.
"In the Workshop of Frederick Loewe"
Musicologist Dominic McHugh lectures on archival sources for the genesis of My Fair Lady held in the collections of the Library of Congress. This lecture is presented as part of the American Musicological Society/Library of Congress series of biannual lectures.
"Bernstein Meets Broadway"
This lecture traces Bernstein's composer-activism back to On the Town of 1944, which was his first Broadway show and grew out of a fruitful collaboration with Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jerome Robbins. Produced with a racially integrated cast during WWII, On the Town crossed race lines boldly, and it did so in an era when racial segregation held firm yet faced increasing resistance. Fusing musical and cultural history, this lecture draws upon manuscripts for On the Town in the Bernstein Collection to explore political activism embedded in the show, as well as to consider Bernstein's early fascination with the blues.
"A Hint of West Side Story: The Genesis of Chichester Psalms as Seen in the Leonard Bernstein Collection"
Musicologist Paul Laird discusses "The Genesis of Bernstein's Chichester Psalms as Seen in the Library of Congress Leonard Bernstein Collection," as part of the Library of Congress and American Musicological Society lecture series.
"Now It Can Be Told: The Unknown Irving Berlin"
After Jerome Kern famously pronounced that "Irving Berlin is American music" in 1925, Berlin continued for several decades more to define many of America's most distinctive musical idioms, from Tin Pan Alley to Broadway to Hollywood. Berlin's death at the age of 101 accelerated an ever-expanding cottage industry of commentary, reflection and scholarship on a legendary figure. In an effort to amplify patterns in Berlin's stage and screen career, this talk will aim to draw connections among unknown (or little-known) materials--including songs, scripts, "plot treatments," and other notable documents--and Berlin's better-known work.
"Making Show Boat: Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II and the Power of Peformers"
Part of the American Musicological Society-Library of Congress lecture series, musicologist Todd Decker discusses his research into the creation of the hit Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II musical Show Boat. Decker's research was principally conducted in the Kern and Hammerstein collections in the Music Division.
"Race & the Broadway Musical"
Warren Hoffman discusses the role of race in American musical theater.
The Kishineff Massacre & Domestic Musical Practice in America
Drawing on the resources of the Heskes Collection of Yiddish American Sheet Music and the Historic Sheet Music Collection, Randall Goldberg explores the Jewish American musical responses to the Kishineff Pogrom of 1903 in Russia.

The Sound of Broadway Music: A Symposium on Orchestrators and Orchestrations

In 2009, the Library of Congress hosted a two-day symposium on Broadway orchestrations. Panel discussions featured a dozen top musicians—orchestrators, conductors, composers and musical directors— who examined the craft, as well as the orchestrations and careers of such Broadway legends as Robert Russell Bennett, Robert “Red” Ginzler, Don Walker, Philip J. Lang and Ralph Burns. Orchestrators in attendance included Oscar-winner Sid Ramin (West Side Story, Gypsy and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), multiple award-winner Jonathan Tunick (Follies, Sweeney Todd, and Titanic), Larry Blank (The Drowsy Chaperone, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas and The Producers) and Grammy-winner Marion Evans (House of Flowers, Mr. Wonderful and What Makes Sammy Run?). Other panelists include Tony- and Emmy-winner Elliot Lawrence (Bye Bye Birdie, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and the Tony Award Telecasts since 1967), Tony- and Emmy-winner Donald Pippin (Oliver!, Mame and La Cage aux Folles), Rob Fisher (Chicago and the City Center Encores! Series), Ted Sperling (Light in the Piazza and South Pacific) and musical contractor Red Press (Gypsy, Mame and Chicago). Steven Suskin, author of “Show Tunes,” “Opening Night on Broadway” and “Second Act Trouble,” moderated the program with theater historian Robert Kimball.

The following videos were recorded at the 2009 symposium: The featured video below includes an introduction from Susan Vita, Chief of the Music Division, as well as a discussion with orchestrator, arranger, and composer Sid Ramin.

Video Series: Michael Feinstein on Rodgers & Hammerstein

Michael Feinstein visited the Library of Congress in 2014 to reveal the creative process as documented in the Music Division's Richard Rodgers Papers and Oscar Hammerstein II Collection. See the 10-episode series:

The video below introduces Rodgers & Hammerstein as two leading figures in American musical theater history, and delves into the creation of Oklahoma's most famous song, "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'."

My Favorite Things
In the second episode Michael Feinstein traces the origin of the lyrics for "My Favorite Things" from the hit Broadway musical The Sound of Music.
It Might as Well Be Spring
In the third episode Michael Feinstein examines the creative process of songwriting via "It Might as Well Be Spring" from the film State Fair, which won an Academy Award for Best Song.
Cinderella
In the fourth episode Michael Feinstein discusses the impact of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella on television, as well as the ways that creators work with rhythm, text and music.
Some Enchanted Evening
In the fifth episode Michael Feinstein discusses South Pacific, Mary Martin, and the beloved song "Some Enchanted Evening."
Carousel
In the sixth episode Michael Feinstein examines the origins of the opening number from the hit musical Carousel, "Carousel Waltz."
"Getting to Know You" and South Pacific
In the seventh episode Michael Feinstein and Mark Eden Horowitz share the discovery that "Getting to Know You" from The King and I originated as unused songs from South Pacific, "Suddenly Lucky" and "Suddenly Lovely."
Do-Re-Mi
In the eighth episode Michael Feinstein discusses "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music.
Rodgers & Hammerstein: A Real Nice Clambake
In the ninth episode Michael Feinstein discusses Oscar Hammerstein's research techniques, and "A Real Nice Clambake" from Carousel.
Manhattan and Epilogue
In the final episode Michael Feinstein discusses the Rodgers & Hart collaboration that led to the hit song "Manhattan."

Interviews

Library of Congress staff relish the opportunity to interview artists in an effort to uncover the creative process and add scholarship to our digital collections. Enjoy these examples of such interviews and search for more relevant interviews on the Library's Event Videos page and/or the Library's YouTube Channel External.

In the video below, composer Jason Robert Brown discusses his work and career with Mark Eden Horowitz of the Library's Music Division. This interview was conducted in conjunction with a 2009 performance by Brown in Coolidge Auditorium.

Interview with Jason Robert Brown & Shoshana Bean
Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown and vocalist Shoshana Bean discuss their collaboration and Brown's music, in conjunction with a 2016 performance at the Library of Congress.
Designing "The Wiz"
A declassified exploration of the Tony Walton collection at the Library of Congress with creator Tony Walton from 2018.
The Musical Worlds of Victor Herbert: A Conversation with Alyce Mott
Victor Herbert is the grandfather of American musical theater, founder of the organization that protects the rights of composers (ASCAP), and the creator of some of America's best loved classics. He set the stage for the legendary creators of Broadway, making the work of Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Stephen Sondheim possible.

Concerts

The Library's concert series programs a number of musical theater-related performances in the Library's Coolidge Auditorium during our regular concert season. When possible, the Library digitizes our concerts for streaming on the Library's Event Videos page or the Library of Congress YouTube channel External. The following is a sample list of such concerts available for streaming:

In the video below, three leading Broadway composers—Steven Lutvak, Jeanine Tesori and David Yazbek—perform their own work in an intimate evening of music. Special guests include Catherine Walker, Jacqueline Echols, Joshua Henry, Dean Sharenow, and Mike Chiavaro.

Jason Robert Brown in Concert
Modern Broadway legend and Tony Award-winner Jason Robert Brown performed his own music in a rare DC cabaret appearance. His 2016 performance continued a storied Library of Congress tradition of musical theater creators performing their own works. The composer was joined by vocalist Shoshana Bean.
An Evening with the Music of Marvin Hamlisch
Broadway stars Lindsay Mendez (Wicked, Godspell), Capathia Jenkins (Caroline or Change, Newsies), Bryce Pinkham (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), and Whitney Bashor (Bridges of Madison County) join Marvin Hamlisch's friend and music director Ted Sperling for an unforgettable night celebrating the life and work of the Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony-award winning composer.
The Musical Worlds of Victor Herbert
An intimate concert sampling Herbert's operetta classics, including Babes in Toyland, Naughty Marietta, and moments from the Ziegfield Follies. Rediscover an important composer and cellist who influenced Antonín Dvořák, and later, great American musical theater figures like Irving Berlin and the Gershwins. Hosted by Loras John Schissel (Music Division), with William Hicks (music director/pianist), Rebecca Luker (vocalist), Ron Raines (vocalist), Aaron Lazar (vocalist), Korliss Uecker (vocalist) and Jerry Grossman (cellist).

Musicals of Stage and Screen: A Guide to Resources at the Library of Congress

Performing Arts: Ask a Librarian