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Robert Moses’ Legacy Inspires New Musical by Downtown Composer

By Julie Shapiro | January 6, 2011 6:20am
Gary Fagin conducting the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra.
Gary Fagin conducting the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra.
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Robert Simko

By Julie Shapiro

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

LOWER MANHATTAN — Robert Moses is not an easy figure to sum up in a work of art.

But that’s just what downtown composer Gary Fagin set out to do in his new musical, part of which will debut next week in the World Financial Center Winter Garden.

Called "Robert Moses Astride New York," the musical takes on the master builder’s complicated legacy, from his decades of single-handedly shaping New York’s future to his ultimate downfall at the hands of community organizers.

"His life and his whole persona is just outsize and almost mythic," Fagin said in an interview this week. "It’s perfect for portrayal in musical theater."

Fagin, 59, a longtime Seaport resident, is in the process of composing a full-length show that he hopes to bring to Broadway, with characters including activist Jane Jacobs, Gov. Al Smith and Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.

Gary Fagin, a downtown resident and composer, is writing a musical inspired by Robert Moses.
Gary Fagin, a downtown resident and composer, is writing a musical inspired by Robert Moses.
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DNAinfo/Julie Shapiro

But on Jan. 15, a small version of the show will take the Winter Garden stage. Backed by Fagin’s 33-piece Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra, celebrated performer Rinde Eckert will portray Moses at three distinct moments in his life.

The first is a speech Moses gave to 500 civic leaders at the Waldorf-Astoria in 1930. Using maps and graphs, Moses dazzled the audience with his sweeping vision for the city, much of which he went on to build.

In a second excerpt, the clock will jump forward to 1956, when Moses became embroiled in the so-called "Battle of Central Park." His attempt to pave a section of Central Park for a new Tavern on the Green parking lot, and the community’s objections, represented the first chink in his armor, Fagin said. From then on, nothing Moses did went smoothly.

The final selection from the show finds Moses in 1970, stripped of his power and titles. He was invited to dedicate a mere bench in Flushing Meadows, a park he had pioneered, and ruefully reflected on his fate.

Fagin, who wrote the libretto along with the music, said the style is contemporary American, with traces of Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein.

The musical neither condemns Moses nor exonerates him, but rather probes the complexity of someone who spurred the city’s growth while upending thousands of lives.

"I try to portray the inner man,” Fagin said. "It’s not black and white — it’s nuanced…His life is just so full of 'On this hand…but on the other hand…'"

The title of the show comes from an iconic photo of Moses standing on a steel girder over the East River, with the Manhattan skyline that he helped to build soaring behind him.

In addition to the Moses selections, the Jan. 15 concert will also feature the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra performing works by Copland, Euday L. Bowman and Charles Ives, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus singing Bernstein, Bob Dylan and James Taylor. The concert will conclude with a waltz, with the audience invited to take the floor and dance.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 15 in the World Financial Center Winter Garden.