Music’s biggest night will feature the works of many Columbia faculty and alumni. The Recording Academy announced the 63rd Annual Grammy Award nominations last week, which recognize annual achievements in the music industry.
Soft Power by Associate Professor David Henry Hwang and Barnard alumna Jeanine Tesori ’83 is nominated in the Best Musical Theater Album category for their Off-Broadway high concept musical. Hwang and Tesori share the nomination as Lyricist and Lyricist and Composer respectively. The show was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and 11 Drama Desk Award nominations. Hwang’s musical includes a self titled character who is attacked and stabbed while walking on the streets of Brooklyn. After being rushed to the hospital, the character hallucinates a Chinese musical based on current events circulating through the media. The musical is a fantasia of sorts, with a version of the United States of America where everyone is blond and brandishes a gun and even includes Hilary Clinton riding on a Big Mac. The Off Broadway production, which played the Public Theatre in 2019, was directed by Adjunct Assistant Professor Leigh Silverman.