ABOUT the WORK

Nightcaps is a new musical drama by lyricist C. Brooke Vandervelde of Amherst and composer Richard L. Rose of Richmond, set at a fictional small college in the present, with flashbacks to 1910 and 1940. As five friends conduct research in the college archives, the incidents they encounter come to life on the stage, challenging the students’ understanding of themselves. What’s past is prologue, they find, in elemental issues of sexuality and race. But when power defines the narrative, truth about the past can be hard to find, and even harder to face. Richard Rose’s vibrant score brings the script to life with soaring melodies, complex rhythms, and sweet jazz.