Tickets on sale now
Carnegie Hall Presents…
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
November 1918
The Great War & The Great Gatsby
Wednesday, November 8 at 8:00PM.
Following sold-out and critically acclaimed performances at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Opera House, historian and narrator John Monsky returns to the storied Hall with the premiere of November 1918: The Great War & The Great Gatsby on Wednesday, November 8 at 8:00PM.
Part of the groundbreaking Carnegie Hall Presents…American History Unbound series, November 1918 takes a musical journey through complex times and a war that was believed would end all wars. Celebrated Broadway vocalists join Music Supervisor Ian Weinberger (Hamilton), who conducts the revered 58-piece Orchestra of St. Luke’s with music from the era, including iconic jazz favorites, as John applies his signature blend of meticulous research, rare archival film and photography to this powerful exploration of WWI. Breathtaking stories often lost to history.
“One hundred years ago, every American knew the story of at least three great battles in United States history: Yorktown from the American Revolution, Gettysburg from the Civil War and World War I’s Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the largest battle in American history,” said John. “Through the stories of some remarkable figures and transporting -- both popular and obscure — music, The Great War & The Great Gatsby, takes you to the events that led to our bloodiest battles, that would devastate a generation and change our world forever.”
Praise for “The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day”
Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage/2021
John F. Kennedy Center Opera House/2022
“A new form of storytelling. I was completely blown away.”
— Sir Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director, Carnegie Hall
“It brings history to life. I was absolutely dazzled.”
— Dr. Louise Mirrer, President and CEO, New-York Historical Society
“Thank you… for continuing to share the stories… of those of us who proudly served in the U.S. Armed Forces during WWII….and to help preserve their legacy, particularly those who were killed or wounded.”
— Arthur Grabiner, WWII Combat Veteran
“A production that has it all—drama, romance, kismet, and spectacular music… it will transport you to a different time….”
— Katie Couric
Adam Jacobs, Kristolyn Lloyd, Kate Rockwell, and More Set For NOVEMBER 1918: THE GREAT WAR AND THE GREAT GATSBY at Carnegie Hall
At long last, 101-year-old Black WWII veteran gets overdue recognition, honor. Historian John Monsky says only a few of Cresencia Garcia's colleagues are left and time is running out for them to be recognized.
Presented by Carnegie Hall, the American Battle Monuments Commission and the New-York Historical Society.
Partners
New-York Historical Society
Visitors can experience 400 years of history through groundbreaking exhibitions, immersive films, and thought-provoking conversations among renowned historians and public figures at the New-York Historical Society, New York’s first museum. A great destination for history since 1804, the Museum and the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library convey the stories of the city and nation’s diverse populations, expanding our understanding of who we are as Americans and how we came to be. Ever-rising to the challenge of bringing little or unknown histories to light, New-York Historical will soon inaugurate a new wing housing its Tang Academy for American Democracy as well as the American LGBTQ+ Museum. These latest efforts to help forge the future by documenting the past join New-York Historical’s DiMenna Children’s History Museum and Center for Women’s History. Digital exhibitions, apps, and our For the Ages podcast make it possible for visitors everywhere to dive more deeply into history.
American Battle Monuments Commission
In performance of its mission, the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) administers, operates, and maintains 26 permanent American military cemeteries and 32 federal memorials, monuments, and markers. Four memorials are located in the United States. The remaining memorials and all of the ABMC cemeteries are located in 17 foreign countries, the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the British dependency of Gibraltar. More than 207,000 US war dead from World War I and World War II are commemorated at ABMC sites; this includes more than 93,000 interments and nearly 79,000 memorializations for World War II.
American Battle Monuments Foundation
As the preferred non-profit partner of ABMC, the American Battle Monuments Foundation works to engage and educate – especially young people, about the more than 207,000 Americans who fought, died and are buried or memorialized at ABMC hallowed sites. They did so to defend the values of personal liberty and democratic governance, so that future generations may live as free people. Their sacrifice is not only a legacy of the past, but also an enduring reminder of the price of freedom and the commitment of the United States and her allies to ensure lasting stability and peace.
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall's mission is to present extraordinary music and musicians on the three stages of this legendary hall, to bring the transformative power of music to the widest possible audience, to provide visionary education programs, and to foster the future of music through the cultivation of new works, artists, and audiences.
Preview Video
A video is being shown
Kristolyn Lloyd
Kristolyn Lloyd (she/her) Grammy and Emmy Award Winning actress. Acting credits include Broadway: Dear Evan Hansen, 1776. Off-Broadway: Blue Ridge (Atlantic) Confederates, Paradise Blue, Liquid Plain (The Signature Theatre), Hamlet (The Public Theatre), Dear Evan Hansen, Invisible Thread (Second Stage Theatre), Heathers: The Musical (New World Stages), Cabin in the Sky (Encores City Center), as well as The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. TV includes: Random Acts of Flyness (HBO), Elementary, Madam Secretary (CBS), ER (NBC), Lie to Me (FOX), and Kevin Can Wait (CBS). @kristolynlloyd Instagram
Stephanie Jae Park
Stephanie Jae Park currently plays “Eliza” in the Broadway production of Hamilton. A New York City-based artist, Stephanie has been in the original Broadway casts of War Paint and the recent King and I at Lincoln Center. Multiple regional productions, workshops, tours, opera houses and more. She recently played “Pen” in the short film Pen, Again, as well as “Christie” in the film The Nanny, and Brittany in the award-winning web series The Blessing. Her musical group Saffron Lips recently released their debut album Fire to My Air (streaming on all platforms). Much love to the Park fam, CLA partners, and No Reverse Records! @stephanieslaypark
Kate Rockwell
A celebrated actress and vocalist, Kate Rockwell has been performing in American History Unbound presentations and lectures for nearly a decade, including in 2023’s November 1918: The Great War & The Great Gatsby at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and the John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts Opera House. She starred as the original “Karen Smith” in Mean Girls: The Musical at the August Wilson Theater, which garnered her a Drama Desk Nomination. A natural brunette, her previous Broadway dumb blondes include originating the role of “Skylar” in Bring It On: The Musical, as well as roles in Rock of Ages, Hair, and Legally Blonde. She’s been seen recently as “Anna” on Amazon Prime’s Harlem, “Nina Bennett” on Fox’s Almost Family, Tick...Tick...Boom on Netflix, Blue Bloods, High Maintenance, Deadbeat, and Sex and the City: The Movie. Select regional theater highlights include “Maria Von Trapp” in The Sound of Music (Muny), “Carrie Pipperidge” in Carousel (Arena Stages), Belle in Beauty and the Beast (Muny), and Marilyn Barnett in the world premiere of Anna Deavere Smith's Love All (La Jolla Playhouse). Kate released her debut solo album, Back to My Roots in 2018 on Broadway Records, and has performed her solo concert by the same name at Birdland Jazz Club, City Winery, and other venues in New York City. She is a WSET-certified wine lover and a new mom.
Nicholas Rodriguez
Nicholas Rodriguez has had an extensive career on Broadway, film, and the concert stage. Broadway: Tarzan, Company. National Tour: The Sound of Music, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and Hair. Off-Broadway: The Toxic Avenger: The Musical, Almost Heaven: Songs of John Denver, Death for Five Voices, Colette Collage, and Bajour. TV/Film: Sex and the City 2, Tommy, Madam Secretary, One Life to Live (GLAAD Award). He has performed with multiple symphony orchestras around the world, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Nicholas’ debut album, The First Time garnered rave reviews, and he is a 2024 Grammy Award Nominee for Sondheim Unplugged. Nicholas serves as the Artistic Director for Broadway Dreams. www.thenickrod.com
Daniel Yearwood
A New York City native, Daniel Yearwood is honored to perform at the Boston Pops with this impeccable group of storytellers on a beautiful new journey through history. He was most recently seen as “Anthony” in the Broadway production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, having previously starred in Hamilton since 2019. Prior to that, Daniel was seen in the Tony-nominated play INK, at Manhattan Theatre Club, right after returning from a run in the Jerry Mitchell-directed musical, My Very First British Invasion, at Papermill Playhouse. Select theater credits include: Broadway's Once on this Island, Encores City Center's production of Grand Hotel, and November 1918: The Great War & The Great Gatsby at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. Gratitude and love to the entire team and to the patrons who support live theatre.
John Monsky
Creator, Narrator, Writer
The innovative, multimedia series, American History Unbound, fuses meticulously researched historical storytelling, live music performed by celebrated Broadway actors and a full orchestra, film and photography from the National Archives, and historically significant flags and material culture to explore watershed moments in American history. Narrated by John, with scripts punctuated by his own memories and observations, each production includes powerful examinations of singular and pivotal events. American History Unbound brings to life the people and turning points that changed America, including: D-Day, the Vietnam War, World War I, the War of 1812, and the race to the moon.
These uniquely immersive presentations, which Sir Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director, Carnegie Hall, has called “a new form of storytelling,” trigger compassion, excitement, outrage, pride and humor, as audiences bear witness to our past and are inspired to learn and study more about our history.
John’s first program at Carnegie Hall (2018) was The Vietnam War: At Home and Abroad, shaped around 282 Zippo lighters engraved with personal messages and carried by troops during the War. His lecture was a central part of The ‘60s: The Years That Changed America, a city-wide festival curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Robert Caro. Its success led to an invitation for John to perform July 2019’s We Chose to Go to the Moon, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, at the storied hall. Presented to a sold-out house, it featured images and letters from the New-York Historical Society’s collection of the iconic Life Magazine archives, as well the participation of Neil Armstrong’s son Mark, the astronaut’s granddaughter Kali, and award-winning journalist Katie Couric. The orchestra was conducted by To Kill a Mockingbird’s Kimberly Grigsby. “The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day,” conducted by Hamilton’s Ian Weinberger, was presented at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium on November 10, 2021, the eve of Veterans Day and at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Opera House in June 2022.
Decades ago, John’s mother bought her 12-year-old son his first “flag,” a red kerchief (an artifact from Theodore Roosevelt’s unsuccessful 1912 presidential bid), to appease his boredom while on a routine shopping outing. Today, John’s collection of flags and textiles—tangible artifacts that connect us to our history—has become one of the finest in the country. As his collection grew, so did annual Flag Day presentations held in his apartment, and as the events became larger in scope—adding bands and Broadway singers to accent his lecture, eventually outgrowing the space to accommodate friends and family. In 2012, when John tackled the War of 1812, his living room lecture attracted the attention of The New Yorker. Dr. Louise Mirrer, the President and CEO of the New-York Historical Society, recalled, “I attended the Flag Day celebrations and was absolutely dazzled. One of those years after viewing … a really exceptional explication of history, I said to John, ‘you should do that in our auditorium.’” She has since called his D-Day production “the most moving event ever presented on the Society’s stage.”
In 2019, John was honored by the New-York Historical Society, where he serves as co-Vice Chair of the board of trustees and a lecturer. Past recipients of their History Makers Award include Ken Burns and Ric Burns, Ron Chernow, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Wynton Marsalis, Walter Isaacson, and Henry Kissinger, among others.
John graduated from Yale College as a history major, where he was awarded the White Prize in History and the Deforest Oratory Prize. After attending Harvard Law School and working as a law clerk for a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, he served as an attorney for the U.S. Senate Congressional Committee investigating the Iran-Contra Affair. When not collecting historic flags or researching his lectures, John’s day job is at Oak Hill Capital, an investment firm, where he serves as partner and general counsel. In his book, Greater than Ever: New York’s Big Comeback, Dan Doctoroff, former Deputy Mayor of New York City and CEO of Sidewalk Labs, wrote, “Monsky is the perfect lawyer. He never fails to see the opportunities in a situation and to find a way around the obstacles.”
John and his wife live in New York City with their four children and two dogs, Flag and Flyer.
Peter Flynn
Director, American History Unbound Productions
Peter Flynn is a New York–based award-winning director who specializes in the development of new works as well as staging classic American musicals both in New York and with some of the most notable regional theaters in the country. Peter most recently was in Cape Town, South Africa where he directed the world premiere of Calling Us Home, by Alice Gillham. The production is now slated for a European tour in the fall 2024.
His New York directing credits include the Off- Broadway premiere of Smart Blonde by Willy Holtzman starring Andréa Burns; the Off-Broadway premiere of Curvy Widow by Bobby Goldman and Drew Brody; Rhapsody in Seth starring Seth Rudetsky; Lee Blessing’s Two Rooms; the 75th anniversary performance of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town with Adriane Lenox, B. D. Wong, and S. Epatha Merkerson; On the 20th Century with Douglas Sills and Marin Mazzie; Chess with Josh Groban and Julia Murney; Funny Girl with Bebe Neuwirth, Whoopi Goldberg, and Lillias White; Skippyjon Jones; and Junie B. Jones (two Lucille Lortel nominations).
Other credits include Andrea Martin’s one-woman show, Final Days! Everything Must Go!; Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop; Gypsy at The Muny; Kiss Me, Kate for the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, where he also directed productions of Man of La Mancha, Born Yesterday, and Other Desert Cities; and Into the Woods and Ragtime (Helen Hayes nominations) for Ford’s Theatre, where he is an associate artist. He was artistic director of Ithaca’s Hangar Theatre for five seasons, overseeing a variety of large-scale productions, intimate plays, and the development of new work.
A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter serves as President on the board of Live and in Color, a non-profit theatre company dedicated to the creation of new plays and musicals by and for BIPOC Theatre Artists. An associate professor of musical theater at Montclair State University, Peter has been directing American History Unbound lectures for nearly a decade, including The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day at Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Opera House and November 1918: The Great War & The Great Gatsby at Carnegie Hall.
Ian Weinberger
Music Supervisor, Conductor
Ian Weinberger is the music director of Hamilton on Broadway. He is a proud member of the hip-hop improv group Freestyle Love Supreme, with whom he performed on and off-Broadway, at the Kennedy Center, and on the Tony Awards. New York credits include Chess, A New Brain, Titanic (Lincoln Center), Nobody Loves You, the premiere presentation of The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day and November 1918: The Great War & The Great Gatsby at Carnegie Hall. Other new works include The Secret of My Success (Paramount Theatre) and Titanic (Hangar Theatre). His arrangements and orchestrations of Titanic and Disney’s Moana Jr. have been heard in productions around the world. Other Broadway and Off-Broadway orchestras as a conductor and/or keyboardist include The Book of Mormon, Kinky Boots, Rocky, Side Show, Chaplin, and Little Miss Sunshine. Television credits include Fosse/Verdon, Peter Pan Live, and The Sound of Music Live. Cast recordings include The Christmas Schooner, A New Brain, and The Theory of Relativity. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music education and percussion performance from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in jazz piano from New York University.