American Voices-Molly Smith: My love affair with the American Musical and its songbook continues with this delightful tribute to Irving Berlin, one of the great original composers of this uniquely American art form. Completely self taught, Berlin wrote both the lyrics and the melody to his timeless songs and worked with some of America’s brightest stars: Bessie Smith, Bing Crosby, the Marx Brothers, Judy Garland and Ethel Merman. As Berlin’s music is the story of twentieth-century America, what better performance home than the historic and culturally iconic Lincoln Theatre?

Molly Smith has led Arena Stage for the past ten seasons and has directed such musical hits as South Pacific and Damn Yankees.