Steven directs a sold-out concert adaptation of CHARLIE AND ALGERNON at 54 Below…
“…McCasland credits Musical Director James Horan with the success of the productions. “He digitized the handwritten manuscripts, and wrote the entire cello part! I couldn’t do these without him.” McCasland also employed his usual terrific artistic judgment in selecting the performers. I was particularly moved by Vanessa Spica’s No Surprise in which she sings about her love for the children she teaches. But McCasland really went outside the box by ensnaring the participation of two of the show’s stars. Sandy Faison, Charlie’s original supportive teacher and eventual love interest, read McCasland’s narration. P. J. Benjamin, the original Charlie, shared many of Charlie’s songs with others — Lucas Schultz as Little Charlie, Adam Cantor and 2015 Bistro and Mac Award-winner Stearns Matthews as the increasingly more intellectually developed Charlie – but P. J. not only kept but totally owned Charlie’s final four songs which expressed his understanding of the limitations of his future, He knocked them way out of the ball park! But the sweetest moment may have been the appearance of Charles Strouse on stage, looking and sounding two decades younger than his years and acknowledging how touched he still was by the story and by the songs…”
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Steven with Charles Strouse