September 15
8:00 pm
Adam Langer
Ellington Boulevard
$9, Discounted Member Price $6

Clarinetist Ike Morphy, his dog Herbie Mann and a pair of pigeons that roost on his air conditioner are about to be evicted from their apartment on West 106th Street, also known as Duke Ellington Boulevard. Ike has never had a lease, just a handshake agreement with the recently deceased landlord; and now that landlord's son stands to make a killing on apartment 2B.

Centering on the fate of one apartment before, during and after the height of New York’s real estate boom, Ellington Boulevard’s characters include the Tenant and His Dog; the Landlord, a former alcoholic and womanizer who has newly found Judaism and a wife half his age; the Broker, an out-of-work actor; and the Broker’s New Boyfriend, a second-rate actor who composes a musical about the sale of 2B.

With equal parts humor and poignancy, Ellington Boulevard is an ode to the city. It’s the story of why people come to a city they can’t afford, take jobs they despise, sacrifice love, find love, and eventually become the people they never thought they’d be—for better and for worse.

“I laughed out loud throughout this simultaneously cynical and sentimental New York fairy tale with a love for off-Broadway musicals and the seventeen-key clarinet, and a profound understanding of the importance of dogs.”
–Stephen Schwartz, Academy Award–winning lyricist and composer for Wicked, Godspell, Pippin, and The Prince of Egypt

Adam Langer is the author of Crossing California and its sequel The Washington Story, and earned his brokerage certification while writing Ellington Boulevard. Born in Chicago, he now lives on Manhattan’s Duke Ellington Boulevard with his wife, daughter, dog and a pair of pigeons that roost on his air conditioner.

Co-sponsored by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation

Purchase Tickets  Buy the Book