The concert style theatre show, “The Simon and Garfunkel Story” will make its Bloomington debut at 7:30 p.m. April 25 in the IU Auditorium.
The immersive production tells the story of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, a major folk-rock duo of the 1960s. Despite its collective 11 Grammy Awards, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo’s partnership was rocky and consisted of several split-ups.
The pair met as elementary students in Queens, New York, then recorded their first song “Hey, School Girl” as teenagers. The single was released in 1957 with Big Records, who temporarily named the pair Tom and Jerry.
The two young musicians went their separate ways after the release of a few Tom and Jerry singles and reconnected in the early 1960s while Garfunkel was a student at Columbia University and Simon a recent college grad working in the music publishing industry. Simon’s connections brought them to sign with Columbia Records, where they changed their stage name to Simon and Garfunkel. The single, “The Sound of Silence,” from their debut album “Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.” went platinum, and the pair released four more albums before splitting again in 1970.
Simon and Garfunkel reunited in 1972 at Madison Square Garden’s “Together for McGovern” fundraising benefit to perform in support of Democrat George McGovern’s presidential bid, again in 1981 for a free concert in Central Park which drew a crowd of more than 500,000, a short series of New York shows in 1993 and the 2003 Grammy Awards, which was followed by a European American tour.
The Simon and Garfunkel Story is a multi-media production with a full live band performing hits including “Mrs. Robinson,” and “The Boxer.” Directed by Dean Elliot, the concert style theatre show is currently on its U.S.-Canada tour.
Tickets, starting at $21 for students and $30 for the general public, are available for purchase on the IU Auditorium website.
