Directing the adventure-opera Monkey: Journey to the West has been an epic experience for Chen Shi-Zheng.He’s had to deal with switched cast members and a different conductor for the US version of the show; a smaller space and a different configuration to squeeze the extravaganza into the Sottile; and a lot of hype to live up to.
“It’s been a journey making this production,” Mr. Chen told me just before he left town last week. “From a childhood fascination with the legend to all this.” Appreciating that a show like this becomes bigger than one person’s enthusiasm for a story, he has collaborated closely with his young cast to pass on some of his passion for Monkey to the actors, acrobats and martial artists.
“I forced them to read Wu Cheng-en’s novel Journey to the West,” he grinned. Used to visual stimuli in general and Chinese cartoons in particular, the performers were reluctant to plough through a 500-year-old book. But it was part of their job description, and their appreciation for the tale grew as a result. “It’s a fantasy journey that’s an allegory for Buddhism,” said Chen. “The idea of multiple universes and realities is Buddhist. It will find its place in the world, because the character is one of a kind.”
Marc Bamuthi Joseph put on an impressive show over two dates at the Emmett Robinson last week. His poetic speech and movement was combined with hip-hop music, conversational “travel diary” monologues, video interviews shot by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi and a large moving lighting rig choreographed by James Clotfelter.
Yet for a really intense experience, I went to Bamuthi’s two hour workshop at the Avery Research Center, part of a free “Spoleto at the Avery” program” that ran last week.
At the Emmett Robinson Theatre, Bamuthi shared the stage with all those bells and whistles. In the workshop, there were no such distractions. The performer’s work was a lot more powerful in the intimate classroom environment, and he got to show another side to his work – he mentors teen writers through a “Youth Speaks” literary arts organization.
The workshop was part writing class, part dance-off. Bamuthi began with a demonstration of what he does, switching from hip-hop speech to regular talk about his partner’s pregnancy and a planned natural birth. As he spoke he moved, creating visual images with his physical being, his expressions and his breathing.
Chuck Boyd, better known as SpoJo Chucker, and jazz man Jack McCray are in the studio with Janet for a great podcast about music around town, monkey shenanigans and more.
The Geoffless Janet overcomes technical difficulties with help from stunt Brit Nick Smith (and a desperate phone call to Don Lewis) to record Charleston Academy of Music faculty members EunJoo Yun, Irina Pevzner and Susan McAdoo talking about their students’ performances during Piccolo, the angst of turning pages, playing with passion and other good stuff.
Last night drummer/performer Tommy Shepherd had his flock squirming in their seats as he roved around the Emmett Robinson auditorium, asking them questions with microphone in hand. he was warming up the audience - or cooling it off - before the his cohort Marc Bamuthi Joseph came on stage.
As far as audience participation went, the audience questions were the farthest Bamuthi’s production of the break/s went. As he danced, conversed and poeticized across the boards, he created an incredible impression of a down-to-earth guy with uncanny abilities in discourse and movement.
He says he’s a frequent visitor of Planet Hip-Hop. That would explain his otherwordly skills. But he’ll be workshopping with mere mortals today at 5-7 p.m., part of the Avery Center’s free series of classes and panels.
The Avery is a research center for African-American history and culture at 125 Bull Street, downtown Charleston. Tomorrow, the center will host a panel discussion on the Amistad court case. For more information on either of these events, call the Spoleto team on 843.579.3100.
I have a lot to say, but you will be spared because I’m making my television debut in the morning and, trust me, I need my beauty sleep. “La Cenerentola” was thoroughly enjoyable. A bit long, and I had to ditch plans to attend a chi-chi party, but it was a wonderful experience. I’m a Rossini fan and a complete devotee of fairy tales, so perhaps I went with some prejudice.
Cinderella is an interesting tale with plenty of permutations. I could go on forever on the value of such stories (Bruno Bettelheim’s Uses of Enchantment was seminal for me): I’m even a huge fan of Tanith Lee’s When the Clock Strikes that has Cinderella as a very bad lady.
This version puts gets a slightly religious spin, with the eyes of heaven taking pity on the plight of poor Angelina, La Cenerentola. The fairy godmother is a wise old man; the evil stepmother is replaced by a prideful stepfather; and the moral of the tale is that virtue and innocence always win out. There are some very funny moments and a marvelous use of moving backdrop that strikes me as inventive and bold.
Get out your cameras because SpoletoToday and Lowcountry Live of WCIV-TV Channel 4 are teaming up to sponsor a video contest. The rules are simple: The video cannot be more than 3 minutes; it must have a Spoleto and/or Piccolo tie-in; and it must be finished by June 4.
For more shocking details (OK, not really shocking, I just always wanted to say that) tune in at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 27, to see Geoff Marshall and Janet Edens Conover talk about SpoletoToday on Lowcountry Live with Ryan Nelson.
You do have to make a video even your mom could watch. There is a $200 prize and the winner will be featured on Lowcountry Live. It can be funny, serious or inspiring. It doesn’t have to be perfect: Just shoot it, post it and send us the link (with an embed code) to SpoletoToday@postandcourier.com. We will check it out and, if it meets all the content criteria, we’ll put in on SpoletoToday and in the running for the prize.
Celebrities who have agreed to judge so far include Mitchell Davis and Farrah Hoffmire of Organic Process Productions. They just wrapped up the surfing documentary “Finding Pura Vida” in Costa Rica. Nick Smith, our own Spojo and Charleston filmmaker will also be taking a look-see at the videos. Learn more about what he’s been up to at his Cat City Online blog. As always, if you’ve got any questions, give us a shout at SpoletoToday@postandcourier.com or comment here.
Today, I took inAn Afternoon of Porgy and Bess. The program, which played to a capacity crowd, featured selections from the Heyward/Gershwin opera by soprano D’Jaris Whipper-Lewis and tenor/baritone Richard Blakeney. Robert Rosen provided a excellent overview of the history surrounding the work with his A ShortHistory of George Gershwin in Charleston.
Both Whipper-Lewis and Blakeney, accompanied by Chamber Music Charleston thrilled with their beautiful renditions of Summertime, Oh, I Plenty O’Nuttin, and It Ain’t Necessarily So. I found Whipper-Lewis’s Strawberry Woman especially beautiful.
If you can, do catch this gorgeous program of history and music time next around. It’s a lovely way to spend an hour.
Dan’s post about race and art got me thinking about my own skittishness on the subject of slavery and plantation life. My maternal grandparents were sharecroppers in Marlboro County, SC, and my mother would tell my siblings and me how she picked and chopped cotton for $2.00 a day, how she hated it, and what she did to avoid it.
She also told us about how my grandfather picked 1000 lbs of cotton inone day, and how proud he was of that. I thought about how difficult that must have been and how determined he was to excel at something. For my grandparents, “smart” implied more industriousness than intelligence, and my grandfather was known as especially smart.
As I toured the exhibit which, had art ranging from the pastoral to the provocative, I thought a lot about my mother, grandparents and other sharecroppers and slaves who worked those fields with the hope of a better life.
I thought the exhibit well done and thoughtful. Some of the works, a photo of the charred remains of a lynched man and a photo of a slave woman stripped to the waist were a bit jarring, but it’s all part of a journey that our country is still traveling.
So I hung out for a couple of hours at the Reggae Block Dance on a night that turned surprisingly cool. It was a big crowd and seemed a happy one. Estimates from officials put attendance at about 2700 around 9:30 p.m. I was chatting with the staff of the Office of Cultural Affairs, who all were looking at a long day: From the Children’s Festival that started at 9 a.m. to the dance, which started at 7 p.m. and all the set-up and take-down that goes with it. There’s an awful lot that goes on behind the scenes to put on such massive events. Parks department personnel, according to Floyd “Ray” Swagerty, Jr., production manager of the city’s office of Cultural Affairs, worked almost around the clock to set up the opening ceremonies, Marion Square, the Sunset Serenade at the Custom House and then take most of it back down in two days.
Cultural affairs director Ellen Dressler Moryl stopped by with the latest logistical headache, trying to find a possible replacement for an ailing artist for a Sunday event. Warnell Berry the tenor/baritone slated to sing at Afternoon of Porgy and Bess was under the weather. “We’ll just start with ‘My Man is Gone,’ ” Moryl quipped. I was impressed that she still had a sense of humor. My guess is it’s a required survival skill in her position.
I had a wonderful, serendipitous meeting with members of Henry Turner Jr. and Flavor from Louisiana. The band drove up from Baton Rouge, a mere 17 hours by car. Apparently MapQuest made it look a lot easier than it turned out to be. They arrived about 4 a.m., says singer Nukie Miller. This was her first trip to Charleston, although the band played Piccolo a couple of years ago. The buzz on Miller is that she’s a rising star. 225BatonRouge.com calls her a “local soul tigress.” She’s no diva, though: down-to-earth and oozing soft-spoken charm. It’s a shame she won’t get to see the city, but here’s hoping she gets a chance to come back.
I went to the meet up … by myself … at Marion Square and the Children’s Festival. Maybe next time I should tell people where to meet. But it was a beautiful day: quite warm, of course, but with a nice breeze every now and again, and I then bumped into Geoff shooting video …
There’s an energy about this year that I love. Music spilled out and crossed over; there was vibrant color every where you looked. It was that glorious slice-of-life chaos that I find personally very satisfying. Moms, dads, kids, dogs, couples, lone adventurers going about the business of enjoying a festival on a pleasant day. Or being tired and cranky and just needing a cup of coffee. Oh. Wait. That was me…
Seriously, it was great fun. I watched the crowd being drawn like magic to the main tent once the Irish fiddlers began to play. I talked with Piccolo Spoleto staff members Elease Amos-Goodwin and Francina Smalls-Joyner, whose memories of the past and ideas about the future of the now 30-year-old festival are a treasure. I realize that I am waxing poetic, but there is a depth to this place and a richness to the fabric of it that is powerful and seductive. I think it’s the difference between just residing somewhere and inhabiting it. So many people inhabit this place until there’s a mingling that makes it hard to separate one from the other.
I found Harriet and Vera, eventually, before I had to head out to the press luncheon (yes, yes, I know, la ti da!) And actually, it was. Very. Festival general manager Nigel Redden, cast members of “La Cenerentola,” Festival Music Director for Opera & Orchestra Emmanuel Villaume and “Amistad” Director Sam Helfrich, whom I immediately dissed by mistaking him for someone else. Oh, dear. Not that he wasn’t gracious about it … Hostess Judith Moore, the brains behind Charleston Cookie Company, was charming. The house was gorgeous and the garden made us all wish we had our own shady little hideaways. Frankly I’d like mine complete with an incredibly polite staff and a fabulous chef serving silver cups of sweet potato fries.
Tonight, who knows? There is so much this year, I feel like I’m a case of Stendhal Syndrome just waiting to happen.
Chuck Boyd, better known as SpoJo Chucker, and jazz man Jack McCray are in the studio with Janet for a great podcast about music around town, monkey shenanigans and more.
Seeking A Landscape
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