Suzanne Tanner's 'BEYOND ME' Comes to United Solo Tonight

When does art reflect life, and life inspire art? Composer/performer Suzanne Tanner borrows from history, her personal life's deepest moments and her Harvard thesis to answer these questions in an intelligent, moving and resonant solo musical titled BEYOND ME: a Song Cycle in the Key of Survival, a feature event at UNITED SOLO FESTIVAL in midtown (Theatre Row, 410 W 42nd St.,/ Tonight at 9:00 p.m.)

The multi-media musical is a colorful and inspiring account of an extraordinary woman's triumph of spirit after enduring immeasurable loss, including her family to the Holocaust and her son to AIDS. The show is the product of a ten-year artistic effort documenting a survivor's life with dramatic song, personal testimony, documentary footage and contemporary art to assemble a profoundly vivid and personal art/performance piece that has been hailed by the St. Louis Jewish Federation as a "must-see compositional treasure". Tanner, who lost her 12-year old daughter in a tragic trucking accident in 2011, is no stranger to loss. She draws on the infinite powers of the universe to divine the strength to perform the show, and is currently writing a musical tribute honoring her daughter, who was involved in another of Tanner's musicals honoring women in history (VOICES of HERSTORY). After a recent performance of BEYOND ME in St. Louis, Tanner was humbled to receive accolades from St. Louis survivors and their families, including Rachel Goldman Miller, the subject of BEYOND ME: "Suzanne is an amazingly gifted songwriter and performer," says Miller. "She helped me to recover stolen memories from my life story and infused them with purpose and meaning for others... The show is very hopeful; how she was able to create such an inspiring piece from such hardship is a testament to her creative powers as a writer and storyteller."

Tanner, who studied Music Psychology at Harvard and won the David McCord Prize for original music, credits Miller for her raw and riveting testimony on-screen. The St. Louis performance honored Miller's 80th birthday, but the real surprise came when the region lost power an hour before the scheduled performance due to local tornadoes. Tanner and her stage crew rallied to find auxiliary power and performed the 90-minute solo musical without a hitch -- or stage lighting -- using a hand-held microphone and film projector powered by a generator they located in a soccer field. "Despite the conditions," commented Miller's son, Neil, "You could hear a pin drop the entire show; everyone forgot that there was no power. That is proof of an exceptional story and theater piece, expertly performed." Tanner received a standing ovation for the performance, and an exuberant reception filled with followers urging her to take the show to New York. Of the show's success without power, Tanner was quick to remark that little of life's irony is lost on her.

BEYOND ME: a Song Cycle in the Key of Survival -- written and performed by Suzanne Tanner; Saturday, September 20th at 9:00 p.m. at Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd St., NY -- a UNITED SOLO FESTIVAL feature event. Tickets ($20) for United Solo /BEYOND ME available via Telecharge.com (212-239-6200).