Woodstock Fringe Presents 'OH VIRGIL' 5/1 - 5/10

Spend a day with Virgil Thomson-one of the most remarkable, influential and controversial artists in the history of contemporary American music. From his bed at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, Thomson ran the world of music as chief music critic for the Herald Tribune. The "Father of American Music," Thomson paved the way for his contemporaries who included Aaron Copland, Paul Bowles, Igor Stravinsky, Mark Blitzstein, Ned Rorem and Leonard Bernstein, among many others. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his score of the film Louisiana Story. His collaborations with Gertrude Stein on two opera masterworks, Four Saints In Three Acts and The Mother of Us All, were the most celebrated events of their time. His collaborations with John Houseman, Orson Wells and Frederick Ashton are legendary. Oh Virgil! is a kaleidoscopic portrait of a man and a time when the world of modern art and music exploded. Eight of Thomson's songs and several of his piano portraits are interwoven with the text of the play.

Virgil Thomson was a many faceted American composer of great originality and a music critic of singular brilliance. Born in Kansas City, Missouri on November 25, 1896, Thomson studied at Harvard. After a prolonged period in Paris where he studied with Nadia Boulanger and met Cocteau, Stravinsky, Satie, and the artists of Les Six, he returned to the United States where he was chief music critic for the New York Herald Tribune from 1937 to 1951. Thomson composed in almost every genre of music. Utilizing a musical style marked by sharp wit and overt playfulness, Thomson produced a highly original body of work rooted in American speech rhythms and hymnbook harmony. His music was most influenced by Satie's ideals of clarity, simplicity, irony, and humor. He was the author of eight books, including an autobiography. Included in his many honors and awards are the Pulitzer Prize, a Brandeis Award, the gold medal for music from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Book Circle Award, the Kennedy Center Honors, and 20 honorary doctorates.

OH VIRGIL! A THEATRICAL PORTRAIT, a new play about the life and music of Virgil Thomson

Virgil Thomson's Art Songs and Piano Portraits are woven into a portrait of one of the most remarkable, influential and controversial artists in the history of contemporary American Music.

Written by Wallace Norman in collaboration with Larry Alan Smith, music direction Michael Conley stage direction Nicola Sheara. Featuring Victoria Devany*, Watson Heintz*, Troy Valjean Rucker*, Victor Truro* (as Virgil Thomson), Dan Via*

MAY 1 THRU MAY 10 FRIDAY & SATURDAY AT 8PM, SUNDAY AT 3PM JUDSON MEMORIAL CHURCH, 55 WASHINGTON SQUARE SOUTH corner of West 4th Street and Thompson Street

For more information call 845-810-0123 Made possible by the generous support of The Virgil Thomson Foundation

A note from the Author of Oh Virgil!, Wallace Norman:

The idea for Oh Virgil! A Theatrical Portrait began sometime early in 2006 when a colleague, Larry Alan Smith, came to me with his idea of a play about the life and music of Virgil Thomson. Thomson had a big personality, was very influential and was on the scene at a time when the music and art world exploded. His operas and friendship with Gertrude Stein are legendary. We knew from the start that we wanted to incorporate some of Thomson's songs and music into our presentation. This workshop of a new play with music was a perfect fit for our annuAl Woodstock Fringe Festival of Theatre & Song. We asked the Virgil Thomson Foundation for support and were delighted when the Foundation responded enthusiastically and generously supported the development of this play and the workshop production. We were off.

Research started and I read every bit of material about Virgil Thomson I could find. Thomson's life and work are well documented and there was much to learn about. I set out to collect and surround myself with information about the man and the world he lived in. Larry and I traveled to the archives at Yale University and listened to audio tapes and viewed videos on Thomson. Thomson had written an autobiography. Invaluable was Anthony Tommasini's extraordinary biography, Virgil Thomson Composer on the Aisle. Another great resource was Steven Watson's Prepare For Saints which encyclopedically documents the production of Thomson and Stein's Four Saints In Three Acts. Individuals who knew and worked with Thomson were kind enough to speak to me about Thomson, including Richard Flender, Charles Fussell, Ned Rorem, Tim Page, Craig Rutenberg, Anthony Tommasini, and Scott Wheeler. I loved immersing myself in this material.

Virgil Thomson began to come into focus. He was a complex man who lead a "big" life. A great raconteur and host, his dinner parties at the Chelsea Hotel were famous for their excellent food, conversation and impressive guests. Those interviewed spoke of Thomson's fierce intelligence, great wit and the many pleasures they experienced knowing him. Life with and around Thomson was at times hugely entertaining and at other times very difficult. Thomson expressed pleasure and disappointment extravagantly. Everyone I spoke to felt that their lives were much richer for having known him and that having known him.

After some time and learning how much information is available and how rich was Thomson's artistic and social life, I began to feel overwhelmed and daunted by the task of writing a play about this man. Tommasini and Watson had spent years researching and writing their books. (Tommasini's great book is more than 600 pages.) We had to produce Oh Virgil! in just a little more than a year's time. Larry and I met several times to kick around ideas for scenes, select what part of Thomson's "story" we wanted to tell. I struggled to find a structure for the play. The deadline was looming. I had no play yet.

Finally the idea "write a portrait" came to me. The idea came from Thomson. He wrote hundreds of what he called "musical portraits." Thomson's idea for this came from Gertrude Stein who wrote what she called "word portraits." Individuals would sit for Thomson and he would write a musical piece using musical ideas to "paint" his subjects. So, I would set out to compose a theatrical and music portrait of Thomson. The name of our play was changed to Oh Virgil! A Theatrical Portrait. We use a pianist, two singers and three actors to create our portrait of Virgil Thomson.

I am grateful to Michael Conley, Artistic Director of Judson Arts for inviting Woodstock Fringe to present the world premier of our play at the Judson Memorial Church. I am very excited to have this work come to life.

 

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