Gospel At Colonus

The Onassis Foundation continues its activities on the other side of the Atlantic, leaving its mark on the capital of the world. On 4-9 September, New York's The Public Theater and the Onassis Foundation will be joining forces to stage "The Gospel at Colonus". The legendary musical from the award-winning theater director Lee Breuer makes a triumphant return, celebrating its 35th anniversary in Central Park's open-air Delacorte Theater. Entrance is free. Ancient Greek tragedy provides the inspiration for a different take on "Oedipus at Colonus", with gospel music and a priest in the central narrator role."What better proof can there be of the endurance, universality and power of Greek theater than Gospel at Colonus — an ancient Greek tragedy turned into religious parable within the framework of the Pentecostal church?” said President of the Onassis Foundation Anthony S. Papadimitriou. “Sophocles wrote the original play, "Oedipus at Colonus", nearly 2,500 years ago, to be performed at a religious festival, that of Dionysus. There are many parallels we can draw between the two — the ecstatic element, the use of the chorus, the power of song. However, most important for the Onassis Foundation, an institution that, beyond Greek culture, promotes social cohesion and embraces diversity, was the Gospel's unifying vision. It is a production that unites cultures and époques, and it invites people to participate in a communal spiritual experience, much as they would in a church. That is also the purpose of theater since antiquity, and at the Onassis Foundation we are thrilled to be able to bring this magnificent interpretation of the work of Sophocles to the closest thing New York has to an ancient Greek amphitheater: the Delacorte in Central Park".

“The Gospel at Colonus is the masterpiece of the populist side of Lee’s work, a brilliant merging of Greek tragedy and biblical traditions and an astonishing meditation on death and life”, said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis.

Credits

Book, Original Lyrics and Direction: Lee Breuer
Original Music, Adapted Lyrics and Music Direction: Bob Telson
Producer: Sharon Levy/Dovetail Productions, Inc.
Associate Producer: Mabou Mines

Cast: Rev. Dr. Earl F. Miller, The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Legendary Soul Stirrers: Willie Rogers, Ben Odom, Gene Stewart, Wren T. Brown, Greta Oglesby, Shari Addison, J.D. Steele, Tina Fabrique, Jeff Young, Sam Butler Jr., Jay Caldwell, Kevin Davis, Carolyn Johnson-White, Josie Johnson

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The iconic musical returns to New York City for the first time since 2004 to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the original production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and to honor visionary director Lee Breuer for his lifetime of excellence and historic collaboration with The Public Theater.

With book, original lyrics, and direction by Lee Breuer and original music, adapted lyrics, and music direction by Oscar nominated Bob Telson, THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS premiered in 1983 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival to great acclaim, earning the Obie Award for Outstanding Musical and was a 1985 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

"The Gospel at Colonus" is one of the most powerful, soul-stirring shows in theater history. Set in the context of a black Pentecostal service, it is an exuberant re-telling of Sophocles’ classic Oedipus at Colonus. With the ground-shaking thunder of a gospel revival meeting, this Obie-winning adaptation celebrates the 2400-year-old myth of Oedipus’ redemption with a rousing gospel and blues score.

"The Gospel at Colonus" is a one-of-a-kind show featuring more than 40 powerhouse voices including gospel legends The Blind Boys of Alabama and The Original Soul Stirrers.

Visionary director and playwright Lee Breuer whose work in the American Theater spans more than five decades, has a history of with The Public Theater. Breuer is the founding co-artistic director of the Mabou Mines Theater Company, an experimental theater company founded in 1970 with JoAnne Akalaitis, Philip Glass, Ruth Maleczech, Fred Neumann, and David Warrilow. Breuer and Mabou Mines presented several productions at The Public Theater during Joe Papp’s tenure as Artistic Director, including Breuer’s "A Prelude to Venice", Sister Suzie Cinema, Shaggy Dog Animation, B. Beaver Animation, and his adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s "The Lost Ones". He also directed the 1981 Shakespeare in the Park production of "The Tempest" featuring Raúl Juliá at the Delacorte. Breuer has received the Chevalier Ordre Des Arts et Lettres from France, been nominated for a Tony Award, been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, received a MacArthur Genius Grant, and received an American Express/Kennedy Center Award for Best New American Play and an Edinburgh Herald Award for Sustained Achievement. Breuer has directed thirteen OBIE award-winning performances, and has received OBIE awards for Best Play, Best Directing, Best Musical, and Sustained Achievement.

An affiliate of the parent Foundation in Greece, the Onassis Foundation USA is dedicated to Greek culture from antiquity to the present. By cooperating with educational and cultural institutions in Greece and throughout the Americas, the Onassis Foundation USA promotes cultural relations. The mission is realized through two major initiatives, one cultural for the general public through its Onassis Cultural Center New York, and the other educational for scholars and students in partnership with educational institutions through the Onassis Humanities Impact Program.

The Public is theater of, by and for all people. Artist-driven, radically inclusive and fundamentally democratic, The Public continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today.

The Public was conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, and since premiering "Hair" in 1967, it continues to create the canon of American Theater.

Its programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world.

The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 13 New York Drama Desk Awards and 6 Pulitzer Prizes.

publictheater.org

https://onassisusa.org/events/the-gospel-at-colonus