Custom Made @ The Next Stage (San Francisco, CA)
The late Harry Chapin penned over two dozen songs for this progressive musical retelling of the Gospels of Matthew and John, transported to modern day, rural Georgia. Based on the book by civil rights activist Clarence Jordan, Cotton Patch Gospel uses a rousing bluegrass score -- performed by a one actor playing scores of roles, a live bluegrass band and three stunning singers.
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We expect to have reviews on Monday November 23, 2009.
Website: http://www.custommade.org/season0910/cottonpatch.php
Music and lyrics by Harry Chapin
Book by Tom Key and Russel Treyz
Directed by Marilyn Langbehn
Musical directed by Rona Siddiqqui
Starring Edward Hightower with Katie Kimball, Erika Richardson and Rona Siddiqui
Harry Chapin’s Cotton Patch Gospel:
A Bluegrass, Progressive Holiday Musical
Just in time for the holidays, Custom Made proudly brings Harry Chapin’s (Taxi, Cat’s in the Cradle) Cotton Patch Gospel to the Next Stage (attached to the historic Trinity Church). Cotton Patch is a progressive and musically joyous look at the Jesus story through a very modern lens. Using 26 songs, one amazing actor, three gorgeous singers, and a bluegrass band, “Cotton Patch Gospel” is for everyone who wonders if the peace and love promised by the gospels is still possible in our modern world..
Cotton Patch Gospel premiered at the Lamb's Theater in New York City on October 21, 1981. Written by Tom Key and Russell Treyz, and with music and lyrics by Harry Chapin, Cotton Patch Gospel adapted Clarence Jordan's "Cotton Patch" versions of the gospels of Matthew and John for the stage. Though less widely known than the other gospel musicals of its era (Godspell and Jesus Christ, Superstar), Cotton Patch Gospel is an underappreciated gem of musical theater.
Between 1968 and 1973, Dr. Clarence Jordan, a Southern Baptist minister, published four books where he translated the New Testament into colloquial Southern language. These "Cotton Patch" versions were brought to the attention of Tom Key, an Atlanta actor and playwright, when he was contemplating a play that would transplant the story of Jesus into the mid-20th century American South. In “Cotton Patch” Jesus Davidson was born in the town of Gainesville, Georgia, and was laid in an apple crate. He was baptized in the Chattahoochee River, he preached to a crowd of thousands on Stone Mountain, and he met his end in Atlanta. In between, he encounters followers, cynics, and an institutionalized, conservative Church that rejects his simple message of love and human compassion.
With Jordan's versions as his source material, Key, together with Russell Treyz, wrote the book for the stage play. The music for the production was written and composed by the legendary Harry Chapin, in what would eventually prove to be his final musical work. In all, Chapin produced 26 songs for the show, many of them in a bluegrass style befitting the play's setting. Chapin finished his contribution in June 1981, and was unexpectedly killed in an automobile accident on July 16, 1981.
Custom Made produced Chapin’s song-cycle “Lies and Legends” earlier this decade, and is thrilled to be showcasing again one of the greatest artists of the late 20th century, who left us far too early.
The Custom Made Theatre Co. is a San Francisco-based not-for-profit theatre dedicated to ensemble-based, socially relevant productions. Producing for nine years in San Francisco, Custom Made has won a number of accolades including a Best Premiere for the production of the original musical Bye-Bye, Bin Laden! Most recently, Custom Made produced hit productions of The Heidi Chronicles, Woody Allen's God and Death, and Sondheim's Assassins.