These next three readings at NYMF tackle subjects very familiar to me. A few years ago I read Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth’s Bisland’s History-Making Trip Around the World. Mississippi takes place during the troubled civil rights era circa 1959. The third musical is the story of the slave rebellion lead by Nat Turner.
Bisland & Bly – Reading
This extraordinary tale is about two women who race each other around the world in 1888. One is the hardscrabble journalist Nellie Bly (Danielle Frimer). She had herself committed to an insane asylum for ten days then famously wrote a story for the New York World about the horrible conditions. Elizabeth Bisland (Susannah Jones) was “the most beautiful woman in metropolitan journalism” and penned stories for the ladies’ society pages for a rival newspaper.
These two pioneering women could not have been more different. Nellie was the girl with the big ideas and proudly boasts: “I said I could, I said I would, And I did.” This world trip was Bly’s idea and Bisland, who wanted more substantial stories, was convinced to do the same thing in the opposite direction. They were looking to beat the fictional trip taken in Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in Eighty Days. Elizabeth writes to Nellie: “We live in a world where two women can race around the world. We may leave our old selves behind.”
Marialena DiFabbio and Susannah Jones’ musical is invested in the emotional journey. “Free American Girl” and “The Light” help illuminate what they are thinking. The nail biting world-wide obsession with the race seems less significant. When it does come up near the end of Act I, the section felt like a very long travelogue. Act II has a lot of additional locations and relationships to cover culminating in scenes which are both anticlimatic and melodramatic. Bisland & Bly is at its best when exploring what drives these groundbreaking feminist icons.
Mississippi the Musical – Reading
Gregory James Tornquist has written another show which addresses race issues in the deep south at the dawning of the Civil Rights movement. Given our country’s continued problems, this is not a surprise. Mississippi packs a lot of topics into this musical including interracial relationships, lynching, incest, juke joints, murder, revenge and justice.
In Hope River everyone knows everyone. Church folks were the same as those who went to the all-night juke parties. The score of this show reflects the gospel, blues and “Hill Country” music from this area. The songs are tuneful but the lyrics repeat themselves too frequently. Even the Act II opener “Gravy on Top” which boasts about the merits of putting “gravy on gravy with gravy on top” repeats the line turning amusing into repetitive.
Gussy (Noreen Crayton, terrific) entertains us with that number only to immediately and awkwardly shift to the story of her lynched fourteen year old son. “Trouble Everywhere” nevertheless may be the emotional and musical high point of this piece. Kitten (Alexa Freeman) is the mentally challenged young white girl who boldly underlines all the messaging. Pronouncements like “everyone needs to stop treating people like their less” lead to the clever tune “Un-less.” A heartfelt effort, Mississippi needs further development on its book. Richer characters and a fuller story arc would enhance the short vignettes outlined so far.
Brother Nat – Reading
Nat Turner was born into slavery in 1800. He was a deeply religious man who interpreted the visions he saw as messages from God. Waiting for a sign from the almighty, a solar eclipse became the catalyst for his organized slave rebellion in 1831. Brother Nat was performed in a reading of the first act and song selections from the second.
An Angel (Aaron Marcellus) opens this show with “The Ballad of Brother Nat” proclaiming “sweet holy freedom is worth fighting for.” Allyssa Jones and Damien Sneed have written a beautiful, often operatic score. The book and lyrics are by Liana and Jabari Asim. Mood setting is well established early on with “Something In The Air” and “Wide Awake in Hell.” The atrocities of slavery are fully addressed in “Negroes To Buy” and “Whip Song.”
“Whatcha gonna do When I Get My Wings” asks the enslaved? They are going to “fly, fly, fly, somewhere in the sky.” The metaphors are memorable throughout this show. Possibly my favorite one: “heaven is a note in a songbird’s throat.” Nat (Joshuah Brian Campbell) has a gorgeous lament at the end called “Father Forgive Me.” In this incomplete reading, 26 songs were presented. I’ve seen enough and, more importantly, heard enough to look forward to watch this mournful and soulful musical expand into a fully developed story. I feel the characters souls and want to know more about their minds.