BSO and Morgan State will take you to the Promised Land

A commemorative stamp issued in 1973 celebrating the life and works of George Gershwin, including Porgy and Bess/U.S.Postal Service


Hurry to Baltimore tonight or tomorrow for a knockout performance by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Morgan State University Choir in concert with national opera stars who present George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

You ain't heard nuthin' 'til you hear (and see) this.

Another commemorative stamp issued in 1973 celebrating George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess/U.S.Postal Service


It's performed with spine-tingling songs, duets and trios, ("Summertime," "It Ain't Necessarily So," "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin,'') by singers who act, move, and dance, far more than anticipated for a concert opera.

Who needs sets with glamour like this flowing across and above the stage? Which is where the Morgan State Choir stood in all-black ensembles, about 50 voices strong, under the direction of Eric Conway.  

The show's director, Hana S. Sharif, excels with her cast and crew, including effective, unnamed fight and sound managers.


The words to the music are screened above the performers, but the production stands on its own, and the words are unnecessary.

 

In 2015 the Morgan State University Choir sang at the White House for President and Mrs. Barack Obama in a televised live performance/Photo, Morgan State University Choir

Excellent, essential contributions by the BSO's xylophonist and pianist produce a hush in several places when they play solo, always under the capable direction of Conductor Marin Alsop.

While I waited in line to order my dinner at Strathmore before the Thursday evening performance, the couple behind me told me they had come just for the choir.

"Have you heard them?" they asked me.

No, I had come just for Porgy and Bess which I've heard and seen many times.

"Well, just you wait!" they exclaimed.  "They are outstanding!" And they were, combined with the soloists and orchestra. 

One of the soloists is the talented tenor, Larry Hylton,  another star graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, who played Sportin' News, and there he was, a'prancin' and dancin'  across the floor, back and forth, in yellow pants and a top hat made to stand out. 

The show is a fast-paced exhibition by George Gershwin (1898-1937) which takes place in Charleston, S.C. during the Great Depression, when a woman, Bess, becomes the property of one man, Crown, then another, Porgy, and finally, Sportin’ Life, who carries her away to New York.
 
No matter how many time you have seen this show, the exceptional tunes endure.

Bass-baritone Robert Cantrell is Porgy who carries the role fittingly, strong and rich, while he limps in  suspenders across the stage, aided by a crutch, but it's the powerful voice of baritone Lester Lynch as Crown who makes his presence keenly felt even before he enters the stage. He commands the crowd's attention and sets the pace for the action, whisking Bess away to his land of no forgiveness.

Soprano Laquita Mitchell is the beautiful Bess who dashes out in a bright red, sexy dress to catch the hand of the most available.
  
The first mid-act applause followed soprano Reyna Carguill's incredible solo as Serena, who delivers "My Man's Gone Now," after Crown's murder of her husband, Robbins (Joshua Jones). 

Another show-stopper is soprano Jasmine Habersham
who plays Clara and begins the show serenading "Summertime" to her baby until her husband, Jake (Cameron Potts) comes on stage to cradle their child and croon "A Woman is a Sometime Thing." 

Alexandra Crichlow Bradshaw is the distinguished Maria who joins Ms. Carguill and Mr. Cantrell in the closing of "Bess, Oh Where's My Bess?"

Porgy takes leave of the stage singing "Oh, Lawd, I'm On My Way" to follow Sportin' Life and his Bess to New York.

Not to miss!

What:  Porgy and Bess by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra  and the Morgan State University Choir and more

When:  Tonight at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. 

Where:  Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St.
Baltimore 21201

How much:  Tickets information is at the link.  For special "Young and Free" discounts at the Sunday performance, click here. 

For more information: Call 410-783-8000.

I'm on my way....
to Baltimore
I'm on my way
to a heav'nly land
for in that town
I'll hear the grand
music o'er the land

Oh Lawd, I'm on my way
I'm on my way to a heav'nly land
I'll ride that long, long road
If You are there to guide my hand

Oh Lawd, I'm on my way
I'm on my way to a heav'nly land
Oh Lawd, it's a long, long way
But You'll be there to take my hand 





Oh, I got plenty o' nuttin'
An' nuttin's plenty fo' me
I got no car, got no mule, I got no misery
De folks wid plenty o' plenty
Got a lock an dey door
'Fraid somebody's a-goin' to rob 'em
While dey's out a-makin' more
What for?
I got no lock an de door
(Dat's no way to be)
Dey kin steal de rug from de floor
Dat's okeh wid me
'Cause de things dat I prize
Like de stars in de skies
All are free
Oh, I got plenty o' nuttin'
An' nuttin's plenty fo' me
I got my gal, got my song
Got Hebben de whole day long!

patricialesli@gmail.com 

At the think tanks: 'Sandra Day O'Connor' was 'First'

I can't wait to read First: Sandra Day O'Connor by Evan Thomas which he and his wife, Oscie, presented last week at the Washington office of the Aspen Institute.

Evan Thomas said he saw Justice O'Connor, 89, about three weeks ago when he visited her at a care facility to give her a copy of his new book about her. "She was not in great shape," he said.

She was the First woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and now suffers from early stage Alzheimer-like dementia. Last October she withdrew from public life.

Evan and Oscie Thomas at the Aspen Institute, April 2, 2019, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

Thomas and Justice O'Connor have the same publisher, Random House, and when he was brought in on her book project a while back, he figured it was to be her ghost writer.  Random had been after O'Connor to write her memoirs, but "I could tell she didn't want to do it," Thomas said.


The O'Connor family enthusiastically welcomed the Thomases as writers/researchers and granted them access to the justice's letters, papers, photographs, and more materials, not all of which the family had read, including 14 letters from a classmate at Stanford University, William Rehnquist.

Justice O'Connor and Justice Rehnquist later served together on the Supreme Court, years after Justice Rehnquist had asked Justice O'Connor to marry him (one of at least four marriage proposals she received while at Stanford).


She strung him along then, waiting to hear the magic words from the one she really loved, who became her husband, John O'Connor. 


(When Justice Rehnquist died in 2005, I wondered why Justice O'Connor cried so hard, shedding more tears in public than one would have expected. Perhaps, she was in love with him.)

Mr. O'Connor also suffered from Alzheimer's and died in 2009, but not before he developed a relationship with "Kay" at a treatment facility where he lived. It was "terribly painful" for Justice O'Connor when he did not recognize his wife and introduced her to Kay whom he identified as his wife.

When he held hands with "the other woman," Justice O'Connor held his other hand.

After Mr. O'Connor was diagnosed in 2000, Justice O'Connor brought him for a time to the Supreme Court where he watched proceedings from a chair.


When she was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1981 and the couple moved to Washington, her husband found transitioning to "Washington law" difficult, said Oscie Thomas. He never succeeded here because his expertise was different from that required in Washington.  

After moving to a second Washington firm, his mental deterioration became evident.  In early 2006 Justice O'Connor retired from the Supreme Court to take care of her husband. 


The authors described their book as "a love story" which, like all love stories, ends tragically.   

In the question and answer session which followed the presentation, a young woman who may have been a student, asked why Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg occupies much more of the public platform than does Justice O'Connor. 

Without realizing the reflexive answer which matched my silent one, Mr. Thomas immediately answered: "Well, she's alive", and he noted that two films were released last year about Justice Ginsberg who cuts quite a public swath in town, out and about like she is.


Justices O'Connor and Ginsburg had a "cordial" relationship, the Thomases said. Justice O'Connor advised Justice Ginsburg about treatments for cancer which they both suffered.

They asked Justice Ginsburg if the rumors were true that she had driven her car twice into Justice O'Connor's car in (presumably) the Supreme Court parking garage.

Throwing her hands up in the air, Justice Ginsburg  confirmed the rumors, adding that she was trying to avoid Justice Antonin Scalia's car. (Thomas said RBG was "the least shy person I've ever met.")

Scalia and O'Connor had a "bad relationship." More than once, the Thomases said that not all the justices like any other. (From their remarks, one can infer that some of the justices "tolerate" each another, more than their public appearances would suggest.)

After Justice Scalia publicly criticized Justice O'Connor, her clerks inserted "zingers" about Justice Scalia in some review materials, all of which Justice O'Connor deleted.

She rarely spoke ill of any of the justices, but, because of his "ideological position,'" she regretted that Samuel Alioto was named as her replacement.

She couldn't stand disharmony and did her level best to discourage it on the court, urging newcomer Justice Clarence Thomas repeatedly to please join the court for lunch when members discussed anything but court matters.

In an interview with the Thomases, Clarence Thomas told them he finally relented, praising Justice O'Connor as the "glue" which held the place together. (Said Evan Thomas: To those of you who don't know him, Clarence Thomas is a very funny man.  (Let's laugh.))


The Thomases interviewed seven justices and 94 clerks, half of were women (why is that important?) among many others. I believe they said they met with Justice O'Connor six times.  The O'Connor family urged all her colleagues, clerks, and others to welcome interviews by the authors. 

To keep up with her Supreme Court tasks,  Justice O'Connor read about 1000 pages daily.

When President Ronald Reagan was presented the opportunity to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court in 1981 and was given the name of a man (somebody Burns?), he said, "'Nope, go find me a woman.'"


Sandra Day O'Connor was confirmed by a vote of 99-0.


She was considered a "swing vote" who cast the deciding ballot in 330 cases and is generally considered the one who ultimately determined Bush v. Gore (5-4), and who, to this day, remains the target of criticism for that vote in the pages of the New York Times.


Evan Thomas said he thinks she cast the vote for Bush because she didn't want to drag out the process for the nation, she didn't like conflict, and "she is a Republican who did not like Al Gore, and maybe, deep inside her heart, that was a factor." 

In 2013 she told the Chicago Tribune that perhaps the Supreme Court should not have taken the case.

When asked about the Kavanaugh hearings, Thomas said: "She would have hated" them "because they were contentious" and she could not bear discord. "I am projecting" here, he said, and "I'm not even sure she saw them."

She liked to cook and entertained her clerks on Saturdays. She made every recipe in a Julia Child cookbook. Her husband was always supportive, and they were quite active on the Washington social scene, often going dancing before they were overtaken by illness. 

Justice O'Connor greatly lamented the termination of a favorite undergraduate class, "Western Civ," which, through her efforts, thrives now as "iCivics." It's taught to middle schoolers, and encourages civil discourse and engagement which, so far, has enrolled about five million students in "her greatest legacy."

patricialesli@gmail.com

Last weekend to see 'Bill Traylor' at the Smithsonian

Bill Traylor, Self-Portrait With Pipe, 1939-1942; pencil and colored pencil on cardboard, collection of Siri von Reis

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For those who haven't reached their "pinnacle" or are still searching for it, take heart and learn from a pro, a master, artist Bill Traylor (c.1853-1949) who started his renowned life's work when he was only 86.  (There is hope.) 

Then he started drawing and painting, and now, a quick web search find his works commanding prices from $25,000 to almost $400,000, the fee Christie's reported in January that a buyer paid for Woman Pointing at Man with Cane.
 

Expect prices to climb.

 Bill Traylor, Female Drinker, 1939-1942; gouache and pencil on cardboard, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mr. Traylor may be the only known artist who was formerly a slave and an illiterate to see an exhibition of his work while he was alive, a show which was assembled by a white artist captivated by Mr. Traylor whom he found drawing on the streets of Montgomery, Alabama. (Although the exhibition included 100 works, none sold.)

Formerly labeled "outsider" or primitive art, the new definition calls Mr. Traylor's, "modern."  Self-taught, Mr. Traylor lived most of his life as a slave and laborer in Alabama where he was born.

 Bill Traylor, Untitled (Woman With Umbrella and Man on Crutch), 1939; pencil and opaque watercolor on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

When he was about 12 (his birth year is uncertain), he and family members, with about four million of their brothers and sisters, were freed by the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which abolished slavery.

Mr. Traylor spent the next 45 years as a laborer.

 Bill Traylor, Untitled (Smoking Man With Figured Construction), 1939-1942; poster paint, crayon, and graphite on cardboard, High Museum, Atlanta

In his mid-70s he moved to Montgomery where he resided on streets, in businesses, and in funeral homes in-between visiting relatives in other states and places until his death.

A few years earlier found him on the sidewalks of Montgomery and later, in his daughter's backyard, drawing and drawing, using recycled materials and pencil, charcoal and watercolors, to make thousands of works, to attract the attention of Charles Shannon who befriended him and began supporting the budding artist with art materials.

Bill Traylor, Cedar Trees, 1939-40; compressed charcoal on cardboard, collection of Dame Jillian Sackler

Traylor's subjects stemmed from his background on the plantation and the sights and sounds he saw from his art perch in Montgomery.

Distinctive stick figures, usually in one or two colors, mark the works, many, reminiscent of Egyptian hieroglyphs and cave art. His rich background provided a springboard to pictures of animals, dogs, snakes, dancers, handicapped individuals in dark silhouettes on flat, one-color, plain landscapes.

 Bill Traylor, Untitled (Radio) 1940-42; opaque watercolor and pencil on printed advertising paperboard,  Smithsonian American Art Museum. An example of Mr. Traylor's usage of discarded cardboard and box tops.  He recycled as an artist long before it became a popular medium.


In 1942 Mr. Traylor's works went on exhibition in New York where Alfred Barr, the director of the Museum of Modern Art, offered $1 to $2 a piece for them. Denied. No museum or person bought any.

But it took the now defunct Corcoran Gallery in Washington and its 1982 exhibition, Black Folk Art in America, 1930-1980 to whet interest in Mr. Traylor's depictions and fly away, they started.

Bill Traylor, Untitled (Yellow and Blue House with Figures and Dog), July, 1939; colored pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum.  The label copy says Mr. Traylor's seven decades on a plantation served as inspiration for his house scenes.  Ladders to the roof were safety features in case of fire. The figure in the chair on the bottom holds a rifle.

Bill Traylor, Untitled (Man, Woman, and Dog), 1939; crayon and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum. The label copy mentions dancing couples "with wild abandon" often seen in "jook"joints near Traylor's artist's station in Montgomery. Like then, like now, "elders" frowned upon suggestive dancing, considered by some to be the work of the devil and a preface to notorious behavior. Is that their hair or halos on their heads? Is the woman pregnant? The dog has a good time, too. Viewers can "hear" the music!

Bill Traylor about 1939 by Jean and George Lewis, courtesy of Caroline Cargo Folk Art Collection, Cazenovia, NY

The white artists' collective, New South, founded by Charles Shannon who organized the first Traylor exhibition: Bill Traylor, People's Artist, 1940; photograph by Jean and George Lewis, courtesy of Caroline Cargo Folk Art Collection, Cazenovia, NY 

Through Sunday, 155 of Mr. Traylor's works will be on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the first retrospective for an artist born into slavery.

 
In a "hot list" of outsider art published last December at Christie's, art specialist Cara Zimmerman listed Mr. Traylor’s works second.

Not one of Mr. Traylor's 15 to 20 offspring (estimates vary about the number of children he had) were left any of their father's art.

Leslie Umberger, the Smithsonian curator, spent seven years researching the show, according to an article in the Smithsonian, and it shows.  When you see an exhibition like this and understand a little about the artist, you rejoice in his achievements and wish he were still around to receive the accolades.

 

What:  Between Worlds:  The Art of Bill Traylor

When: Closes Sunday, April 7, 2019. The museum is open from 11:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. every day.

Where: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 8th and F streets, N. W., Washington, D.C. 20004

How much: No charge

For more information: 202-633-1000 or visit the website.

Metro station: Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk 10 minutes from Metro Center

patricialesli@gmail.com