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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. NIMH 2019 will take place from July 8th through August 4th, and here's a sneak peek at some of this year's musicals
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Brother Nat is a sung-through musical about the Nat Turner Revolt of 1831 in Southampton County, Virginia
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It's a quick process, and it's a 29-hour reading, so therein it is a quick process
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And it's giving the writers the opportunity to dig into the music and to dig into the story
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So it's exciting and it's a quick process. And hopefully once we're finished, we'll have something even more closer to what we're looking for
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Nymph has been very supportive. They've given me, if I needed a pianist, if I needed a contract, if I needed any advice
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So they have been very supportive. because I'm actually from Boston. And so they're like, anything you need in New York, ask us
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Well, actually, we met online through social media, and she reached out, and when I saw the length and breadth of the work
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that she and her husband have been writing and things have been working on, I knew this was a project that I wanted to be a part of
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It's not always that you get projects that you really want to be a part of, but there's something special about the message in this
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and it's still relevant today. The first song was House Negro Blues and it tells the story of a house servant and his sort of dual role So in the house he all smiles and very like he wants to do everything
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but what he really longs to be is out with the other slaves, out with his friends
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And so it speaks to the duality or the dual nature of being enslaved
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Oh my God it Nat Turner It Nat Turner I love opera number one So to do a piece that is specifically dealing with Nat Turner in a day and age that we desperately need some sort of revolution especially with the kind of politics that happening here in America
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I think it speaks to our current day systems, and it wakens up something that is an old story, and it gives it new life in a form of music
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So I'm really excited about that. I'm super excited, but at the same time, it's very eye-opening because there's so many great productions that have come out of Nymph over the years
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And it's exciting, but it's just got me with my eyes wide open to make sure I can utilize this time to the best of our ability
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I've been coming to Nymph for probably over 10 years or so as an audience member
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So I've seen tons of shows here. And I've always been impressed about the level of or the quality of production that Nymph brings to the table
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So for me to actually be a part of a production as a director it been really really exciting And the amount of support that the organization has provided the show has been fantastic
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The second song was Lillian's Lament. To me, it's one of my favorites because there's a lot of double entendre in the language, in the lyrics
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And it really talks about how her husband is finding his love interest in some of the slaves on the plantation
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if that's the way to say it. Would you like to add something to it to make it? That's it
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And she's frustrated. She lives a lovely life but she feels unloved
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and unwanted. So she takes it out on her house servants in a comic way though
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There's a lust in his heart I see it in his eyes
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Her to call on God At delay between dark eyes So if I act like a , dare to scratch a crime, will it forgive me please
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Yes, please do, you will be, would it you? Would it you? Yes, it's you, but you, I may be true
