How the Real-Life Freedom Riders Inspired a New Musical – Playbill.com

Freedom Riders: The Civil Rights Musical, playing Theatre Rows Acorn Theatre August 1-5 as part of the 2017 New York Musical Festival, bridges a significant sliver of American social historyseven months and six days in 1961, to be precise, when civil rights activists rode interstate buses into the stubbornly segregated South. They did this to challenge the non-enforcement of the Supreme Courts decision that segregated public buses were unconstitutional.

Somebody had to do it, and on May 4, 1961, 13 brave souls (seven black, six white) ventured forth from D.C. to Dixie via Greyhound and Trailways. They were followed by 423 others in at least 60 other Freedom Ride forays into the inhospitable South.

These turbulent times have been heavily documented, but Richard Allen is the first to see the makings of a musical. To that end, he wrote the book and, with Taran Gray, songs for Freedom Riders.

In the history textbooks that Allen and Gray grew up on, the freedom rides were little more than a fleeting blur between Rosa Parks memorable stance and Martin Luther King Jrs I Have a Dream speech. Allens real interest in it got piqued much later by an Oprah Winfred special, then I just couldnt get enough of it, so I watched a PBS special and an American Experience special--and then I started reading. Two summers ago, he began adapting this freedom-riders protest into a stage piece.

You can see in these specials how singing gave activists courage, Allen says. That, to me, made the material musical. Music was so key to the ordeal that it felt natural to tell the story that way. Within the black community, music is hugely important.

Eighteen songs were written for the show, and Grays research into the sounds of the 60s shows. Theres a lot of Motown and a lot of gospel, appropriately, he says. What we tried to do is to match the music with the story arch. Toward the end, the music gets more modernand, by modern, I mean 2017 musical-theatre modern.

I think we did something really interesting with the music, Gray continues. We broke a bit of a rule with a few of the musical-theatre songs that dont progress the storylinewhere the music suspends the moment, and theres a pause in the story.

Case-in-point is an emotional highpoint for the central character, John Lewis, who is now the U.S. Representative for Georgias 5th congressional district. In the show, as played by Anthony Chatmon II, he is a 21-year-old firebrand on the racial front lines.

That moment occurs, says Gray, after Lewis brutalizing first confrontation with violence as a nonviolent protester. He says to the other riders, Give me a second, and, at that moment, we have this suspension where we get to hear Johns heart. Its our I want song, and we really get to hear his passion for a world of true equality.

Dr. King, Robert Kennedy, and James Farmer are subsidiary characters in the musical, which focuses primarily on three civil rights icons: Lewis, Diane Nash (played by Brynn Williams), and John Seigenthaler (played by Ciaran McCarthy).

Director Whitney White arranged for the real Diane Nash to phone in her feedback to the cast. In our show, we deal with her rise, says Allen. The freedom rides put Diane on the map with the other civil rights leaders, who were all men at the time.

Seigenthalers two-year involvement in the fray (19601962), as RFKs administrative assistant in the thick of the freedom-rides fights, punctuated his career at The Nashville Tennesseanfrom police-beat reporter to editor-in-chief.

I got some pushback having Seigenthaler in the show, Allen admits. A lot of people believe that the Civil Rights Movement belongs only to blacks, and it doesnt. Sometimes, its jarring to see a white character playing an important part here.

But, for this movement, Seigenthaler did. Robert Kennedy sent him into the trenches to represent the Justice Department and protect these freedom riders.

Growing up with the Gores and Kennedys, he was liberal, so he really believed in this idea of freedom and equality. I thought he was a natural character for our show because he represents a lot of peoplepeople who believe the same liberal things he does but arent in the action of it. At some point, thats the big turn for him. He realizes hes got to make a choice. Now Im no longer the newspaperman Ive been all my life. Im now in the action of it. Im now an activist, fighting for these people.

All three main characters mature into their own moment of truth, says Allen. Thats been our struggleto really show where they come from and where they finish.

What we wanted to do, adds Gray, was bring humanity to these characters. They are real people with real struggles and conflicts. We wanted that to show. And, secondly, we wanted to show that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. Thats so important because today we look at all the things going on and we go, Oh, my gosh! Its so overwhelming. We dont feel we can get involved or do anything. In the 60s, that wasnt the case. You went out, and you kinda did what you could.

LOVE THE THEATRE? CHECK OUT THE PLAYBILL STORE FOR MERCHANDISE!

Originally posted here:

How the Real-Life Freedom Riders Inspired a New Musical - Playbill.com