RADIO THEATER PROGRAM MARKS 75th ANNIVERSARY OF “STRANGE FRUIT"
Distributed on PRX.ORG
BOSTON, MA: The song “Strange Fruit," which graphically describes lynching in the South, is one of the most controversial songs in American music. The 75th anniversary of the recording of the song is being marked by a radio theatre production telling the story of the creation of this dramatic song and its performance by vocalist Billie Holiday in 1939.
The program was written, directed and produced by Brookline resident Steve Provizer who is, himself, a musician. Says Provizer: “Clearly, Billie Holiday took some risks in singing “Strange Fruit." I tried to piece together the story behind what is generally known about the song in order to explore Holiday's complicated relationship to the song."
The production was recorded in Cambridge and features ten actors, including Jasmine Rush as Billie Holiday, Ross Cicero as Barney Josephson, who started and ran Cafe Society, the first self-proclaimed integrated nightclub in New York City, Damon Singletary as trumpeter Frankie Newton, a political activist himself, who led the recording session and Graham King as composer of the song Abel Meeropol, an activist New York school teacher who later adopted the two sons of the Rosenbergs, after they were executed as spies.
Broadcast on stations WMBR, WZBC and KGNU is planned, with other stations expected to acquire rights to the program, where listeners can stream it.
Visit our website for additional information.
Distributed on PRX.ORG
BOSTON, MA: The song “Strange Fruit," which graphically describes lynching in the South, is one of the most controversial songs in American music. The 75th anniversary of the recording of the song is being marked by a radio theatre production telling the story of the creation of this dramatic song and its performance by vocalist Billie Holiday in 1939.
The program was written, directed and produced by Brookline resident Steve Provizer who is, himself, a musician. Says Provizer: “Clearly, Billie Holiday took some risks in singing “Strange Fruit." I tried to piece together the story behind what is generally known about the song in order to explore Holiday's complicated relationship to the song."
The production was recorded in Cambridge and features ten actors, including Jasmine Rush as Billie Holiday, Ross Cicero as Barney Josephson, who started and ran Cafe Society, the first self-proclaimed integrated nightclub in New York City, Damon Singletary as trumpeter Frankie Newton, a political activist himself, who led the recording session and Graham King as composer of the song Abel Meeropol, an activist New York school teacher who later adopted the two sons of the Rosenbergs, after they were executed as spies.
Broadcast on stations WMBR, WZBC and KGNU is planned, with other stations expected to acquire rights to the program, where listeners can stream it.
Visit our website for additional information.
