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Black Nativity: A Gospel Christmas Musical Experience
PHOTO CREDIT: FERST CENTER
12/08/2022 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Cost: $37-$75
CL RECOMMENDS
CL Critic Kevin C. Madigan Recommends: Harlem Renaissance frontman Langston Hughes opens his self-described “gospel song play” with a scene in an African-American church on Christmas Day, complete with “testifying deacons, sanctified ladies, and down-home preaching, and ultimately recreates the journey of Mary and Joseph, resplendent in African costumes, to Bethlehem, accompanied by a rousing repertoire of old-fashioned spirituals,” the synopsis tells us. Black Nativity was first launched at the end of 1961 — under its original title Wasn’t It a Mighty Day — as one of the first works by a Black playwright to be produced off-Broadway. According to the African-American Registry, the play is an expression of Hughes’ late-in-life interest in spirituality and the oral traditions of his church. — KCM
From the venue:
Black Nativity is an African-American telling of the Nativity story, based on the song play written by acclaimed African-American poet and playwright, Langston Hughes. The show opens in a modern day African-American church on Christmas Day, filled with testifying deacons, sanctified ladies, and down-home preaching, and ultimately recreates the journey of Mary and Joseph, resplendent in African costumes, to Bethlehem, accompanied by a rousing repertoire of old-fashioned spirituals. The African-American viewpoint and the gospel music make Black Nativity a truly unique and entertaining theatrical experience.