The Gospel at Colonus runs through September 30 at the Getty Villa.
This Show Will Lift You Up
Behind the scenes of The Gospel at Colonus at the Getty Villa
Topics
From left to right: Aeriel Williams as Antigone, Kelvin Roston Jr. as Oedipus, and Mark Spates Smith as Theseus during a run-through of The Gospel at Colonus at dress rehearsal
Body Content
You’ve likely heard the tale of Oedipus, the cursed king who killed his father, married his mother, and then blinded himself and wandered into the desert.
But that’s not where his story ends.
Oedipus then arrives at the town of Colonus, seeking rest. But he is pursued by enemies, including his own son.
Now this story is being told through gospel music at the Getty Villa. The Gospel at Colonus, which opens September 7, weaves the sounds of gospel with classic Greek tragedy and reimagines a redemption arc for Sophocles’s infamous protagonist.
Aeriel Williams as Antigone
Jason Huysman stands in the foreground as Creon
The Origin of The Gospel at Colonus
This production is brought to the stage by the Tony Award-winning Court Theatre. But the play goes back 40 years, when the original creators, Bob Telson and Lee Breuer, came up with the idea as a way to make classic texts come alive for contemporary audiences.
They were inspired by Zora Neale Hurston and the parallels she drew between Black religious experience and the Greek chorus. They were also inspired by histories of worship in America and by the “ecstatic redemptive experience of gospel music,” said Charles Newell, co-director of Court Theatre’s The Gospel at Colonus.
Telson and Breuer thought that by merging Greek text with gospel, they could create a new, one-of-a-kind theatrical experience.
“And they were right,” Newell said. He remembered the first time he saw the show at Brooklyn Academy Music in 1983.
“I thought ‘Oh my God, look, classic Greek theater can actually create this kind of emotional, cathartic event through the spirit of gospel music!’”
Left to right: Shantina Lynet’, Isaac Ray, and Cherise Thomas
Telling a Story with Music
The chorus’s joyful harmonies, powerful vocals, and a full band bring this ancient story to life in a way that Mark J.P. Hood, co-director of The Gospel at Colonus, believes anyone can understand today.
“Gospel music brings a different level of emotional awareness,” Hood said. “You feel something when you hear it. So the music assists in people interpreting the story.”
Amr Fahmy on keyboard, Tatum Flemister on drums, Oscar Brown, Jr. on lead guitar, Joshua Griffin on bass guitar, and conductor Mahmoud Khan on keyboard and organ
Left to right: Isaac Ray, Jerica Exum, Shantina Lynet’, and Eric A. Lewis
A Redemption Story for Everyone
“There is no more cursed man in human history than Oedipus,” Newell said. And yet, The Gospel at Colonus does not depict his story as a tragedy. Instead, Oedipus becomes an example that we can all look to for hope.
Kelvin Roston Jr. as Oedipus, walking up the middle aisle of the theater
“It’s all the original material, yet transformed into something that is eerily current, yet truly universal,” said Juwon Tyrel Perry, who plays The Friend and is a member of the chorus.
“If we could let go of our past, not be judged for it, accept what we’ve done, and accept that redemption can come, we could live in a more compassionate world,” Hood said. He and Newell both believe that working on The Gospel at Colonus has changed how they view themselves as people.
Hood said he hopes others find the same inspiration by witnessing Oedipus’s final arc. This show, he said, “is going to lift you up. You’re going to leave like, ‘I feel good.’”
Kelvin Roston Jr. as Oedipus
