On the May 9 WBGO Journal...
Host Doug Doyle chats with the entire cast of George Street Playhouse's production of Deborah Brevoort's My Lord, What a Night.
The play, running through May 17 and directed by Sheldon Epps, is inspired by true events and begins in 1937 when acclaimed opera singer Marian Anderson is turned away from a hotel due to her race and is taken in for the night by acclaimed physicist Albert Einstein. The evening eventually leads to Anderson’s historic performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial two years later and sparks a friendship that lasts nearly 20 years until Einstein’s death in 1955.
The cast includes:
Broadway veteran Rashidra Scott (Sunset Boulevard, Company) as opera singer Marian Anderson
Actor and composer Anthony Cochrane (“The Good Fight”) as physicist Albert Einstein
Veteran actor Mitch Greenberg (November 4) as educator Abraham Flexner
and award-winning actress Gayle Samuels (Chiaroscuro) as civil right activist and women’s suffragist and educator Mary Church Terrell.
Rashidra Scott says it's a honor to play the famous singer Marian Anderson and to be a part of this production.
"The beauty of this play is that each one of us gets to show our strengths in different ways, but we also each have moments of vulnerability and just the full spectrum of humanity. It's a very special responsibility. I love the journey that each of us go on. I love that we each get to go on the journey together."
Anthony Cochrane says there's a good reason why Einstein admired Anderson.
"The connection between music and science is very strong for Einstein. That leads him to this pure love of Anderson's performance and talent."
Cochrane stresses the dynamic of the play is extremely relatable in today's world.
"Regarding the issues of their races, Einstein is dealing with it head on, and Anderson is pulling him back slightly. They're very complimentary. Deborah (Brevoort)'s play is really about how do four people, or a community, or a race discuss these things without it being different camps unable to talk to each other, unable to come to a compromise. It's very telling now."
You can SEE Doug Doyle's entire interview with Rashidra Scott, Anthony Cochrane, Mitch Greenberg and Gayle Samuels below:
