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DUKE ELLINGTON'S Duke Ellington
The Queenie Pie Restoration Team: Tommy Shepherd, Marc Bolin, Michael Mohammed, Martin Bell _______________________________________ K Kathleen Antonia and Cameron Stuckey Dance in Oakland Opera's May 2008 , QUEENIE PIE
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DUKE ELLINGTON'S In May 2008 the Oakland Opera Theater will present Duke Ellington’s comic opera Queenie Pie. Edward "Duke" Ellington's (1899-1974) last large-scale work and only opera, Queenie Pie, was written as a tribute to Madame C. J. Walker. The daughter of slaves, Madame Walker invented a hair straightener and discovered the virtues of mail order and door-to-door sales, thereby allowing her clients to buy cosmetics and hair products without leaving their homes. For this innovation she became the first female African-American millionaires. Queenie Pie, the story of a Harlem beauty queen, was originally commissioned by Public Television for the WNET Opera program and designed to be an hour-long work, with Ellington as narrator. The idea for the work was not new, Ellington had begun the opera several times, in varying versions, since the 1940’s. Even after the telecast fell through, Ellington continued to work on the piece until his death in 1974. He left the work unfinished. Oakland Opera’s Skye Atman began a researching quest into the origins of Queenie Pie, which eventually lead to a compilation score based on versions found among the Ellington papers at the University of California, Irvine and the Smithsonian Institute. The Oakland Opera has assembled an expert team to finish the orchestration and create a version of the Duke's unfinished opera much like it might have appeared on television in the 1960’s. The restoration team, lead by renowned director Michael Mohammed, includes the Bay Area’s leading orchestrators, arrangers and interpreters of the Ellington legacy, including, Marc Bolin. hip-hop theater artist and playwright Tommy Shepherd, and producer Martin Bell. This May, Bay Area audiences will be able to hear this important American work for the first time ever. DATES: Preview: MAY 9 , 2008 - 8pm SHOWS: Thursdays- Saturdays at 8 pm; Sundays at 2pm HOW MUCH: $28 in Advance, $35 at the Door. Senior discounts are availble.
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