Stormy Weather: The Lena Horne Project Press Release

Arkansas State University's Fowler Center Series

Presents

 

STORMY WEATHER

 

Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 2:00 p.m.

Riceland Hall, Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Dr., Jonesboro.

Stormy Weather: The Lena Horne Project is a “living, breathing, biography” combining story, song and visual images drawing from biographer James Gavin’s wealth of material and hundreds of interviews – several with Ms. Horne herself – to give us the defining portrait of an American icon live on stage.

James Gavin’s Stormy Weather stars Mary Wilson of the Supremes and features Award-Winning Blues Singer Paula West. This recently revised production, with glamorous gowns and dramatic entrances by Ms. Wilson and the younger vocalist Paula West recounting Lena's younger years, adds a theatrical flair to the expert narration by biographer James Gavin and video footage of Lena herself.

This multi-media concert featuring narrator James Gavin, author of the book
Stormy Weather, and rare audio and video from Lena Horne’s life, will include songs such as “Ill Wind” (Arlen-Koehler); “Stormy Weather” (Arlen-Koehler); “Why Was I Born?” (Kern-Hammerstein); “A Lady Must Live” (Rodgers-Hart); “It's All Right with Me” (Porter); “Honeysuckle Rose” (Waller-Razaf) and many others made popular by Lena Horne.

“[Stormy Weather] is magnificent, gripping….” – raves Liz Smith.

At the Academy Awards in 2002 [from Simon & Schuster 2009], Halle Berry thanked Lena Horne for paving the way for her to become the first black recipient of the Award for Best Actress. "The beautiful Lena Horne" became a pioneering star for African Americans in the 40s and 50s. From the Cotton Club's glory days and the back lots of Hollywood studios to the glitzy but bigoted resorts of Las Vegas, this behind-the scenes look at an American icon is as much a story of the limits of the American dream as it is a masterful, ground-breaking biography. The book was on Oprah’s Summer Reading List in 2009 and nominated for a NAACP Image Award.

Ticket prices are $30 and $20 for adults; $24 and $16 for ASU faculty and staff; $23 and $15 for senior adults and K-12 students; and $10 and $6 for ASU students.

Tickets for all Fowler Center Series events may be purchased by calling (870) 972-2781 or (888) 278-3267, or online at www.yourfowlercenter.com. On performance evenings, the box office in Fowler Center opens one hour prior to the event.

Visit www.yourfowlercenter.com for additional information or call (870) 972-3471.