Legendary Supremes superstar Mary Wilson brings her glorious voice and charisma to honor the great American icon, ambulance Lena Horne
Image Credit: Randee St. Nicholas
Mary Wilson, one of the original Supremes who performed with Diana Ross, stars in a free multi-media celebration of Lena Horne, Stormy Weather on November 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Miller Outdoor Theatre, 6000 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, 77030. The production traces Horne’s groundbreaking career as an African-American singer, actress and civil rights activist in a segregated society.After it’s one-night only performance in Houston the production travels to The James Lumber Performing Arts Center at College of Lake County, IL; Madame Walker Theatre of Indianapolis; the Dounda Arts Center at Eastern Illinois University Charleston, Illinois and Wentz Hall at North Central College of Naperville, Illinois.
James Gavin, author of the Horne biography Stormy Weather narrates the concert production, which features rare multi-media images and footage of Horne. He received a nomination for Best Biography from the NAACP Image Awards in 2010. Audience members will be enthralled with the story of Horne’s start in show business as a chorus girl at the Cotton Club, the development of her career as one of the few African-American actresses with the MGM studio, and her long reign as a nightclub headliner. Interspersed in the show, Wilson sings thrilling new arrangements of Horne’s popular hits including “Stormy Weather,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Yesterday When I Was Young,” and many more. Stormy Weather is a “living, breathing, biography” that combines story, song and visual images from Gavin’s wealth of material and hundreds of interviews – several with Horne herself – which offers the audience a defining portrait of an American icon.
The production features arrangements by seven-time Emmy award winner Mike Renzi with musical direction by Larry Dunlap.
Miller Outdoor Theatre
Free, assigned seat tickets are available at the Miller Theatre Box Office on a first-come first-served basis while supplies last between 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Friday, November 9, 2012. Remaining tickets are given out one hour before curtain. Assigned, ticketed seat will be held until 5 minutes before the performance starts. No tickets needed for hillside seating. Please note that lawn chairs must be placed on the left side of the hill; while the right side of the hill is reserved for picnic blankets.
