{"id":14956,"date":"2020-11-25T08:30:06","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T12:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/charlestongood\/?p=14956"},"modified":"2020-11-21T10:34:42","modified_gmt":"2020-11-21T14:34:42","slug":"coming-soon-pure-theatres-satchmo-at-the-waldorf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/charlestongood\/coming-soon-pure-theatres-satchmo-at-the-waldorf\/","title":{"rendered":"Coming Soon: PURE Theatre’s ‘Satchmo at the Waldorf”"},"content":{"rendered":"

From our friends at PURE Theatre<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n

PURE Theatre continues its VIRTUAL Season 18: Season of Hope with Terry Teachout\u2019s <\/b><\/span><\/span>Satchmo at the Waldorf<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, jazz got to be a happy music. Even when it\u2019s about the bad part of life, it\u2019s happy deep down…and that\u2019s what makes it good.\u201d <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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ABOUT THE PLAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSee the write-up in the paper today? Man says I\u2019m a \u2018walking Smithsonian Institution of jazz.\u2019 Well I\u2019m walking\u2014barely.\u201d It\u2019s 1971, and the greatest trumpet player in the world has just finished a set at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Now at the end of his career, Louis Armstrong reflects back on his life and the ever-evolving struggle to live with dignity as a Black musician in a White world. Based on the 2009 biography written by playwright Terry Teachout, <\/span><\/span>Satchmo at the Waldorf <\/i><\/span><\/span>is an intimate exploration of Armstrong\u2019s life, legacy, and\u2014above all\u2014jazz. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“There is a line in<\/span><\/span> Satchmo at the Waldorf<\/i><\/span><\/span> in which the character of Joe Glaser, Armstrong’s longtime manager, says that he only knew two real geniuses, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, and that ‘he was Louie and Louie was him.’ And at the same time, Louis Armstrong, in the more than 40 years he spent working alongside Joe Glaser, never once was invited into Glaser’s home. It’s this dichotomy that makes <\/span><\/span>Satchmo at the Waldorf <\/i><\/span><\/span>such a powerful piece of theatre in both its exploration of the extraordinary life of the world’s greatest trumpet player and its obvious relevance to today,\u201d says Sharon Graci, the play\u2019s director. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs an actor, you come to love your characters, even the ones who, in life, you probably wouldn\u2019t like very much,\u201d says Douglas Scott Streater, regarding his role. \u201cPlaying Louis Armstrong, I don\u2019t really have that problem. He was always someone I admired, but through the course of rehearsals, and building this character, I\u2019ve come to deeply respect not only his artistry, but his stamina, his drive and ambition, and the unapologetic happiness he felt playing music.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Teachout\u2019s play finds Armstrong just months before his death in July 1971. He is frail, using oxygen after his show, and frantically recording memories for a new book he\u2019s writing on his life. From his dressing room backstage, Armstrong recounts his life, including his run-ins with the mob, his relentless, four decade, 300 gigs per year schedule, the wounding criticism he received from fellow Black musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, and the deep betrayal he suffered at the hands of his longtime manager and friend Joe Glaser. According to Streater, \u201cWith every rehearsal, my respect for Armstrong deepens. He came from the humblest beginnings, and he made music in one of the most unfavorable times to be a Black man in this country, and yet his faith in the power of music to spark happiness never wavered. He saw real value in bringing joy to people\u2019s lives. He was vocal about civil rights, calling out President Johnson, and he saw the bitter irony in the fact that the color of his skin kept him from getting a table or a room at the restaurants and hotels where he was the draw.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Like most one-person plays, <\/span><\/span>Satchmo at the Waldorf<\/i><\/span><\/span> requires the actor to take on the formidable task of embodying more than one character and carrying the entire, full-length play alone. \u201cThis is my first one-person play,\u201d says Streater. \u201cSharon says that her ambition for the PURE Core Ensemble is that each one of us perform a solo show. So I guess this one\u2019s mine. Yes, it\u2019s daunting, but it\u2019s also a really powerful experience. I\u2019m enjoying the challenge of building three unique characters and I like the idea of being up there alone. I\u2019m also really excited to film the piece. There\u2019s nothing good about being a professional actor in the middle of a pandemic, and especially being an actor who predominantly works on stage, so the chance to keep working, and to keep growing artistically, is really exciting.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Terry Teachout is a writer, playwright, and drama critic for <\/span><\/span>The Wall Street Journal<\/i><\/span><\/span>. His 2009 biography <\/span><\/span>Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong<\/i><\/span><\/span> was the first comprehensive biography of Louis Armstrong\u2019s life<\/span><\/span>. <\/i><\/span><\/span>The play adaptation,<\/span><\/span> Satchmo at the Waldorf<\/i><\/span><\/span>, premiered in 2011. Before becoming a full-time writer, he played jazz bass professionally in Kansas City. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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TICKET INFO<\/strong><\/p>\n

Virtual performances are available for a set period of time. Ticket holders must purchase and view the play within the performance window. <\/span><\/span>Satchmo at the Waldorf <\/i><\/span><\/span>will be available for viewing from December 17, 2020 through January 2, 2021. Each ticket holder will receive a unique viewing link that can only be used once.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Tickets for <\/span><\/span>Satchmo at the Waldorf<\/i><\/span><\/span> are on sale now at puretheatre.org and at the PURE Theatre box office. Tickets start at $15. PURE is asking the ticket buyer to reflect on how many people are watching the production and what they feel comfortable spending. The show is also available through the PURE All-Access Flex Pass, which provides access to all remaining plays in the season as well as a multitude of other virtual offerings. Remaining plays in PURE\u2019s 18th season include <\/span><\/span>Little Gem<\/i><\/span><\/span> by Elaine Murphy (January 2021), <\/span><\/span>Gloria: A Life <\/i><\/span><\/span>by Emily Mann (April 2021), and <\/span><\/span>The Play That Goes Wrong<\/i><\/span><\/span> by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer (May\/June 2021). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Additional information about <\/span><\/span>Satchmo at the Waldorf <\/i><\/span><\/span>and the All-Access Flex Pass can be found on PURE\u2019s website at <\/span><\/span>puretheatre.org<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/a> or by calling the box office at 843.723.4444 (available Tuesday through Friday 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From our friends at PURE Theatre… PURE Theatre continues its VIRTUAL Season 18: Season of Hope with Terry Teachout\u2019s Satchmo at the<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1599,"featured_media":14957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15,19,21,5,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/charlestongood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14956"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/charlestongood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/charlestongood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/charlestongood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1599"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/charlestongood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/charlestongood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14958,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/charlestongood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14956\/revisions\/14958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/charlestongood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/charlestongood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/charlestongood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/charlestongood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}