Ask Your Mama, With Jessye Norman, The Roots and Nnenna Freelon, Will Play the Apollo in 2013 | Playbill

Related Articles
News Ask Your Mama, With Jessye Norman, The Roots and Nnenna Freelon, Will Play the Apollo in 2013 The Apollo Theater and Manhattan School of Music will present the New York return of Ask Your Mama, described as "a 90-minute sonic tapestry of music, film and spoken word by Emmy Award-winning composer Laura Karpman," March 23, 2013, at Harlem's famed Apollo Theater.

Based on Langston Hughes' "Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz," the evening will feature the Manhattan School of Music Chamber Sinfonia conducted by George Manahan, who also conducted the sold-out world premiere at Carnegie Hall in 2009 and a subsequent performance at the Hollywood Bowl. Ask Your Mama features original cast members, including Jessye Norman and The Roots, with ?uestlove, Black Thought and Nnenna Freelon.

Here's how the production is described: "Langston Hughes conceived his 1961 epic 'Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz' as an interdisciplinary creation, including in the margins suggestions for types of music including hot jazz, German lieder, cha-cha, patriotic songs, post-bop and Middle Eastern, as well as specific songs like 'When the Saints Go Marching In' and 'Battle Hymn of the Republic,' all of which he meant to accompany his words. Karpman's composition brings these imaginings to life, combining Hughes' language with sounds that come together to evoke the turbulent flux and flow of American cultural life, making the 50-year old text startlingly current."

Tickets will go on sale Nov. 19 at 10 AM through Ticketmaster. For more information, visit AskYourMama.com or ApolloTheater.org.

 
RELATED:
Today’s Most Popular News:
 X

Blocking belongs
on the stage,
not on websites.

Our website is made possible by
displaying online advertisements to our visitors.

Please consider supporting us by
whitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.
Thank you!