Passing Strange's Dorsen to Direct Norman, Wright, Aziza in Ask Your Mama! at Carnegie Hall

By Andrew Gans
February 6, 2009

Ask Your Mama!, Laura Karpman's multimedia concert production based on Langston Hughes' 1961 poem cycle about African-American life, music and culture, will be presented March 16 at Carnegie Hall.

Directed by Passing Strange's Annie Dorsen, the world premiere will boast the talents of famed soprano Jessye Norman, jazz vocalist Lizz Wright and the hip-hop group The Roots as well as vocalists de'Adre Aziza (Passing Strange) and Tracie Luck. Show time is 8 PM.

George Manahan will conduct the Orchestra of St. Luke's.

Karpman's Ask Your Mama!, according to press notes, is a "90-minute tapestry of music, film, and spoken word that bursts the boundaries of time, place, and verbal expression to trace the currents and tributaries of cultural diasporas. The Hughes/Karpman work travels from Africa to the Americas, from the South to the North, from cities to suburbs, from opera to jazz, from gospel to be-bop—and in Hughes's own words, 'from shadows to fire.'"

The creative team also includes visual artist Rico Gatson, video designer Kate Howard, scenic consultant David Korins and sound designer Leslie Ann Jones.

For tickets, priced $23-$68, visit the Carnegie Hall box office (154 West 57th Street), call (212) 247-7800 or log on to www.carnegiehall.org.