An upcoming production at McGregor Hall gathers together present-day preachers and musicians to highlight the work of a Black American poet whose work during the Harlem Renaissance continues to stir souls.
James Weldon Johnson is perhaps best known for writing the poem in 1900 that would be put to music by his brother and become known as the Black National Anthem.
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is just one of the works that Johnson penned, however; the Feb. 1 production of “God’s Trombones” highlights a series of seven poems that Johnson wrote in 1927.
The full title of the collection of poems is “God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse,” and all seven will be performed in this program by Connie Ragland Productions.
Ragland, Thursday’s guest on TownTalk, talked about the event, which will begin at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 1.
Advance tickets are $25, $30 at the door, and $10 for children 12 and under. Blocks of 10 tickets will be discounted to $25 each, and Ragland said she’d love to see churches fill up their church vans and head over to attend the performance.
New Horizons Training Group and R.O.Y. Leadership are partnering with Ragland’s company to bring the performance to McGregor Hall.
The trombone is a metaphor for the voice of the preacher, Ragland explained. Each of the poems has a different topic and explores “the voice of the Black preacher and how it’s evolved.”
The nine pastors, ministers and others – most are local to the area – who will be reading Johnson’s works “are already known for being able to stir a crowd,” Ragland said, “to speak in a rhythm that the crowd will enjoy.” Each sermonette should last about seven minutes, with musical performances following each reading.
“We try to produce something of good quality,” Ragland said. Just because it’s Black history, the program isn’t just for Black people, she continued. “We want to reach across all cultures, it’s not just about us, our history in general, it’s about hearing a good word from God, it’s about singers that are going to blow the roof off.”
Evangelist Mary D. Williams, a Duke Divinity School professor and historian, will play the role of legendary Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. Ragland says her alto, story-telling voice “will lift your soul.”
Among other performers is Rubina Woods, part of the quartet New Creation based in Hillsborough
All the vocalists will be accompanied by a live band – keyboards, drum, bass and lead guitars, and brass – you can bet that joining the trumpet and saxophone will be, you guessed it, a trombone.
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