A Bridge to the Promised Land
Urgent! Funding Needed!
Urgent! Funding Needed!
We need donations to fund our next big event in coordination with the Scott Joplin Chamber Orchestra in Houston, TX. Please donate today!
A tale of our times
“A Bridge To The Promised Land” is a gut wrenching, multimedia theater experience composed by a noted Black composer, Milton Williams.
Telling the Story:
Inequity, Humanity, & Discrimination
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Homelessness, economic immobility, and social inequity plaguing our inner city’s residents are at the center of “A Bridge to the Promised Land”. The social issues and discrimination that impoverished Americans and particularly Black Americans face need to be brought to the forefront of our daily conversations through the arts. “A Bridge to the Promised Land” aims to highlight these struggles through a modern and compelling theatrical performance.
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THE DESIGN promotes a form of theatrical presentation that is firmly based on an expanded concept of multimedia. It treats vocal and instrumental music, dance and theatrics as equal partners in the staging of Music/Theater/Dance/ Scenic Entertainment.
There are elements that should appeal to opera-lovers, dance patrons, and music theater fans alike. As it merges the three it will, optimistically, attract a wider audience that enjoys the combination of theatrical, musical, and dance entertainment.
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MUSIC is the single most important element in the piece. Blues, jazz, and blues-jazz type melodies, harmonies and motives are at the core of this drama. It is not a blues or jazz work, however.
Vocal Music consists of Operatic-type selections, Musical Theater numbers, Jazz, Gospel, Folk, and more. Music is both live and prerecorded.
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DANCE and dance-like movement (such as pantomime) are integral parts of “A Bridge to the Promised Land.” They are easily responsible for half of the dramatic development of the work.
The piece has two principal dancers, and four singer-dancers for a total of six. The principal dancers symbolically represent various aspects of the lead character’s personality; the female dancer his "Psyche" Idol, the male, his Alter Ego.
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SCENIC ELEMENTS are intended to include modern computer-generated imagery technology, along with traditional theatrical lighting and special effects.
A complex social crisis
“A Bridge To The Promised Land” tells the story of homelessness, racial discrimination, poverty and political callousness in our society.
Commentary on “A Bridge to the Promised Land” and its genesis “Espying”
“WOW. That would be my initial scholarly assessment.... The concept is fantastic....”
Amy Henderson, (a Smithsonian Institution Curator Emeritus)
“Milton Williams was a master at the helm of orchestra, chorus, and soloists. He did an amazing job in this enormous undertaking.”
San Francisco Chronicle
