Nativity: A Life Story is an African American Christmas-themed musical based on the Black Nativity written by Langston Hughes, that was intended to become a holiday tradition, appearing annually in various venues in New York City since its inception in the mid-1990s. The performances have been sponsored by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Bruce Weber of The New York Times called it "a quirky combination of spiritual fervor, showbiz glamour, African-American pride and a celebration of women".
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ observed on December 25. as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night; in some traditions, Christmastide includes an octave. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season centered around it.
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. He moved to New York City as a young man, where he made his career. One of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance in New York City. He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue", which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue".
The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.
Created in the mid-1990s, performances were held in a variety of auditoriums in New York City. [1] In 2001, the musical was performed at Riverside Church, where crowds were in excess of the church's capacity of 1,900. [2] Starting in 2002, Nativity found a home at the United Palace Theater, a venue owned by Reverend Ike and the United Christian Evangelistic Association located at 175th Street and Broadway in Washington Heights, Manhattan that provides seating for 3,500 for the three performances presented that year. Howard Dodson announced at the time that the United Palace would be the musical's permanent home. [1] The show was created by Harold Wheeler and Hattie Winston, together with producer James Stovall, who was executive director of the Ministry of the Arts & Culture at the Palace Theater. [3] "Black Nativity", a gospel song-play by Langston Hughes first performed in 1961, was a major inspiration for Nativity. [1] The show's producers planned for the show to become an annual tradition to rival the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall and A Christmas Carol at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, though Weber in his 2002 review felt it "doesn't yet have the polish of its downtown cousins". [1]
Riverside Church is a Christian church in Morningside Heights, Upper Manhattan, New York City. It opened its doors on October 5, 1930. It is situated at 120th Street and 490 Riverside Drive, near the Columbia University Morningside Heights Campus, across the street from, and one block south of, President Grant's Tomb. Although interdenominational, it is also associated with the American Baptist Churches USA and the United Church of Christ. It is famous for its large size and elaborate Neo-Gothic architecture as well as its history of social justice. It was described by The New York Times in 2008 as "a stronghold of activism and political debate throughout its 75-year history ... influential on the nation's religious and political landscapes." It has been a focal point of global and national activism since its inception.
Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, better known as Reverend Ike, was an American minister and evangelist based in New York City. He was known for the slogan "You can't lose with the stuff I use!" His preaching is considered a form of prosperity theology.
Broadway is a road in the U.S. state of New York. Broadway runs from State Street at Bowling Green for 13 mi (21 km) through the borough of Manhattan and 2 mi (3.2 km) through the Bronx, exiting north from the city to run an additional 18 mi (29 km) through the municipalities of Yonkers, Hastings-On-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, and Tarrytown, and terminating north of Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County.
The 2002 production of Nativity featured a cast accompanied by three choirs and a company that totaled 125 performers. Several of the performers had appeared in Nativity in several previous year's productions, with Ebony Jo-Ann and Lillias White having contract clauses written into their agreements to perform elsewhere guaranteeing that they would be allowed to perform in Nativity. White, who performed the spiritual "No Room" said that "This is something I absolutely have to do every year". BeBe Winans, who played Joseph, and Stephanie Mills as Mary did a duet of Joseph Joubert's "Love Is a Miracle". The song "Have You Heard About the Baby" was performed by an a cappella trio led by Freddie Jackson. Composer William L. Dawson's hymn "Behold the Star" was led by Priscilla Baskerville together with the Ebony Ecumenical Ensemble and the Broadway Inspirational Voices. Narration was provided by Denise Burse, Keith David and Phylicia Rashad. The closing number is "Spread the Word", described as "a rollicking gospel chorale" that had "the audience was on its feet and roaring as though a rock concert was ending" serving as "a fitting conclusion to this grandly spirited and wholly contemporary show, whose creators have persevered with a faith of their own". [1]
Lillias White is an American singer and actress of stage, television, and film who is particularly admired for her performances in Broadway musicals. In 1989 she won an Obie Award for her performance in the Off-Broadway musical Romance in Hard Times. In 1997 she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for portraying Sonja in Cy Coleman's The Life. She was nominated for a Tony Award again in 2010 for her work as Funmilayo in Fela Kuti's Fela!.
Benjamin "BeBe" Winans is an American gospel and R&B singer. He is a member of the noted Winans family, most members of which are also gospel artists.
Stephanie Dorthea Mills is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Mills rose to stardom as "Dorothy" in the original Broadway run of the musical The Wiz from 1975 to 1977. The song "Home" from the show later became a Number 1 U.S. R&B hit for Mills and her signature song. During the 1980s, Mills scored five Number 1 R&B hits, including "Home", "I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love", "I Feel Good All Over", "(You're Puttin') A Rush on Me" and "Something in the Way ". Mills' won a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her song "Never Knew Love Like This Before" in 1981.
A 2003 review recognized the "powerful singing voices" and "dance that delivers the goose bumps", but said that "the production values are reminiscent of an elementary-school pageant, rickety scenery and all". [4] Two performances of Nativity were presented in December 2006 at the nightclub Joe's Pub, featuring George Faison and Lillias White. [5]
Joe's Pub, one of the six performance spaces within The Public Theater, is a music venue and restaurant that hosts live performances across genres and arts, ranging from cabaret to modern dance to world music. Joe's Pub is located at 425 Lafayette Street near Astor Place in Manhattan, New York City. It is named after Joseph Papp, the theatrical producer who established the New York Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theater and the free Shakespeare in the Park program in Central Park.
George W. Faison is an American dancer, choreographer, teacher, and theater producer, and winner of a 1975 Tony, a Drama Desk Award, and a 1991 nominee for the Emmy Award for choreography. He was a featured dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, founder of the George Faison Universal Dance Experience, and co-founder/producing artistic director of the Faison Firehouse Theater.
