Just because I’m up at the MacDowell Colony to work on my Duke Ellington book doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking about Satchmo at the Waldorf. On Tuesday I e-mailed the final pre-rehearsal version of the script to John Douglas Thompson, Gordon Edelstein, and my other collaborators. This is the version that John will present as a one-night-only staged reading at the Vineyard Playhouse on July 9. Alas, I can’t be there, but I’m excited anyway.
I’m also extremely pleased to report that John is on the cover of the July/August issue of American Theatre. The accompanying article, by Rob Weinert-Kendt, is as good as it could possibly be. Would that Rob’s piece were available on line, but at least you can gaze at the cover photo, which shows John in costume as Louis Armstrong. Wow, huh?
In case it’s slipped your mind, we open at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts, on August 22, and at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, on October 10 (with previews starting on October 3). See you there, I hope.