The Gospel at Colonus

The Gospel at Colonus is a gospel version of Sophocles's tragedy, Oedipus at Colonus. The show was created in New York City in 1985 by Lee Breuer, the experimental-theatre director, and composer Bob Telson, the founders of a troupe called Mabou Mines. The original script was under consideration for the Pulitzer Prize for drama. The show had a brief run on Broadway from March to May in 1988. Breuer was Tony-nominated for his book.

Breuer and Telson handed the storytelling duties to a black Pentecostal preacher and the choir of his church, who in turn enacted the story of Oedipus's torment and redemption as a modern parable. They employed the unusual device of casting The Blind Boys of Alabama to collectively portray Oedipus as well the Chancel Choir of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.

Some people^[who?] have expressed the view that the result was the translation of the Greek myth into a Christian parable. Others^[who?] observed that the name Jesus is not mentioned and is irrelevant to the story.

While the traditions of Greek theater as religious ritual are unfamiliar to modern audiences, Gospel at Colonus reaffirms those possibilities by its use of call-and-response and ecstatic, sung re-enactment of a culturally important story.

PBS televised the original BAM production from Philadelphia in 1985 as part of the Great Performances series, with Morgan Freeman as The Messenger, Carl Lumbly as Theseus, and Robert Earl Jones as Creon.

Musical numbers

• "Live Where You Can"
• "Fair Colonus"
• "Stop; Do Not Go On!"
• "Who Is This Man?"
• "How Shall I See You Through My Tears?"
• "A Voice Foretold"
• "Never Drive You Away"
• "Numberless Are The World's Wonders"
• "Lift Me Up (Like A Dove)"
• "Sunlight Of No Light"
• "Eternal Sleep"
• "Lift Him Up" Listen
• "Now Let The Weeping Cease"

External links

• The Gospel at Colonus at the Internet Movie Database