Glow Lyric Theatre Announces Return of Summer Festival Season

Glow Lyric Theatre, South Carolina's only summer opera and musical theatre, has announced the highly anticipated full return of their annual Summer Festival Season.

Hailed for their innovative and socially conscious season pairings, Glow has created a season of three bold, relevant and provocative productions including a timeless Tony Award winning rock musical by the incomparable Elton John, the southern premiere of a brand new opera confronting South Carolina's history of racial injustice, and an uplifting and thoughtful music revue from Broadway's Golden Age. This season will return to full capacity attendance with live indoor performances at theFred Collins Performing Arts Theatre in Greenville's Kroc Center.

"For me and for the Festival, this season is rejuvenating. We are not only returning to the scope of our pre-pandemic sessions, but also staying faithful to our mission to produce works in direct response to the social and political climate of South Carolina.There is so much that we have endured collectively over the last few years, and Glow is in a unique position in 2022 to promote community healing with our season selections, " says Executive Director Christian Elser.

The first production of the Summer Festival Season to open is Elton John and Tim Rice's five time Tony award winning Rock Musical, AIDA on July 15. An allegory for modern race relations, the production follows Aida, an enslaved Nubian princess, who finds her heart entangled with Radames, an Egyptian soldier. With their countries at war and their love forbidden, Aida is forced to weigh her heart against the responsibility that she faces as the leader of her people.

"We could never have anticipated that our world would be watching the horrifying war in Ukraine while we produced Aida, which is a show about the devastation caused by countries in conflict. However, the show carries a message that love can transcend warring nations, hatred and bias, and we need that message now more than ever," explains Executive Director, Christian Elser.

Opening July 22 is the southern premiere of the new opera Stinney: An American Execution, which Jenna Elser describes as "One of the most profound and impactful shows Glow will ever produce." Stinney was composed by Furman and Yale University graduate, Frances Pollock, with a libretto by poet and author, Tia Price. It received additional creative input from Tony nominated playwright Jeremy O. Harris as well as the living relatives of George Junius Stinney, Jr. The opera is based on the life of the 14-year-old African-American boy, George Stinney Jr, who was wrongly convicted and executed in 1944 for the rape and murder of two white girls in Alcolu, South Carolina. It tells George's story as well as the story of his family, his community, and the jury of ten white men who sent an innocent Black boy to the electric chair. Incorporating gospel and electronic music techniques, this opera conveys the pain and anger of the community, connecting their feelings and reactions to today's current socio-political climate and the pervasive "fear of the other." George Stinney, Jr. remains the youngest person to be legally executed in 20th century.

To enhance Stinney's impact and facilitate community dialogue on racial injustice, Glow will be partnering with the Community Remembrance Project of Greenville County, an organization dedicated to the acknowledgement and memorialization of victims of racial terror in South Carolina. A free community panel talk back will take place at 11am on July 30th featuring the composer Frances Pollack, representatives from the Community Remembrance Project,historian, Mr. George Frierson, who led the 2014 effort with the surviving members of George Stinney's family to have him posthumously exonerated, and Southern American Studies scholar (and former Vice-Mayor of Charlottesville, VA), Dr. Kendra Hamilton.

"The hope that Glow, Stinney's creators and the Community Remembrance have is that introducing this work in the home state of its subject will foster constructive community dialogue around racial injustice, acknowledge past atrocities, and help to promote a culture of understanding," says Christian Elser.

Finally, Glow serves up a musical revue with a poignant twist - Classic Broadway: Songs from Musical Theatre's Golden Age, opening on July 27. Not only does this performance feature timeless songs that have shaped all of our lives, but it also explores the significant themes of social justice present in productions of the time. This musical showcase digs deep, offering audiences a parade of Broadway hits while giving the performers an opportunity to explore the songs from their own styles and unique perspectives. Classic Broadway features beautiful songs and lyrics that forever changed musical theatre: Carousel, The King and I, Camelot, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, My Fair Lady and more.

"What makes Classic Broadway much more unique than other musical revues is that it's being crafted with the help of the actors in it. This means it will reflect their own identities within the music, and utilize the music to tell the stories they want to tell," says Jenna Elser.

After a two year hiatus from their full season, it is Glow's sincere hope that people return to see live, professional, musical theatre and opera in Greenville. Audiences are key to the survival of the performing arts, and Glow is looking forward to its second decade of bringing high quality, professional and thoughtful productions to South Carolina's Upstate.