Lightning at our feet
Part of the 2008 Next Wave Festival
Dec 9, 11—13 at 7:30pm
Michael Gordon / Ridge Theater
"...a combination of artful angularity and a rock-inflected assertiveness." —The New York Times
"Michael Gordon and Ridge Theater create an exciting, rousing sight-and-sound panorama that puts the viewer in a kind of trance." —Der Bund (Switzerland)
In writing rich with wonder and fierce with longing, Emily Dickinson created a new American landscape of the interior, describing a world that finds exhilarating new life in Lightning at our feet, a new song cycle by composer Michael Gordon and Ridge Theater (Decasia, 2001). Bob McGrath directs and Daniel Zippi provides dramaturgy in this evocative, multimedia production steeped in the spirit of one of America's most visionary artists.
Using voice, amplified strings, piano, electronics, and percussion, four women—Jennifer Charles, Leah Coloff, Courtney Orlando, and Bora Yoon—reveal the poet's humanity in hard-driving songs about immortality and love. As haunting video projections by Bill Morrison and Laurie Olinder flicker in the background like half-retrieved memories, Gordon's hypnotic songs roll on, nudging us ever closer to the essence of Dickinson's incomparable poems.
To listen to previews of the work, click on the "Multimedia" tab.
BAM Harvey Theater
Running time: approx 90min, no intermission
Tickets: $20, 35, 45
Music composed by Michael Gordon
From the writing of Emily Dickinson
Films by Bill Morrison
Projections by Laurie Olinder
Dramaturgy by Daniel Zippi
Directed by Bob McGrath
With Jennifer Charles (voice), Leah Coloff (cello, voice), Courtney Orlando (piano, violin, voice), Bora Yoon (guitar, viola, percussion, electronics, voice)
Music Direction by Ted Hearne
Set Design by Jim Findlay
Costume Design by Ruth Pongstaphone
Lighting Design by John Ambrosone
Sound Design by Jamie McElhinney
Musical arrangements by Michael Gordon in collaboration with Jennifer Charles, Leah Coloff, Ted Hearne, Courtney Orlando, & Bora Yoon
Commissioned by Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston, and BAM for the 2008 Next Wave Festival.
Main Photo: Laurie Olinder
The New York Times Review of Lightning at our feet
Michael Gordon's new multimedia work, Lightning at our feet, is also built around Dickinson's poetry. But Mr. Gordon's aim was not to reach back to Dickinson, as Copland did and as most composers who set this poetry do. Instead he and his collaborators in the Ridge Theater—principally the director Bob McGrath and the dramaturge Daniel Zippi—imagined Dickinson as a 21st-century voice, spiritual and earthy in roughly equal parts. More
Lightning at our feet Musicians
Jennifer Charles at myspace.com and elysianmusic.com.
Leah Coloff at myspace.com and lucibelcrater.com.
Courtney Orlando at myspace.com and alarmwillsound.com.
Bora Yoon at myspace.com and borayoon.com.
Ridge Theater Site
Learn more about Bill Morrison, Laurie Olinder, Bob McGrath, and their bastion of avant-garde theater. More
Biography of Michael Gordon
The Lightning at our feet composer is also a member of New York's most ubiquitous new music group. More
Biography of Emily Dickinson
Don't miss Dickinson's recipe for black cake. More
Emily Dickinson's House
The Amherst home of the famously reclusive Dickinson is reconsidered in Lightning at our feet. More
Emily Dickinson's Obituary
"A Damascus blade gleaming and glancing in the sun was her wit," wrote Emily's sister-in-law in these final words. More
Preview from The Houston Chronicle
"This eagerly awaited collaboration between award-winning composer Michael Gordon and the groundbreaking New York company Ridge Theater sets a dozen Dickinson poems to contemporary music and places them within a fresh multimedia framework." More
Article from The Atlantic
Emily's letters form the backbone of Lightning at our feet. More
Interview with Michael Gordon
Michael discusses his first piano teacher, President Bush's concert going habits, and much, much more. More