Exploring America's Classical Music w/ Frank Proto, Composer & Arranger of SHADOWBOXER a Jazz Infused Opera Based on The Life of JOE LOUIS - World Premiere - Archive Broadcast

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George V Johnson Jr

Talkin Jazz w/ Frank Proto Arranger Composer

SHADOW BOXER 4/14/2010...click here!

The world premiere of a new American opera based on the life of one of the greatest boxers who ever lived. Joe Louis The Brown Bomber became a hero to the whole country in an era when a black hero was all but unthinkable. But what happens to a hero when the glory fades and the bills come due....

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CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

WORLD PREMIERE "SHADOWBOXER"

APRIL 17 - 25, 2010

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A JAZZ-INFUSED, NEW AMERICA OPERA BASED ON

ONE OF THE GREATEST BOXERS WHO EVER LIVED

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at Maryland

Suite 3800

University of Maryland

College Park, MD 20742

1-301-405-2787

Rental Information

Parking & Directions

Saturday, April 17, 2010

7:30 pm - Ina and Jack Kay Theatre

Sunday, April 18, 2010

6:00 pm - Ina and Jack Kay Theatre

Sunday, April 18, 2010

6:00 pm - Ina and Jack Kay Theatre

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

7:30 pm - Ina and Jack Kay Theatre

Friday, April 23, 2010

7:30 pm - Ina and Jack Kay Theatre

Sunday, April 25, 2010

3:00 pm - Ina and Jack Kay Theatre

PURCHASE TICKET HERE

JOE LOUIS

"THE BROWN BOMBER"

THE GEORGE V JOHNSON JR SHOW BLOG TALK RADIO

THE MAKING OF SHADOW BOXER

UM School of Music: Shadowboxer: An Opera Based on the Life of Joe Louis

Maryland Opera Studio

music by Frank Proto

libretto by John Chenault

Leon Major, director

Timothy Long, conductor

Erhard Rom, scenic design

David Roberts, costumes

Nancy Schertler, lighting design

Kirby Malone and Gail Scott White, projections

Shadowboxer is co-commissioned by the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and the UM School of Music with support from Commissioning Partners Peter Wolfe and Robert and Patricia Knight.

SHADOW BOXER

The world premiere of a new American opera based on the life of one of the greatest boxers who ever lived. Joe Louis —“The Brown Bomber” — became a hero to the whole country in an era when a black hero was all but unthinkable. But what happens to a hero when the glory fades and the bills come due? This new opera by Frank Proto and John Chenault brings the triumph and tragedy of an American icon to new life in a stunning

production featuring projected images, an onstage jazz band and a 12-member chorus.

Timothy Long, Conductor

FRANK PROTO

Join us for post-performance Talk Backs with composer

Frank Proto and

John Chenault, Librettist

Author of words to be set to music in an opera or operetta

LEON MAJOR

(April 18) and with the Shadowboxer cast, Moderated by director Leon Major (April 25)

CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Clarice Smith

A well-known Virginia artist and collector, Clarice Smith attended the university before continuing her art studies at the Corcoran School in Washington and at

George Washington University, where she taught watercolor and portrait painting. Smith has had numerous solo exhibitions in galleries in the United States and abroad. Together with her husband, real estate developer Robert Smith, the Smiths have become the largest private donors ever to a public university in the state of Maryland. The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at Maryland is testimony to her generosity.

A 650 seat proscenium theatre, The Kay Theatre creates the atmosphere of an Old Broadway house with the amenities of a state-of-the-art

performance space. With a massive fly space, huge wings and an adjacent scene shop, the theatre can accommodate the lavish and sophisticated sets of complex opera and theatrical productions.

Click here for our new interactive seating chart!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

7:30 pm - Ina and Jack Kay Theatre

Sunday, April 18, 2010

6:00 pm - Ina and Jack Kay Theatre

Sunday, April 18, 2010

6:00 pm - Ina and Jack Kay Theatre

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

7:30 pm - Ina and Jack Kay Theatre

Friday, April 23, 2010

7:30 pm - Ina and Jack Kay Theatre

Sunday, April 25, 2010

3:00 pm - Ina and Jack Kay Theatre

PURCHASE TICKET HERE

Frank Proto (composer), Leon Major (director), John Chenault (librettist), Timothy Long (conductor)

YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE!

JOE LOUIS

Joe Louis burst onto the professional boxing scene in 1934 with style and skill such as the boxing world has seldom seen.

Known to many as the "Brown Bomber," Louis emerged victorious from his first 27 fights, all but four of which he won in knockouts.

In the early days of his career, he destroyed such great heavyweight fighters as

Stanley Poreda,

Natie Brown

Rosco Toles

It was here that Louis delivered to the entire world a premonition of the reign of domination that he was to begin.

Joe Louis Barrow was born on May 13, 1914. His father, "Mun Barrow," was a cotton picker from Alabama and his family fought with poverty for

most of his childhood.

Joe Louis and his mother Lillie in a 1935 photo

His family moved to Detroit in 1924, at which point Joe first became involved in boxing. Having grown up in the Old South, Louis had acquired the instinct and anger of a true fighter, even amidst the evils of racial discrimination and intolerance. His early career was a period of hard work and determination, and was one without glamour or fame.

Ten years after his arrival in Detroit, Louis won the Golden Gloves as a light heavyweight. Following this win, Louis turned professional and won twelve contests within the first year.

The first few years of Louis' pro career involved a steady ascension up the pyramid of the Heavyweight class. His boxing prowess, as well as his reputation, was growing at an incredible rate.

Fueled by world events, as Mussolini's Italy stood poised to invade tiny Abyssinia, the Louis-Carnera bout had become a symbolic microcosm

for the pending conflict. Adding to the excitement,

Jimmy Braddock just twelve days previous, had shocked the boxing world with his upset of Max Baer, leaving the winner of the Louis-Carnera match as the logical contender for a match with Braddock.

Before a crowd of 64,000 fans, many of whom had paid as much as three times the face value of their ticket from scalpers, Louis managed to open a serious gash in Primo's lip with the first punch of the fight. The right hand that snapped back Carnera's head and started the blood to flow, no doubt, had an added affect in that Primo's handlers had forgotten to insert his mouthpiece.

By the sixth round, a courageous Carnera, with blood streaming from his mouth ,and his left eye nearing swollen shut, went down in a hail of right hands.

before a Yankee Stadium crowd of 64,000.

Louis followed this fight with a pairing against Max Baer, who he defeated by knockout in the fourth round.

Ernest Hemingway described this fight as "the most disgusting public spectacle outside of a public hanging" that he had ever seen.

Such a dedicated boxer was Louis that he married Marva Trotter two hours before his fight with Max Baer in September of 1935, won the fight and then began his wedding night. Fame and athletic success don't always go hand in hand. Although success brings fame, fame can sometimes hamper the road to success.

Legendary boxer Joe Louis poses with Owens 1935

Owens was a spectacular athlete for Ohio State

His fame allowed him to hang out with band leaders Cab Calloway

and Duke Ellington.

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was a friend.

Joe Louis works out with the punching bag in Lakewood, N.J., June 17, 1936, one day before his fight with Max Schmeling.

When he began training for his fight with German Max Schmeling, the German, crowds flocked to his camp in Lakewood, New Jersey, to watch him.

He played a daily game of golf against the advice of his trainers who warned that a good golf swing was harmful to a good punch. Complacency had set in.

The Fall of Joe Louis

Joe Louis was seemingly invincible, until his meeting with Max Schmeling on June 19, 1936. Schmeling was the underdog but, to the surprise of all, gave Louis a defeat that would continue to sting long after the cuts had healed. Louis was counted out in the 12th round of this lengthy fight and suffered the first and most painful defeat of his boxing

career.

In 1937, Louis faced world heavyweight champion in Chicago. In an eight round match, Louis captured the heavyweight title of the world by knocking Braddock out. After this victory, Louis stated, "I don't want nobody to call me champ until I beat Schmeling." Louis had ascended to the top of the boxing world, but in his estimate his journey was far from complete. His embarrassing loss to Max Schmeling was the only dark spot on a career that otherwise was the stuff of dreams, and he was consumed by a desire for revenge.

Following this successful title defense against Welsh boxer Tommy Farr

in a 15-round marathon match, Louis initiated his "Bum of the Month"

campaign. The idea was for Louis to take on a variety of fighters,

whether they were contenders or not.

During this period, on the day of June 22, 1938, Louis once again took

on the only opponent who had ever beaten him, Max Schmeling. This time around, Louis knocked Schmeling out and captured the admiration of countless Americans. Louis gained a moral victory for himself and for his country, and simultaneously struck a damaging blow to Hitler and his pretentious beliefs.

Louis' first punches, a pair of powerful left hooks, began his opponent's eventual demise. Schmeling complained bitterly about being hit with foul kidney punches, but every punch was a fair one.

The fight was nothing short of ridiculous, with Schmeling falling to the floor in just two minutes and four seconds.

YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU SURE CAN'T HIDE!

It was this time period that bore witness to Louis' reign of terror in

the heavyweight boxing world. Beginning in 1937, he began a 12-year

reign as boxing's heavyweight champion of the world. During this

stretch,

Here's Louis on March 28, 1939, with a local fighter named Ernest "Dynamite" Jackson, a Pacific Coast heavyweight champion who later became the first African American to get a referee's license.

Louis had victories over Lou Nova,

Tony Galento,

Gus Dorazio,

Buddy Baer,

Louis' epic battle with Billy Conn at the Polo Grounds also occurred during this time.

In 1942, Joe Louis began a period of service in the Army and worked as a

physical education teacher.

Sargent Joe Louis and Wife Jacqueline and daughter Marva in 1943

It would be four years before Louis again returned to the ring.

Between 1946 and 1949, Louis flawlessly defended his title four times, including two victorious fights against 'Jersey' Joe Walcott.

Louis retired in 1949, still the undefeated heavyweight champ. Succumbing to financial pressures and government debts,

Louis was forced back into the ring. In 1950,

he attempted to recapture his title in a bout against . However, in a points decision, Louis was handed a loss.

Not ready to accept defeat, he again tried his hand in 1951 against Rocky Marciano.

During this unsuccessful return to the ring, Marciano knocked Louis through the ropes in the 8th round. This was Joe Louis' final time in the ring. He had earned $5 million in his illustrious boxing career.

But at 37, Joe Louis had not a single cent to show for it.

Frank was a friend of Joes to the end. He helped him get spots on TV shows and appearances. He paid for his medical bills and helped with Max Schmelling paid for his funeral.

It was said he talked to President Reagan to waive the requirements to get him buried in Arlington National Cemetery. It was never out of pity but out of a debt of gratitude.

To support himself, Louis decided to make a living as a Las Vegas casino host.

Joe Louis still holds the distinction of having successfully defended

his title more times than any other heavyweight in history. He knocked

out five world champions and will remain a powerful part of boxing

history for many decades to come.

Three of the greatest fighters of all time.

Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray and Joe Louis

His life and success story serve as proof that black and white Americans can coexist.

Joe Louis is a role model for all of us and proved that good sportsmanship can exist even in a sport as violent as boxing.

When he died in 1981, Joe Louis was eulogized - and continues to be known - as one of the greatest prizefighters of all time.

An Advocate for Preserving

America's Classical Music "JAZZ"
It's African American Legacy and Heritage

George V Johnson Jr

Executive Director & Founder

Washington DC Jazz Network

Director of Marketing & Advertising

Washington DC Jazz Network

[e-mail]

407.591.2281

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