Jublilante Productions and Composer/Director Sonja Karlsen announce the premier of her musical The Joy of Bernadette at the Tryon Fine Arts Center. Performances will be November 13-17,2014. Tickets are available by calling the box office at 828-859-8322.

Writer and composer, Sonja Karlsen is a recipient of many distinguished awards including the Corbett Foundation and Martha Baird Rockefeller grants, among many others. Her children’s theatre company, the Enchanted Forest Opera, was on the roster of the NY Foundation for the Arts for many years as Artists-in-Residence for the state of New York. Sonja Karlsen says this about her show: IISO much that is being foisted on the Public as entertainment is low, demeaning, and degrading. We become less than we are. It is said that everyone who goes to Lourdes is somehow touched by the experience. When the final/Alleluia and Amen’ has been sung, and the performance is over, people can leave the theater feeling joy-filled, blessed, and spiritually enriched.” Sonja is hopeful to see this musical on Broadway.

The Joy of Bernadette tells the story of Bernadette Soubirous, who in 1858 had visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary that led her to discover the spring in Lourdes and its healing waters, which is still visited by pilgrims numbering in the tens of thousands each year. The play is not a religious work per se, but like the lives of Ann Frank and Malala Yousafzai, is more about the power of the spirit to inspire, uplift, overcome prejudice and bring a new light to the world.

According to the author, Sonja Karlsen, the idea came to life in a very large apartment in New York city. Since the apartment was being renovated, there was no furniture in it and it had marble floors. The slightest spoken word bounced back, much like skateboarders in a tournament. Singing, as opposed to talking, created an unusual response from the marble in the floors – something harmonious.

Sonja was giving a voice Jesson to Mezzo Soprano Alejandra Soler-Roig, working on some of Eponines music from Les Mis. During a break, they began to talk about how words and lyrics can elevate the human spirit or bring it low, and Alejanfra expressed the idea of Sonja writing a musical.

When asked what the musical should be about, it was suggested she write about a saint. They began to name different ones, eliminating them one by one, until Sonja remembered that her sister had played Bernadette in a school play in Canada years before. Sonja decided then to write a musical about Saint Bernadette. After six months of research, and a period of thought and formulation of ideas, she began writing.

The libretto took six months to complete. What started as a 144 page piece is now 64 pages. The Joy of Bernadette relates to the story of Saint Bernadette, her life and death. It is the story of the victory of the human spirit over a lifetime of hardship, illness, injustice and extraordinary events.

A reading of Act One of The Joy of Bernadette has been done in New York City and Florida. However, this will be the first time a formal theater performance of the full musical will be performed. With a mix of over 60 international and local performers and crew, this is a major production.

 

— article submitted 

by Gordon Pendavis