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Tony Award-Winning Composer Jeanine Tesori Brings Musical 'Violet' To SpeakEasy
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The Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori is behind several Broadway hits: "Fun Home," "Shrek the Musical" and "Violet," which is now having its New England premiere at the SpeakEasy Stage Company.
The musical is about a young woman named Violet, whose face is scarred by an ax when she's 13 years old. Twelve years later, she sets off on a bus journey from her home in North Carolina to Oklahoma, to visit a faith-healer she thinks will help her lose her scar and become beautiful.
The SpeakEasy Stage Company production of "Violet" is running at the Boston Center for the Arts until Feb. 6.
Guest
Jeanine Tesori, Tony Award-winning composer. She tweets @JeanineTesori.
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The ARTery: SpeakEasy’s ‘Violet’ Takes A Ride To Somewhere Special
- "There is no one — no one — writing better music for the stage today than Jeanine Tesori. She wrote the music for two masterpieces — 'Caroline, or Change' with Tony Kushner and 'Fun Home' with Lisa Kron, which deservedly won last year’s Tony Award for best score and is still on Broadway. But SpeakEasy Stage Company invites you to start at the beginning with a lovely production of her first musical, 'Violet,' which she wrote with Brian Crawley (through Feb. 6) in 1997."
The Boston Globe: A Journey Through Hope, Heartbreak In ‘Violet’
- "McCartan, a graduate of the Boston Conservatory, delivers a powerfully moving portrayal at SpeakEasy of a protagonist who is a singular combination of tough-mindedness and yearning. The actress touches the depth of Violet’s desire to be made whole in more than one sense, to be truly seen."
The Boston Globe: For ‘Violet’ Composer Tesori, It’s About The Journey
- "Ask Jeanine Tesori about the prospect of second chances, and she’ll point to 'Violet.' When the show premiered off Broadway in 1997, Tesori should have been celebrating her first professionally produced musical as a composer, alongside lyricist and book writer Brian Crawley. Instead, she was crestfallen. After receiving a mixed review from The New York Times, all the buzz building about a Broadway transfer for 'Violet' immediately fizzled."
This segment aired on January 21, 2016.