Sophie Markham<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\nBefore writing the play, which she began in earnest last June, Nespor did extensive research on the lives of both Henry and Lucy, including reading historic accounts and dozens of their letters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was clear in those letters that Henry was hailed as a hero for accomplishing the nearly impossible task given to him by Gen. George Washington. On the personal side, he was a fascinating character, just 26 years old when given this task, irrepressibly optimistic and charmingly humorous. Quite surprisingly, some of the accounts didn\u2019t feel the same way about Lucy,\u201d Nespor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne author called her an \u2018ice queen\u2019 while other accounts told about how much the men loved her because she insisted on bringing food to the camps even though Henry tried to keep her from that suffering,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Equally intrigued by Lucy, Nespor noted she knew Knox\u2019s wife needed to be a part of the story. She wrote into the play the letters of encouragement Lucy sent to her husband while out in the field, as well as devoting an entire scene to her when her father throws her out of the house because he didn\u2019t approve of her marrying Henry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to take the audience between the lines in those letters to showcase how much the war cost not only the men, but the women of our country. They smuggled, spied, raised food, melted their spoons into cannon balls, tended the dead and wounded, many times while pregnant and nursing,\u201d Nespor said. <\/p>\n
Regarding the lyrics to the songs, Nespor noted the lyrics for the children were the most fun to write. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe young present-day boys are all bravado when they rap about how they would \u2018Take Them Out,\u2019 insisting they would have simply kicked out the British, and the girls respond with their own rap song insisting it was a hard long painful war and that we not forget \u2018Her Story,\u2019 which talks about the contributions of the women who too often get left out of the history books,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Other standout songs include \u201cStep into the Story,\u201d when at the beginning of the play the kids invite themselves and the audience into the story of Knox; \u201cI Stand Beside Him,\u201d Lucy\u2019s song of defiance to her father when she is thrown out of their home, and \u201cFor Love! For Liberty!\u201d the title song by Henry and his men when they almost give up on top of the Berkshires.<\/p>\n
When it came to putting life into her lyrics through song, Nespor turned to Noble for help.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was introduced to Jerry through a friend and was blown away by his creativity and music. What a talent,\u201d Nespor said.<\/p>\n\nVana Nespor, founder and executive director of the Springfield Community Theater of MA, goes over lines at one of the last rehearsals for “For Love! For Liberty!” at 52 Sumner in Springfield. (Sophie Markham)Sophie Markham<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\nNoble is a composer, arranger and pianist who, from 1987 until his retirement in 2020, served as a collaborative pianist for Smith College choral ensembles, students, and faculty as the staff accompanist in the Smith Music Department. He has produced original works and arrangements for a broad range of vocal and instrumental ensembles and soloists, and his music has been performed by acclaimed artists throughout the United States and internationally.<\/p>\n
Noble said that he and Nespor approached the musical end of the play \u201cthe old-fashioned way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe sent me lyrics the way Bernie Taupin used to do with Elton John and I would write the music and send her a recording for her approval or any changes. It was a very fast process and I write fast. We didn\u2019t really plunge into it until Vana was done with directing \u2018Annie\u2019 at the end of the summer, then we finished the project in about two months,\u201d Noble said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe music is a mixture of a lot of things because of the lyrics Vana sent me. Obviously, it is a Revolutionary War tale, but there is a dual timeline with the kids visiting the Armory and becoming part of the story. So, you will hear a type of Marshall music (brisk marching music suitable for military troops) and for the kids I wrote hip hop beats. Lin-Manuel Miranda set a high bar for writing when using rap in Broadway theater. I felt as if I could never come close to his work, but I was going to certainly try,\u201d he added about the accomplishment.<\/p>\n
Tickets to the play, available online at 52sumner.com<\/a>, are $19 for adults and $10 for children.<\/p>\n52 Sumner, part of Springfield Performing Arts Ventures Inc., offers live music and other entertainment, and serves as the home for Springfield Community Theater of Western MA, at the old church at 52 Sumner Ave. in the city\u2019s Forest Park neighborhood. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.masslive.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPRINGFIELD \u2014 It is sometimes easy to forget the role Springfield played in the American Revolutionary War and the city\u2019s ties to Gen. Henry Knox. But playwright and director Vana Nespor of Springfield Community Theater of MA is not going to let that happen. Learning of the 250th anniversary of Henry Knox\u2019s daring \u201cNoble Train […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2232805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2232805"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2232806,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232805\/revisions\/2232806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2232805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2232805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2232805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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