Buzzin Music

Cross Road Blues - the legendary of Robert Johnson

A brand new stage show about the legendary blues singer, Robert Johnson will be playing for one night only at the Hackney Empire on 16th July.

Cross Road Blues recreates one of the most compelling myths in American music: Robert Johnson’s alleged Faustian pact with the devil at a crossroads one dark Mississippi midnight.

David Walter directs a new version of his sell-out play Cross Road Blues as part of the Hackney Empire’s Spice Festival this July.  Musicians featured in the performance will include violinist Sophie Solomon (formerly of Oi Va Voi, and now a successful solo artist, film composer and theatrical arranger), bassist Simon Little (The Divine Comedy, Clare Teal, Duke Special), guitarist Chris Allard (Jacqui Dankworth Band, Jamie Cullum) and slide guitarist Adam Morley aka Naughty Jack.  It will also feature a twenty-voice choir, the Elysian Singers.

Jonathan Forbes plays Robert Johnson.

Previously performed as a fringe two-hander, receiving five-star reviews and sell out crowds, the play has now been reinvented on a Wagnerian scale.  The addition of an expansive choral score, performed by a twenty-voice choir accompanied by a six-piece acoustic blues ensemble, promises to make this a unique and truly frightening piece of theatre.

The music for the performance has been composed by pianist Michael McHale, winner of the 2009 Terence Judd/Hallé Award, and a rising star in the classical world.  The score features close interaction between the musicians and the actors, with both improvised and composed sections.  It employs a blend of jazz, blues, African rhythms and classical harmony, in a uniquely symbiotic arrangement with both naturalistic and verse dialogue.

Cross Road Blues is a graphic play, containing potentially offensive language including racist abuse and explicit descriptions of rape and murder.

Cross Road Blues – the legend of Robert Johnson
Script By David Walter Hall / Music By Michael McHale
7:30 pm, 16th July 2009 at the Hackney Empire

View the trailer for Cross Road Blues – the legend of Robert Johnson

For more information, visit www.crossroadblues.net