Mar 28, 2019 - Sale 2503

Sale 2503 - Lot 305

Price Realized: $ 531
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
"THE WORST SHOW I EVER SAW IN MY NATURAL LIFE!" (LITERATURE.) Hughes, Langston. His critique, written on a theater program. Printed program titled "PAS Staples PTA 1962-1963 Performing Arts Series." 4 pages, 9 1/2 x 6 inches, on one sheet; light fold in upper margin; signed and inscribed by Hughes on front page in green ink. Westport, CT: Staples P.T.A, 1962

Additional Details

Langston Hughes's passion play based on old spirituals, "The Gospel Glow," debuted in New York in October 1962, starring the renowned gospel singer Ernestine Washington. Offered here is a program for an early touring performance of "The Gospel Glow," still featuring Washington, in an unlikely location: Staples High School in wealthy Westport, CT, sponsored by the Staples P.T.A. Performing Arts Committee. Also on the bill was Hughes's 1954 collaboration with composer Margaret Bonds, "The Ballad of the Brown King," featuring Bonds on piano. Hughes also contributed a short "author's note" to the program, and attended the performance.
We have found no printed reviews of this Westport performance, but Langston Hughes was not proud of what he saw. He wrote on the cover of this program: "The worst show I ever saw in my natural life!," adding his signature, as well at the place and date, leaving no room for confusion.