Anyone heard anything about a new operetta called “Mark Twain & the
General”? There was an ad for a production later this month in Bound Brook,
NJ, in a double bill with Leoncavallo's Pagliacci:
http://brookarts.org/?event=eastern-opera-nj-presents-pagliacci-mark-twain-general

It runs about 40 minutes; the book, by Jewel Seehaus-Fisher, a New Jersey
playwright, is “based on the historical publishing success initiated by
Mark Twain of the war memoir of Ulysses S. Grant”—a fine subject that
certainly has the makings of a fine drama. The music is by Robert Butts,
who teaches at Montclair State University and is the artistic director and
conductor for Eastern Opera Company of New Jersey, the Baroque Opera of New
Jersey (which presented this show last year) and some other groups. Read
more about it at http://baroqueorchestra.org/content/cabaret.

Maybe some Forum members from the area will take in the show and report
back to the rest of us?

-- Pete Salwen

P.S. -- on a separate (non-Twain) subject, if anyone is familiar with NYC's
Crafts on Columbus weekend street fair and would like to sign a petition to
prevent its being closed down, click
here<http://www.change.org/petitions/gale-brewer-save-crafts-on-columbus>for
more information.