Woodstock on Broadway
Musical/Revue/Documentary
One hundred years ago a utopian community of the arts was founded
in upstate New York by a group of humanists, craftsmen and intellectuals.
In 1912 Anita M. Smith slipped the platinum handcuffs of Philadelphia’s
exalted Inner Assembly to join the artists of Woodstock. Ms. Smith
began as a talented painter, and later became a herbalist, writer
and historian. She was the first to chronicle the whys and wherefores
of Woodstock—exploring a mystique that, with the Festival
of 1969, influenced and uplifted an entire generation.
We propose to commemorate 100 years of the Woodstock Colony of
the Arts on Broadway, seeded by sponsors in the information technology
(IT) sector. In a libretto drawn from Ms. Smith’s Woodstock
History and Hearsay, and the abridged art edition, It
Happened in Woodstock, it explains the international celebrity
of the place, the phenomenon and the state of mind.
Ms. Smith narrates the story of Woodstock, beginning in the time of the Amerindians—when the god Manitou sent down from the sky the first woman, in the shape of a tortoise. The saga continues through the time of the early European settlers to the launch of the Artists Colony, up through to the Festival of 1969—and in a spectacular finale, skips to the present and future. Her story is enacted and set in dramatic counterpoint by mimes, dancers, a flautist/panpiper, a chorus, an orchestra, and elegant staging.
Never before has anyone told the WOODSTOCK story in the context of its larger themes—Amerindian spirituality, a continuing series of rollicking, Pan-inspired fêtes, and a flowering of the arts. For all those who attended the Festival of 1969 (in person or vicariously), experienced an epiphany, and now sadly wonder if it was all just a far-off summer’s dream…this explains “Why Woodstock?”….
Julia Blelock and Weston Blelock, Co-Producers