A COFFIN IN EGYPT

A Chamber Opera in One Act Based on A Coffin in Egypt, a play by HORTON FOOTE Music by RICKY IAN GORDON • Libretto by LEONARD FOGLIA World Premiere Recording—Houston Grand Opera, March 2014 FREDERICA VON STADE • TIMOTHY MYERS, Conductor

Horton Foote’s dramatic stage play A Coffin in Egypt is owned by Sunday Rock Corporation. A Coffin in Egypt was co- commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Houston Grand Opera gratefully acknowledges the lead funders that made the commissioning and stage production possible: Houston Endowment Inc.; Kitty King Powell; Ted and Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund; The Andrew W. Mellon A COFFIN IN EGYPT Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. Harlan C. Stai; Beirne, Maynard and Parsons, L.L.P.; and Beth Madison. The CD release was made possible through a generous contribution from the Ted and Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund. A Coffin in Egypt was A Chamber Opera in One Act recorded in performance at the Wortham Theater Center in March 2014. The recording was produced and engineered on location and mixed by Marlan Barry. Based on A Coffin in Egypt, a play by HORTON FOOTE

WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM Music by RICKY IAN GORDON • Libretto by LEONARD FOGLIA ALBANY RECORDS U.S. TROY1500 915 BROADWAY, ALBANY, NY 12207 TEL: 518.436.8814 FAX: 518.436.0643 World Premiere Recording—Houston Grand Opera, March 2014 ALBANY RECORDS U.K. BOX 137, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA8 0XD TEL: 01539 824008 FREDERICA VON STADE • TIMOTHY MYERS, Conductor © 2014 ALBANY RECORDS MADE IN THE USA DDD WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL.

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 1-2 4/1/14 3:53 PM A Coffin in Egypt

Houston Grand Opera, March 2014

Frederica von Stade as Myrtle Bledsoe

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 3-4 4/1/14 3:53 PM Coming Home A Coffin in EGYPT, a new opera. By Patrick Summers, HGO Artistic and Music Director

A Message from the Artistic & Music Director and the Managing Director Opera is an art that joyously traffics in the majestic, with large casts and choruses expressing heightened emotions. But music, which is at the storytelling heart of opera, is also an art of disarming intimacy. The late Each season at Houston Grand Opera we take tremendous pride in staging masterpieces from the Texan playwright Horton Foote’s single-character play A Coffin in Egypt possesses all of the depth and lyricism operatic repertoire—presenting audiences with celebrated operas from the past, while also being of grand opera, and shares several qualities with Foote’s most famous play, The Trip to Bountiful. Both are filled with his characteristic honesty and very Texan banter; they lead us to believe we are on a predictable path, dedicated to the creation of new works. HGO has long been recognized as an exceptional leader when we are diverted into an unexpected journey with wounded but noble hearts. Both are small in scale but in the commissioning of new operas, and we are thrilled to have presented Ricky Ian Gordon and large in emotion. Leonard Foglia’s A Coffin in Egypt as the company’s fifty-third world premiere on March 14, 2014, Overdoing this gentle property would harm it. We knew that Ricky Ian Gordon’s unique musical language, in the Wortham Theater Center’s Cullen Theater. which evokes the essence of a particular type of American memory, would match Foote’s poetry, so beautifully We were also delighted that mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade believed so strongly in the piece rendered into the opera’s libretto by director Leonard Foglia. Mr. Gordon has a unique ability shared by all true composers for the theater: he can musicalize emotions, and he lyrically transfigures the quiet and private that she was willing to be lured out of retirement to take on the leading tour-de-force role of moments behind the pain that sometimes defines entire lives. Frederica von Stade, whose long and generous Myrtle Bledsoe. career has been filled with rewarding risks, embodies the quixotic and indomitable Myrtle. HGO remains deeply committed to presenting new works and we are grateful to everyone who made The triple-entendre title is of symbolic significance to Bible scholars and believers, as they are the final four this production—and especially this recording—possible. words of the Book of Genesis, describing the death of Joseph far from his Canaan homeland: “So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old. And they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt” (Genesis 50, verse 26). Its second reference is to a literal journey—more of an escape, really—when, as a younger woman, Myrtle traveled to see the famous sights of northern Africa.

But most importantly for this unique new opera, the title beckons us to a windswept community an hour south Patrick Summers Perryn Leech of Houston: Egypt, Texas, where the cathartic events of Myrtle’s life played out. The emotional journey of this Artistic and Music Director Managing Director opera is a reminder that for all of history’s sweep and grandeur, it is chiefly through our private relationships Margaret Alkek Williams Chair that we experience joy, pain, and, if we are lucky enough to live a long life, the accepting peace of forgiveness.

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 5-6 4/1/14 3:53 PM A Coffin in EGYPT Ensemble A Coffin in Egypt Cast & Production Timothy Myers, Conductor Flute Christina Medawar ** A Chamber Opera in One Act Clarinet Eric Chi ** Based on A Coffin in Egypt, a play by HORTON FOOTE French Horn Sarah Cranston ** Music by RICKY IAN GORDON Violin Denise Tarrant **, Concertmaster, Libretto by LEONARD FOGLIA The Sarah and Ernest Butler Concertmaster Chair Co-commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and Erica Robinson ** the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Viola Eliseo Rene Salazar ** Premiered by Houston Grand Opera and recorded live March 14, 16, and 21, 2014 Cello Barrett Sills ** Double Bass Dennis Whittaker ** Piano/Celesta Laurie Rogers Music Librarian Timothy Tull Cast ** Houston Grand Opera Orchestra core member Myrtle Bledsoe Frederica von Stade Hunter Bledsoe David Matranga Creative Team Director Leonard Foglia Elsie/Clerk Carolyn Johnson Set and Costume Designer Riccardo Hernández Jessie Lydell Cecilia Duarte * Lighting Designer Brian Nason Captain Lawson Adam Noble * Gospel Chorus Director Bethany Self Musical Preparation Laurie Rogers Gospel Chorus Bethany Self Cheryl D. Clansy, soprano Associate Music Director Eric Melear Laura Elizabeth Patterson, alto Mr. and Mrs. Albert B. Alkek Chair James M. Winslow, tenor Stage Manager Kristen Burke Jawan CM Jenkins, bass Assistant Director Keturah Stickann * non-speaking, non-singing role Sound Designer Andrew Harper Producer and Recording Engineer Marlan Barry Supervising Producer Robert Boldin

Photograph by Patrick Summers Horton Foote’s dramatic stage play A Coffin in Egypt is owned by Sunday Rock Corporation.

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 7-8 4/1/14 3:53 PM Track Index Bringing Coffin to Life: The Creators Speak 1. It Was Him or Me 6:02 2. The Mulatto 3:22 When I read Horton Foote’s play A Coffin in Egypt, I ​We did a workshop last June, and Lenny and I thought 3. In Algiers 8:47 thought it was kind of gothic. I loved the concept of we needed more gospel songs, so we wrote two more 4. The Open Prairie 4:25 this ninety-year-old woman, Myrtle Bledsoe, looking while we were there. Then, in December we came 5. Lois and Lorena 6:30 back on her life and trying to resolve all of her sorrow, together again and a wonderful thing happened. 6. Captain Lawson 5:28 regret, resentment, and anger. It felt immediately like Lenny had written this beautiful little monologue for 7. Trees/If I Can Only Get it Told 10:30 the “stuff” of opera. As a reflection of her age, Myrtle Flicka. He’d actually taken it from the play where 8. A Coffin in Egypt 8:24 keeps repeating things, and I knew that would be a she’s painting trees and talking about the trees she’s 9. Little Brother 6:31 good thing musically. I could repeat musical themes painting. During the workshop, Flicka was speaking 10. Iris (Red) 4:51 throughout the piece and sometimes mutate them as the monologue, and I said, “You guys, don’t be mad 11. Zechariah 6:30 if a mind is playing with them. at me, but I think that’s an aria.” They both agreed, so I went home and wrote it that night, and we put it 12. I Live On 8:11 ​The gospel music element is integral to this work, in the next day. The orchestration is very transparent. and I knew pretty early that I wanted to write it The effect I was going for is almost an evanescent TOTAL TIME = 79:32 myself. But I wasn’t sure how I wanted to handle it— quality, like the piece is about to disappear the way perhaps record the music and then overlay it with the story is about to disappear in Myrtle’s head. the sound of the prairie, wind, and birds. One night I woke up at around 4:00 in the morning—this is sort ​I’ve heard Flicka’s voice since I was a child—she’s of the witching hour for me. I suddenly “heard” the been singing since I grew to love singing—so it was opening of the piece, which is the gospel song “Step easy for me to write for her. The piece fits her like a Back,” and I got up and went to the keyboard, and I glove. There’s an aria towards the end of the piece wrote it down. As soon as I began writing, I realized when she sings, “If I could choose one day to do over, that the gospel songs had to be live, and that’s when do you know what it would be? One of those clear we added a gospel quartet. spring days when I came here as a bride.” And when I heard her sing that in the workshop, I just started to ​When HGO first approached me, this was to be a cry. I wasn’t crying for Myrtle Bledsoe. I was happy one-woman piece for Frederica von Stade, but Lenny because it felt to me at that moment that Lenny and I decided to write actors into the show to take on the had created a beautiful vehicle for Flicka. parts of family members. So now, with a gospel Caregiver Jessie Lydell (Cecilia Duarte) serves quartet and actors, the piece became bigger. —Ricky Ian Gordon, composer as a sounding board for Myrtle’s recollections.

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 9-10 4/1/14 3:53 PM Director Leonard Foglia works with David Matranga. On a late fall afternoon, just before sundown, ninety-year-old Myrtle Bledsoe is trying to make peace with her long life. She has outlived her husband, daughters, and virtually everyone else in Egypt, Texas. In this tale of adultery, deception, murder, and lost beauty, Myrtle is determined to finally free herself of all the resentment and hate that has ruled her life for so long and once again experience the remarkable beauty all around her.

A Coffin in Egypt is based on Pulitzer Prize–winner Horton Foote’s play of the same name. I had the great privilege of working with Horton when I directed the play version of A Coffin in Egypt in 1998. It was an invaluable experience having him by my side as we explored the character of Myrtle Bledsoe and her need to find meaning in her long life. My most vivid memory of my time with Horton was the afternoon we spent recording hymns in an African-American church on Long Island, New York. The recording was to be used as off- stage sound cues in the play. I had never seen him so excited and moved as when that congregation burst into song. As their voices rang out with such abandon, we both wished the audience could experience them live as we were. For Horton, music was always an intrinsic part of the play. As I think back, that is probably when the seed was planted in my mind that this could be an opera. Over the years, whenever I thought of A Coffin in Egypt, my mind would always go back to that rainy afternoon in a church filled with music and Horton singing along with the best of them.

—Leonard Foglia, librettist and director

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 11-12 4/1/14 3:53 PM Who is Who tour and West End), Thurgood (also the Kennedy Center, where it was filmed for HBO), and The People in the Ricky Ian Gordon Picture as well as the revivals of Wait until Dark and On Golden Pond. He directed Anna Deavere Smith’s Composer Ricky Ian Gordon’s songs have been performed and/or recorded by such renowned Let Me Down Easy off-Broadway and on tour; it was also filmed for Great Performances. He has written five singers as Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Audra MacDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, books with David Richards: the mystery novels 1 Ragged Ridge Road and Face Down in the Park and the Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and Frederica von Stade. His opera The Grapes of thrillers that form the Sudarium Trilogy: The Surrogate, The Son, and The Savior. Wrath debuted at Minnesota Opera and was also seen in New York at Carnegie Timothy Myers Hall. Other works include Orpheus and Euridice at Lincoln Center (Obie Award); Conductor Sycamore Trees at The Signature Theatre; Green Sneakers at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival; My Life Timothy Myers’s diverse repertoire comprises more than sixty operas. He recently with Albertine at Playwrights Horizons; Dream True at The Vineyard; and another Houston Grand Opera made his debut with the Chautauqua Symphony in a program of Wagner, Korngold, commission, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a liberation through hearing. A Lincoln Center/American Songbook and Tchaikovsky. Other recent and upcoming engagements include debuts with Series concert titled “Bright Eyed Joy: The Music of Ricky Ian Gordon” was devoted to his music. He has been the Atlanta, Portland, Toledo, Chautauqua, and Tulsa symphony orchestras and the guest of many festivals, universities, and conferences and has received numerous honors, including the engagements with Fort Worth Opera and New Music Raleigh. He will also make Stephen Sondheim Award, the Helen Hayes Award, an Alumni Merit Award from Carnegie-Mellon University, two recordings of music by living composers Louis Andriessen, John Supko, and D. J. Sparr. Other recent and the Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Theatre Foundation Award. He studied composition at Carnegie Mellon engagements include conducting two other new chamber operas for Houston Grand Opera, New Arrivals University. He is currently writing operas for the Metropolitan Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. and The Memory Stone, and engagements with the Beijing National Center for the Performing Arts, the North Carolina and Milwaukee symphony orchestras, the Wolf Trap and Central City festivals, and numerous Leonard Foglia other projects spanning four continents. In 2009, he was appointed by mentor Lorin Maazel as the first- Librettist/Director Leonard Foglia is a theater and opera director as well as librettist. His opera credits ever associate conductor of the Castleton Festival, where during his two-year tenure he was entrusted include the premieres of three operas by Jake Heggie—Moby-Dick (The Dallas with multiple symphonic and opera performances. In 2012, he completed a three-year term as principal Opera and in San Diego, Calgary, South Australia, and San Francisco Opera and seen guest conductor of Opera Africa in Johannesburg, where he conducted nearly thirty performances of varied on PBS’s Great Performances); Last Acts (Three Decembers) (HGO, San Francisco, repertoire and assisted the company in artistic development. He is currently the artistic director and principal and Chicago), and The End of the Affair (HGO, Madison, and Seattle). His production conductor of North Carolina Opera. of Heggie’s Dead Man Walking has been presented across the country. He wrote the book and lyrics of the Houston Grand Opera commission Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, which he also directed. After its premiere in Houston, the opera went on to be performed at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, San Diego Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. His theater credits include the original Broadway productions of Master Class (also national

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 13-14 4/1/14 3:53 PM Who is Who Failure: A Love Story, Dollhouse, Auntie Mame, Grey Gardens, Lobster Alice), at the Alley Theatre (Henderson Frederica von Stade in You Can’t Take It with You, The Hollow, A Christmas Carol), with the Classical Theater Company (Miss Mezzo-soprano—Myrtle Bledsoe Frederica von Stade began her career when Sir Rudolf Bing offered her a contract Julie and Uncle Vanya), and with the Houston Shakespeare Festival (Comedy of Errors, Hamlet). He made his during the Metropolitan Opera auditions. Since her Met debut in 1970, she has sung Houston Grand Opera debut as Steve Baker/Max in Show Boat. Film and television credits include Patriot nearly all of her great roles with that company. In January 2000, the Met celebrated Act, The Rejects, Law & Order, All My Children, As the World Turns, and the upcoming action comedy film the thirtieth anniversary of her debut with a new production of The Merry Widow Urban Shakedown. He has also voiced more than twenty animated characters in films such as Appleseed, specifically for her, and in 1995, as a celebration of her twenty-fifth anniversary, Appleseed Ex Machina, Halo Legends, and Sony’s Starship Troopers: Invasion. the Met created for her a production of Pelléas et Mélisande. She has appeared with every leading Carolyn Johnson American opera company; new productions have been mounted for her at La Scala; Royal Opera, Covent Actor—Elsie Bledsoe/Clerk Garden; Vienna State Opera; and the Paris Opera. Her repertoire encompasses bel canto (the heroines of Carolyn Johnson made her Houston Grand Opera debut in the world premiere of La Cenerentola and The Barber of Seville), the French mezzo roles (Mignon, Périchole, Marguerite, and A Coffin in Egypt. The Houston-based actress and singer has performed at Stages Mélisande), and, of course, trouser roles (Octavian, the Composer, Sesto, Idamante, and Cherubino). Myrtle Repertory Theatre (world premiere of The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Bledsoe is the third role she has created for an HGO world premiere: she was also the original Madeline in Musical, A Picasso, Panto Cinderella); Theatre Under The Stars (Little Shop of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Last Acts (Three Decembers) and Nina in Thomas Pasatieri’s The Seagull. Horrors); Main Street Theater (Close Up Space, the world premiere of Driftwood, Other roles she has created for world premieres include Tina in Dominick Argento’s The Aspern Papers (The Translations); Houston Shakespeare Festival (Hamlet, Comedy of Errors); Generations Theatre (Ruthless! The Dallas Opera) and Madame de Merteuil in Conrad Susa’s Dangerous Liaisons and Mrs. De Rocher in Jake Musical); Theatre LaB Houston (Johnny Guitar, What About Luv?, U.S. premiere of Top Gun! The Musical ); Heggie’s Dead Man Walking (both for San Francisco Opera). She has been named an Officier de l’Ordre Unity Theatre (Souvenir, Dancing at Lughnasa, Oliver! ); and Bayou City Concert Musicals (Gentlemen Prefer des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, and in 1983 she was given a special award for her Blondes), among others. She also performed and trained extensively in Chicago, where she served as the contributions to the arts by President Ronald Reagan. co-artistic director for Bugeater Theatre and was a company member of Noble Fool Theatre. The Houston Chronicle named her Ultimate Funny Girl of Houston in 2006, and in 2008 Chronicle readers named her David Matranga Ultimate Stage Actress of Houston. She also works as a director (most recently for Unity Theatre’s You Never Actor—Hunter Bledsoe Actor David Matranga is based in Houston, Texas, and has performed in numerous Can Tell ). She is also a private dialect and acting coach. local, regional, and New York theaters. New York credits include The Armageddon Dance Party (NYC Fringe) and Ophelia: Opera in Blue (Hamlet). In regional theater, he originated the roles of Patrick in 110 Flights and General Longstreet in General Desdemona at the first annual Proctors New Play Festival, and performed in Pride and Prejudice (Dallas Theater Center), The King Stag (Yale Repertory Theatre), and A Christmas Carol (Actors Theatre of Louisville). In Houston, he has appeared at Stages Repertory Theatre (Mortimer Mortimer in

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 15-16 4/1/14 3:53 PM Place One—It Was Him Or Me Egypt, Texas. (The sound of joyful singing is heard. It is the Time congregation of an African-American church across 1970 the prairie.) Step back, step back Characters Step back MYRTLE BLEDSOE And let Him point the way At 90 years old, she is still very handsome. He will lead me Her skin is clear and still quite unwrinkled. He will guide me Her snow-white hair is worn on the top of her And will not let me stray head, accentuating her long, graceful neck (The lights slowly come up on MYRTLE BLEDSOE. She and the firmness of her facial structure. is painting at an easel. She is 90 years old, still very A Coffin in Egypt Libretto JESSIE LYDELL handsome and is exquisitely dressed in a long, red 30s—Myrtle’s companion silk dress. HUNTER The house is surrounded by cotton fields, and is part Libretto by Leonard Foglia 30s—60s Myrtle’s husband of a vast plantation.) MYRTLE Based on the play by Horton Foote CAPTAIN LAWSON It was him or me late 30s–40—A dashing man from Myrtle’s past Him or me ELSIE It was him or me 50s—Myrtle’s sister in law (She closes her eyes.) CLERK Why me? 30s—A female clerk in a Houston department store Why did he choose me? (She almost laughs to herself.) NOTE: Words in Bold are sung by Myrtle. Why did I choose him? Words not in bold are spoken. (The singing continues from the church in the The hymns sung by the chorus are in italics. distance.) Composer Ricky Ian Gordon, librettist-director Leonard Foglia, He is within you assistant director Keturah Stickann, and conductor Timothy Myers

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 17-18 4/1/14 3:53 PM He walks beside you As many whites I know are But perhaps a few Hunter wrote her love letters Morning, noon, and night I don’t dislike Negroes Taking your She would read them to the white boys Taking your hand Some I like Hand, He That came to her bordello He leads you the way Some I don’t like Perhaps a few Everyone was laughing about it From darkness into light Just as some whites I like Leads you the I had to get away (JESSIE LYDELL, Myrtle’s companion, a woman in her And many, very many Way When she left him 30s, comes out onto the porch with two glasses of I don’t like From darkness into Light For Walker, the gambler lemonade.) I heard the pistol shots from here I know I should be bitter Hunter begged her to take him back Towards the Negro race MYRTLE He ran into the Negro church Putting on quite the display Because of the colored mistress Can you hear the Negroes singing? Holding a gun over his head That’s what I was told, anyway Hunter had as a young man (Jessie hand Myrtle a glass of lemonade.) Screaming Maude Jenkins, the mulatto “It was him or me. He preferred colored women Thank you, Jessie. (HUNTER enters. The “scenes” that occur are Him or me. Until he was forty-five (They both listen until the hymn comes to an end.) remembered conversations rather than full-fledged Then he changed It was him or me.” flashbacks. MYRTLE is reliving them in her mind. Step back step back And the change almost cost him his life When they saw him This one took place in 1908. Myrtle was 28. Hunter Step back Cost him his life The Negroes scattered like partridges was 32.) And let Him point the way Cost him his Almost killed themselves MYRTLE He will lead me He will lead me Trying to get out Maude Jenkins, the mulatto He will guide me He will guide me They left him alone before God And will not let me stray HUNTER And will not let me stray Screaming Maude Jenkins is none of your concern. He will never ever “It was him or me.” Never ever Two—The Mulatto MYRTLE They were singing the same hymns then He will never let me stray Maude Jenkins, the mulatto So, you don’t even deny it? He is within you Was the most beautiful MYRTLE HUNTER As they are right now In some ways I never cared much for their singing, myself. No. I don’t. He walks beside you The most refined (JESSIE makes herself comfortable in one of the porch They probably all remember it, too MYRTLE Copper colored chairs and picks up a book she has been reading.) Morning, noon, Will you stop seeing her? She brought to mind MYRTLE And HUNTER The Tahitian girls I’m not sentimental about Negroes No. Not all. It was too long ago I don’t plan to. No. In the paintings by Gauguin And their religion Night

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 19-20 4/1/14 3:53 PM MYRTLE HUNTER Laughing, laughing From those seven glorious years You plan to continue humiliating me, then. Suit yourself. I don’t care what you do. From city to city Is me HUNTER (The memory fades.) Bursting, brimming Laughing, smiling, happy me I love her. MYRTLE I found that I was witty I miss me (MYRTLE is stunned by this admission.) Why me? It wasn’t until I was thirty-one In Algiers That I learned I was fun MYRTLE Why did he choose me? MYRTLE I was fun Do you love her more than your wife? What did he see in me? Now it’s like that person floating around Europe, Fun (He stares out across the fields. This kind of direct around Africa was someone I read about, or was conversation makes him very uncomfortable.) Three—In Algiers Another me emerged told about, someone I knew once a long time ago. MYRTLE One I observed with such delight Jessie? Answer me. Do you love her more than me? (to Jessie) Another me was urged Let us be glad HUNTER So, I took my two girls to Europe and stayed seven To live and love with appetite Merciful God Yes. Let us be glad years. We traveled all over: Paris, Rome, Madrid. Mr. Froman wanted to put me on the stage (Singing from the church is heard.) Be glad In Algiers, a sheik fell in love with me When I met him in New York in nineteen ten Step back, step back He begged me to leave Hunter and marry him Mr. Froman thought I would be all the rage Let us be glad Step back In Algiers, a sheik saw a different me “Your beauty must not be wasted,” he said Merciful God MYRTLE A woman to be desired But I came back here instead Let us be glad Do you want me to divorce you? Valued, admired Be glad Glowing, sparkling HUNTER Drifting, drifting With everyone I met There is a place It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other. I can’t From this country to that Soaring, spinning, As bright as a star marry her anyway, unless I left here, because there Floating, wandering Shimmering and yet and yet As pure as a light is a law in Texas against black and white marrying. A curious expat To all of that I said goodbye As holy as love And I won’t leave here. Ever. I would put a fence Once I had sailed across the sea I have never known why There is a place around all of this if I could and keep everybody I could be whomever I wanted to be I miss… That knows only peace but myself out. I’ll never leave here to marry any In Paris, my girls studied ballet Is lit up with hope Riding across the desert in Cairo woman, black or white. We spent a magical year on Île Saint-Louis And sparkles with joy Glancing at a stranger in Berlin MYRTLE À Paris j’ai appris à peindre Gliding under a balcony in Venice Let us be glad Then I’ll leave. I refuse to live on here and be I learned more than to paint Dancing in the rain in Madrid Merciful God humiliated by you. And I’m taking the girls with me. With little restraint But what I miss most Let us be glad

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 21-22 4/1/14 3:53 PM Be glad Be glad Out here on the prairie Walk to Him. Walk to— Let us be glad Let us be glad Where everywhere you looked MYRTLE Merciful God Merciful God Was beauty Maude Jenkins, the mulatto Let us be glad Has kept this place for you Beauty Hunter wrote her love letters Be glad MYRTLE She would read them to the white boys There is a place Four—The Open Prairie See those cotton fields? When the Depression came That came to her bordello The meeting place I’ll tell you this though, when I came here as a bride, they couldn’t give their cotton away. Hunter said Everyone was laughing about it Where the glory of God shines through the country out here was extraordinary. he couldn’t afford for me to go traveling about the I had to get away There was nothing here then world. And that I’d have to be content living out here It is the place When she left him No houses, no fences in the country. My girls were married by then and I The meeting place For Walker, the gambler Just the open prairie was all alone in this big old house with Hunter. My Like a blossom inside of you Hunter begged her to take him back In the spring the wild flowers blanketed the land brother-in-law Little Leon and his wife lived back (The chorus hums underneath the following.) But I told you that already. Buttercups, primroses, bluebonnets there in the old plantation house and my other Then Walker the gambler was killed This wasn’t my home, you see. It is Hunter’s home. Black-eyed susans, Indian blankets brother-in-law, Stevens, the one whose son killed Maude was drunk all the time He was born here. Not here in this house. He built Miles and miles of them all thick and tall him, and his wife, Elsie, built a house over there and this for me. I was born not far though, in Eagle Lake. Grieving over him Early in the morning my sister-in-law Sally built that house on the corner. In the town. Not in the country. I was surrounded by them and their children, but Getting fat I would get on my horse Losing her looks And I was a beauty. Much sought after by the And ride through the wildflowers we weren’t congenial. Hunter told me they thought I Hunter was always home for supper now eligible young men. And then this country boy, gruff, Toward the rising sun was snobbish. And perhaps I was. strong willed, so sure of himself, and rich, so very, In bed by eight, up by four In the late afternoon very rich, came courting. Five—Lois And Lorena— No more riding on the prairie for me I would ride toward the west Walk To Him Just sitting alone with my paints and my books He found me cold, he told me. My beauty was a cold Sometimes for hours and hours (Singing from the church again. MYRTLE listens.) And I thought beauty, too narcissistic, he said of me once when he Chasing the setting sun wanted to hurt me. But I was beautiful. The sight of Christ is all there is to see It’s nineteen thirty-four When the moon was full The song of Christ is all there is to hear We’ve been married for thirty-four years And I refused to live here and be humiliated while I would ride across the prairie The hand of Christ is all there is to hold And I’ll go crazy he lived openly with his mulatto woman, Maude And cry and cry and cry There is no journey but to walk to Him With no one to talk to Jenkins . . . But I’ve told you that already. With my girls in their beds So I told Hunter Let us be glad Walk to And Hunter with his mistress Merciful God Him. Walk to Him Depression or not I wanted nothing more than to die Let us be glad Walk to Him. Walk to Him I have to go away for a while

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 23-24 4/1/14 3:53 PM Or I’ll go crazy You never knew my daughters, did you? There was a Captain MYRTLE And you’ll have the expense of keeping me (JESSIE shakes her head “no.” ) That I wanted Look at Miss Stella Dow, she’s white and gets drunk locked up Lois and Lorena. They’re both dead now. There was a Captain and sleeps with who she likes. In an asylum for the rest of my life Who wanted me They both died before you came here to be with me. HUNTER (It is 1934. Myrtle is 54, Hunter is 58.) (They dance for a few moments.) Lois found out about husbands Do you want people to talk about you like they do HUNTER Long before she died Moments come and dance before you Stella Dow? I can’t understand that. If you want to drive me I often wondered Tempting you and testing you and daring you MYRTLE crazy take me away from here. I’ve never been As I listened to her troubles To take the chance standing before you No, I guess I don’t. further than Harrison but four times in my life. Twice How humiliated she was HUNTER HUNTER to Houston and twice to San Antonio and I hope I By her husband’s unfaithfulness That’s enough. We’re going home. Let’s go. never have to see either of those places again. If she still agreed with Lorena MYRTLE (Hunter leaves. Myrtle starts to follow Hunter but stops (HUNTER takes out a checkbook and writes out a That it would have made any difference Captain Lawson is infatuated with me and asked me and looks back at Captain Lawson.) check.) Had I stayed here and not gone to meet him. But moments can’t change your life I don’t care if I never even see Harrison again now. Drifting, drifting HUNTER Can they? (HUNTER leaves the check on the table.) Six—Captain Lawson Stop acting like a fool. We write our story You can go off for as long as that lasts. On the moments we let pass (A lilting dance tune begins. It is 1918. CAPTAIN MYRTLE MYRTLE LAWSON, a dashing man in his late 30s–early 40s Maybe I’ll just slip away one afternoon. What can You see the problem with moments I went to visit my daughters enters. He and Myrtle dance. As he spins her around you do about it? Is they And got quite a shock the floor she is a young woman again. Myrtle is 38, HUNTER Usually don’t linger Because one of them Hunter is 42.) You are not going to slip away anywhere and you They are just moments, alas Lorena know it. Ah, ah Told me that she and her sister MYRTLE (As they dance, the church is heard in the distance.) Thought that my place was here with Hunter In 1918, during the First World War, I had gone to MYRTLE And if I hadn’t gone off a dance at the Opera House in Eagle Lake. Hunter Why is it that you can go openly across the tracks The hand of Christ Floating, floating wouldn’t dance, of course, but sat on the side all to be with your mulatto woman, and I can’t meet Is all there is to hold Around Europe evening watching me dance. Captain Lawson, who is dashing and finds me There is no journey He wouldn’t have carried on There was a moment fascinating? But to walk to Him So scandalously with When I could have HUNTER Walk to Him Maude Jenkins, the mulatto There was a moment You don’t mess with white ladies. There was a moment When I would have When I could have

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 25-26 4/1/14 3:53 PM There was a moment Well, I paint how they look to me.” ELSIE over. Stevens and I almost sent for you to come When I would have I was in my studio out back painting—this was The one you passed going out to the fairgrounds the back home, when one day Baby Sister came home There was a Captain during the Second World War­—when I heard day you went with Baby Sister to look at the German and said that a seventeen-year-old girl in the Junior That I wanted Hunter’s car drive into the yard, and then I heard a prisoners of war. Class, Iris her name is, whose father painted houses There was a Captain lot more cars driving up, and I thought, something MYRTLE for a living and was poor as a church-mouse, Who wanted me is wrong out there, something I don’t want to hear I don’t remember passing any girl. drove up to school one day in a brand new, red convertible. And Baby Sister said when they asked (CAPTAIN LAWSON leaves, looking back at MYRTLE about or know about. I put off going out as long as ELSIE her where she got it from she said it was a present once more before he exits. The memory fades.) I could and began to clean all my paint brushes and Oh, yes, you looked right at her, Baby Sister saw from an admirer. MYRTLE tidy up the studio, when Elsie came in and closed you do it. the door behind her. (Myrtle explodes as if the conversation was happening A week later I received a note from Captain Lawson. MYRTLE (It is 1944. Myrtle is 64. Elsie is 44.) now. Elsie tries to calm her but Myrtle brushes her off.) But I never answered it. I was 38. Hunter was 42. I I don’t know what you’re talking about. never knew exactly how old Captain Lawson was. ELSIE MYRTLE ELSIE God damn you, Hunter I was 29 when I met Mr. Froman in New York at a Myrtle, I have something sad to tell you. You must You don’t? Damn you to hell fabulous party. He told me I had remarkable beauty be brave because we all have a lot of friends here MYRTLE God damn you, Hunter and must go on the stage. “Must I?” I said. “You and they will stand by us. We can count on the rest No. But I’m damned as well must,” he said. of the family, too, except Sally, of course. Sally will (pause) But I didn’t. never help any of her brothers out. God damn you MYRTLE ELSIE Damn you to hell Seven—If I Can Only Get It Told Elsie, what is this trouble that’s happened? Oh heavens! I’m sorry I’m going to have to be the God damn you, Hunter one to tell you. I’m sorry for that. But I’m damned as well MYRTLE ELSIE (Referring to a painting she is working on.) Well, it’s very serious and I’m afraid that Hunter has The last time you were away, Hunter had been with You murdered that innocent man These are trees killed a white man. He said he did it in self-defense, a middle-aged white woman who had gotten sixty But I’m being murdered, too I love trees as the man was going to kill him. thousand dollars out of him. And then she ran off Poisoned by the memories of you with a twenty-year-old soda jerk, who worked at It’s been a long slow poisoning that I admit They talk to me MYRTLE Outlar’s Drug Store. And Hunter had gotten very But it is still poisoning me, killing me bit by bit And tell me their secrets What man? depressed and talked all the time about being an I usually paint trees There was a storm last night ELSIE old man after the woman he gave sixty thousand Hunter once said to me A terrible storm You know, the father of that high school girl. dollars to ran off with the soda jerk. We were really “I’ve never seen trees that color And I thought for a moment MYRTLE very worried about him. He told Stevens that he Or that shape.” The house would blow away “Haven’t you? What high school girl? was an old man now and his wandering days were

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 27-28 4/1/14 3:53 PM I lay in the dark Finally get it told MYRTLE HUNTER Thinking of you Then maybe What if they kill you? What if they kill you for killing It’s true. He told me to stop seeing her or he’d kill As I always seem to do Is it possible? that seventeen-year-old whore’s father? You won’t me. All my old grievances rose up inside me I could be free have many days to spend in peace then. MYRTLE And I screamed into the wind Of you HUNTER He didn’t even have a gun on him. Of me I hate you, Hunter She wasn’t a whore. Please don’t talk that way HUNTER Daily about her. She loved me and I loved her. But I didn’t know that. I saw him coming towards Even now with you lying in your grave Polluting my thoughts MYRTLE me and I thought for sure he had a gun and I killed I hate you Defiling my memories For humiliating me You mean to tell me you’re fool enough to believe a him. My friends believe me. Why does no one ever really die? Neglecting me seventeen-year-old girl loves a sixty-eight-year-old MYRTLE Lying to me If I can only get it told man. Do they? And what about his friends? What do they Murdering me Finally get it told HUNTER believe? Marrying me Then maybe She loved me. (pause) Is it possible? And leaving me with no one to blame MYRTLE HUNTER I can die, too My bitterness and resentment on Does she love you now? Now that you’ve killed her Myrtle, I have never pretended to be anyone other And get some rest But a dead man daddy? than myself from the day we met. You knew who Perhaps I was when you married me. And I knew who you There was a moment From this burden of hate HUNTER When I could have I don’t know. I don’t know about now. were, too. I have given you everything that I am For I do hate you There was a moment (Like a mantra) able to give. I never stopped you from doing what Even though you’re dead you wanted and I have never asked anything from When I should have It was self-defense. It was him or me. Self defense. I still hate you you all these years. But I am asking you now. I am In Algiers a sheik fell in love with me Him or me. Him or me. Or love you asking you to stand by me and to—just this once— He begged me to leave Hunter and marry him You believe me, don’t you? Perhaps be my wife. In Algiers a sheik saw a— (It is 1944. Hunter is 68, Myrtle is 64.) MYRTLE (Myrtle walks away from Hunter.) HUNTER HUNTER Do you want the truth? Tell us another one of your lies. About Mr. Froman Myrtle, I’m sorry for all the misery and unhappiness HUNTER and a sheik being in love with you. that I’ve caused you. I’m going to make it up to you. Yes. MYRTLE I want to spend the rest of my life here on earth in MYRTLE He was. And Captain Lawson… and… peace. No, I don’t. If I can only get it told

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 29-30 4/1/14 3:53 PM Not in Harrison Black and white Eight—A Coffin In Egypt Nine—Little Brother But in Egypt In a coffin in Egypt MYRTLE (The sound of a pistol shot. Then a bloodcurdling Like Joseph in the Bible (Singing from the church again. It underscores the I went to the graveyard to find scream. It is Elsie.) The difference between Joseph and Hunter is Hunter speech.) The man that Hunter killed I heard the pistol shots from here would have lain with Potiphar’s wife. I am home in God Though I’d never heard his name He ran into the Negro church I am home in God I asked Turk, my driver, what’s the name of Do you know how the first chapter of Genesis Holding a gun over his head I am home The man that Hunter killed begins? “In the beginning God created heavens Screaming I am home “Davis,” he said “Lovell Davis.” and earth.” And how the book ends? “In a coffin in “It was him or me. Egypt.” I am home in God “Rest in peace, daddy.” Him or me. A coffin in Egypt MYRTLE The tombstone read It was him or me.” That’s where I’ll end too They’re all buried right out there with their father “Love, Iris.” When they saw him Next to Hunter and my daughters and grandfather and great-grandfather and even And the date he was born The Negroes scattered like partridges A coffin in Egypt Sally, who wouldn’t speak to any of them for twenty And the date he died Almost killed themselves Buried deep in the ground years before she died. And Elsie. Poor sweet Elsie. He was only thirty-five Trying to get out In the spring the wild flowers will cover all I don’t know where they buried Captain Lawson, or The man that Hunter killed They left him alone before God our graves even where he died. She was seventeen Screaming Buttercups, primroses, bluebonnets I have never seen a man change so much in my “It was him or me.” When she was born Black-eyed Susans, Indian blankets life when he took that uniform off. Everybody still It was in the house The man that Hunter killed Joining miles of them all thick and tall called him Captain, but it sounded funny because he Across the road Was just eighteen was clerking in a grocery story for Mr. Sam Borden. Maude Jenkins, the mulatto That Little Brother killed his father “Where did they come from?” Sent word from California Women would go in and say, “Captain Lawson, They’ve torn it down now I asked of Turk That when she dies how are the mustard greens today?” Or the Irish No one could bear “Don’t know ma’am, She wants to be shipped back here potatoes. Or whatever. And he’d click his heels To ever live in it again Nor where they gone to.” And buried in Egypt, too and bow just like he was still in the Army, only he looked funny clicking his heels and bowing with Elsie screamed “We know where he’s gone to, She won’t be buried in our graveyard his butcher’s apron on. Captain Lawson. What was And Cook came running In a coffin in Harrison But with the colored people his first name? Ernest? Albert? I don’t remember. “Little Brother has killed his daddy Buried deep in the ground.” With her family Captain Lawson. So long ago. And he has the gun still That’s where Hunter ended, too Yes, she will end up Lock the doors In a coffin Like the rest of us God knows who else

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 31-32 4/1/14 3:53 PM He’s gonna kill.” day he was born. ELSIE Ten—Iris (Red) Your brother. Your younger brother is gone. Stevens’s face was blown away MYRTLE (It is 1950. Myrtle is 70. Clerk is in her 30s.) He lay on the floor This is your fault. He saw that you got off scot-free, HUNTER One day five or six years after Hunter shot and killed Elsie hovered over him screaming you never even saw the inside of a jail or courtroom. Let’s go inside now and get you cleaned up. that man I was shopping in Foley’s department store Now your brother has been killed by his only son (HUNTER leads ELSIE inside his house.) I called our doctor in Harrison in Houston with Elsie. She said, “There she is.” and you are responsible! Told him to find Hunter and Bud, the sheriff Choose again “There’s who?” I asked. “Iris,” she said, “the girl (HUNTER looks as though he is about to strike They rode all night across the prairie, Choose His strength whose father Hunter killed.” MYRTLE. Their lights flashing in every direction Choose again (Myrtle sees Iris for the first time.) ELSIE enters in a state of shock. She is splattered Choose His love Until finally they found Little Brother She was working in the bridal department there in with blood.) Choose again, my brother Sprawled across the ground the store. The clerk told me. Sound asleep ELSIE Choose again CLERK Hunter? Hunter! Did they find Little Brother? Choose again He didn’t holler or struggle She models different wedding gowns for the HUNTER Choose His joy He just looked up at Bud and said customers. Because of her beauty she can make Yes, Elsie. Bud has taken him to the jail in Harrison. Choose again “I did it in self defense. any gown, no matter how tacky, desirable. Don’t you But I’ll talk to the judge. Don’t worry. Choose His truth It was him or me.” think she’s beautiful? “That may be, but get up now ELSIE Choose again, my brother MYRTLE Like a good boy and come with me.” It was me he wanted to kill. Not Stevens. Choose again Choose again Do you want an honest opinion? “Where are you taking me?” HUNTER Choose CLERK “Where I have to, Elsie, you’ve had a terrible shock. We all have. To the jail in Harrison.” Choose again Of course. ELSIE “Why?” Choose His grace MYRTLE He told me, Hunter. He came into the kitchen in just “Because you killed your daddy.” Choose again Yes. I guess I do. In a common sort of way. However, his underwear holding the gun and said he was “I know that. Choose His peace common beauty has never appealed to me. going to kill me. Stevens shoved me into the pantry But why are you locking me up? Choose again, my brother and that’s when he shot him. Stevens is dead but it CLERK You didn’t lock up Uncle Hunter Choose again was supposed to be me. My own son. Why would my She’s had a very sad life. Her father was murdered When he killed that man.” only son…? in cold blood by a rich man over in Harrison, who (It is 1948. Myrtle is 68, Hunter 72, Elsie 48.) was in love with her and wanted to marry her. But HUNTER HUNTER he had a devil of a wife and she wouldn’t give him I don’t know, Elsie. I don’t know. That boy has been a curse on this family from the a divorce and so her father said that if the rich man

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 33-34 4/1/14 3:53 PM couldn’t marry her, she had to stop seeing him. Always a lady.” She said As a man is waked out of his sleep Was I? The rich man got in a rage when he said that and “There’s no mistaking that. Mr. Daniel Froman. He went down with the Titanic, Was a sheik ever in love with me? killed him. Got off scot-free, too. Then she came A proper, dignified lady in red.” I believe. What was the name of Mr. Froman’s And Mr. Froman? to Houston and married a man whose family had a Except with Hunter theater? The Empire. It was across the street from Did he want me to become an actress? lot of money. One of the Lee boys, Jack or Lester, I He gets me so angry the Metropolitan Opera house. They’re both torn And what if I had? can’t remember which. But she had to leave Jack I forget myself down now. I attended them both. Many times. How would it all have ended? or Lester finally on account of his drinking. She is Forget I am a lady I loved New York The day Hunter died was a cold, bleak November being courted now by an oil millionaire and I heard Forget, forget . . . I loved Paris day. He just went to sleep sitting in his chair. We the other day that somebody wants to send her out Oh, how I dream to forget I loved Algiers buried him the next day. It rained so not many to Hollywood and make her a movie star. I loved Egypt people came out from Harrison. Just his brother and MYRTLE Eleven—Zechariah Not this Egypt. This . . . his wife and his nephews and their wives, and me. Mr. Froman could have made me a great star The angel that talked with me But Egypt. And the rest were Negroes. Every Negro out this way He said I had remarkable beauty Came again and waked me Magic, Egypt. and there are enough of them. Why was that? He Mr. Froman said don’t change who you are As a man is waked out of his sleep Hunter never told me he loved me. was mean as the devil to most of them. And not just You have the poise and the style of an actress I woke up last night thinking of that. That’s from the He said, “I can never say things like that.” the old ones: the young ones came, too. You see, I always knew how to dress bible someplace. In Zechariah, I think. But he wrote them to Maude Jenkins (pause) Red The angel that talked with me In those letters she read to the white boys . . . Who’s left to come to my funeral? Was my favorite color Came again and waked me Oh, so long ago. But I didn’t wear it often As a man is waked out of his sleep “I hate you, Hunter.” Twelve—I Live On Hunter is gone Until my hair was white Maude Jenkins came back here one time in the That’s what I told him My girls are gone Red ’40s, they say. In a brand new Cadillac, more Over and over Mr. Froman, Stevens If I say so myself expensive than anything Hunter or I ever owned, “I hate you.” Little Brother, Elsie I wore it to great effect and drove it slowly around the courthouse square so Did I? Captain Lawson Most agreed I was right everyone could see she was prospering. Was he ever in this house? All gone “Red is a whore’s color.” The angel that talked with me Was he ever in that chair? And yet I live on and on Elsie once said to me Came again and waked me Riding his horse across the prairie? If I could “But if I wear it, They tore the house down piece by piece where Was I young once? Rip every grievance from my mind It’s a lady’s color, don’t you agree?” Little Brother killed his father. I left home the day A girl? All the sorrow from my heart “Oh, yes. You’re a perfect lady. they began taking it down. Where did I go that time? Was I ever in France and New York and Algiers? And the darkness from my soul

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 35-36 4/1/14 3:53 PM I surely would MYRTLE But how? Time to sleep. Is that even possible now? (MYRTLE starts toward the inside of the house. Singing After ninety long years from the church again. MYRTLE stops and listens. She Filled with bitterness and hate looks out over the prairie.) Is it simply too late? To your tired eyes I can’t let that be I bring a vision of a different world What will be said of me? So fresh and new Share this precious vision Maybe the reason I live on and on With everyone you meet Is simply to forgive Give this gift Forgive, forgive For that’s how you keep it, too To finally forgive Myself I think I’ll get up early tomorrow. I’d like to see the (Myrtle gets up and goes to the edge of the porch and sunrise over the prairie. stares out at the landscape.) Into the hands that give, the gift is given Into the hands that give, the gift is given If I could choose one day to live over Into the hands that give, the gift is given Before I die Do you know what it would be? Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah One of those clear spring days Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah When I came here as a bride (Myrtle goes into the house as the lights fade.) Early in the morning I would get on my horse And ride through the wildflowers Toward the rising sun I was nineteen when Hunter proposed He was rich I was beautiful And everywhere you looked was beauty Remarkable beauty Photographs by Lynn Lane unless otherwise noted Myrtle dances with Captain Lawson (Adam Noble).

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 37-38 4/1/14 3:53 PM A Coffin in Egypt

Houston Grand Opera, March 2014

coffin_booklet_fin_14.indd 39-40 4/1/14 3:53 PM RICKY IAN GORDON • LEONARD FOGLIA TROY1500

A COFFIN IN EGYPT

A Chamber Opera in One Act GYPT

Based on A Coffin in Egypt, a play by HORTON FOOTE C A E Music by • Libretto by RICKY IAN GORDON LEONARD FOGLIA OFFIN IN

World Premiere Recording—Houston Grand Opera, March 2014

IN OFFIN FREDERICA VON STADE • TIMOTHY MYERS, Conductor E A C GYPT

Horton Foote’s dramatic stage play A Coffin in Egypt is owned by Sunday Rock Corporation. A Coffin in Egypt was co- commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Houston Grand Opera gratefully acknowledges the lead funders that made the commissioning and stage production possible: Houston Endowment Inc.; Kitty King Powell; Ted and Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. Harlan C. Stai; Beirne, Maynard and Parsons, L.L.P.; and Beth Madison. The CD release was made possible through a generous contribution from the Ted and Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund. A Coffin in Egypt was recorded in performance at the Wortham Theater Center in March 2014. The recording was produced and engineered on location and mixed by Marlan Barry.

WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM ALBANY RECORDS U.S. TROY1500 915 BROADWAY, ALBANY, NY 12207 TEL: 518.436.8814 FAX: 518.436.0643 TROY1500 ALBANY RECORDS U.K. BOX 137, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA8 0XD TEL: 01539 824008 © 2014 ALBANY RECORDS MADE IN THE USA WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL. DDD RICKY IAN GORDON • LEONARD FOGLIA FOGLIA • LEONARD GORDON RICKY IAN

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