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Governors State University CflnfftfORPERfORMinCflftTS Saturday April 28 - 8pm ONE MORE NIGHT Series Presents Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Sponsored by The Chicago Community Trust and Affiliates

RHRCU: CABARET DEVISED BY JAMIL KHOVRY SILK ROAD RISING'S 22. Song: "I Ain't Afraid" (2000), by Holly Near RE-SPICED: A SILK ROAD CABARET 23. Song: "They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore" (1974), by Kinky Friedman Devised by Jamil Khoury 24. Song: "Poppies" (1997), by Marcy Playground Directed by Steve Scott - Musical Direction by Ryan Brewster 25. Prose: The Letters of William S. Burroughs (1954) and The Adding Machine: Selected 1. Song: "Arabian Nights" from Aladdin (1992), music by , original lyrics by Howard Essays (1985), by William S. Burroughs Ashman, new lyrics by Casey Kasem and Jay Goldsworthy 26. Song: "My Arabian Baby" (1954), by Mitchell Torok 2. Verse: A "Broadway Pageant" (1860), by Walt Whitman 27. Verse: "Song" (1854), by Bayard Taylor 3. Location Medley: a. "Travelin' Man" (1961) by Jerry Fuller 28. Party Pop Song Medley: b. "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" (1931) written by Noel Coward a. "Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), by Liam Sternberg c. "Not Since Ninevah" from Kismet (1953), musical adaptation and lyrics by Robert Wright b. "Turning Japanese" (1980), by The Vapors and George Forrest c. "One Night in Bangkok" from Chess (1984), music by and Bjorn Ulvaeus, d. "Bali Hai" from (1949), music by , lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II lyrics by e. "Istanbul (not Constantinople)" (1953), music by Nat Simon, lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy d. "Rock the Casbah" (1982), by The Clash f." Nagasaki" (1928), music by , lyrics by Mort Dixon e. "Kung Fu Fighting" (1974), by Carl Douglas g. "Slow Boat to China" (1947), by 29. Verse: "Scheherazade" (1988), by Peter Cetera 4. Prose: The Age of Innocence (1920), by Edith Wharton 30. Prose: "The Lesson of Hiroshima" (1947) from A Soldier Speaks, by General Douglas 5. Song: "Across the Sea" (1996), by Weezer MacArthur

6. Prose: Madam Bovary (1856), by Gustave Flaubert 31. Song: "Bui Doi" from Miss Saigon (1989), music by Claude-Michel Schonberg and , lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr. 7. Song: "Gandhi/Buddha" (2000), by Cheryl Wheeler 32. War Mashup: 8. Prose: The Amber Spyglass (2000), by Philip Pullman a. "Killing an Arab" (1978), by The Cure b. "I Bombed Korea" (1994), by Cake 9. Song: "China" (1989), by Joan Baez 33. Verse: "The Captured City" (1829), by Victor Hugo 10. Prose: The Painted Veil (1925), by W. Somerset Maugham 34. Song: "Shalom" from Milk and Honey (1961), music and lyrics by 11. Song: "The Oriental" (2002), by Status Quo 35. Prose: Fragments of the Artist: Jean Genet (2003), by Hubert Fitche 12. Prose: Amyntias: North African Journals (1906), by Andre Gide 36. Song: "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads" from Kismet (1953), musical adaptation and lyrics by 13. Song: "Union Sundown" (1983), by Robert Wright and George Forrest 14. Verse: "Fifty in Five" (2009), by Hilltop Hoods 37. Prose: Speech on Mr. Fox's East Bill (1783), by Edmund Burke 15. Song: "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" (2002), by Toby Keith 38. India Medley: a. "Just Breathe" (1997), by Kenny Loggins 16. Verse: "My Heart is in the East" (1141), by Yehuda Halevi b. Going to India (2001), by Boy Hits Car c. "Taste of India" (1998), by Aerosmith 17. Prose: The Arabian Diaries (1914), by Gertrude Bell d. "Thank U" (1998), byAlanis Morissette 18. Song: "Black Korea" (1991), by Ice Cube 39. Prose: Untimely Meditations (1874), by Friedrich Nietzsche 19. Song: "Carefully Taught" from South Pacific (1949), music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar 40. Finale: "Anthem" from Chess (1984), music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, lyrics by Tim Rice Hammerstein II 20. Song: "Korean Parents" (2008), by 41. Encore: "Shakalaka Baby" (2002) from , music by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by 21. Prose: Tropic of Cancer (1934), by Henry Miller CONJURING A SPICE TRAIL REMIX By Jamil Khoury, Artistic Director of Silk Road Rising Devisor of Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret

In devising Re-Spiced the words that kept resonating for me were adventure, discovery, irony, and change. The word context also figured prominently in my mind, as did history and subtext. I was inspired by a desire to deconstruct language, debunk meanings, decode messages, and disentangle us from other. In essence, Re-Spiced rings like a clarion call to excavate the archeology of lyrics and extrapolate the anthropology of songs. Jargon perhaps, but I like to think of it as academic fodder for what became, at the beginning and end of the day, an old school cabaret: entertaining, political, playful, edgy, sexy, subversive. Re-Spiced is a journey down musical memory lane. While navigating a labyrinth of Asian and Middle Eastern images in American and British verse, we happened upon a lyrical and literary obstacle, one that we call artistic intent. If self-representation is at the core of Silk Road Rising's mission, then Re-Spiced represents a game changer. We have flipped our mission on its head: instead of Silk Road people doing the defining, we are being defined. That is, until we started messing with it! In its most hopeful moments, Re-spiced symbolizes the crossroad where the representational meets the aspirational. Unfortunately, it's not all hopeful! Silk Road peoples have been portrayed as scary, exotic, suspect, and silly; we've been sexually objectified, politically vilified, and dichotomized as opposite from all that's "civilized." But victimhood doesn't suit us very well here at Silk Road Rising, so we've taken a complicated legacy and created a show full of fun! Re-Spiced builds upon and deepens what began in 2009 with Broadway Sings the Silk Road. But Re-Spiced has sprouted tentacles beyond our beloved show tunes to include pop, country, rap, folk, and rock with, rest assured, plenty of musical nods to the Great White Way. From the popular to the obscure, the canonical to the marginal, the sacred to the profane, I like to think of Re- Spiced as No Genre Left Behind. As for the artists who created what became almost iconic representations of Silk Road peoples, thank you for the privilege of honoring and, perhaps at times, dishonoring your work. Whether steeped in historical reality or whimsical fantasy, cultural authenticity or crude caricature, social responsibility or political adversity, these images have influenced our perceptions of Silk Road peoples for generations, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. Let us all be judges. I want Re-Spiced'to explode stereotypes and implode identity politics, to mine representation and mind simplification, to find the many worlds in "It's a Small World After All". In harmony with Barry Manilow's "I Write the Songs", I chose the songs, and what a rousing song selection process it was! Aided and abetted by dramaturg extraordinaire Neal Ryan Shaw, I was bestowed with music and literature samples that gaze east while facing west. Occidentals imagining Orientals. Call it white musicians*? burden! The samplings became a feast, and it was my job to trim the fat and purvey the finest cuts, to create a sumptuous barbeque minus the indigestion. Songs, songs, songs! Songs that excite, amuse, teach, challenge, and offend me, with a few guilty pleasures thrown into the mix. Content begets shape and form, and therein lays the talents of director Steve Scott, musical director Ryan Brewster, and choreographer Brenda Didier; plus our stellar design and production team of artists who transformed my eclectic choices into electrifying stories. For what is content without character or message without messengers? And who better to embody all this storytelling than our talented ensemble of performers? Ultimately, words, notes, and movement are only as good as the performers who embody them. We sure lucked out on that front! Sadly, the obituary on cabaret as an art form has been written and re-written for decades now. But at Silk Road Rising, the cabaret lives! And to underscore the point, let's raise a toast to Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret. - February 28, 2012