Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death
| Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death | |
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Original Logo
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| Music | Melvin Van Peebles |
| Lyrics | Melvin Van Peebles |
| Book | Melvin Van Peebles |
| Basis | Van Peebles' earlier albums |
| Productions | 1971 Broadway |
| Awards | Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Book |
| Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death | ||||
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| Soundtrack album by Original Cast | ||||
| Released | 1972 | |||
| Melvin Van Peebles chronology | ||||
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Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death (Tunes from Blackness) is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Melvin Van Peebles. The musical contains some material also on three of Van Peebles' albums, Brer Soul, Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death and As Serious as a Heart-Attack, some of which were yet to come out.
The musical is a series of 19 politically outspoken, darkly comic, and sexually charged musical monologues that explore the negative aspects of African-American street life and the ghetto experience. Each character has a painful story to tell in funk, soul, jazz and blues-inflected songs. The innovative piece, presented in a confrontational, "in your face" style, is a precursor to choreopoem, spoken word, and rap music. It "contributed to the growing black presence on Broadway."
In 1970, Van Peebles decided to transform some of the albums he had recorded between 1968 and 1970 into a musical. According to Van Peebles, "The songs were mirroring the incidents that were happening in the streets." Van Peebles marketed the musical to black audiences in churches "all up and down the fucking East Coast. Ministers have congregations, and the congregations would come with busloads of people."
The piece was first produced by Black Arts/West at Sacramento State College in Sacramento, California in 1970. After ten previews, the Off-Broadway production, directed by Gilbert Moses, opened on October 20, 1971 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, then transferred to the Ambassador, for a total run of 325 performances. The cast included Bill Duke, Albert Hall, Garrett Morris and Beatrice Winde. Ossie Davis and Phylicia Rashad joined the cast in 1972.
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