Editor’s note: This performance has been postponed; check the Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen website for updates.
(From left) Frank Coleman, George Turman, Susan Greenbaum and Jackie Frost are among the performers at the “Coming Back Home” benefit, Oct. 7 at The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen (Photos courtesy The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen)
Erin Thomas, a local performing arts educator, didn’t expect a phone call from actor David Bridgewater to concern singer-songwriter John Denver — or rather, the emotions conveyed by the musician, who died in 1997. Nor could she have imagined that the call would lead to an Oct. 7 event at The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen titled “Coming Back Home,” involving a deep bench of regional music and theater talent, or even predicted that word of mouth alone would sell out the evening performance, necessitating the addition of a 3 p.m. matinee.
During this fortuitous telephone call, Bridgewater explained to Thomas about how he and his brother, musician Chris Fuller, and sister, Kathy Guisewite, dreamed of creating a presentation born from the songs of Denver.
“They didn’t want a concert,” Thomas recalls, “but a performance that would be moving and inspiring.”
She knows a thing or two about all that.
Thomas generated the concept for Live Art at the School of Performing Arts in the Richmond Community, aka SPARC. The educational program for youth of all abilities encourages collaboration and understanding via performance classes and has historically (2012-19) culminated with a show pairing the students with national and regional artists for an immense celebration of creativity and affirmation.
Thomas says she wasn’t sure whether she still could make such a vision real. She’s moved on to a nonprofit youth arts and education program, FreeHorse Arts, and is raising her two children.
Then she met the dreamers to discuss the possibilities.
“I saw the passion in their eyes,” Thomas says. “I’ve been there. I’ve been at the starting place before, and I love that in artists, and what they were thinking of was, to me, manageable in terms of other things I’ve done.”
Fuller, a musician with a mandolin and, in this case, a mission, is known for his work with The Taters and the Big Boss Combo. “I’ve been a musician around Richmond 30-some years, and I’ve played mostly bars, picnics, weddings, barbecues, and I’ve played a few stage shows. And I’ve enjoyed them.”
He got the hankering to make one happen but didn’t know the what or the how. Last fall, he played a gig with musicians Brad Tucker and Frank Coleman, and in conversation they realized that they all appreciated John Denver’s music — and not necessarily the radio hits aglow with Denverian luster. “These tunes are really inspiring,” Fuller says. “They’re about love, art, family, the outdoors and quiet outside the roar of daily living, and so it just came to me.”
Fuller felt that since the recent pandemic years, people have secluded themselves, turned more inward and lost touch with the reflective side of themselves. He wanted to present a John Denver showcase, but “not as players standing in front of microphones with patter between songs.” He discussed the idea with his siblings, and from that came the notion of adding poetry and visuals.
“I wanted things to move on- and offstage,” Fuller says, “with segments that would blend in and imagery that would enhance the songs.”
And that’s about the time when Thomas’ phone rang.
She contacted award-winning stage and projection designer Tennessee Dixon and also chose to include her FreeHorse students to perform aspects of the music. Experienced personnel also working behind the scenes for the two shows are sound engineer Matthew Walsh and lighting designer Tristan Ketcham.
The musicians participating come both from Fuller’s years of associations in regional music and from those who participated with Thomas in Live Art. The roster includes Fuller, Tucker and Coleman, as well as Jackie Frost, Susan Greenbaum, Danny Hughes, Rudy Bzdyk, Chris Parker and George Turman.
Fuller consulted his friend Tim Timberlake, a longtime musician and promoter. They discussed ways to approach the music that, they admit, causes ambiguous feelings in some listeners. The almost immediate decision came to avoiding the all-too-familiar novelties.
“When you get down to really looking at this music,” Timberlake says, “there’s some melodically lovely material that celebrates how we take care of each other and the planet. And that’s some of the most important things going; but so obvious that we frequently lose sight of them.”
The event also serves as an appreciation of the siblings’ father, the late Charles Franklin Fuller Jr. The Bridgewater College professor of theater encouraged his children to embrace the arts in whatever direction that course took them. Fuller remembers his father’s love of theater and literature, family and friends, and being in the greater outdoors.
This is one reason Fuller doesn’t call the event a John Denver show. He observes, “We’re interpreting the music and lyrics of John Denver to rekindle in people’s minds and hearts the importance of art and, really, the better parts of living.”
“Coming Back Home” takes the stage Oct. 7 at The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen. Tickets to the 3 p.m. performance are $40 and available at artsglenallen.com. Proceeds benefit the Arts Center’s Opening Minds Through Art program, JAMinc, CJ’s Thumbs Up Foundation and FreeHorse Arts.
