On May the 6th, I had the privilege of being Mark Twain at the Hilton Head event. Mary Woodmansee Green was the Music Director who offered me this opportunity. It was my first “Mark Twain” performance in Hilton Head and I was honored to be chosen.
The Mary Green Men’s Chorale sang the songs written by the great American composer, Stephen Foster. John Martin Marks was the talented Accompanist and Aija Silina was the violinist who brought us the tears playing The Ashokan Farewell.
Mary Green brought the best out of all of us. Although Mark Twain and Stephen Foster never met, Twain would have been a fan of Foster’s music. Foster died at the age of 38, with just 3 pennies in his pocket. He received little monetary compensation for the more than 200 songs he composed. Mark Twain strugggled with copyright laws also, and with some success.
As Mark Twain, I told a story between songs. I also read a narration provided by Mary Green. The audience enjoyed an evening of great music and storytelling. I feel very lucky to have been a part of this event. It was my first Mark Twain event with a musical theme and everything went well. I told stories about the fire in Hartford, bankruptcy and The Civil War. At the end, I told Twain’s story about his 70th birthday. That’s a personal favorite!
I hope to do create events like this in the future. It was certainly a challenge for me and the results were more than satisfying!