Today we’d like to introduce you to Candace Corrigan.
Hi Candace, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
The Making of a Musical: ”A Vote of Her Own” Songs by Candace Corrigan and Janne Henshaw Book by Candace Corrigan.
The road to the creation of “A Vote of Her Own” begins with a phone call. I was on a tour in Michigan when I was contacted by Wanda Sobieski, a Knoxville lawyer who had heard “Votes for Women,” a half-hour special that I had produced for public radio. She asked permission to use the script in a skit at a fundraiser for a scholarship for women at the University of Tennessee Law School. I was intrigued, but cautious. I finally said, “Okay, but I have to be able to come and help with it and I will bring the musicians.” We laugh about that now, but it was the beginning of a great friendship.
Wanda asked me if I had heard about the role of Tennessee as the pivotal state to ratify the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, securing the right to vote for American women. I hadn’t heard about that particular piece of the history, so she started sending me articles and books.
I came to do research at the East Tennessee History Center and the McClung Collection archives in Knoxville, as well as the Tennessee State Archives in Nashville. Then I proceeded to write a song, a special for public radio, a stage show which debuted at the Bijou Theatre, and a public television special, now titled “ How Southern Women Won the Vote.”
Much of my earlier work had been based on primary resources, such as the letters and papers of the people who were there at the time. I found that by using their own words and observations to form lyrics and dialogue, I could be truer to history than by just imagining what they might have said. Their own words have an immense impact.
Meanwhile, Wanda Sobieski founded the Suffrage Coalition and conceived of and raised the money for the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial Statue in Market Square, in downtown Knoxville. She followed up later with the Burn Memorial Statue, just one block away. In 2018, when Wanda suggested that I write a new musical for the 100th anniversary of the suffrage vote, I knew I wanted to do it.
I asked my friend, Nashville singer, and songwriter, Janne Henshaw, to collaborate with me on songs for the new show, “A Vote of Her Own.” With assistance from Cosette Collier, professor at Middle Tennessee State University’s
Department of Recording Industry, Janne and I recorded piano/vocal versions of the songs for the show. Alan Reitano of American Entertainments Works, Inc. joined the team as technical director.
Both Cosette and Alan bring a wealth of experience in production work and their musical sensibilities are invaluable. Through my friends at the MTSU Music Department, I met the enormously talented Nashville composer, Daniel Bondaczuk, who created arrangements for the songs, and Jeffrey Keever, the director for the fabulous Middle Tennessee Sinfonietta
With Cosette Collier engineering and Jeffrey Keever conducting, we recorded all 15 songs with a ten-piece orchestra, composed of clarinet, trumpet, trombone, violin, piano, bass, guitar, drums, and even some banjo and mandolin. We included some vintage music of the period along with our originals for this lively, engaging collection of songs that reveals jazz, ragtime, old-time, and ballad influences.
We will also feature some dynamic dance numbers, choreographed by Megan Pennington, who also portrays Knoxville’s own Lizzie Crozier French, one of the figures in the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial Statue. That statue becomes part of the stunning opening to the musical when each figure in the statue steps up to sing lyrics from her own speeches.
This compelling title song reminds us that until 1920 women in this country did not have a constitutional assurance of a vote. It’s an important story, passionate, often comical, and ultimately life-changing. It has been a delightful bit of magic to watch the actors take on these roles and embrace these characters.
The 1920’s costumes are lovely and effective in setting the mood of the musical. It is truly an experience of “History
Meets Musical Theater,” and I encourage people to get their tickets early. It will be a night to remember.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The Musical was originally planned for the centennial of voting rights for American women, which was planned for 2020. The pandemic put us on hold for 2 years.
The Bijou Theatre is a perfect place to have the show. It is big enough for a crowd but also intimate enough to hear all the songs and dialogue. It’s an honor to be in a theatre whose opening show was George M. Cohan, as in The George. M Cohan. The Marx Brothers also played there. Even one of suffragists from Knoxville, Lizzie Crozier French, rented The Bijou to give a talk on women’s rights.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I have made a career of using historical documents as a basis for works of art. A Vote of Her Own is based on diaries, speeches, newspaper accounts, and memoirs. I find that using their words has a powerful effect. Many of my projects have won national awards using this approach.
In this musical, we have also included songs that were popular in 1920 as well as songs we have written from the character’s own words. If one of our characters were in the audience today, they would recognize themselves.
I am terrifically proud of and grateful to the crew, the musicians and the actors involved in this project.
We are also filming the production. We plan to present this show with a sincere regard for historical accuracy, and with the humor and grace that each of the original suffragists deserve. If we can do that, I will call the show a great success.
What were you like growing up?
I lived in a very small town in northern Michigan, out in the country near a lake. I spent a fair amount of time roaming the hills of our farm and singing to the trees. I’m from a musical family so I always expected to have a musical career, and that is what I have done. I also became very interested in women’s stories, so it is a natural that I would be interested in women pursuing the vote.
This is the largest project I have been involved in, and I can’t wait to share it.
Pricing:
- Tickets at the Bijou for A Vote of Her Own are $57 and $37 dollars
- Copies of Songs for the Cause, a fundraiser for the musical are $25,
- The VIP afterglow reception will have a ticket price of $50.
- The Musical will debut on August 20, 2022, at the Bijou Theatre
Contact Info:
- Website: avoteofherown.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/
avoteofherown - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/avoteofherown - Twitter: https://twitter.com/
avoteof - Youtube: https://www.youtube.
com/channel/ UCXwHAe6n6NhXyjSpi4u4M0A
Image Credits
Gene Smith, photographer Daniella Camacho, designer Daniella Comacho designer
