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Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Among other good work that he did for the citizens of San Francisco, Mr. Milk was responsible for passing an important gay rights ordinance for the city.
Heralded in San Francisco’s LGBT community as “the mayor of Castro Street,” Harvey Milk was assassinated on November 27, 1978 by Dan White, a disgruntled and homophobic former colleague of Milk on the board of supervisors. While tragic, Milk’s murder galvanized the resolve of other courageous leaders to come forward and work for justice in the political arena as openly gay men and women.
While Harvey Milk’s life has already been the subject of numerous books, a major motion picture starring Sean Penn, and an award-winning documentary, “The Times of Harvey Milk,” I Am Harvey Milk approaches its subject as only an oratorio can—with a deeply emotional rendering of the man, his passion and his legacy.
The 12-movement work begins when Harvey is 11 years old and then progresses with a movement examining each month in his tenure on the board of supervisors. The work is non-chronological and impressionistic, even including a song sung from the point of view of the bullet that killed Milk.
I Am Harvey Milk was written by Broadway composer Andrew Lippa (“Big Fish,” “The Wild Party,” “The Addams Family”). It was co-commissioned by Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus. TCGMC is honored to perform its upper midwest premiere.
Learn more about I Am Harvey Milk and order tickets online.
I Am Harvey Milk
March 28 – 29, 2014 at 8pm
Ted Mann Concert Hall
