Illustration: Bobbi Melville; Credits Georges Méliès, La voyage dans la lune; Illustrated London News, Oct. 10, 1863

VERNE

From the Earth to the Moon

Gala Benefit Party
Seminar

On Nov. 23, 1889, Nelly Bly, the young American journalist known for her undercover reporting and daring stories, paused on her record-making journey around the world to meet the aging French writer, Jules Verne, author of Around the World in Eighty Days.  Her real-life voyage was meant to mirror and challenge that of Phileas Fogg, the hero of Verne’s novel.  Their brief encounter and Verne’s own inner worlds are the subject of this theatrical concert that combines the words of Verne and Bly, French chamber music and American popular songs, and the pioneering films of Méliès to recreate the early 20th century passion for exploration and a visionary future. A multi-media voyage for the senses and a one-night only, World Premier event.

Although Verne was limited by physical ailments, he was able to transcend these limitations by bringing to life the unsuspected new worlds that populated his mind. Verne and Bly were linked by a common belief in the unbounded powers of human imagination and the possibilities inherent in a completely visionary future.

Film clips from Georges Méliès’ Le voyage dans la lune merge with French and American music by Chausson, Chaminade, Gottschalk, and Stephen Foster in a multimedia production that illustrates the wonder and excitement that pervaded the imaginative and intellectual worlds at the beginning of the 20th century.

French Institute Alliance Française, Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th Street
Thu  June 5    8:00 pm
General Admission Tickets $50
[purchase tickets]

Gala Benefit Party

to benefit Ensemble for the Romantic Century and Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts

There will be a gala pre-performance party
in the Sky Room, Florence Gould Hall
6:00 pm
and a champagne intermission

$250 per person
includes priority seating for the concert and gala party

Festive attire

Benefit Reservations:

Ensemble for the Romantic Century patrons
212 288-8020
Checks to: Ensemble for the Romantic Century
24 East 82nd Street #3C
New York, N.Y. 10028

Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts patrons
800 224-6432
Checks to: MlFA
56 Suffolk Street, Suite 300
Holyoke, MA 01040

$200 of each benefit reservation is tax-deductible

Seminar
Ultimate Voyages: Jules Verne’s Futuristic Visions
Thu  May 29   5:30  - 7:30 pm   CUNY Graduate Center, Skylight Room, 9th floor<br>
Admission free

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