news release

For immediate release

For more information, contact:
Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation

Houck Medford , Executive Director
(336) 721-0260

hmedford@brpfoundation.org

Blue Ridge Parkway Based Musical Drama to Premiere Next Week

Next week, the musical drama "Moses Cone: The Denim King" will debut in its world premiere in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. To celebrate the world premiere, the Foundation is collaborating with the Blowing Rock Historical Society, the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum and Appalachian State University (ASU) to host one gala performance "Denim and Cider", on Saturday, June 2. Tickets ($40 per person) are needed to join the evening's festivities, which include a reception catered by Café Portofino in Boone, music by jazz guitarist Andy Page from ASU, hard cider from Foggy Ridge Cider in Meadows of Dan, Virginia and an exhibit by the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum. Tickets for the gala evening can be purchased through the Foundation’s office at (336)721-0260.

Recognizing the 100th anniversary of The Moses H. Cone Memorial Park in 2003, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation commissioned the script to tell a remarkable story that is not typically included among the folk stories of the Blue Ridge mountains. Based on the book Mansion in the Mountains by Philip Noblitt, retired National Park Service information officer for the Blue Ridge Parkway, the script was written by Dr. Janet Barton Speer of Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk; the music and lyrics were composed by Jonathan Thomas Oaks. Performances will be directed by Kenneth Kay, producing artistic director for the Blowing Rock Stage Company, and encompass a cast of more than twenty actors and musicians with period costumes and sets.

The production tells the story of Moses Cone, a denim magnate in North Carolina who established Flat Top Manor in Blowing Rock as a retreat, encompassing vast fields, orchards and forests for wandering, a bass lake and a trout lake, stables and miles of carriage trails. The Cone story, entwined in the history of Blowing Rock and North Carolina's Piedmont, provides a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the shared history of the Piedmont and the High Country and to encourage stewardship of The Moses H. Cone Memorial Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Performances will run from opening night May 30 through June 16. Tickets for other evening and matinee performances can be ordered directly from the Blowing Rock Stage Company at (828) 295-9627.

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