Edition No. 24
In this Edition
Arts and Culture
Stars of stage and screen, Sierra Boggess and Julian Ovenden join forces on a new album of duets — all of which were recorded at a distance.
Community
The Grosse Pointe Artists Association presents an enticing new exhibit themed perfectly for the COVID-19 era: Celebrating Home — The Art of Domesticity.
Our American Values
The latest focus of our series on responsible citizenship is the 1776 Commission Report. A new curriculum developed to understand the history and principles that built our nation.
Sierra Boggess and Julian Ovenden
Together...At a Distance
As we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, musical artists have tapped into their creativity to bring inspiring and fantastic methods of performance — including an all-new album of socially distanced duets from stars of stage and screen, Sierra Boggess and Julian Ovenden.
About Sierra Boggess
Sierra Boggess is an Olivier nominated actress who is regarded as one of Broadway’s most beloved ingenues. Best known world-wide not only for re-inventing the coveted role of Christine Daae in Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, but for Lord Webber himself going on record to say that “she’s the best, the best Christine certainly.” Boggess portrayed the role in the Broadway, West End, and the televised 25th Anniversary concert productions of Phantom.
Sierra made her Broadway debut as Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, receiving Drama Desk and Drama League Nominations. Her additional Broadway credits include Master Class, It Shoulda Been You, The Phantom of The Opera, and School of Rock. Boggess’ Off-Broadway credits include Love, Loss, and What I Wore and Music in the Air, alongside Kristin Chenoweth, for New York City Center’s Encores! Series. In the West End, Boggess has appeared as Fantine in Les Miserables and originated the role of Christine Daae in Love Never Dies, the critically acclaimed sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, receiving an Olivier Award Nomination for her performance.
Sierra starred as Cinderella in the highly anticipated Hollywood Bowl production of Into the Woods where the Los Angeles Times raved of her “crystalline singing and gameness for comedy…Boggess’ Cinderella was enchanting.” Prior to that she starred as Danielle DeBarbarac in the new musical, Ever After at the Alliance Theatre as well as starred in the world premiere of the new play The Age of Innocence at Hartford Stage for which she received a nomination for a Connecticut Critics Circle Award for her portrayal of Countess Ellen Olenska.
About Julian Ovenden
Julian Ovenden has appeared on stage, on screen, in concert, and in the recording studio. Recently, he starred in the critically acclaimed hit Downton Abbey, portraying Charles Blake. Other notable television series in which he has appeared include Foyle’s War, Person of Interest, Smash, Poirot, Cashmere Mafia, The Forsyte Saga, Any Human Heart, Family Guy, and, most recently, the ABC mini-series The Assets. On stage he has recently starred in My Night with Reg at London’s Donmar Warehouse.
Other notable stage appearances include the first French production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George at Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet, Michel Legrand’s Marguerite in London’s West End, Butley opposite Nathan Lane on Broadway, Death Takes a Holiday for the Roundabout Off-Broadway, Finding Neverland for the Weinstein Company, Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun at London’s Young Vic, and both Grand Hotel and Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along for Michael Grandage at London’s Donmar.
In 2011 Mr. Ovenden signed a recording agreement with Decca and soon after released his debut album If You Stay. He enjoys a close working relationship with the John Wilson Orchestra, with whom he collaborated on a Rodgers and Hammerstein project for EMI. He made his Carnegie Hall debut earlier this year and performs regularly at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and in many other of the U.K.’s prestigious concert venues.
Celebrating Home — The Art of Domesticity
For the Grosse Pointe Artists Association’s latest exhibit, 28 artists from six states looked around their homes and daily lives for inspiration like artists have been doing for centuries. The show was juried by muralist Dennis Orlowski, who is noted for capturing the spirit of history in communities from Poletown to Mexicantown to St. Clair Shores. He has done more than a hundred murals inside and out-of-doors. In the era of COVID-19, he has scaled down and looks for inspiration at home.
The exhibition is on display at The War Memorial gallery, open for in-person visits 2–6:30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays through April 29. To schedule a viewing, click or tap here.
Stretch by Deniece Daniels
Description: Everyone is exercising at home in front of TV.
Dimensions: 18in
Material: Terra cotta, acrylic and rub and buff
Price: $175
Morning Coffee by Lizzie Lukas
Description: This piece is made using acrylics on a homemade canvas. It shows the peace and tranquility a morning coffee can bring.
Dimensions: 14in x 18in
Material: Acrylic
Price: $300
Walking my Baby Back Home by Kathleen McNamee
Description: Down our little street.
Dimensions: 15.5in x 11.5in
Material: Watercolor
Price: $350
Bored Games by Leslie Getz
Description: A definite revisit to the idea of family game night through board games and how creative they became over time.
Dimensions: 20in x 16in
Material: Photo transfer and graphite on claybord
Price: $125
Puck's Nap by Karen Duffy
Description: There has been a huge upswing in pet adoptions during the pandemic. The comfort of a pet creates a sense of family.
Dimensions: 20in x 16in
Material: Oil on canvas
Price: NFS
Education for Responsible Citizenship
There is a persuasive body of evidence showing that our nation has long neglected civics and social studies education. Only twenty-two states require that high school students demonstrate a meaningful understanding of our system of government to graduate and annual surveys show an appalling lack of knowledge of even our most fundamental rights on the part of adult Americans. There is also a growing consensus that neglecting social studies and civics education has contributed to our present political dysfunction and, possibly, to events of January 6th. There is much less consensus, however, as to exactly what Americans need to know to become more responsible and effective citizens.
So, for the next few editions, we will use this space within Inspired Thoughts devoted to American Democracy to consider four questions that are at the heart of our work:
How much do Americans really know about our system of government?
Can better civics and social studies education truly remedy America’s political dysfunction?
What needs to be emphasized, or not emphasized, in a renewed focus on civics and social studies?
How can we also reach adults who seemed to have missed, or forgotten, civics class?
What needs to be emphasized, or not emphasized, in a renewed focus on civics and social studies?
Patriotic Education — The 1776 Commission
Washington Crossing the Delaware. Emanuel Leutze (American, Schwäbisch Gmünd 1816–1868 Washington, D.C.)
Just thirty-three days before leaving office, now former-President Trump appointed an eighteen-member commission chaired by Larry Arnn, President of Hillsdale College, to advise him how to “better enable a rising generation to understand the history and principles of the founding of the United States in 1776 and to strive to form a more perfect Union.”
Part of a continuing effort to promote what President Trump termed Patriotic Education, the 1776 Commission issued its initial, and ultimately only, report on January 18. Two days later, on Inauguration Day, one of President Biden’s first executive orders disbanded the Commission, withdrew its report, and, along with the rest of the Trump White House website, the report was taken offline and archived by the National Archives that same day.
As we did with the 1619 Project curriculum, we will not try to summarize or characterize the content of the 1776 Commission Report. We will instead point you to a place, in this case, a place on the Hillsdale College website, where you can read the 1776 Commission Report and form your own judgment about it.
Not everyone, however, exercised the same restraint as we have. One of the more comprehensive summaries of the main criticisms of the 1776 Commission Report appeared a little later in a retrospective piece published in early February by the New York Times. Click or tap here to view the full article.
Inspired Thoughts is a collection of highly curated content that embraces the spirit and purpose of The War Memorial: arts and culture, community enrichment, leadership, and patriotism.
Derived from the notion that learning from others is the key to success, Inspired Thoughts is meant to shine a light on those making a difference in the world around them. This collection features artists, poets, writers, architects, and every thought leader in-between. Inspired Thoughts is the strongest reflection of what The War Memorial stands for, and what we aim to be.
The content featured on Inspired Thoughts is curated by War Memorial leadership — we also look forward to featuring special guest curators in the near future. If you are interested in providing content for Inspired Thoughts, please email our Community Engagement team at bhoste@warmemorial.org.