Programme Note
CAST
General Ulysses S. Grant - baritone
General Robert E. Lee - baritone
Julia Dent Grant - soprano
Mary Custis Lee - soprano
Julia Agnes Lee - soprano
T. Morris Chester - tenor
Abraham Lincoln - bass-baritone
Mary Todd Lincoln - soprano
Elizabeth Keckley - mezzo-soprano
Edgar Ray Killen - bass-baritone
Edward Alexander - tenor
John Rawlins - baritone
General Howell Cobb - bass
Ely S. Parker - tenor
Wilmer McLean - baritone
Four civil rights marchers - bass, tenor, soprano, mezzo-soprano
An old man - bass
A young man - tenor
Two freed slaves - tenor, bass
A brigadier - tenor
A naval officer - bass
Voice of a confederate soldier - baritone
A captain - bass
Chorus of union and confederate soldiers, citizens of Richmond and Appomattox, Slaves and Women
SYNOPSIS
The brutal American Civil War is drawing to a close. Three scenes unfold simultaneously as Julia (Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant), Mary Custis (Mrs. Robert E. Lee) with her daughter Agnes, and Mary Todd Lincoln with her seamstress Elizabeth Keckley, a former slave, separately express their anxieties, then jointly voice their foreboding about the suffering that is imminent.