© 2024
Local NPR for the Cape, Coast & Islands 90.1 91.1 94.3
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Duke Ellington's Lost Opera, Forever A Work In Progress

Bryan Frank, Long Beach Opera
Karen Marie Richardson (right) plays the title role in the Long Beach Opera's staging of Queenie Pie, the jazz opera Duke Ellington left unfinished when he died in 1974.

Duke Ellington added more than 3,000 songs to the American music vault before his death in 1974. He also started composing what he hoped would be a great American street opera — which composers have spent 40 years adapting, trying to figure out what the Duke wanted for his unfinished opus. The opera tells the story of Queenie Pie, a Harlem beautician voted the best in town for years on end until she's challenged by a lighter-skinned woman named Café O'Lay. Queenie Pie has been performed only a handful of times over the decades. Karen Marie Richardson plays the titular character in the latest production, put on by the Long Beach Opera. From NPR Music News, this story on The Point.

Stay Connected