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Though Sophocles's text for Oedipus is pagan, the story of an old man redeemed through suffering is Christian

However, there were many obstacles to 
overcome. First, and not the least of
which, was the fact that two white men
were appropriating a religious black idiom
for the purpose of presenting a pagan
Greek classic. They were also working with
deeply religious ministers and choir members
who had their own reservations about
using their talents in a seemingly secular
project.
Observes Butch Heyward, the production's 
32-year-old organist who is a member
of the Institutional Church of God in 
Christ in Brooklyn, “It was unheard of to
go out and do anything but choir. When
they invited us to participate, I was hearing
a lot of negative sides that we shouldn't
go. But then others said, 'Go. God is
opening doors for you.' So we just walked
on through.”
“We were petrified,” says Breur.
“We're students, admirers, sycophants,
they're the real thing. But I think our
sympathies were in the right direction. We
weren't trying to superimpose some sort
of different spirit on the form. We wanted
to get as deep into the spirit as we could.”
“I had to trust the incredible respect
we had for the singers and the form,” says 
Telson. “You run into trouble when you
phony it up. One thing I learned to do is
give people enough room to personalize
what they sang or played. I'd indicate the
direction, and sometimes they'd go in directions
you couldn't possibly imagine
that'd be even more wonderful.”
Even so, both Telson and Breuer realized
that unless their cast felt good in their
hearts about what they were singing, the
experiment would not work. Depth of
faith is critical to gospel. There have been
many examples of gospel singers who have
been unable to summon their fiery talent
outside the church. Says cast member
Carolyn Johnson White, “My brother Sam
Johnson cut a record with Columbia several
years ago, and I tried to sing with him.
But I felt uncomfortable, out of place. I 
Couldn't release myself. The spirit didn't
come to me.”
And so, while the director noted to the
cast that Sophocles's text was pagan, he
also emphasized that the story was Christian:
an old man is redeemed through
suffering. Nonetheless, at the first rehearsal, 
things remained tentative and
awkward until it came time for Morgan
Freeman to deliver the Speech of The
Messenger as “the sermon.”
“It was word for word Sophocles,” recalls
Breuer, “but it was all about the
everlasting virtue of love, the love of God,
the love of a Father for His children. At
that moment, they understood two things:
one, that they could've heard that sermon
in church. And two, it was delivered by
someone called The Messenger, and that's
what they called Martin Luther King.”
“We got over the hump then,” says
Heyward. “We realized there was this
spiritual connection. It was God-oriented.”
Telson and Breuer respectively credit 
Heyward (“He is the purest emotional
and spiritual embodiment of gospel”) and 
the Reverend Earl Miller as their invaluable
guides in the idiom. The organist
Heyward says that when rehearsals started
out, “They began as if we were a black
Baptist church. Now, I'm not knocking
the Baptists, but some churches can be
kind of reserved. What they were really
looking for was that movement, that surge
of energy you get in the Pentecostal
church. And I was just trying to help
them really get into it.”
One way Heyward helped to summon
the spirit was to underline the oratorical
parts of the production with a percussive
beat, opening the door on the idea of a
“heightened language.” This was what
fascinated Breuer about the rhythms of
black preaching, which the Reverend Earl
Miller had described to him as “acting for God.”
“This is the key to why Martin Luther
King was such a great speaker,” says
Breuer. “He's the one who brought an 
African style of speaking, with all its hyp-

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