Rollo Dillworth’s New Musical

What happens when a black church losing its older
congregation needs to recruit new members? “Sanctified,” a new
gospel musical comedy by Javon Johnson with original music by Rollo
A. Dilworth, tells about the happy merger of a traditional choir
and young recruits steeped in R&B and hip-hop. The show sets
Lincoln Theatre afire through mid-November.

Dilworth, who is a member of ASCAP, MENC, ACDA and numerous
other organizations for composers, choral directors and educators,
recently premiered “Freedom’s Plow,” a commission from the St.
Louis Symphony and In Unison Chorus. He based the choral-orchestral
work on a Langston Hughes poem of the same title. His many musical
scores of original works or arrangements of others are favorites of
school, community and professional choirs. Composing the new songs
for “Sanctified” was for him an exciting opportunity to blend the
old with the new and to speak to the young generation sitting at
his doorstep.