The World of Nick Adams,..

"It was not his country but it was the middle of fall and all of this country was good to drive through and to see. The cotton was picked and in the clearings there were patches of corn, some cut with streaks of red sorghum, and, driving easily, his son asleep on the seat by his side,.." - Heminway: Fathers And Sons

On Monday evening my fiancee, Jill, and I went to see a production called The World of Nick Adams; A series of Hemingway semi-autobiographical short stories put into a script by A.H. Hotchner. It was at the beautiful Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. The production was a combination of many art forms including music from the San Francisco Symphony, literature, and stage acting. A.H. Hotchner created this script for on stage performance by combining many of the famous Nick Adams stories many years ago while Ernest Hemingway was still alive and with his approval, Hotchner successfully created the script.
The World of Nick Adams was on Broadway in New York in 2002 for another benefit and was extremely successful. It was in San Francisco on Monday night to benefit an organization that the late Paul Newman put together called The Painted Turtle, it is said to have raised 1 million dollars.
Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco introduced the show along with his wife. The actors that contributed parts to the acting and reading of the script were: Jack Nicholson (as Hemingway and the narrator), Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis (as the main character in one of my favorite stories the Battler), Sean Penn, Warren Beatty, Danny Glover, Annette Bening, Billy Crystal, Joaquin Phoenix Danny DeVito, and finally an acoustic song at the end performed by Bonnie Raitt.
It was not only fascinating to see this talented group of actors live on stage, but it was great to see how dedicated everybody was to Paul Newman and all the incredible things that he did in his life and the cause that this supported. At the end of the show, all of the young ones who attend the Painted Turtle Camp came on stage and lined up to give thanks to the crowd.
It was a magical performance and the combination of music, live reading and acting, and the timeless words of a Hemingway made it an unforgettable experience.

Listening to Neil Halstead