I saw the below article on our internal website and thought others would enjoy hearing about David Sanborn, once a part of the University of the Nations. He is currently performing a production he and his mother co-wrote, King David, to rave reviews. The reviews are below.
I love how people are trained here at the U of N to take God’s Kingdom wherever He leads them – to whatever mission field in whatever sphere of society. David is finding his misssion field on Broadway and is proclaiming the gospel in a creative way to audiences from around the world, many of whom would not walk into a church building.
New York Times…
April 28th.
The appeal of Scripture springs eternal, something Broadway and Hollywood have exploited for decades. Now there’s David M. Sanborn — an actor from a family of past and present Christian relief workers — who has brought his one-man musical, “King David,” to the Promise Theater, infusing the Books of Samuel with the aesthetics of both.
The idea of this family-friendly show — the book and songs are a collaboration between the good-looking, hard-working Mr. Sanborn and his mother, Ellen, who also directed it — involves Mr. Sanborn’s impersonating Hollywood actors (like Jimmy Stewart, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sean Connery) as he inhabits the figures in the life of David (including Saul, Goliath, the prophet Nathan and others).
Many of the renditions are spot-on, while others are less so. Some of the caricaturesque voices are the actor’s own creations. Helping to suggest antiquity are Elizabeth Richards’s simple but effective set and costumes.
But this is a musical, so there are songs, here set to prerecorded music and overflowing with lush arrangements, to say nothing of Mr. Sanborn’s impassioned vocals onstage. The actor, who has been touring with this production for 12 years, draws from a seemingly limitless well of feeling and makes the story wet, really wet, with emotion, especially in the musical numbers. You’ve never heard David suffer like this over the loss of his child by Bathsheba nor his anguished pleas for divine forgiveness.
Inspirational pop can tend toward overwrought uplift, and so do the songs in “King David.” But families with a taste for this sort of thing will love it. Those seeking additional transcendence after the performance can look forward to “Judah Ben-Hur,” also starring Mr. Sanborn, which he has said he hopes to bring to Broadway in 2010.
and from Backstage Magazine…
April 17, 2009
David M. Sanborn is an impressive performer, and his enactment of the Biblical story of King David in this one-man musical displays his triple-threat credentials as dancer, singer, and actor. Furthermore, the religious fervor with which he infuses the show gives him yet another quality, making him a quadruple threat.
Moreover, he co-wrote and co-composed King David with his mother, Ellen Sanborn, who has directed the show. However, the piece does have its creative collaborators: Both the program and Sanborn at the start of the performance assure us that every spoken word has been translated from the Bible and every song adapted from King David’s own psalms. And the story of David’s unending relationship with the Almighty unfolds in straight-on narrative style. Don’t look for psychological interpretations. It’s pure gospel.
Sanborn’s mettle as an actor shows in the well-defined characterizations he gives to his leading characters: the youthfully reverent David, the troubled King Saul, and the gravitas-laden narrator. He embodies supporting roles with celebrity impressions. For example, Goliath is a comically blustering Arnold Schwarzenegger, Samuel a stammering Jimmy Stewart, and Nathan the Prophet is Sean Connery. Sanborn’s impersonations—sometimes on the mark, sometimes not—bring an occasionally distracting note of cartoonish frivolity to the storytelling. However, some of the best moments pulsate with a genuine sense of drama, as when David dances before the Ark, confronts the dissolute Saul, or grieves over his dying child.
The show also overflows with seductively lilting praise music in a pop evangelical style, and Sanborn sings it quite beautifully to lushly recorded orchestrations. “The Lord Is My Shepherd” sounds like Andrew Lloyd Webber channeling Barry Manilow.
Production values are all first-rate, including Elizabeth Richards’ evocative costuming and unit set with its giant lyre behind an imposing throne, the lighting of Matthew Miller, and the ear-caressing sound design of Bernard Fox. Onn San is the orchestrator, and San and Don Stephens did the arrangements.
If you’re in the mood for a gospel lesson, King David delivers it in about 70 minutes with theatrical savvy.