Spring Hill Arts Gathering: Country Goes to Town Tickets

Ariana Debose

Ariana DeBose will inaugurate SHAG with a cabaret performance of career favorites and beloved hits. She is a Tony-nominated actress and 2021 Forbes 30 under 30 honoree known for her varying roles on stage and screen. DeBose is perhaps best known for her role as “Disco Donna” in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, which earned her a 2018 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. For the same role, she was nominated for a Drama League Award for “Distinguished Performance” and won a Chita Rivera Award for “Outstanding Female Dancer in a Broadway Show."

Last December, DeBose starred in Ryan Murphy's Netflix adaptation of the hit-Broadway musical THE PROM, where she played the role of Alyssa alongside Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Kerry Washington and James Corden. In December 2021, DeBose will be seen in Steven Spielberg’s highly anticipated reimagining of the Academy Award-winning musical WEST SIDE STORY. DeBose was chosen from thousands of actresses to portray the iconic role of Anita, which earned Rita Moreno an Oscar in 1962. This summer, DeBose will star in Schmigadoon!, the Lorne Michaels’ executive produced Apple TV+ musical comedy series alongside Kristin Chenoweth, Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong. It was recently announced that DeBose joined the cast of Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s space thriller ISS and will star in the film alongside Chris Messina and Pilou Asbaek.

In 2015, DeBose appeared alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda in the groundbreaking, Tony-winning musical HAMILTON as a member of the original cast in both the Broadway and off-Broadway productions. A film version of the production was released on Disney+ on July 3rd. After her departure from Hamilton in 2016, DeBose completed a run as Jane in the original Broadway cast of A Bronx Tale, among numerous other credits.

The Doo Wop Project

The Doo Wop Project begins at the beginning: tracing the evolution of Doo Wop from the classic sound of five guys singing harmonies on a street corner to the biggest hits on the radio today. In their epic shows The Doo Wop Project takes audiences on a journey featuring foundational tunes from the Crests, Belmonts and Flamingos through the vocal artistry of Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, and The Four Seasons all the way to DooWopified versions of modern hits from Michael Jackson, Jason Mraz, Maroon 5, and Sam Smith.Featuring stars from the Broadway hits Jersey Boys, Motown: The Musical, and A Bronx Tale, The Doo Wop Project brings unparalleled authenticity of sound and vocal excellence to recreate—and in some cases entirely reimagine—the greatest music in American pop and rock history.

Graydon Carter interviewed by journalist Marcia DeSanctis

Graydon Carter is the founder and editor of Air Mail, a digital weekly that unfolds like the better weekend editions of your favorite newspapers, which launched in July 2019. He was editor of Vanity Fair from July 1992 to December 2017. A former staff writer for both Time and Life, he co-founded Spy magazine and served as editor of The New York Observer. He is also an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker. His most recent project is Fake Famous, directed by Nick Bilton and released by HBO. He has edited numerous books. Born in Toronto, Canada, Carter resides in Greenwich Village with his wife, Anna, and their daughter. He also has four older children.

Marcia DeSanctis writes essays and stories for Vogue, Travel & Leisure, Town & Country, Departures, BBC Travel, Air Mail, Creative Nonfiction, Lit Hub, Roads & Kingdoms, and many other publications. She wrote a New York Times bestselling book about France and has received five Lowell Thomas Awards for excellence in travel journalism, including one for Travel Journalist of the Year. Her collection of essays, A Hard Place to Leave, comes out in January 2022.