Dana Wilson

The Banquet

Providing a unique concert experience, this programmatic work depicts the story of what newspapers in 1916 described as 'the poison soup plot”! At a Chicago banquet for dignitaries and politicians, a mass murder plot involving poison soup was hatched and nearly successful. However, thanks to a large number of unexpected guests, the dilution of the soup to feed everyone, and a quick thinking doctor with an antidote, tragedy was averted with no loss of life. Musical cues follow the events, and detailed program notes are included with the suggestion of including dancers to help tell the story. Imaginative and entertaining!