The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day Is Not Your Average History Lesson
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
It all started with a flag. John Monsky, the historian, writer, and producer behind American History Unbound—a series of multimedia productions aimed at exploring watershed moments in American history—began collecting flags as a kid. That childhood hobby marked the start of his deep fascination with American history—and the artifacts that help us piece it together. His collection grew as he did, and today Monsky is bringing a familiar story to Carnegie Hall, albeit with a new kind of voice.
The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day, which is described as an “immersive concert experience” will take place for one night only on Wednesday, November 10. Narrated by Monsky himself, the show will combine videos, archival photos, personal letters, and live acting with musical arrangements performed by a 58-piece orchestra. The Eyes of the World captures the final months of World War II, all from the perspectives of three famous figures: Ernest Hemingway, LIFE magazine war photographer Robert Capa, Vogue model-turned-photojournalist Lee Miller. A fourth perspective comes from a young soldier who landed on Utah Beach—one of five landing areas of the Normandy Invasion—on June 6, 1944. It’s a story most Americans are familiar with, and yet the production promises something unique.
“I did not start out looking for the four figures we follow in this production—they revealed themselves as we researched a single flag flown on a Higgins Craft and the boys it carried to the beaches,” Monsky says. But there’s no rewriting of history here, and that’s the point.
From Capa's time spent photographing Omaha Beach to Miller's reports from the frontlines of the war, The Eyes of the World uses these culturally recognizable points of view to drive the narrative forward and give the story a theatrical twist.
Director Peter Flynn (Smart Blonde, Curvy Widow, Rhapsody in Seth) has worked with Monsky on various iterations of this production over the course of eight years—starting when Monsky was hosting performances at his own apartment. They eventually took the show to the New York Historical Society, and now, to Carnegie Hall.
“John has a genuine passion for American history, and very particular moments of it, which a lot of us sort of gloss over,” Flynn tells T&C. “He takes an identity and an event that many of us know very well from history, but looks at both of them very differently because of how the characters interact.”
By zooming into these interpersonal touchpoints, viewers are able to connect the dots of these historical events in part through their own emotional response to the performance. “John and I have been working for almost two years now, boiling it down to ‘What are the dramatic moments?’ And ‘How are they essential to each other?’ ” Flynn says. “You’re figuring out what keeps the audience leaning forward, either in the event or the characters. “[At the beginning] I’d ask John why some piece of the story was relevant, and he’d present 5 or 10 minutes on it. I’d say, ‘Can we get this down to two or three sentences?’ ”
In retelling history through a theatrical lens, it was not lost on Flynn that these are sensitive stories that needed to be seriously considered and cared for. “We fact checked every single sentence, idea, and chronology,” he says. “The way that John put it to me is that these are like historical TED Talks with informational, supportive entertainment.”
For Flynn, this production is unlike anything he’s ever worked on before. With so many elements—music, video, narration, acting—intersecting at once, he hopes that viewers will continue to contemplate the story, even once it’s done being told. “To me, that is the best sort of collaboration. Observations that lead to discoveries that lead to action.”
To buy tickets for “The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day” click here.
You Might Also Like
