Channeling Carson McCullers
Carson McCullers and singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega have more in common than it might first appear. Both are storytellers who have weaved vivid tales and share a musical connection. Vega is a well-known artist who penned the ’80s hit songs “Luka” and “Marlene on the Wall.” McCullers, a Southern Gothic author popular in the ’50s who wrote “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter,” once hoped to study piano at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York, but reportedly lost her tuition money. There is a physical resemblance between them; each has wide eyes, a slim build, and an ethereal, waifish quality. Now Vega is working on McCullers’ life story as she prepares a musical theater piece about the troubled author, who died in 1967. “Carson McCullers Sings About Love” is part of Vega’s weeklong Harvard residency Dec. 2 to 9, which is co-sponsored by Arts @ 29 Garden and the Office...