‘Row’ Changes Course

A Pearl in the Storm: How I Found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean, a 2009 memoir by Tori Murden McClure ’85— about her successful quest to become the first woman and first American to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean—had been adapted for the stage and was scheduled to premiere last summer as a musical.

The opening of Row at the Tony Award–winning Williamstown Theatre Festival in western Massachusetts was canceled because of the pandemic, but instead debuted as an Audible selection in the spring. Row is the first-ever musical to be released on the popular audio storytelling platform, with a book by Daniel Goldstein, music and lyrics by Dawn Landes and a stellar cast, including Broadway actor Grace McLean (above) as Tori.

ROW
Tori Murden McClure ’85
Williamstown Theatre Festival / Audible, April 2021

This story appears as part of the Smithies Create column in the Summer 2021 issue of the Smith Alumnae Quarterly.