When Elizabeth Taylor as Queen Cleopatra of Egypt entered Rome in the 1963 film -Cleopatra- it was one of the most spectacular events, at the time, to grace the big screen: Certainly, the most expensive.

A sea of slaves working in unison and riveting grace, pulled the symbol of Egyptian power and royalty, the sphinx, upon which Taylor sat on her golden throne.  (The sphinx represented the sun god, Horus.)

The music and pageantry were outstanding and the performances that ushered her in, as she looked down on Rome from her lofty height, were fitting for a queen who may have been, at that time, the wealthiest woman in the known world.

No fewer than 10 Africans, perhaps darker in hue than the ace of spades and as dark as the ebony sphinx, gracefully, and in military precision, brought the queen from her perch to ground level to deafening applause by the Romans including their highest society residents.

They were resplendent but mesmerized and Queen Cleopatra eclipsed them all with her radiance, power and beauty.

The HL Stoutt concert at HL Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) to mark his birthday was not in the league of that pageantry but, in its own right, it was a splendid and well-orchestrated event.

For 3 decades we have been honouring our first Chief Minister, Stoutt, each year better than the last but the March 2nd event had no equal and no rival.

And when, dazzling in green, Shauna-Kay Miller-Powell took the stage and performed Sandi Patti’s “We shall behold him,’ to thunderous applause, BVI knew that it was in for something very special indeed.

Stoutt’s significant contributions to the economic and social life of the BVI are well known.  The standard of living that we all enjoy in the Territory could not have been possible without him.

Education was the hallmark of his service to his people.  He understood that the high price of education was a pittance compared to the cost of ignorance.

Stoutt knew what he did not know and he surrounded himself by the best and brightest that BVI offered up to create the prosperous foundation upon which the people of the Territory now stand.

It is fitting that the government allotted a day off from the rigors of work to mark his birthday.  It reflects the gratitude that we feel for his contributions and our admiration for the man who felt that having one enemy was one too many.

From beginning to end, the concert was a wonderful, refreshing and timely event.  The stage was well set, the musicians present in their numbers and the performers, so outstanding, that the 4-hour event passed like a breeze.

The spectators, if the stories told by their expressions and body language were true, felt, more than witnessed, the performances which took them through a range of emotions and a walk down memory lane before catapulting them to the clouds.

Stoutt’s family, who loaned him to the Territory for the greater good, were well represented and they wore their pride like badges of honour.

The idea of the concert was brilliant, a master stroke.  A remarkable depiction of the various facets of the life of the unequivocal leader of the modern day BVI. 

Its execution was flawless.  Kareem Hull, the producer, may not know how good and talented he is.  He certainly belongs as a mentee to the level of talent that created ‘Cleopatra’ those decades ago.

For he brought together, in a setting embellished for the event at HLSCC, top tier local talent that appealed to the children of all ages who were present that evening.

And when the producer introduced Premier Wheatley to bestow recognition on the honourees who were instrumental in keeping Stoutt’s legacy alive over the past 30 years, it was done in regal grace and style and provided a most dignified seal to his talents as an organizer, producer and public relations guru.

And as Wheatley shook the hands of each successive honouree and uttered a few words, the hearts of the people swelled with pride for, in Bertrand’s words;

“Sunday was a red-letter day in the BVI.” 

It is our ongoing story on Fridays that when BVI rises, we all rise.

Let us protect her to the best of our abilities.

Happy Friday!