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Entertainment One has announced that they are producing and financing a staged taping of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical. Perfect for our current climate, the show tells the story of a small town that welcomes a large group of stranded passengers. They all take their differences and put them to the side, embracing each other as they grow to respect and understand one another. 

Stop the world- #ComeFromAway will be filmed live from the Schoenfeld Theatre! Learn more here: https://t.co/rfKeIpuKxS pic.twitter.com/YwDW3DQ4tN

— Come From Away (@wecomefromaway) February 2, 2021

Like the rest of Broadway, the show has been closed since March 2020 with the spread of Covid-19, but they hope to return to their New York house, the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, this May. The live filming will star cast members from the Broadway production and employ over 222 New York theatre industry workers. The company is currently aiming for a September 2021 release. 

The official cast has not been released, but when it is, we will let you know! In the meantime, check out their 2017 Tony Award performance: 

The post ‘Come From Away’, the next Broadway show to hit the screen! appeared first on Broadway Black.

In “Chi-Raq,” iconic Black director Spike Lee takes on a modernized, hip-hop fueled, political agenda laced re-telling of the classic play in what some are calling his cinematic “comeback.”  Before you head to the movies, let’s review a couple of things about the original work.

Lysistrata is set in 411 B.C. surrounding the epic Peloponnesian War, a feud which spanned over nearly three decades between Athens and Sparta.  Fed up with the destruction caused by the senseless violence, tactical leader Lysistrata convinces the women of both cities to invoke a sex strike, which will ultimately force the men to surrender.  Though the suggestion is met with some resistance at first, the women are steadfast in their resilience, the libidinous men are ultimately at the mercy of their women and their…members, and at the desperate sight of a naked woman, swiftly and distractedly negotiate a peace.

In “Chi-Raq” Juilliard graduate Teyonah Parris serves as a thick and fierce “Lysistrata” who gathers the women of two rival gangs in Chicago to promote a sex-strike until the excessive violence that is costing innocent lives ceases.

Much like Spike Lee’s highly controversial films of the 80’s and 90’s, much of Aristophanes’ works put a mirror to the ebbs and flaws of the community and called it entertainment.  His work was known for being topical with many of the highlighted characters being famous or local personalities the audience would be familiar with.  Spike employs the same technique in “Chi-Raq” using his prose-like platform to incorporate hot topic names like Eric Garner, Ferguson and Condoleezza Rice.

Flanked with a powerhouse cast “Chi-Raq” also includes the incomparable Angela Bassett, Jennifer Hudson, Wesley Snipes and an out-of-type Nick Cannon as Lysistrata’s gang leading boyfriend.  Spike Lee film staple Samuel L. Jackson serves as a one-man Greek chorus narrating the plot with rhymes and that intonation only Jackson can deliver.

First Lin, now Lee.  Who would’ve though setting history to hip-hop could be so entertaining?

Be sure to check out “Chi-Raq” when it hits theaters on Friday, Dec. 4.

The post What You Need To Know Before Seeing “Chi-Raq” appeared first on Broadway Black.

Kain, 51, first rose to prominence in his role as “Raheem” opposite Tupac in 1992’s “Juice.” But, he’s probably best know for his role as “Maya’s” husband “Darnell Wilkes” on the sitcom “Girlfriends” for seven years. Kain has also appeared in “Love Jones” (1997) and he played the lead in Showtime’s “The Tiger Woods Story” (1998). In a stark departure from his nice guy roles, Kain portrayed the rapist “Bill” in Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls” (2010).

Kain recently ventured into the theatre world, penning the stage drama Lambs to Slaughter which tells the story of a mourning single mother living alone in the city after the murder of her son “Emmett.” The play was read in December 2014 at the cell theatre in New York.

“Arkabutla” was inspired by an incident that Hall witnessed as a teenager and marks her first attempt at filmmaking. The film is scheduled to begin filming in Memphis on October 20.

Hall was the first African American playwright to win the Olivier Award for The Mountaintop. Since her rise on the Broadway scene, her work has been produced at acclaimed theatres across the nation, bringing her signature style to the forefront of the theatre scene.

Her most recent production was The Mixed Blood Theatre‘s Pussy Valley, which closed a successful run on May 10th. The play centered around the lives of four women working in a Mississippi strip club, a world that Hall describes as “the intersection of hip hop and strip club cultures.”

The post Katori Hall Finds Leading Man for Arkabutla in Khalil Kain appeared first on Broadway Black.

East Texas Hot Links tells the story of a small African American community in 1955 Texas. The play takes place during a single night in the Top o’ the Hill Café, where a “betrayal endangers the lives of the community.” Lee’s play originally premiered in 1991 at the Met Theatre in Los Angeles with Loretta Devine in a starring role. A review of the production at the time noted, “the performances are gripping, honest and filled with humor.”

Casting for East Texas Hot Links is currently underway with John Beasley star of TV Land’s “The Soul Man” in the role of “Boochie Reed.” Beasley also serves as a producer. The movie is scheduled to begin shooting next spring in Los Angeles.

In addition to East Texas Hot Links, Lee has written Fear Itself, Somebody Called: A Tale of Two Preachers, Killingsworth, The Rest of Me, the musical Twist, and Lyin’ Ass. He also has appeared on Broadway in August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, and as a company member for the Kennedy Center’s 10-play cycle tribute to Wilson. His television credits include “Good Times,” “The White Shadow,” and “The Women of Brewster Place.” He is currently the Artist in Residence and Artistic Director of the Texas State University Black and Latino Playwright’s Conference.

Jackson has enjoyed a long career on the stage including 1990’s Broadway production of Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. Most recently, he starred alongside Angela Bassett in Katori Hall’s Olivier Award-winning drama The Mountaintop as “Dr. Martin Luther King.”

The post Samuel L. Jackson Bringing East Texas Hot Links Play to the Big Screen appeared first on Broadway Black.

“They are making Fences, August Wilson’s play, into a feature that Denzel Washington is directing and I’m going to be in,” the actress told The New York Times.

The two-time Oscar nominated star has only been seen on Broadway in August Wilson pieces, which is what makes this really special. She also won her first Tony Award for her role in King Hedley II starring opposite Brian Stokes Mitchell & Leslie Uggams. It has not been said if Denzel Washington will reprise his role in the film also. However, we hope that we will be willing to perform double duty as director and star.

UPDATE: DENZEL WASHINGTON WILL HELP BRING ENTIRE WILSON CYCLE TO HBO – READ MORE HERE

 

Fences is a 1983 play by American playwright August Wilson. Set in the 1950s, it is the sixth in Wilson’s ten-part “Pittsburgh Cycle,” a set of 10 plays set in Pittsburgh throughout an entire century. Like all of the “Pittsburgh” plays, Fences explores the evolving African-American experience and examines race relations, among other themes. The show centers on Troy Maxson, a Pittsburgh sanitation worker who once dreamed of a baseball career, but was too old when the major leagues finally admitted black players. As he faces off against the racial barrier at work and his own disappointments, Troy also grapples with his son Cory over the teenager’s hope for a football scholarship and with his wife, Rose, who confronts Troy over a child he has fathered with another woman.

The original Broadway production hit broadway in 1987. It won the Pulitzer Prize and Best Play Tony Award as well as Best Actor for James Earl Jones and Best Actress for (Mary Alice). The same roles and Tony Awards later played/won by Washington and Davis in the revival.

Watch Washington & Davis talk about Broadway’s 2010 Fences below!

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Miranda’s works bring an energy and zest to the theatre that have drawn the praise of Jennifer Lopez, Joss Whedon and President Barack Obama. Cleverly fusing hip hop and salsa into the score of In the Heights and doubling back for more hip hop with a healthy splash of R&B for Hamilton, Miranda seems to be on a winning streak. But a Broadway smash does not guarantee that the musical will work on film.

In 2008, Manuel was excited when Universal Pictures acquired the film rights for his Tony Award-winning Best Musical, In the Heights. At the time, Miranda was expected  to reprise the role of leading man, Usnavi, with  Quiara Alegría Hudes, who wrote the Tony-nominated book, and was set to write the screen adaptation. But after concerns about signing on a big enough Latino star who would sell internationally, and an enormous $37 million dollar budget, the concept simply did not work as originally planned.

A lot of the reason the Universal version of Heights went away is that they were afraid they didn’t have a big enough Latino star to bankroll this movie. The people I dealt with at the studio who wanted to make this movie were very passionate about it. We had a very strong hand at the wheel with Kenny Ortega, who has made some of the great musical movie moments of all time, from Newsies to Dirty Dancing. But the bean counters were like, “Well, they don’t sell international.” You know this speech very well. That’s Hollywood being scared, and that’s everyone there having to answer to somebody else. And one of the things I learned was, the less money that’s involved, the more power you have.

The experience has now led to a revamp of the screenplay and a $15 million dollar budget. Manuel feels these changes are much better and should move the project forward.

In terms of a possible movie from his current hit Hamilton, Manuel says,

I have been amazed at the filmmakers who have expressed interest in adapting Hamilton. I would insist that the movie be exactly the same in terms of diversity. That conversation’s a ways off: It’s not happening anytime soon. What I learned from my go-round with In the Heights is that it’s tough to make a movie. In Hollywood, even the people in charge have people in charge.

For now, there is no clear answer of when, or if, either of these amazing productions will hit movie theaters. And that’s okay, because if it does happen, it’s quite clear that Manuel is determined not to lose the essence of either show just to sell movie tickets. That’s the kind of integrity that’s currently lacking in Hollywood. Even the venerable and iconic film maker Spike Lee agrees,

” I haven’t seen anything this DOPE on stage or screen in years…Game recognize game.”

The @SpikeLee in the 3rd row at the matinee…I felt like John Starks on that stage! Thanks maestro. #HamiltonPublic pic.twitter.com/MLyxdX2GR5

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) March 21, 2015

And that is exactly how we like it! For more information on In the Heights or Hamilton click here.

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This is a rare opportunity to see performances on such a large scale. In particular, Revelations, a masterpiece of American dance and described by “The New York Times” as “one of the great works of the human spirit,” will be showcased.  The iconic dance performance is backed by African American spirituals, sermons, gospel songs, and blues, and is truly a must see for even the most casual of art appreciators.  In addition, not only is this is an affordable way for people throughout the country to  see the company perform, it allows viewers to see Ailey literally larger than life, which is the way the performances typically feel when watching them on stage.

In addition to “Revelations,” the electrifying program will include Wayne McGregor’s “Chroma,” set to music scored by Joby Talbot with orchestrations of songs by The White Stripes; Ronald K. Brown’s “Grace,” which combines modern and West African dance accompanied by Duke Ellington, Roy Davis, and Fela Kuti‘s music, and closing with Robert Battle’s “Takademe.”

This showing is one night only, and pre-sale tickets are available now.

The post Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre Comes to the Big Screen appeared first on Broadway Black.

McDonald fans are accustomed to seeing her sharing her incredible talent on the stage (A Raisin in the Sun, Lady Day at Emerson Bar and Grill) and on television (“Private Practice). But she is no stranger to the big screen. She’s appeared in “Seven Servants,” “The Object of My Affection,” “Cradle Will Rock,” “It Runs in the Family,” “Rampart,” and “The Best Thief in the World.” McDonald will also provide the voice of “Garderobe” in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” slated for release in 2017.

As rock musician “Ricki Rendazzo,” Streep is a one-time wife and mother of three who left her family behind to follow her dreams of rock ‘n’ roll stardom in California. Now, the singer and guitarist must face the music when she returns home to Indiana to reconnect with her ex-husband “Pete,” troubled daughter “Julie,” engaged son “Josh” and younger son “Adam.” Filled with regret, Ricki hopes to find redemption for all of the bad choices that she made in the past.

In addition to Streep and McDonald, who plays “Pete’s” new wife “Maureen,” the cast includes stellar actors and musicians, including Kevin Kline as “Pete,” Mamie Gummar (Streep’s real-life daughter) as Julie and Rick Springfield as “Greg,” Ricki’s lead guitarist and sometime lover.

Since everyone knows McDonald can sing and act, wouldn’t it be fun to see a film in which the roles were reversed and she was the rock star musician? Hmmm, let’s keep our fingers crossed.

The post Audra McDonald Joins Meryl Streep & Kevin Cline on the Big Screen appeared first on Broadway Black.

Riley & Aduba will join newbie Shanice Willams, who will play Dorothy, Tony nominee David Alan Grier who will take on the role of “The Cowardly Lion”, as well as join the Academy Award nomineeQueen Latifah & Grammy Award winner Mary J. Blige in the cast of The Wiz Live. Latifah will play “The Wiz” & Blige will portray the role of “Evillene”, the horrible wicked witch known for the upbeat “Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News.” In addition to Stephanie Mills as “Aunt Em”, who was also previously announced.

The original 1975 production of The Wiz featured music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and a book by William F. Brown and is a re-imagining of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” The Broadway production won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical. In 1978, Motown Productions and Universal Pictures produced a film adaptation starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Lena Horne, and Richard Pryor as “The Wiz”.

This upcoming retelling of “The Wiz” will be directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon (Raisin in the Sun) and will feature stunning acrobatics by Cirque du Soleil Theatrical, choreography by Fatima Robinson, and updated material by Harvey Fierstein (Kinky Boots, La Cage aux Folles, Newsies).

We know from her time on Fox’s “Glee!” that Amber Riley has serious acting and singing skills. We can’t wait to hear her belt out “He’s The Wiz!,” Addaperle’s signature tune. Riley will also rock out on the NBC production stage. In 2013, she became the first Black woman to win Dancing With the Stars.

Uzo Aduba is mostly known from her work on Orange Is The New Black as “Crazy Eyes” but is no stranger to the theatre. Aduba is an amazing vocalist and would be right at home on a Broadway-style sound stage. Before being cast on OITNB, she was on Broadway, and starred in the revival of Godspell. She’s also classically trained if you didn’t know.

We think Amber Riley is a great, youthful choice to play Addaperle. And Uzo Aduba is the best choice for Glinda The Good. Talk back to us in the comments and let us know what you think!

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