As we’ve watched for the past year many Broadway, Off-Broadway, and West End productions fall silent as the coronavirus pandemic closed the door on many theaters, producers from the West End production of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical have announced that the show is anticipating a summer return on June 3rd, 2021 in the event the U.K government easing up on restrictions.

Aisha Jawando and Jammy Kasongo were set to step into the roles of Tina and Ike Turner on March 17, a day after the show abruptly closed during the shutdown.

 

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Tina was written by Katori Hall along with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins, directed by Phyllida Lloyd, and choreographed by Anthony van Laast. Set and costume designs by Mark Thompson, musical supervision by Nicholas Skilbeck, lighting by Bruno Poet, sound by Nevin Steinberg, projection design by Jeff Sugg, and orchestrations by Ethan Popp. set and costume designs by Mark Thompson, musical supervision by Nicholas Skilbeck, lighting by Bruno Poet, sound by Nevin Steinberg, projection design by Jeff Sugg, and orchestrations by Ethan Popp.

Due to the pandemic, Tina is also on pause at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway where Tony nominee Adrienne Warren currently leads the company in the role of Tina Turner.

The post London’s TINA Anticipates June 2021 Return! appeared first on Broadway Black.

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Adrienne Warren is spreading her wings and lending her talents to a new miniseries set to air on ABC in 2021. The Women of the Movement will be a six-part program that will star Warren as Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmet Till. The series will follow Mamie Till-Mobley as she champions the fight for justice after her son was brutally murdered in the Jim Crow south in 1955 at the age of 15 years old.

The series is inspired by the book Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement by Devery S. Anderson and is created by Marissa Jo Cerar. The miniseries will be produced by Will Smith and Jay Z (production team for Fela!).

Adrienne Warren is currently nominated for a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her role as Tina Turner in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. We know Warren will be simply the best! 

The post Adrienne Warren to Star as Mamie Till-Mobley in ABC Miniseries appeared first on Broadway Black.

In this divine union of Black Broadway brilliance, Shuffle Along, Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed is the reimagining of the classic 1921 musical.  The star-studded cast, including Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Billy Porter, chatted with “Sunday Morning” about the process and the progress.

“I actually threw some tap shoes on a few months back just to see what would happen, and my timing was very awful, you know,” joked Mitchell.  “But it came back after a while!”

Now, Shuffle Along is back, nearly 100 years after becoming one of the first hit musical comedies starring, written and directed by African Americans.  For all of the strides and successes it made in its time, its significance remained unearthed for decades following its closing.

“And then history stepped in and said, ‘Thank you — and maybe we’ll remember you, and maybe we won’t,” said Tony Award-winning director George C. Wolfe.

The all-star team is lead by Wolfe and his Jelly’s Last Jam protegé, famed choreographer Savion Glover. By all accounts, Glover’s unique tap style is less than old hat for the Broadway Vets.

“I learned how to tap traditionally… I can say this: I learned how to tap from the white folks!” Porter cackled.  “I was at a ballet bar. It was very technical. Now, it’s like learning a whole ‘nother language.”

Even the seemingly flawless Ms. McDonald is still trying to find her groove.

“Because Savion doesn’t necessarily say, ‘This step is a left flap-ball-change-shuffle.’ He goes, Ba-da-da ba-da-da … it’s just call-and-response with him. That’s how he teaches.”

But in true professional fashion, each of the players are up to the challenge.

“I’ll say, like, ‘Oh, I can simplify that for you.’ And they say, ‘No, give me the harder one. I wanna learn that,'” Glover said. “That makes me feel great!”

Glover and Wolfe have been successfully working together for 23 years, since Glover was a teenager.  Wolfe directed the piece in which Glover earned his first Tony award for choreography, Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk.  

“In our early years of working together, I was there, I was present, but the need to want to learn more wasn’t there,” Glover said of his younger experiences. “Versus this time, I’m learning as we’re working.”

Now, the duo is working together to retell this backstage story about the making of one of the first all-Black Broadway musical hits.  The original production, which launched the careers of greats including Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson, made fans of then New York City shakers George Gershwin, Fanny Brice, Al Jolson, and Langston Hughes.

The large cast of 30, which also includes Brandon Victor Dixon, Joshua Henry, Felicia Boswell, Amber Iman and Adrienne Warren, begins official rehearsals in January and we’re not sure who’s more excited, them or us!

“It is such an honor and such a gift to be able to actually exist inside of your dreams,” Porter told DuBois. “This is actually the dream. I am living the dream. It’s extraordinary; it really is.”

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