The concert, United in Song: Celebrating the Resilience of America, was filmed in front of a socially-distanced audience from George Washington’s home in Mt. Vernon. Special guests will include 6-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald (Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill) , Tony winner Brian Stokes Mitchell (Shuffle Along), Tony nominee Anna Deavere Smith (Twilight, Los Angeles 1992), Grammy winner Patti LaBelle (After Midnight), and more.

The concert will simultaneously stream at PBS.org or on the PBS Video App.

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Update: Click

The holiday season is in full swing, and what the world needs now more than ever is some joy. Even though family gatherings may look a bit different this year and celebrations have been scaled back, the Broadway community continues to be a beacon of light during an unexpected dark time.

The Tony Award-winning and Grammy-nominated Broadway Inspirational Voices is a diverse choir of Broadway artists united in changing lives through the power of music and service. Founded in 1994 by Michael McElroy (Rent, The Wild Party), the annual concert, much like many other special musical programmings this holiday, will be live-streamed for FREE on Sunday, December 13 7:00 pm.

The concert “A Season of Hope and Inspiration,” will feature special guests, Billy Porter, Leslie Odom Jr., Daniel J. Watts, and Shoshana Bean; with special appearances by Leslie Uggams, Debbie Allen, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Phylicia Rashad, Vaness Williams, and more.

McElroy has described the evening as a “moment of unity to bring comfort, healing, and great joy.”  And if you’re interested in hearing some pieces from past holiday concerts, you can check out their albums Great Joy: A Gospel Christmas and Great Joy II: Around the World.

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The play, written by Lanie Robertson and directed by Lonny Price, tells the story of the legendary jazz icon’s loves and losses through a turbulent but extraordinary life. Providing the backdrop to these stories are the moving and stirring songs that Holiday is most famous for – “God Bless the Child,” “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” “Strange Fruit,” “Crazy He Calls Me,” and “Taint Nobody’s Biz-ness.” The production will play at Wyndham’s Theater from June 25 to September 3. The official opening is scheduled for July 5. 

In Shuffle Along, McDonald will take on the role of “Lottie Gee” and Brian Stokes Mitchell will appear in the role of “F.E. Miller.” Billy Porter takes on the role of “Aubrey Lyles,” with Brandon Victor Dixon and Joshua Henry as “Eubie Blake” and “Noble Sissle.”

McDonald made Broadway history with a record-setting sixth Tony Award for her perfomance in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. She also has the distinction of being the first person to receive awards in all four acting categories. She has also won Tony’s for Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, and Porgy and Bess. We’ll cross our fingers and hope that her performance in the West End production will wow British audiences as much as it did those on Broadway and bring her an Olivier Award.

For tickets and more information about the West End production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill visit here.

BREAKING! @audraequalitymc will take a break from #ShuffleAlong to do @LadyDayWestEnd! #br… https://t.co/ud5ogDQFZn pic.twitter.com/IYpDc6lh1n

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) January 15, 2016

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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.”

The post Shuffle Along Gets Behind-the-Scenes Treatment on CBS appeared first on Broadway Black.

The musical was originally produced off-Broadway by Lincoln Center Theatre in 1994 and is inspired by Arthur Schnitzler’s 1897 play La Ronde: Hello Again. The original production earned eight Drama Desk nominations including Best Musical.

McDonald joins an all-star ensemble that includes Martha Plimpton, T.R. Knight, Tyler Blackburn, and Rumer Willis. The story follows “10 lost souls who skip across 10 periods in New York City history, slipping in and out of one another’s arms and beds in a daisy-chained exploration of lust’s bittersweet embrace of love. Its central characters are the Whore, the Nurse, the College Boy, the Young Wife, the Husband, the Young Thing, the Writer, the Actress and the Senator.”

Ash Christian, Tom Gustafson, Cory Krueckeberg, and Hunter Arnold are producing the film. Krueckebert wrote the screenplay and Michael John LaChiusa provided the music and lyrics. The film has already begun production in New York.

McDonald is no stranger to the big screen as she recently appeared alongside Academy Award winner Meryl Streep in “Ricki and the Flash.” She’s also 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.

The post LaChiusa’s Hello Again Starring Audra McDonald Begins Filming appeared first on Broadway Black.

“Leave that humdrum place of glum behind
Once you walk inside these doors, you’re mine
Now let me blow your mind.”

And for two years, audience members who’ve seen Tony Award winner Billy Porter excel as “Lola” have been captivated and had their minds blown by his performance. Unfortunately, Porter soon will put “Lola’s” stilettos on the shelf as he embarks upon his next Broadway venture in the upcoming musical revival Shuffle Along or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed.

Porter, who also won a Drama Desk Award for this role, has starred in Kinky Boots since the musical had its 2012 pre-Broadway premiere in Chicago. In addition to awards, he has received resounding critical acclaim for his performance. Thom Geier from “Entertainment Weekly” once wrote that Porter “portrays drag queen Lola with enough sequined swagger to make RuPaul look like a wallflower. Thanks to Porter’s star-making turn, Kinky Boots delivers some pumps-up kicks.”

His final performance as “Lola” will be November 20. We’ll miss Porter’s electrifying performances but we’re tremendously excited about his next role.

Thank you @PorterBacks. It's been a helluva journey!! pic.twitter.com/s4sSxMLBiU

— Billy Porter (@theebillyporter) November 1, 2015

For those who are wondering who can possibly fill “Lola’s” stilettos, don’t fret. Porter is handing over Lola’s heels to someone who’s equally capable of sashaying around the stage. Funny man and all-around performer Wayne Brady is set to take on the role beginning November 21. If you want to see him strut his stuff, tickets can be purchased here.

Wayne Brady as Lola in Kinky Boots.

Everybody say FABULOUS! @WayneBrady struts into Lola's sparkly red boots 11/21! https://t.co/DflgFobJDu pic.twitter.com/wXcT07E4eN

— Kinky Boots the Musical (@KinkyBootsBway) November 6, 2015

The post Billy Porter Hangs Up Lola’s Kinky Boots & Welcomes Wayne Brady appeared first on Broadway Black.

Mitchell and Jones will join Broadway performers including Len Cariou, Mario Cantone, Erin Davie, Matt McGrath, Alan Menken, Brad Oscar, Mary Louise Wilson, Karen Ziemba, as well as singer Thom Rhoads, and the Yale Wiffenpoofs.

Lansbury will receive the 2015 Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre at Guastavino’s. The reception begins at 6:00 p.m., followed by dinner at 7:00, with concert and award ceremony at 8:00 p.m. Kurt Stamm will direct the event’s entertainment with music direction by Andrew Gerle.

For more information on pricing and reservations, visit here or call Julie Griffith at 212-935-5824, ext. 213.

Performances of The Gin Game with Jones and Tyson are currently going on. Tickets are available HERE.

As we’ve previously reported, Shuffle Along begins previews on March 12, 2016 and opens on April 21, 2016.

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Mitchell and McDonald are among several performers participating in “A Celebration of American Creativity: In Performance at the White House” which will be filmed on October 14 for broadcast on PBS on January 8, 2016. The concert, hosted by President Barack and Mrs. Obama, has been billed as a celebration of “the cultural resonance of art and literatures in unique American musical forms.” This “In Performance at the White House” concert celebrates the 50th anniversary of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act.

Other entertainers who are slated to perform include Buddy Guy, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Keb’ Mo’, Smokey Robinson, Trombone Shorty, Esperanza Spalding and Usher. The inclusion of Queen Latifah and MC Lyte is significant because this will mark the first hip-hop performance in the “In Performance at the White House” broadcast series. All of the songs that have been selected were drawn from American-originated musical genres, including hip-hop, blues and the American Songbook.

The event will be the fifteenth “In Performance at the White House” program during President Obama’s administration. Since February 2009, “In Performance at the White House” events have honored the musical genius of Stevie Wonder, Sir Paul McCartney, and Carole King; celebrated Hispanic music, the music of Motown, Memphis Soul and the Blues, and celebrated the rich roots of Country and Gospel music.

The concert, including President Obama’s remarks, will be streamed live! Watch it right here!

UPDATE: The live stream has concluded and the special will air on PBS in January. Watch the introduction given by our President Barack Obama at the event last night below.

The post Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald & More In Performance at the White House for PBS appeared first on Broadway Black.

The six-time Tony winner will be absent from the production for three months starting Tuesday, June 21, 2016 through Sunday, September 25. It’s been announced that her absence is to fulfill a prior commitment. However, there have been no details released on what that commitment is or who will fulfill the role in her absence. McDonald is scheduled to return to the show on September 27.

Shuffle Along will present the landmark 1921 African-American musical revue Shuffle Along alongside the behind-the-scenes details that led the songwriting team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake and librettists F.E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles to create this groundbreaking work. In what has been billed as a revival, McDonald will take on the role of “Lottie Gee” and Brian Stokes Mitchell will appear in the the role of “F.E. Miller.” Porter takes on the role of “Aubrey Lyles,” with Brandon Victor Dixon and Joshua Henry as “Blake” and “Sissle.”

Other cast members include Adrienne Warren from Bring It On: The Musical, Darius de Haas (Rent, Kiss of the Spider Woman), Felicia Boswell (Motown: The Musical, Memphis), and Christian Dante White, c0-creator of Broadway Legacy.

George C. Wolfe will write the book and direct and Savion Glover will choreograph the highly anticipated production. As previously announced, the rest of the creative team includes Orchestrator Daryl Waters (musical supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations), Santo Loquasto (scenic design), Ann Roth (costume design), Scott Lehrer (sound design), Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer (lighting design), and Shelton Becton (musical director).

In 2014, the extraordinarily talented McDonald made Broadway history with a record-setting sixth Tony Award, for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. She also has the distinction of being the first person to receive awards in all four actress acting categories. She has also won Tonys for Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, and Porgy and Bess.

Shuffle Along begins previews at the Music Box Theatre on March 14, 2016. For more information on tickets, click HERE.

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It was a time that was “roaring,” right? World War I and the depression following it was over, and an economic boom was in the works. The emancipation of slavery had 56 years under its belt. The Great White Way was abuzz with as many as 50 new musicals that would open in a single season. Enthusiastic patrons were willing to shell out top dollar for a seat.

Shuffle Along became an instantaneous hit as the first major production to be produced, written and performed entirely by African Americans since the George Walker–Bert Williams Bandanna Land (1908). Before that it was the 1902 In Dahomey, also featuring Walker and Williams. Shuffle Along, however, served as a hallmark to the Harlem Renaissance, contributed to the desegregation of theatres (with Black patrons allowed in orchestra seats rather than restricted to the balcony), and set the stage for nine more African-American musicals by 1924.

The Noble Sissle–Eubie Blake musical – so popular that police created a one-way thoroughfare to the 63rd Street Music Hall to ease the traffic jams – ran for an unprecedented 504 performances through July 1922. Poet Langston Hughes, whose first poem was the 1921 “A Negro Speaks of Rivers,” was among the many repeat attendees. He was so enthralled with the “honey of a show” that he wrote:

“The 1920s were the years of Manhattan’s Black Renaissance…. Certainly it was the musical revue, Shuffle Along, that gave a scintillating send-off to that Negro vogue in Manhattan…. People came back to see it innumerable times. It was always packed…. When I saw it, I was thrilled and delighted…. It gave just the proper push – a pre-Charleston kick – to that Negro vogue of the ‘20s, that spread to books, African sculpture, music and dancing.”

So, when the vintage graphics were revealed for the Shuffle Along website, liken my excitement to all the above for what will mark a 95th anniversary of the pioneering work.

To see the colorfully billed star-quality names – Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, Brandon Victor Dixon and Joshua Henry (in an alternating palette of lemon, orange, red and sea green) – my heart did a Charleston flutter reminiscent of when the actors were announced they would share the stage. I grinned looking at “Savion Glover” and “George C. Wolfe” next to the words “choreographed by” and “directed by,” respectively. The duo meet again for the first time since Bring in ‘da Noise/Bring in ‘da Funk.

Full Cast: Adrienne Warren, Darius de Haas, Felicia Boswell, Christian Dante White, Brooks Ashmanskas, Amber Iman, Phillip Attmore, C.K. Edwards, Afra Hines,Curtis Holland, Adrienne Howard, Kendrick Jones, Lisa LaTouche, Alicia Lundgren, J.C. Montgomery, Erin N. Moore, Janelle Neal, Brittany Parks,Arbender Robinson, Karissa Royster, Britton Smith, Zurin Villanueva, J.L. Williams, Pamela Yasutake, and Richard Riaz Yoder, as previously reported

The 2016 revival of Shuffle Along or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed isn’t set to showcase its “glamour” and “hotcha” until April at the Music Box Theatre. April 21 to be exact, with previews to begin March 14. But people are ready.

The Tony-winning Wolfe, who offers up a new book from the original vaudeville comedians F.E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles, has called Shuffle Along, “the real juice… the real spark, not Black performers performing White people’s vision of Black people.” However, the original show has been critiqued as relying on minstrel stereotypes (Miller and Lyles would even perform in burnt-cork blackface). In fact, a character’s line went something to the effect that the lighter the skin, the more desirable an African American woman.

The musical launched the careers of Josephine Baker, Florence Mills and Adelaide Louise Hall; it featured an impressive 16-woman chorus line; and obliterated taboos with a Black love story being front and center.

For 2015-2016, Broadway will have perhaps its most diverse season (Amazing Grace; Hamilton; The Gin Game; The Color Purple; and Children of a Lesser God) and chances to establish the ever-evasive but always needed renaissance. Whatever you must do to be part of it, don’t drag your feet.

Visit shufflealongbroadway.com to enter your email for news and updates. Tickets go on sale Sept. 12.

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