Cabin in the Sky is an all-Black musical and his being billed as:

“Cabin in the Sky followed Porgy and Bess in celebrating African‐American music and dance traditions. The musical tells the story of ‘Little Joe’ Jackson, a charming ne’er‐do‐well who dies in a saloon brawl and is given six months on earth to prove his worth to the Lord’s General (Norm Lewis) and his long‐suffering wife Petunia (LaChanze), while resisting the temptations of the Devil’s Head Man (Chuck Cooper)”

Cabin in the Sky will also include J. Bernard Calloway, Marva Hicks, Carly Hughes, Forrest McClendon and J.D. Webster. Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago‐Hudson directs with choreography by Camille A. Brown.

The musical, written by Lynn Root, was originally produced on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre in 1940 with music by Vernon Duke, lyrics by John La Touche, and choreography by George Ballanchine to “celebrate African American achievement in music and dance.” The original cast included singer-actress Ethel Waters, famed dancer/choreographer Katherine Dunham, film/television actor Rex Ingram, and composer/singer J. Rosemond Johnson. The musical closed on March 8, 1941 after 156 performances.

Two years later, the musical hit the big screen during a time when Blacks rarely appeared in leading roles in film. According to “Beyond Racial Stereotypes: Subversive Subtexts in ‘Cabin in the Sky’” by Kate Marie Weber, as part of his New Deal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration advocated for more Black actors in major roles as a way to create more jobs for Blacks in the film industry. Additionally, the NAACP met with Hollywood executives to demand better roles for Black actors and actresses. As a result, “Cabin in the Sky,” starring Waters, Ingram, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, and Lena Horne, became one of the few films, at that time, produced by one of Hollywood’s major studios with an all-Black cast.

Encores! production of Cabin in the Sky runs Feb 10 – 14, 2016. Tickets for the performance can be purchased here.

The post LaChanze, Norm Lewis & Chuck Cooper Will Star in Cabin in the Sky appeared first on Broadway Black.

While Broadway will take on Shuffle Along, or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, next spring, the 55th Street Moorish Revival theater – famous as an inexpensive venue for classic revivals and recent Broadway musicals – will celebrate Black History Month through gospel sounds and modern dance. The production will run from Feb. 10-14. The cast has yet to be announced.

Cabin in the Sky, based on the story “Little Joe” and inspired by the Faust legend, follows gambler Little Joe Jackson, who pays the consequences of his debts only to gain a second chance (six months to be exact) to redeem his soul and become worthy to enter heaven. His life in the hands of The Lord’s Angel and The Devil’s Son, Little Joe becomes a better husband to his God-fearing wife Petunia until he wins the lottery, and then meets and runs off with the gold-digging Georgia Brown. Determined to win her husband back, Petunia finds him at a nightclub. A fight breaks out and what happens next is the stuff that dreams are made of.

The Broadway run of Lynn Root’s Cabin in the Sky – directed by Albert Lewis and staged and choreographed by George Balanchine – included 156 performances, opening Oct. 25, 1940, at Martin Beck Theatre. In April 1943, the all African-American musical made its way to the big screen thanks to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during a time when many movie theaters – especially those in southern states – refused to show films with prominent Black performers. The film starred Ethel Waters, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, Tony Award winner Lena Horne, Rex Ingram, & Louis Armstrong.

Encores! continues to keep Black musical theatre alive as its orchestra – under the direction of Rob Berman – will restore the original Broadway score of Vernon Duke and John La Touche. The music’s revival is made possible with support of the Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Broadway Musical Restoration Fund.

Tickets will go on sale Oct. 5. and can be purchased online or through CityTix at 212-581-1212.

The final moments of the original Broadway production of Cabin in the Sky. George Karger/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Listen to the original Broadway Cast recording on Spotify.

The post Cabin In The Sky Will Be Resurrected By New York City Center Encores appeared first on Broadway Black.