Caroline, or Change

SHOULD. HAVE. WON. EVERY. SINGLE. TONY. FOR. WHICH. THEY. WERE. NOMINATED.  Okay, I’m good now. This show opened on Broadway in 2004. It’s 2015, why hasn’t there been a revival in the works for the Great White Way? Its score combines spirituals, blues, Motown, classical music, Jewish klezmer, and folk music all in one. What other musical does that, and does so effortlessly? If only in 2004 I had been smart enough to become the theatre nerd I am today, I would have begged my mom to take me to New York City to see Tonya Pinkins, Chuck Cooper and Anika Noni Rose in this show. The musical is set in 1963 New Orleans during the American civil rights movement. Caroline works as a maid for a Jewish family, where she is allowed to keep the pocket change she finds while doing laundry. This becomes a point of pride and even crisis for the maid, who cannot cope with greater changes in her life and the growing civil rights movement.

Carmen Jones

If I had been around in the 1940s I would have been all up in the theatre to see Carmen Jones. Oscar Hammerstein’s take on  Bizet’s Opera Carmen featured an all-Black cast set in the South during the World War II era. This time, Carmen is a worker in a parachute factory; Don Jose is now Don, an army corporal; Micaela is now Cindy Lou, Joe’s lover; and Escamillo is Husky Miller, a boxer. When the show was first conceived, they had trouble finding suitable actors for it because back then, Black singers were discouraged (or practically barred) from becoming opera singers. To make up for this they plucked people from all kinds of non-acting positions–film scraper, cop, etc.

She Loves Me

Nearly every character in this show is white, and it takes place in Europe.  However, WHO CARES? This show has some amazing music. Its tender, hilarious, and entrancing “A Romantic Atmosphere” is one of the most exciting, funny production numbers to ever exist. Also I can see Audra McDonald absolutely KILLING it singing Vanilla Ice Cream. Look up the song if you don’t know. Seriously, Audra would slay that role as Amalia. The plot has been seen before:  it revolves around shop employees Georg Nowack and Amalia Balash who, despite being consistently at odds with each other at work, are unaware that each is the other’s secret pen pal met through a lonely-hearts ad.

St. Louis Woman

If you loved Porgy and Bess, you’ll love St. Louis Woman too. It has an Encores cast recording from 1998, but if you search high and low you’ll find the OBC as well. Starring the Nicholas Brothers, Pearl Bailey, and Ruby Hill, St. Louis Woman tells the story of Della Green who falls for Li’l Augie, a jockey with a winning streak, though she’s already the woman of Biglow Brown, a saloon owner. Brown is eventually killed, but he puts a curse on Li’l Augie that ends the streak and Della’s affection for the jockey.

 Once on This Island

It’s a French fairy tale about a young island girl from Haiti, Ti Moune, who falls in love with the mulatto son (Daniel) of a wealthy landowner. When he’s injured, she makes a pact with the gods that it’s going to be her life for his. He survives and is grateful, but rejects her love (RUDE!). The gods, as a reward for her sacrifice and disappointment, grant her eternal life by turning her into a tree. It reminds me a lot of The Tempest, a little Romeo and Juliet, and even some Little Mermaid just shaken up a bit and a lot more music.

We could probably list more overlooked shows, but I’m curious to know about some shows YOU think are overlooked! Sound off below.

The post 5 Great Musicals You’ve Probably Overlooked appeared first on Broadway Black.

The  competition features fifty-two high school students from across the United States vying for the Jimmy Award for Best Performance by an Actor and Actress. The talent showcase features ensemble and solo performances and also includes a week-long theatre intensive in New York City to prepare for the big day, which for most teenagers is the chance of a lifetime.

This year, 17 year-old New Yorker Marla Louissaint took home the Best Performance by an Actress Award for her role as Caroline Thibodeaux in The Beacon School’s Caroline, or Change.  Louissaint previously won the New York regional Gershwin Award for Best Actress, which qualified her for the Jimmy Awards.

Getting the honor not only comes with bragging rights, but also a slew of opportunities for the winners to hone their craft.

The Nederlander Organization presented both winners with a check for $10,000 to further their education. They are also eligible for a four-year merit and need-based scholarship to attend the prestigious NYU Tisch School of the Arts New Studio on Broadway, contingent upon acceptance into the program. Additionally, Wyndham Rewards will be giving both winners an opportunity to be a part of one of its upcoming national advertising shoots.

Whats up next for Louissaint? She told American Theatre, “I am going to Fordham University for engineering. I have an agent, so I have both outlets—I didn’t want to drop one to do the other.”

More information about the awards can be found here, and check out Louissaint’s performance below!

Congrats, Marla Louissaint; you are Broadway Black!

The post Meet the 2015 Best Actress Jimmy Award Winner Marla Louissaint appeared first on Broadway Black.

Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City)  directs this tense workplace thriller by Joel Drake Johnson (The Fall to Earth), examining the realities of so-called “post-racial” America. Academy Award® winner Dianne Wiest and Tony Award® winner Tonya Pinkins star as co-workers who are driven apart by the machinations of their boss. A chilling power struggle ensues that spins wildly out of control. Rasheeda Speaking is an incisive and shocking dark comedy that keeps you in its claustrophobic grip until its final moment. Also featuring Patricia Conolly (Is He Dead?) and Darren Goldstein (The Affair).

“Stripped of costumes and props, today’s best-known artists from the Broadway stage and Carnegie Hall offer intimate and thrilling performances for the camera.”

That’s the description for one of my favorite features from The NY Times — their In Performance series. I absolutely love the stripped down, simplistic presentation of these performances.

Recently In Performance featured Tonya Pinkins and Dianne Wiest in their series.

Tonya and Dianne’s portrayal of ‘Jaclyn’ and ‘Ileen’ is so mesmerizing. Tonya’s confident, playful knowing coupled with Dianne’s quirky, awkward discomfort is fodder for beautiful theatre.

I’ve been in love with Tonya’s craft since I became familiar with Caroline, Or Change and Noah’s Arc: Jumping The Broom.

She has the ability to disappear so seamlessly into characters. From Caroline in Caroline, or Change (Eugene O’Neill Theatre, 2004) to Big Mama in Hurt Village (Signature Theatre, 2012), Tonya Pinkins’ chameleon-like transformations as an actor are a joy to behold.

Watch Tonya and Dianne in their In Performance feature of Rasheeda Speaking below — then get to The New Group at The Pershing Square Signature Center TODAY to see them tell the entire story on stage.

The post Tonya Pinkins In Performance: Rasheeda Speaking appeared first on Broadway Black.