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.

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Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson – who boasts a 40-year career – will examine sexist and racist attitudes rooted in classic musicals with fellow award winners Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof) and Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home).

For City Center’s announcement about the events, Viertel stated:

“At Encores!, we’re always asking questions about the American musical: where it’s been, where it’s going, what we can learn from the songwriters of Broadway’s Golden Age, and about the attitudes of any given era, which might be very different from our own. This series opens up that conversation to everyone. There’s no one else who does what we do at Encores! in terms of restoring and presenting great musicals as they were originally intended. Our hope is that Encores! Unscripted will explore the connections between the shows we do here –from Cabin in the Sky to 1776 – and the shows currently playing on Broadway.”

Santiago-Hudson has stated: “Whether I’m acting, writing or directing, I want to tell the truth about human beings – especially my folk.” His roots, which spring from an Puerto Rican father and African-American mother, began in New York. Santiago-Hudson made his Broadway debut with George C. Wolfe’s Jelly’s Last Jam (1992-1993). His last Broadway appearance was during 2011-2012 in the Kenny Leon-directed Stick Fly (written by Lydia R. Diamond) as “Joy LeVay,” along with Dulé Hill, Mekhi Phifer, Tracie Thoms and Condola Rashad. Other acting work has included August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean and Seven Guitars; the latter garnered him a Tony Award.

The Lackawanna, NY native wrote the 2001 autobiographical play Lackawanna Blues and portrayed 20 different characters as well as himself; it was adapted in 2005 as an HBO film and earned him the Humanitas Prize as well as Emmy and Writers Guild of America award nominations. His follow-up “truth” play was Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine, which was produced by Two River Theater in New Jersey this year. For his direction, he was awarded, in 2013, the Lucille Lortel Award and Obie Award and nominated for the Drama Desk Award for his work in the Off-Broadway production of Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. In 2009, he received the NAACP Lifetime Achievement Theatre Award for his role as “Mayor Joe Starks” in Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Jennifer Sendrow, executive producer at WYNC, also discussed the events. As noted on City Center’s website page, she said: “The Greene Space and Encores! know that our audiences not only delight in the electricity of a live performance, they want to dig deeply into the stories and ideas that propel their favorite shows. We’re convening some of the brightest minds on Broadway to make a must-listen oral history of a fiercely creative time in American theater that will inspire and challenge future generations of artists and fans alike.”

The three-part series will conclude March 14, with “Who Tells Their Stories? Historical Narratives on Broadway” featuring Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson composer Michael Friedman, Hamilton The Musical star Leslie Odom, Jr., along with cast members from the Encores! production of 1776.

Tickets are on sale now. All shows will be webcast live and available as archived videos and podcasts.

Santiago-Hudson presented a TEDx talk at his alma mater Binghamton University on the theme of “staying the course.”

The post Ruben Santiago-Hudson Discusses Broadway’s Musical Legacy for City Center Encores! Unscripted appeared first on Broadway Black.

It’s no secret that the hit musical Hamilton was inspired by the 1969 Tony-winning musical 1776, he quotes the musical in his hit show, but when it comes to casting the roles have been reversed. In a posted audition notice for the upcoming 2016 Encores concert series, 1776 has specific casting notices citing that “this will be a completely multi-ethnic production.”

The show originally premiered on Broadway in 1969 with an all-white cast, led by William Daniels reflecting the actual ethnic makeup of the “Founding Fathers.” Hamilton did something extraordinary with their take on the founding fathers by choosing to cast primarily actors of color to bring forth this history for modern audiences. Because unlike 1776, in 2015 we’re experiencing diversity like we’ve never seen before. Why can’t our Broadway shows reflect that? And so far it’s working for Hamilton, as it’s easily the hottest new musical of the season.

In the Encores! season announcement, Jack Viertel, Encores! Artistic Director, said in a statement, “1776 is a show we’ve long contemplated doing, but wanted to wait a sufficient amount of time after its successful 1997 revival. This season, with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton opening on Broadway and dealing with many of the same story elements in a completely different way, we felt it would be an especially enjoyable moment to look at this wonderful show. It may also start a few conversations, which, in the theatre, we always hope to do.”

This new Encores! 1776, which will be directed by Garry Hynes, and music directed by Rob Berman is ready to follow suit with their own multi-ethnic casting. Rehearsals are scheduled to begin March 16, 2016 with previews starting March 30 and opening night set for April 3 at the City Center in New York City.

1776 is set in the halls of Congress, as the founding fathers battle out the question of independence and draft the declaration that will sever their ties to England and give birth to a new nation. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and their cohorts argue and grandstand through speeches and songs such as “Sit Down, John,” “Cool, Cool, Considerate Men,” and “He Plays the Violin.” 1776 features music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone.

So what do you guys think? Anybody else excited like I am? Sound off in the comments below!

The post Encores 1776 Takes A Cue From Hamilton With Diverse Casting 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.

From The New York City Center Website;

Before Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Mermaid, there was a sinister little houseplant saying, “Feed me.” Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s giddy, gory musical Little Shop of Horrors was their first major hit, running Off-Broadway for five years and spawning a 1986 cult-classic film. Now the show returns to City Center in a special event starring Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal as Seymour Krelborn, a hapless florist who pursues a doomed romance with his ditzy, lovable co-worker Audrey (Tony Award nominee Ellen Greene) by acquiring a plant that feeds on human blood.

The production only ran for three performances July 1 – July 2, and each show was completely sold out! And for good reason, as the show received mostly positive reviews from critics.

What made this production particularly exciting was forgoing the usual extensive special-effect puppet that is Audrey II, and instead having the plant on stage as a fully visible little boy (play by Anwar Kareem) that eventually transforms later, to a large man with a soothing bass voice (played by Eddie Cooper). The choice seemed to sit well with most critics as the USA Today stated;

Eddie Cooper brought a booming voice and a chilling gregariousness to the part of the bloodthirsty plant (named Audrey II), who brings money and fame to Seymour and the shop but makes increasingly heavy demands on our hero’s conscience.

Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva Hicks and Ramona Keller lent witty, sultry support as the three ladies who function as the show’s girl-group chorus. “You know the meek are gonna get what’s comin’ to em,” they tease Seymour towards the end.

The show was last seen on Broadway in New York in a 2003 production starring Hunter Foster and Kerry Butler, the show closed on August 22, 2004 after 40 previews and 372 regular performances.

Next up for Encores! Off-Center, The Wild Party which begins July 15 and stars Sutton Foster, Steven Pasquale, and Brandon Victor Dixon.

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The Wild Party

From the New York City Center website:

Andrew Lippa’s tragic Jazz Age love story The Wild Party follows 1920s party girl Queenie (two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster) over the course of one decadent, booze-soaked night as she encounters vaudevillians, hookers, and a handsome stranger (Joshua Henry) who offers the hope of a less tawdry life. The Wild Party is based on Joseph Moncure March’s searing 1928 narrative poem of the same name, and premiered Off-Broadway in 2000.

Henry most recently starred Roundabout Theatre Company’s Tony Award nominated production of Violet. Starring alongside Sutton Foster, he was nominated for the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for his performance as Flick. You may also remember Joshua from his performance as Jake in the Tony Award Winning revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and most notably his performance as Haywood Patterson in the musical The Scottsboro Boys, which earned him a Tony Award nomination for “Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.” Other Broadway credits include American Idiot and In the Heights.

The Wild Party is directed by Leigh Silverman (who also directed Violet), and will bring together two of Broadway’s beloved actors together once again, and if their chemistry is anything like it was in Violet, consider my ticket bought.

The Wild Party opens July 15 and runs until July 18. All tickets begin at $25 and can be purchased at the New York City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues), through CityTix at 212-581-1212, or online at NYCityCenter.org.

Still not convinced? Check out what Joshua Henry singing Go Back Home in The Scottsboro Boys.

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