McElroy is the founder/director of BIV, a multi-ethnic, multi-denominational choral ensemble made of actors and musicians from Broadway and off‐Broadway shows. The ensemble members have appeared on stage in Aladdin, Book of Mormon, Cinderella, Jersey Boys, Kinky Boots, The Lion King, Motown: The Musical, Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked. The BIV’s mission is “strengthening and unifying the New York community through the transcendent power of music. “

Porter, who just wrapped up an award-winning two-year run as “Lola” in Kinky Boots, is joining an all-star cast who has amassed a long list of stage credits. In addition to Kinky Boots, Porter also has appeared on Broadway in Miss Saigon, Five Guys Named Moe, Grease, Smokey Joe’s Café, and Dreamgirls. In Shuffle Along, he’ll star alongside Henry whose stage credits include Violet, The Scottsboro Boys, Porgy and Bess, American Idiot, and In the Heights. Goldsberry is currently starring in the smash hit Hamilton and also has appeared in Good People, The Color Purple, Rent, The Lion King. And, James’ credits include Motown the Musical, In the Heights, Rent, and NBC’s “The Wiz Live!”

The concert begins at 7:30 pm with doors opening at 6 pm. General admission tickets are $30. Reserved seating VIP tickets begin at $75. Telly Leung, Mike Karns, and Rich Aronstein are producing the concert and tickets can be purchased here.

The post Broadway Inspirational Voices Concert Stars Billy Porter, Renee Elise Goldsberry, & More appeared first on Broadway Black.

What is sure to be an uplifting and inspiring night, Michael McElroy and Broadway Inspirational Voices (BIV) are back at Harlem’s First Corinthian Baptist Church (1912 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd) on Monday, December 14th at 7:00 p.m.

BIV’s holiday concert will feature holiday classics as well as new music from their upcoming CD, “Great Joy II: Around the World!” written and/or arranged by McElroy and music director Joseph Joubert.

Tickets for the show are currently on sale here and range between $20 for Balcony seating, $30-$50 for Box and Mezzanine seating, $50 for Orchestra and $100 for VIP.  Tickets will also be sold at the door where both cash and credit cards will be accepted.

Broadway Inspirational Voices is a diverse choir of Broadway artists united to change lives through the power of music and service.

The company was founded by Michael McElroy in 1994 as the Broadway Gospel Choir and in 1999 reincarnated to its current name. In 2010, BIV became a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission consists of providing HOPE to INSPIRE and TRANSFORM youth in need through music and the arts.

If you need something to hold you over until December 14th, check out this BIV performance at the Hamilton #Ham4Ham Lottery with Hamilton star and BIV member, Renee Elise Goldsberry.

The post Broadway Inspirational Voices Holiday Concert appeared first on Broadway Black.

If you didn’t catch the special last Sunday on CBS, fret not. The whole episode is featured on the website here, including clips that didn’t make it into the actual show, such as a tour of the set and the making of the cast recording. Here are just a few of the highlights:

• 60 Minutes filmed the entire cast recording, Lin-Manuel was doing re-writes on the spot and Leslie Odom Jr. was the standout amongst his peers singing every song full-out as if he were actual on the Public Theater stage.
• Leslie Odom Jr. and other cast members, most of whom are Black or Latino, tell Rose why they’re so passionate about the project. Miranda has “made these dead white guys make sense to a bunch of, you know, Black and brown people,” Odom, Jr. says. “He’s made them make sense in the context of our time, with our music.”
• Miranda worked on the show for SIX YEARS, as it originally was supposed to be a mixtape.
• It took him a year to completely write “My Shot.” His reasoning: “because every couplet needed to be the best couplet I ever wrote. That’s how seriously I was taking it.”
• When it came to deciding that Hamilton would be a Hip Hop musical, Lin-Manuel agreed it was the only genre that could match the actual writings of Alexander Hamilton because  “it has more words per measure than any other musical genre. It has rhythm and it has density. And if Hamilton had anything in his writings, it was this density.”
• When he was asked to come to the White House to perform something from In The Heights, Lin-Manuel took a risk and sang “Alexander Hamilton” instead for the first time in front of the First Family. While people in the room originally were laughing at the concept of a Hip Hop Hamilton, by the end they were “completely sucked into the story.”

Special productions like this are dangerous and exciting at the same time. Dangerous because now I am willing to give away organs to see this show again. Exciting because Hamilton has done something amazing for Broadway that gets to be shared with the world. The musical has already succeeded expectations financially, it’s offering amazing opportunities for low-income youth to be able to take part, it blends two seemingly different music genres together seamlessly, it makes history fun and engaging, and its cast is richly diverse and talented. I don’t think Hamilton can go anywhere but up. If you haven’t seen or haven’t planned to put “See Hamilton” on your bucket list, I highly recommend you do so.

Also watch the bonus footage below on CBS website for 60 Minutes HERE

The post Behind the Scenes of Hamilton on 60 Minutes appeared first on Broadway Black.

UPDATE: WATCH BET CYPHER BELOW!

If you were to ask me three years ago if some of the cast from a Broadway show could participate in The Cypher, I might have laughed in your face. However, Hamilton isn’t your average musical. It effortlessly blends both musical theatre and Hip Hop in ways unimaginable. It would be unthinkable not to include them in this year’s Cypher. They don’t have those high rankings on the charts for no reason. Plus, a cypher shouldn’t be too hard for this cast, since they already spend eight nights a week rapping and singing non-stop in their own show for two and a half hours.

The cast tweeted their excitement over the inclusion into the mainstream Hip Hop world. Miranda wrote earlier on twitter;

Warning: you haven’t really seen me in cypher mode be4. I’m different. You know how when Bruce Banner gets heated… https://t.co/Ie5d1w5LDj

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) October 12, 2015

Daveed Diggs shared his excitement via Instagram with this message:

So tonight my first ever #BETcypher will air. It’s kind of a lot to process because I’m going to be part of a tradition that I have followed very closely from its inception. I have no idea what it will come out like, but I’m excited that I get to share this moment with my @hamiltonmusical cast mates @reneeelisegoldsberry and #LinManuelMiranda and of course the legendary @blackthought and @questlove also, I’m gonna be on stage at the Richard Rodgers when it airs so if you see it, let me know how it goes. #loveyall #BET #hiphopawards2015

A photo posted by Daveed Diggs (@daveeddiggs) on Oct 13, 2015 at 3:34pm PDT

Meanwhile Renee Elise Goldsberry updated her twitter with photos of Hip Hop artists that have made their way to the Great White Way to see Hamilton in action with the twitter message:

From Busta to Queen, meeting Hip Hop Royalty on Broadway! #HipHopAwards WATCH 2NITE CUZ WE’RE DOIN THE CYPHER!! @BET pic.twitter.com/QiL9Z0JI2T

— RenéeEliseGoldsberry (@reneeelisegolds) October 13, 2015

Taping of this year’s award show took place on Friday, October 9th at Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center in Atlanta, GA with Uncle Snoop returning as host. The broadcast premiered October 13, 2015 at 8:00 p.m. ET on BET. UPDATE: WATCH BET CYPHER BELOW!

That was sooooo dope!!! @HamiltonMusical on @HipHopAwards @BET was so LIT! @DaveedDiggs @reneeelisegolds @Lin_Manuel

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) October 14, 2015

“Playing these dead presidents I’m getting my reparations!” -Daveed Diggs DAYUM!!! #HamiltonBway

— ThereWillBeTypos (@CijiTheGeek) October 14, 2015

I am watching the BET Hip Hop Awards for the first time in my life thanks to #HamiltonBway

— Sara Koenig (@sara_koenig) October 14, 2015

YASSSSSSSS ANGELICA!!!!! #HipHopAwards #HamiltonBway

— OVO queen (@AngieWorldOrder) October 14, 2015

The post Hamilton Cast takes part in BET Hip Hop Awards Cypher appeared first on Broadway Black.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and the Steven Spielberg-directed motion picture, the musical opened at The Broadway Theatre on December 1, 2005 with a stellar cast that starred LaChanze as “Celie,” Brandon Victor Dixon as “Harpo,” Felicia P. Fields as “Sofia,” Renée Elise Goldsberry as “Nettie,” Kingsley Leggs as “Mister,” Krisha Marcano as “Squeak,” and Elisabeth Withers-Mendes as “Shug Avery.”

It was directed by Gary Griffin, produced by Scott Sanders, Quincy Jones and Oprah Winfrey, with choreography by Donald Byrd and musical direction by Linda Twine. Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Marsha Norman (‘night, Mother) penned the book for the show, with music and lyrics by celebrated songwriters and artists Stephen Bray, Allee Wills, and Brenda Russell.

Oprah, who was nominated for an Oscar as “Sofia” in the movie version, came on as an investor and producer before the show’s November 1 preview to expand its box office potential. Once she signed on, the show was titled Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Color Purple. At that time, her self-titled television show was a ratings juggernaut, averaging 9 million viewers per year. With Oprah’s name on the marquee, it was almost guaranteed a built-in audience.

Despite Oprah’s star power, the show opened to mixed reviews from the critics. Ben Brantley of the New York Times wrote,

Time doesn’t just fly in the exhaustingly eventful world of The Color Purple, it threatens to break the sound barrier. In faithfully adapting Ms. Walker’s incident-crammed 1982 Pulitzer Prizewinner about Southern black women finding their inner warriors, the show’s creators have fashioned a bright, shiny and muscular storytelling machine that is, above all, built for speed. Watching this beat-the-clock production summons the frustrations of riding through a picturesque stretch of country in a supertrain like the TGV. Thanks to the cast’s spirited way with a song, Purple strikes some sparks during its long and winding journey. But it takes a concentration and leisure the show lacks to fan sparks into a steady flame.

From Michael Feingold of The Village Voice, “The feelings that The Color Purple may arouse in you don’t disguise the fact that they’ve been gotten in a comparatively crude and unimaginative manner. The disheartening lack of quality in the material dilutes the quality of feeling with which it’s being put over and makes the meanings behind it look questionable as well.”

On a more complimentary note, Roma Torre of NY1 wrote, “As art, the show is flawed, but it’s also so full of heart, the flaws don’t seem to matter. The Color Purple sings to the soul.”

And Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press added “Fans of Walker’s novel most likely will not be disappointed in this reverent stage retelling and will embrace it heartily as a live souvenir of the original. Others may crave a little more theatrical excitement.”

However, when it came time for the Tony Awards nominations, the production received tremendous love and recognition, receiving 11 nominations, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Choreography, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical, and Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. LaChanze won the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.

The Color Purple closed on February 24, 2008, after 30 previews and 910 regular performances. The Broadway production recouped its $11 million investment within its first year on Broadway. After its three-year Broadway run, the show went on to three national tours and several regional productions. In 2013, John Doyle directed the London production at the Meiner Chocolate Factory starring Erivo as “Celie.” It is this production that is inspiring the Broadway revival this fall.

For tickets to this upcoming production, click HERE.

The post Retrospective: The Color Purple appeared first on Broadway Black.

From bastard orphan to Washington’s right hand man, rebel to war hero, loving husband caught in the country’s first sex scandal to Treasury head who made an untrusting world believe in the American economy, Hamilton is an exploration of a political mastermind. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Eliza Hamilton, and lifelong Hamilton friend and foe, Aaron Burr, all attend this revolutionary tale of America’s fiery past told through the sounds of the ever-changing nation we’ve become.

A lottery for $10 tickets began a few weeks ago to kick off the premiere. Since then, hundreds of people have shown up outside The Richard Rogers Theatre to stand in lines that stretch around the block in the hopes of winning a ticket.  Every evening, two hours before the performance, cast members come out to perform for the crowd in surprising ways.  For example, Renée Elise Goldsberry and Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda have come out and sung random songs as well as selections from the musical, answered questions using Les Mis quotes, and interacted with the crowd.  The buzz on social media for the lottery is growing and is becoming as much of a must-see as the musical itself.

At Monday’s #Ham4Ham, fans were treated to @reneeelisegoldsberry putting her own signature flow on George Washington’s song “Right Hand Man” with @phillipasoo on the beat! See the full video on our FB page!#HamiltonBway #YayHamlet #WaitForIt

A video posted by Hamilton (@hamiltonmusical) on Jul 21, 2015 at 6:01am PDT

Today at #Ham4Ham, #LinManuelMiranda answered fan questions using only quotes from Les Miserables!

A video posted by Hamilton (@hamiltonmusical) on Jul 18, 2015 at 9:01am PDT

Today’s #Ham4Ham entertainment brings us a role switch in the show’s first cabinet meeting. Here, #LinManuelMiranda plays Thomas Jefferson, @daveeddiggs plays Alexander Hamilton, and @cjack930 officiates! See the full video on our Facebook page.

A video posted by Hamilton (@hamiltonmusical) on Jul 17, 2015 at 7:05pm PDT

In case you don’t get to see Hamilton, have no fear; the cast album will be released this fall, executive produced by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, two members of Hip Hop group, The Roots.  The New Yorker describes the music in Hamilton as “rooted in hip hop, but also encompassing R&B, jazz, pop, Tin Pan Alley, and the choral strains of contemporary Broadway.”

Hamilton has been well received in previews and will officially open on August 6.

The post #Ham4Ham: Hamilton Cast Puts on A Show Before the Show appeared first on Broadway Black.

Under the direction of Thomas Kail and featuring a book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton is inspired by the book Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.

From bastard orphan to Washington’s right hand man, rebel to war hero, loving husband caught in the country’s first sex scandal to Treasury head who made an untrusting world believe in the American economy, Hamilton is an exploration of a political mastermind.

Miranda stars in the title role, the cast also includes Jonathan Groff as King George III, Christopher Jackson as George Washington, Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr, Phillipa Soo as Eliza Hamilton, Anthony Ramos as John Laurens/Phillip Hamilton, Daveed Diggs as Marquis De Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson, Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler and Javier Muñoz as Hamilton alternate.

The company will additionally feature Jasmine Cephas Jones, Okieriete Onaodowan, Carleigh Bettiol, Andrew Chappelle, Ariana DeBose, Alysha Deslorieux, Sydney James Harcourt, Neil Haskell, Sasha Hutchings, Thayne Jasperson, Stephanie Klemons, Morgan Marcell, Emmy Raver-Lampan, Jon Rua, Austin Smith, Seth Stewart, Betsy Struxness, Ephraim Sykes and Voltaire Wade-Greene.

Hamilton features set design by David Korins, costume design by Paul Tazewell, lighting design by Howell Binkley, sound design by Nevin Steinberg, and Alex Lacamoire as musical director.
Tickets are in high demand and are now available for show dates falling between Nov. 24 through Mar 27, 2016. Get them here or by calling 877-250-2929. Tickets are also sold at the Richard Rodgers Theatre Box Office from 10 am till 8 pm, Monday through Saturday.

As previously announced two-and-half hours before each performance patrons may enter their name outside the theater for a chance to buy up to two $10 front row tickets. Winner’s names will be drawn two hours before show time. Entrants must present photo ID, and the winners must pay with cash at the box office.

The post Highly Anticipated Musical Hamilton Begins Its Reign appeared first on Broadway Black.

The new musical by Tony Award-winning In the Heights creator Lin-Manuel Miranda explores the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, inspired by the book “Alexander Hamilton” by Ron Chernow. Meet some of the Broadway Black revolutionaries and rebels who are about to take Broadway by storm this summer.

Leslie Odom Jr.  as Aaron Burr…

Leslie Odom Jr. was last seen in City Center Encores’ Tick Tick…Boom! last summer alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda. He has previously appeared at The Public Theater in Venice. Broadway credits include Leap of Faith and Rent. His film and television credits include Red Tails, “SMASH”, “Person of Interest”, “Supernatural”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, and “Law & Order: SVU.”

Renee Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler…

Renee Elise Goldsberry has performed in The Public Theater productions of As You Like It, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Two Gentleman of Verona. She has appeared on Broadway in Good People, The Color Purple as the original “Nettie”, the last run of Rent as “Mimi”, and The Lion King. Her film and television credits include “Every Secret Thing”, “Masters of Sex,” “The Good Wife,” “The Following,” “Royal Pains,” “One Life To Live,” and “Ally McBeal.” Most recently, Goldsberry won the Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her work in Hamilton.

Daveed Diggs as Marquis De Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson…

Daveed Diggs is originally a rapper from Oakland, CA as apart of the group clipping. His theater credits include Nobody Move, Fabulation, In The Red and Brown Water, Mirrors in Every Corner, Red Light Winter, The Comedy of Errors, Troilus and Cressida, and many others. His film credits include “The Industry”, “Rockstar”, “One Hot Run”, “Grand Café”, and “Infants of Spring”.

Jasmine Sephas Jones as Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds..

Hamilton is Jones’ Broadway debut. She made her Atlantic Theater and Off-Broadway debut in 2014 as “Keisha” in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. She is a member of Labyrinth Theater Company. Film: Untitled Noah Baumbach, Titus. Television: “Blue Bloods”, “Unforgettable, “The Blacklist”.

Okieriete Onaodowan as Hercules Mulligan/James Madison…

Onaodowan has Broadway credits that include Rocky and Cyrano de Bergerac. New York credits that include Neighbors (The Public Theater/NYSF), Langston in Harlem (Urban Stages), The Shipment (The Kitchen), and “Pontius Pilate” in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Richmond Sheppard Theatre). Regional credits include Son of the Prophet (NYSF) with F. Murray Abraham and Joanna Gleason, Coalhouse in Ragtime (New Jersey Performing Arts Center), and many others.

Hamilton also stars Lin-Manuel Miranda (In The Heights) as “Alexander Hamilton”, Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening) as “King George”, Phillipa Soo (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812) as “Eliza Hamilton”, Christopher Jackson (In the Heights) as “George Washington”, Anthony Ramos (Sideways Stories from Wayside School) as “John Laurens/Phillip Hamilton”.

The ensemble include  Carleigh Bettiol, Andrew Chappelle, Ariana DeBose, Alysha Deslorieux, Sydney James Harcourt, Neil Haskell, Sasha Hutchings, Thayne Jasperson, Stephanie Klemons, Morgan Marcell, Emmy Raver-Lampan, Javier Munoz, Jon Rua, Austin Smith, Seth Stewart, Betsy Struxness, Ephraim Sykes and Voltaire Wade-Greene.

Hamilton is one of the hottest tickets on Broadway, so if you plan on going you should really plan ahead. As previously reported, Hamilton begins previews on July 13th and opens officially August 6th at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Tickets are available for purchase from now until March 27, 2016 at the Hamilton on Broadway website here.

The post Meet The Cast of Broadway’s Hamilton + See The VOGUE Spread appeared first on Broadway Black.

K. Todd Freeman was awarded Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for Airline Highway, in which he plays Sissy Nana, a den mother of sorts to a group of ragtag characters of the Hummingbird Hotel; his performance was described as having “vibrant comic panache” by the New York Times (and he’s also nominated for his second Tony Award this year for the same role; his first nomination was for The Song Jacob Zulu).

Next, Renee Elise Goldsberry won Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for Hamilton.  Portraying the role of Angelica, Alexander Hamilton’s intellectual soulmate, and the eldest of the three Schuyler sisters.  New York Daily News says the musical “could’ve been another ho-hum bio, but like the illegitimate orphan-turned-power player it celebrates, the robustly original, infectiously entertaining new musical “Hamilton” beats the odds and far exceeds expectations.”

Finally, John Douglas Thompson was recognized with a special award which recognizes excellence and significant contributions to the theatre.  This season, Thompson was in Tamburlaine the Great and The Iceman Cometh, and was noted for “his commanding presence, classical expertise, and vocal prowess,” according to the Drama Desk Awards.  The New York Times calls Thompson “one of the most compelling classical stage actors of his generation.”

A huge congrats to all the nominees and winners including costume designer Paul Tazewell for Hamilton, whose remarkable roles run the gamut of dramatic expression, and whose work is being recognized by peers and critics alike. Read the entire list of winners below.

The post 2015 Drama Desk Award Winner Standouts appeared first on Broadway Black.

Between Riverside an Crazy, which also won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, won Outstanding Play, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play (Stephen McKinley Henderson ), and Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (Liza Cólon-Zayas).

Tonya Pinkins also took home a win, Outstanding Lead Actress in Play, for Rasheeda Speaking.

Other winners were Jacob Ming-Trent for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play in Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3). Into The Woods for Outstanding Revival, Josephine and I written and performed by Cush Jumbo for Outstanding Solo Show, Jen Versweyveid for Outstanding Scenic Deisgn in Scenes From a Marriage. Terrence McNally received a Lifetime Achievement Award. Jeanine Tesori is the Playwright’s Sidewalk Inductee, and Nancy Nagel Gibbs was awarded the Edith Oliver Service to Off-Broadway Award.

The Lucille Lortel Awards were created in 1986 to honor artists in the New York Off-Broadway theater community and are named after 20^th century American actress and producer, Lucille Lortel. Go back and look at all who were nominated as previously reported HERE.

The post Artists of Color Sweep 2015 Lucille Lortel Awards appeared first on Broadway Black.