‘HELL’S KITCHEN’: Kecia Lewis & Maleah Joi Moon. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

HELL’S KITCHEN
Music & lyrics by Alicia Keys
Book by Kristoffer Diaz
Directed by Michael Greif
Sam S. Shubert Theatre
225 West 44^th Street
https://www.hellskitchen.com/

By Scott Harrah

Loosely based on R&B superstar Alicia Keys’ real life, Hell’s Kitchen has arrived on Broadway after playing at the Public Theater downtown. The off-Broadway production received mixed reviews, but director Michael Greif has made many changes and the Broadway production is simply exhilarating and sublime, featuring some of the best songs and vocal talent on the New York stage in years. It received 13 Tony nominations, including one for Best Musical, and rightfully so.

The story focuses on Ms. Keys’ life in the 1990s, growing up in Manhattan Plaza, an affordable-housing complex that provides residences for many in the arts. Ali (beautifully portrayed by Maleah Joi Moon) is 17 when the show starts, raised by her single mom Jersey (Shoshana Bean). Her mother Jersey is protective of her daughter and doesn’t want her hanging out with the “wrong” crowd. Ali gets caught talking to Knuck (Chris Lee), a bucket drummer and part of a group that hangs out in the building. Her mother is not pleased.

Drummers in the complex practice in Manhattan Plaza’s courtyard, and Ali’s friends Tiny (Vanessa Ferguson) and Jessica (Jackie Leon) insist that she pursue Knuck. He turns her down, and shortly afterward her mother Jersey calls the police and has the group thrown out of the building. After leaving her apartment in anger, Ali visits the building’s music-practice area, the Ellington Room, and sees Miss Liza Jane (the outstanding Kecia Lewis) playing the piano. Miss Liza Jane is an older woman, wise and a piano virtuoso. She offers to teach Ali to play piano.

The plot focuses on several themes, from a single mother raising a biracial teenager daughter and struggles with the father who abandoned them long ago to racism, coming of age and grappling with grief when someone passes away. The musical showcases all of Alicia Keys’ iconic hits, from “Like You’ll Never See Me Again” and  “You Don’t Know My Name” and “Girl On Fire,” “Fallin’” to “If I Ain’t Got You,” “No One,” and “Empire State of Mind,” and many more.

The flawless performances and outstanding vocal talent are two of the best aspects of Hell’s Kitchen. Standouts include Ms. Moon as Ali. She has the spunk, sass and vulnerability required for the role. Shoshana Bean as Jersey gives a sincere and touching performance as the doting mother, and Ms. Bean’s powerful vocals are sheer heaven for listeners, particularly in the song “Pawn It All.”

The excellent Kecia Lewis is incandescent and brings down the house whenever she sings, especially at the end of the first act when she beautifully belts out “Perfect Way to Die,” a song about unjust killings of innocent people, police brutality and systemic racism. Brandon Victor Dixon’s vocals are wonderfully melodic on the song “Fallin’,” a jazzy duet with Ms. Bean that is another showstopping number.

Camille A. Brown’s choreography is inventive and wonderfully visual, especially during a new Alicia Keys song “Kaleidoscope” in which dancers twirl around Ali with beautiful kinetic energy.

Hell’s Kitchen is a quintessential New York story about how life is rough here on these mean and dirty city streets, but love from family and friends and neighbors gets us through tough times. It’s a tribute to all who have ever struggled in Manhattan, and one of the spring 2024 season’s best musicals.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published June 1, 2024
Reviewed at May 23, 2024 performance

‘HELL’S KITCHEN’: Shoshana Bean & Maleah Joi Moon. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘HELL’S KITCHEN’ Maleah Joi Moon, Chris Lee & cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘HELL’S KITCHEN’: The cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘HELL’S KITCHEN’: The cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘HELL’S KITCHEN’: Brandon Victor Dixon & cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

The post ‘Hell’s Kitchen’: Alicia Keys’ tribute to NY life appeared first on StageZine.

THE GROUNDBREAKING MUSICAL

THE WIZ WILL OPEN ON BROADWAY ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2024

 LIMITED ENGAGEMENT BEGINS PREVIEWS MARCH 29, 2024 AT MARQUIS THEATRE

New York, NY– Producers Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Brian Anthony Moreland, Ambassador Theatre Group, Kandi Burruss and Todd Tucker announced that the all-new production of the Tony Award-winning hit musical The Wiz will open on Broadway on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in a limited engagement at the Marquis Theatre (210 West 46th Street). Preview performances will begin on March 29, 2024.

To sign up to be the first to buy tickets to this highly anticipated Broadway musical, please sign up for first access at www.wizmusical.com. The Wiz will go on sale exclusively to fans on November 3, 2023 starting at 10 AM ET before going on sale to groups and the general public.

The Wiz launched its pre-Broadway national tour last month with a triumphant opening in Baltimore, where the musical had its original world premiere nearly 50 years ago. The Baltimore engagement is sold out.

The Broadway cast will feature Nichelle Lewis as Dorothy, Deborah Cox as Glinda and Melody A. Betts as Aunt Em and Evillene, Kyle Ramar Freeman as the Lion, Phillip Johnson Richardson as the Tinman, Avery Wilson as the Scarecrow, and Wayne Brady as The Wiz. The Wiz ensemble includes Maya Bowles, Shayla Alayre Caldwell, Jay Copeland, Allyson Kaye Daniel, Judith Franklin, Michael Samarie George, Collin Heyward, Amber Jackson, Olivia Jackson, Christina Jones,Polanco Jones, Kolby Kindle, Mariah Lyttle, Kareem Marsh, Anthony Murphy, Cristina Rae, Matthew Sims Jr, Avilon Trust Tate, Keenan D. Washington, and Timothy Wilson.

‘THE WIZ’: Funny man & ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ host Wayne Brady plays The Wiz & R&B icon Deborah Cox plays Glinda.Photo: Courtesy of OMDKC.

Featuring a book by William F. Brown and a Tony Award-winning score by Charlie Smalls (and others), director Schele Williams (The Notebook, revival of Disney’s Aida), award-winning choreographer JaQuel Knight (Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” Black is King), additional material by Tony-nominated and Emmy-nominated writer and TV host Amber Ruffin (“The Amber Ruffin Show,” “Late Night With Seth Meyers”), Joseph Joubert (music supervision, orchestrations, & music arrangements), Allen René Louis (vocal arrangements, music arrangements), and Emmy Award®-winning music director and Grammy Award® -winning writer, Adam Blackstone (Dance Music Arranger), are conjuring up an Oz unlike anything ever seen before. A dynamite infusion of ballet, jazz, and modern pop will bring a whole new groove to easing on down the road.

 The Wiz design team will include scenic design by Academy Award-winning Hannah Beachler (Black Panther, Beyoncé’s Black is King and Lemonade), costume design by Emmy Award-winning and two-time Academy Award-nominated Sharen Davis (Ray, Dreamgirls), lighting design by Barrymore Award-winning Ryan J. O’Gara (Thoughts of a Colored Man), sound design by Jon Weston (Parade), projection design by Daniel Brodie (Motown the Musical), wig design by Charles LaPointe (MJ the Musical) and make-up design by Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche (The Piano Lesson).

The production will include ‘Everybody Rejoice’ music and lyrics by Luther Vandross, as well as the ‘Emerald City Ballet’ with music by Timothy Graphenreed.

Joining the producing team with Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Brian Anthony Moreland, Ambassador Theatre Group, Kandi Burruss and Todd Tucker are Elizabeth Armstrong, James L. Nederlander, Hudson/Mann, Cody Lassen/Matthew D’Arrigo, Independent Presenters Network, Amanda DuBois Productions/Ari Edelson, Dori Berinstein, Spencer Ross/Stephanie Cowan, Terry Schnuck/Gabrielle Palitz, Pippa Lambert/Alissa Norby, Gina Vernaci, Common, DECO Entertainment, MC Lyte, Patty Baker, Marlene & Gary Cohen, Concord Theatricals, The Fabulous Invalid, Fakston Productions, Brian & Nick Ginsberg, Gabrielle Glore, Grove Entertainment, Haffner-Wright Theatricals, House Woods Productions, John Gore Organization, Kawana Entertainment, Willette Klausner, MMC Productions, Lamar Richardson, Runyonland Productions, Erica Lynn Schwartz, The Shubert Organization, Lu-Shawn Thompson, Lana Williams-Woods, The Araca Group, Blakeman-Robinson Entm’t/Ricardo Marques, Robert Tichio/Score 3, Best Yet Entertainment/Branden Grimmett, Dkim Caldwell/Mickalene Thomas, DMQR Productions, Jason Turchin, Epic Theatricals/Jeffrey Grove, Joel Glassman/Westin Hicks, Jamrock Productions/Sonya Houston, Sally Johnston/Ann Scott, Judith

The Wiz launched a national tour in Baltimore, MD, home of the 1974 world premiere of the musical opening September 24, 2023, and performances are currently playing through September 30, 2023. Following its run at the Hippodrome Theatre, the tour will slide into Emerald cities across the country before it begins its limited engagement on
Broadway. Additional information on tour cities, venues, performance schedules and single ticket on sale dates are available at WizMusical.com. Fans can now sign up for an email newsletter with up-to-date information as well as follow The Wiz on social media
channels.

Based on L. Frank Baum’s children’s book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” The Wiz takes one of the world’s most enduring (and enduringly white) American fantasies, and transforms it into an all-Black musical extravaganza for the ages.
The Wiz premiered on Broadway in 1975 and became an instant sensation, going on to win seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Ted Ross), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Dee Dee
Bridgewater), Best Choreography (George Faison), and in a Broadway first, Best Direction of a Musical and Best Costume Design (Geoffrey Holder). “Ease on Down the Road” became the show’s break-out single, and “Home” has since become a
bona fide classic. That original production ran for four years (first at The Majestic Theatre and later at The Broadway Theatre) – and 1,672 performances – on Broadway. A 1978 film adaptation starred Diana Ross, Ted Ross, Mabel King,
Richard Pryor and Lena Horne, and marked Quincy Jones’ first collaboration with Michael Jackson.

For more information, please visit the following:

www.wizmusical.com

www.facebook.com/thewizbway

www.instagram.com/thewizbway

www.twitter.com/thewizbway

The post ‘The Wiz’ opening on Broadway in April 2024 appeared first on StageZine.

‘PURLIE VICTORIOUS’: Leslie Odom, Jr. & Kara Young. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

PURLIE VICTORIOUS: A NON-CONFEDERATE ROMP THROUGH THE COTTON PATCH
Written by Ossie Davis
Directed by Kenny Leon
Through January 28, 2024

Music Box Theatre

239 West 45th Street
(212-719-6200), www.PurlieVictorious.com

By David NouNou

Originally written and produced in 1961, this is the first revival of Ossie Davis’s play Purlie Victorious, written for himself and his wife, Ruby Dee. Mr. Davis played the title role and Ms. Dee played Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins. I am sure that version was played in earnest seriousness about the remnants of slavery, working on a plantation in the South for the racist white master who has inflicted pain, misery, and cheated them at every turn. Yet they still had to appear grateful that they had a job and had to praise the bigot endlessly for his tyranny.

Spirited preacher Purlie Victorious Judson (Leslie Odom, Jr.) returns to his small Georgia town hoping to save Big Bethel, the community’s church, and emancipate the cotton pickers who work on oppressive Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee’s (Jay O. Sanders) plantation. Purlie hopes to swindle Cotchipee of the $500 inheritance due to his long-lost dead cousin’s daughter. With the help of Lutiebelle (Kara Young), Purlie makes her play the daughter and use the money to achieve his goals. Ol’ Cotchipee has a son, Charlie (Noah Robbins), who sees things differently than his father. Charlie actually sees and understands the Black plight, and comes to their defense.

Director Kenny Leon has taken a different view of the proceedings. He has updated the plight to comic effect, and in one instance, it resembles a scene from Mack Sennett’s silent film series Keystone Kops. This does not diminish the message, but releases some humor for contemporary audiences.

Leslie Odom, Jr.—absent from Broadway since his Tony Award-winning role as Aaron Burr in the blockbuster musical Hamilton—is dynamic as Purlie. His performance is spirited and forceful and he believes in the cause for which he is fighting.

Two-time Tony Award nominee Kara Young as Lutiebelle will get her third consecutive nomination, and I can’t imagine her losing this time around. She is a force of nature and delivers another indelible performance.

The two most heartfelt and genuine performances belong to Vanessa Bell Calloway (Idella Landy) who has been a servant to the Ol’ Capn’ for more than 40 years and genuinely cares for his son Charlie. The second outstanding performance is given by Noah Robbins as Charlie, a young man who sees the injustices done by his father. Both their performances are so sincere, and neither pander for a cheap laugh. The laughs come from their sincerity. A footnote here: The role of Charlie Cotchipee was originally played by Alan Alda in 1961.

Purlie Victorious is not to be confused with the 1970 Broadway musical Purlie, with the late Sherman Helmsley (George in TV’s “The Jeffersons”) as Gitlow Judson, the late Cleavon Little as Purlie (he won a Tony for the role), and R&B star Melba Moore as Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins (she also won a Tony for her role). The musical was adapted from the play.

Purlie Victorious holds the test of time, and the issues are just as relevant as they were back in 1961. They are just as potent, but director Kenny Leon deftly helps the cast extract  humor from Ossie Davis’ play in this current revival to underscore the absurdity and injustice of racism in both the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published September 29, 2023
Reviewed at September 28, 2023 press performance.

‘PURLIE VICTORIOUS’: Leslie Odom, Jr. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘PURLIE VICTORIOUS’: Kara Young & Heather Alicia Simms. Photo Marc J. Franklin.

‘PURLIE VICTORIOUS’: Noah Robbins & Vanessa Bell Calloway. Photo: Marc J. Franklin

‘PURLIE VICTORIOUS’: (l to r): Kara Young, Heather Alicia Simms, Leslie Odom, Jr., Vanessa Bell Calloway, Billy Eugene Jones & Noah Robbins. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘PURLIE VICTORIOUS’: Leslie Odom, Jr. & Kara Young. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘PURLIE VICTORIOUS’: Heather Alicia Simms & Billy Eugene Jones. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘PURLIE VICTORIOUS’: The cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

The post ‘Purlie Victorious’ revival skewers racism appeared first on StageZine.

‘A STRANGE LOOP’: (left to right): James Jackson Jr., L Morgan Lee, Antwayn Hopper, John-Andrew Morrison, Jaquel Spivey, Jason Veasey & John-Michael Lyles. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

A STRANGE LOOP
Book, music & lyrics by Michael R. Jackson
Directed by Stephen Brackett
Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.StrangeLoopMusical.com

By David NouNou

What one expects from A Strange Loop going into the theatre is completely different from what one gets coming out. The expectations going in are for a “Big, Black & Queer American Musical!” as the poster tells us, a laugh riot, and in fact it is just that for the first half. The agony comes in the second part; of what it’s like to “travel the world in a fat, Black, queer body” and the pressures that go with it in the first song sung by Usher, “Intermission Song.”

Our hero, Usher (Jaquel Spivey) is an usher at Disney’s The Lion King and can barely make a living with this job. In addition, Usher carries a lot of baggage consisting of a chorus of six people in his head named Thought 1 through Thought 6. These thoughts play many parts: including his father and mother, both named after The Lion King characters. Some thoughts remind him of his self-loathing, student loans, issues on Black pride and his repressed sexuality. Various others comment on the show Usher is writing a musical about a gay Black man writing a musical about a gay black man to be named A Strange Loop, about that never-ending loop that man travels throughout his life.

Usher is further burdened by the guilt injected by his mother of how much she has sacrificed in raising him and in return wants him to write a Tyler Perry-style Gospel play with Jesus bringing salvation. Usher wishes he could be more like his “inner white girl” because they are free to do what they want, instead of being held back by expectations put on Black boys.

Usher at this point goes to his doctor for a physical and is asked about his sex life. This scene is a scream. To follow the doctors’ orders to find sex, he goes on various gay apps only to be rejected as being too Black, too fat, too feminine, and for having a small appendage. It’s around this point that the hilarity stops, and the truth that hurts starts appearing. Usher is outraged not only by his parents’ outlook on homosexuality; in addition, he now has to contend with the way the gay community discriminates against people with shortcomings.

Usher goes down a spiral of self-humiliating acts to finally find redemption and be able to live this strange loop he calls his life and how to bring an end to his show. Even when he brings an end to the show, what next, how will that loop of life still continue?

Michael R. Jackson won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for this odyssey and is most deserving. The way he has interwoven the hilarity and tragedy, inner thoughts vs outer reality, faith, religion and family in one huge tapestry is profound. He has given us the best and most unsettling piece of theatre of what a Black, fat, awkward gay man has to deal with on a daily basis and his inner thoughts are his worst enemy.

Mr. Jackson has written the book as well as the score. The book is most unsettling toward the end as is intended, but the score always explains the thoughts and the situations that are taking place. It is both clever and thought-provoking. For some audiences, it may not have positive results. At times, it is jarring and hard to sit through. Not the type of show that would play well in Florida or Oklahoma.

Jaquel Spivey as Usher is heartbreakingly brilliant. You can see the daily pummeling and humiliation on his expressive face and how he wishes he can change the course of his life for the better. His performance may land him the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical.

Director Stephen Brackett has done an excellent job of arranging the various thoughts: Thought 1 (L. Morgan Lee), Thought 2.( James Jackson Jr.), Thought 3 (John-Michael Lyles), Thought 4 (John Andrew Morrison), Thought 5 (Jason Veasey) and Thought 6 (Antwayn Hopper). They each move around the stage to the beat of their own drum and make a seamless ensemble.

The show is a must-see. You will laugh with glee and be joyously entertained, but be ready for the discomfort to follow. One will be traveling in Usher’s shoes; it will hurt, but ultimately a reward will ensue.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 1, 2022
Reviewed at April 29, 2022 press performance.

‘A STRANGE LOOP’ (left to right): Jason Veasey, James Jackson, Jr., Jaquel Spivey, L Morgan Lee & Antwayn Hopper. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘A STRANGE LOOP’: (left to right) James Jackson Jr., Jason Veasey, John-Michael Lyles, Jaquel Spivey, L Morgan Lee, John-Andrew Morrison & Antwayn Hopper. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘A STRANGE LOOP’: Jaquel Spivey. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘A STRANGE LOOP’: Jaquel Spivey & cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘A STRANGE LOOP’: The cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

The post ‘A Strange Loop’: A big, Black queer musical hit appeared first on StageZine.

‘MJ’ : Myles Frost. Photo: Matthew Murphy

MJ
Book by Lynn Nottage
Directed & choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon
Neil Simon Theatre
250 West 52nd Street
(800-755-4000), https://mjthemusical.com

By Scott Harrah

Jukebox musicals that attempt to tell the story of a superstar while weaving hit songs into a narrative are always problematic in nature.  Sometimes jukebox bio-musicals work brilliantly (such as Tina and Jersey Boys) or they miss the mark completely.  Attempting a jukebox bio of an artist as iconic, enigmatic and controversial as the late Michael Jackson is inherently an ambitious effort, particularly with a book writer as first rate as Lynn Nottage.  However, while MJ fails as a solid bio-musical, it has enough of his hits to please MJ fans and tourists and is a crowd-pleaser, if nothing else.

One wonders why the producers chose to include a book and story when Michael Jackson has enough of a classic songbook to fill an entire show as a revue.  Think of past Broadway revues of songs that were huge hits like Smokey Joe’s Café (featuring the songs of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) and Ain’t Misbehavin’, starring the late Nell Carter. More recently we had After Midnight in 2013 as well as the long-running Michael Jackson revue Thriller Live on London’s West End, featuring hits by the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson.  All that would be needed for MJ could have been a recreation of all his iconic hit songs spanning the decades and that would certainly have sufficed, without the need for a book or story line.  The show, if simply a revue, would have thrilled his fans and easily run for years.  Instead, what we have here is another messy jukebox musical with an awkward book that sanitizes the truth.  MJ is not the first bio-musical to sugarcoat a music legend’s life.  Remember the Janis Joplin musical A Night with Janis Joplin a few years ago?  That show, “approved” by her estate, portrayed Joplin as an almost saintly figure and barely mentioned her pesky little heroin addiction.

MJ was produced “by special arrangement with the Estate of Michael Jackson,” so there was no way the show ever intended to give anything resembling the “real” Michael Jackson.  Here, he is portrayed as a “victim” of the media.  The story focuses on his Dangerous Tour in 1993 as he tells everything to an MTV reporter interviewing him for a documentary.  We have three versions of Michael here: Early Motown Michael (Christian Wilson), who is perfect in voice and movement. Next is “Thriller” Michael (Tavon Olds-Sample), impressive in voice and manner, if a bit too terrified of his father Joe (Quentin Earl Darrington) by that point. Finally, we have the 1993 “victimized” Michael (Myles Frost).  Mr. Frost has some of the physical qualities of Michael Jackson down well, from his wispy voice and quirky mannerisms to his famous “robot” and “moonwalk” dances.  However, Mr. Frost lacks Michael Jackson’s magnetism.

As a biographical musical that attempts to encapsulate a certain time in the superstar’s life, MJ fails. Derek McLane’s set (mostly a dreary rehearsal hall) is often drab, Christopher Wheeldon’s direction is all over the place, and Jason Michael Webb’s musical direction and orchestrations are inconsistent.  Granted, recreating Michael’s iconic pop songs and videos is no easy task, but it is difficult to know what is prerecorded here and what is live.  MJ is a true “thriller” for diehard Michael Jackson fans who simply want to see covers of his classics, such as recreating the Jackson 5 singing “ABC” on TV’s “Soul Train.”  The show works best when it aims for pure nostalgia.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published February 6, 2022
Reviewed at February 3, 2022 press performance.

‘MJ’: Myles Frost & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘MJ’: Myles Frost & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘MJ’: Myles Frost & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘MJ’: Tavon Olds-Sample & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

The post ‘MJ’: Michael Jackson’s jukebox musical bio appeared first on StageZine.

‘CAROLINE, OR CHANGE’: Sharon D. Clarke (center) & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

CAROLINE, OR CHANGE
Book & lyrics by Tony Kushner
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Directed by Michael Longhurst
Through January 9, 2022
Studio 54

254 West 54th Street
(212-719-1300), www.RoundaboutTheatre.org


By David NouNou

Topical, controversial and ambitious would be three words to describe Caroline, or Change. It’s a show with a mystique for its devoted fans and a cult following, but it has also had a bumpy road from the onset. The original opened in 2004 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre with Tonya Pinkins as Caroline and Anika Noni Rose in her Tony-winning role as Emmie, her daughter, and lasted for only 136 performances.

Set in Louisiana in 1963, we first see Caroline, the African-American maid (Sharon D. Clarke), in the basement doing the laundry for the Gellmans, a white Jewish family. She has been working at this job for most of her adult life. She has been dealt a tough hand. In addition to physical abuse, her husband abandoned her and left her with four children to raise. Caroline is a very bitter woman. She can talk and communicate better with inanimate objects than human beings. The objects that have a human form are: a washing machine (Arica Jackson), a dryer (Kevin S. McAllister), and her radio (Nasia Thomas, Nya and Harper Miles).

The one person who does pierce her armor is an eight-year-old boy, Noah Gellman (Adam Makké). Despite her personal feelings, she likes him and tries to protect and guide him. Noah leaves his loose change in his pockets and Caroline finds them and puts them in a laundry cup to return to him. In order to teach Noah the value of money, his stepmother Rose (Cassie Levy) tells Caroline to keep that change and supplement her income with it. This prompts a dilemma for Caroline on whether to keep the money to help her by giving some pocket money to her children or to leave it in the laundry cup.

The topicality of this musical is very pertinent today what with all the racial issues and Judaism, both of which are under attack; putting them together becomes an explosive issue. The message of the story being coexistence, both in 1963 and today.

The show was set to open in 2020, but the pandemic forced it to shut down. In the midst of a pandemic, the nation went reeling with the death of George Floyd and the aftermath of racism sent shockwaves around the world. This makes the message of coexistence in Caroline, or Change that much more pertinent.

The problem of the show isn’t in the message as much as it is in the messaging. The score is unmemorable and the book is so overwrought. Being Jewish myself, I always found the Jewish aspects of the book by Tony Kushner to be cliché to the point of ad nauseam, the language and the Yiddish idioms spoken by the Gellmans at times sound like a TV episode of “The Nanny” with Nanny Fine’s family.

There is a silver lining here: Sharon D. Clarke as Caroline. She originated the role in London in 2018 and she’s sensational. The songs may be unmemorable but the voices in this show are phenomenal.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 3, 2021
Reviewed at November 2, 2021 press performance.

‘CAROLINE, OR CHANGE’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘CAROLINE, OR CHANGE’: Caissie Levy & Sharon D. Clarke. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘CAROLINE, OR CHANGE’: (Left to right): Nasia Thomas, Harper Miles, Nya, Arica Jackson, Sharon D. Clarke. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘CAROLINE, OR CHANGE’: Adam Makké & Sharon D. Clarke. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘CAROLINE, OR CHANGE’: Sharon D. Clarke. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘CAROLINE, OR CHANGE’: Tamika Lawrence & Sharon D. Clarke. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘CAROLINE, OR CHANGE’: Nya, Harper Miles & Nasia Thomas. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘CAROLINE, OR CHANGE’: Nasia Thomas, Kevin S. McAllister & Sharon D. Clarke. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘CAROLINE, OR CHANGE’: Nasia Thomas, Kevin S. McAllister, Sharon D. Clarke, Arica Jackson & Harper Miles. Photo: Joan Marcus.

The post ‘Caroline, or Change’: A timely revival appeared first on StageZine.

‘SHUFFLE ALONG’: Brandon Victor Dixon & Audra McDonald. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

SHUFFLE ALONG
OR THE MAKING OF THE MUSICAL SENSATION OF 1921 AND ALL THAT FOLLOWED
Book by George C. Wolfe
Original Book by F. E. Miller & Aubrey Lyles
Music & lyrics by Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake
Choreography by Savion Glover
Directed by George C. Wolfe
Music Box Theatre
239 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.shufflealongbroadway.com

By David NouNou

The syncopated rhythm of Shuffle Along at the Music Box Theatre will blow you away in this musical within a musical. Act I is about putting together the first all-black musical: cast, producer, director, writers and musicians on Broadway in 1921. Act II is the aftermath and what became of the creators and the people that were involved in this almost forgotten sensation of the era. Both parts are valid and essential. Act I is entertainment of dizzying heights. Act II plods with the usual heavy-handed dialogue that only George C. Wolfe can churn out. What a blissful, deliriously enjoyable and heavenly evening could have been achieved had the director George C. Wolfe toned down the lugubriously preachy writings of writer George C. Wolfe

However, the evening’s real hero is Savion Glover. His choreography is currently unparalleled on Broadway. His syncopated formation of his dancers is perfection to the utmost degree. We sit there dazzled with every number. In large part due to Mr. Glover’s vision, this heavy-handed musical soars into the stratosphere.

It is an understatement to say that putting this magnificent cast together is a major achievement. Audra McDonald (as Lottie Gee, leading lady of the show) is now an American institution. Adjectives are mere words to what her talent offers. Brian Stokes Mitchell as F. E. Miller, part of the duo who conceived the show, reuniting for the first time with Ms. McDonald since 1998’s Ragtime, is a pleasure to watch and hear, but there is not enough of a character that focuses strictly on Mr. Mitchell’s formidable voice and talent. Billy Porter as Aubrey Lyles, the other part of the duo who conceived the show, gives his character the proper comedic and acidic touches but doesn’t come close in gravitas to his Lola from Kinky Boots.

The two best male parts are that of Eubie Blake, the pianist and composer and also Lottie’s lover, played enigmatically and charmingly by the wonderful Brandon Victor Dixon; and Noble Sissle, Eubie’s fellow composer, staunchly and admirably played by Joshua Henry.

Essentially the story revolves around the four gentlemen who were separate duos: F.E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles and Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake pooling their talents together and bringing the first black musical to Broadway. It shows all the pitfalls and travails they endured to bring this musical to life. However, the success, fame and money that Shuffle Along acquired also brought them their demise because, all having the best intentions to re-team, ultimately brought them their separation and alienation from each other.

The ingredients for the perfect musical are all here; unfortunately, the book gets in the way. The dancers and their precision steps are incomparable. Also one cannot overlook the lighting by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; they evoke every emotion imaginable and have partnered for many years on lots of shows, and may this brilliant partnership endure forever. Also, the arrangements and orchestrations by Daryl Waters are sensational.

Given all the talent and brilliance that emanates from the show, you can’t go wrong, I do suggest you see the show before mid-July due to Ms. McDonald taking a maternity leave, and no one would ever want to miss an Audra McDonald performance.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 11, 2016

‘SHUFFLE ALONG’: Joshua Henry, Brandon Victor Dixon, Billy Porter, Brian Stoke Mitchell & Richard Riaz Yoder. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘SHUFFLE ALONG’: Brandon Victor Dixon & Audra McDonald. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘SHUFFLE ALONG’: The cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘SHUFFLE ALONG’: The cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘SHUFFLE ALONG’: The cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘SHUFFLE ALONG’: Brandon Victor Dixon & Audra McDonald. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘SHUFFLE ALONG’: Brian Stokes Mitchell & cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘SHUFFLE ALONG’: Billy Porter. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘SHUFFLE ALONG’: Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, Joshua Henry & Brandon Victor Dixon. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘SHUFFLE ALONG’: Brian Stokes Mitchell. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘SHUFFLE ALONG’: Brandon Victor Dixon & Joshua Henry. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘SHUFFLE ALONG’: Adrienne Warren & Audra McDonald. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

The post ‘Shuffle Along’ sensational despite flaws appeared first on StageZine.

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Cynthia Erivo & Joaquina Kalukango. Photo: Matthew Murphy

THE COLOR PURPLE
Based upon the novel by Alice Walker
Book by Marsha Norman
Music & lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis & Stephen Bray
Directed by John Doyle
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
245 W. 45th St.
(212-239-6200), http://colorpurple.com/

By Scott Harrah

Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel The Color Purple was a tricky classic to adapt for the screen and stage. Steven Spielberg did a superb job making the story into a film, but the Broadway musical adaptation a decade ago, despite 11 Tony Award nominations in 2006 (including a win for LaChanze for Best Actress in a Musical as Celie), was considered too lavish and overdone by some critics. So it is truly amazing what British director John Doyle—who brought us all those gimmicky Stephen Sondheim revivals of Company and Sweeney Todd, featuring actors doubling as musicians, playing instruments—has accomplished. This revival, which originated at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory, is a total reinvention of the musical, with no real sets other than a wooden backdrop with chairs. In addition, British actress Cynthia Erivo, as the lead character Celie, gives the most-talked-about performance of the 2015/2016 season, stealing the show in virtually every scene with her emotionally exhausting, virtuoso portrayal of the poor, awkward-looking, downtrodden young African-American girl in rural 1930s Georgia.

Mr. Doyle has taken a complicated saga (the novel was written in Southern black slang as letters to God) and Marsha Norman’s bloated Broadway book adaptation and pared everything down to its bare bones, and this simply works beautifully. Fortunately, Mr. Doyle has moved away from the days of making actors play instruments and here focuses on what he does best. He streamlines this blockbuster musical, snips away the fat, and keeps the emotional content intact.

One doesn’t need to be familiar with the book or movie to understand the basic plot, but in a nutshell, Marsha Norman’s original script skips over a lot of the story’s details. Celie is 14 when we first meet her, pregnant, and is soon forced to marry Mister (Isaiah Johnson), a man who beats her. He separates from her sister Nettie (Joaquina Kalukango). The Color Purple is a tale of black women overcoming domineering, abusive men and insurmountable odds despite race and gender, and Mr. Doyle’s utilitarian set and direction helps us focus on these incredible, inspiring characters. It’s impossible not to root for them.

Danielle Brooks (Taystee in “Orange is the New Black) is glorious as Sofia (the role played by Oprah Winfrey in the film), a sassy mama who takes no guff. She brings down the proverbial house when she belts out the women-fight-back anthem “Hell No!” in Act One. Fine performances are also given by Joaquina Kalukango as Nettie, Isaiah Johnson as Mister, Kyle Scatliffe as Harpo, Patrice Covington as Squeak, and Carrie Comprere, Bre Jackson and Rema Webb as local church ladies.

Oscar and Grammy Award winner Jennifer Hudson, as the glamorous singer Shug Avery, is a bona fide Hollywood name helping this production sell tickets. Ms. Hudson will surely please fans with her trademark golden pipes in such rousing numbers as “Push Da Button” and the duet with Celie, “What About Love?” Unfortunately, she has a lackluster stage presence. The character of Shug Avery is supposed to be a bisexual powerhouse, ultimately becoming Celie’s partner, and she should command everyone’s attention whenever she’s onstage. Were it not for Ann Hould-Ward and Christopher Vegara’s gorgeous costumes, Ms. Hudson’s Shug Avery wouldn’t be noticeable at all. When Ms. Hudson delivers a line, she’s definitely good, but it seems she is giving the same performance she did as Effie in Dreamgirls. Ms. Hudson is a diva indeed, but she may disappoint anyone expecting more from such an accomplished star. However, the rest of the cast’s performances are so strong that it doesn’t matter.

Cynthia Erivo makes her Broadway debut here, but she’s already established over in the United Kingdom, where she toured in Sister Act (playing another role Whoopi Goldberg originated for a Hollywood hit). There is no question Cynthia Erivo is bound for stage superstardom on our shores, and the whole audience gets chills as she belts out her 11^th hour number “I’m Here” toward the end of Act Two. By spring’s awards season, Ms. Erivo, Mr. Doyle and this revival itself are going to clean up with this richly shaded, exquisitely acted Color Purple.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published December 16, 2015
Reviewed at performance on December 15, 2015

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Cynthia Erivo & Jennifer Hudson. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Jennifer Hudson & Cynthia Erivo. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Isaiah Johnson. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Jennifer Hudson & Cynthia Erivo. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: (left to right) Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Hudson, Isaiah Johnson & company. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Joaquina Kalukango. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: (left to right) Danielle Brooks, Patrice Covington, Cynthia Erivo, Bre Jackson, Carrie Comprere & Rema Webb. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: (left to right) Antoine Smith, Patrice Covington, Jennifer Hudson, Cynthia Erivo, Isaiah Johnson, Kyle Scatliffe & Danielle Brooks. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Danielle Brooks & Kyle Scatliffe. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Danielle Brooks & Kyle Scatliffe. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Danielle Brooks. Photo: Matthew Murphy

The post ‘The Color Purple’ reinvented in revival appeared first on StageZine.

MORE SCENES FROM ‘HOLLER’: Saul Williams & Saycon Sengbloh in ‘Holler If Ya Hear Me.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME
Book by Todd Kreidler
Lyrics by Tupac Shakur
Directed by Kenny Leon
Choreographed by Wayne Cilento
Palace Theatre
1584 Broadway at 47th Street
(877-250-2929), www.HollerBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Billed as an original musical, Holler If Ya Hear Me is one of the most non-traditional shows you may or may not want to see this or any other season. Inspired by Tupac Shakur’s music and lyrics, it’s a non-biographical story about the struggle of inner-city life as said through poetry. It tries extremely hard to be a relevant voice on Broadway, but comes off more like a compendium of hackneyed clichés that have been seen in better formats. There are the brilliant films Boyz In The Hood and Do The Right Thing. As constructed, Holler has certain similarities to West Side Story. Both dealing with the hardships youth face trying to break out of the hood, the gang, the violence, and certainly the deaths and the defeat of dreams for a better life. Whereas West Side Story did it with a memorable, mesmerizing and pulsating score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim and a new dazzling language in the art of dance by the incomparable Jerome Robbins, which was revolutionary for 1957 Broadway audiences. Holler, on the other hand, serves banal, lifeless scenes strung together in search of some meaning.

Life is hard in the hood and a vicious cycle at that, and with little chance of any improvement or getting out free, or realizing your dreams. Set in the present in a Midwestern industrial city, John, (effectively portrayed by Saul Williams) has just been released from jail after serving six years in prison and has to face the world and the people who inhabit it: His best friend Vertus (the always appealing Christopher Jackson), his father, a street preacher (John Earl Jelks), Vertus’s mother, Mrs. Weston (the underused Tonya Pinkins), his girlfriend, Corinne, whom he never stopped loving (the lovely Saycon Sengbloh) and Griffy, the garage mechanic who gives him a job to start again (the engaging Ben Thompson), and the usual street gang cronies. All give fine and creditable performances, but very little emotion is ever extracted.

It’s always hard to write an effective book for a musical, but when the source is Shakur’s book of poetry entitled The Rose That Grows From Concrete, it becomes almost impossible. In order to have a good musical, one must have a strong book that can sustain the narrative. Here, the book by Todd Kriedler is so clichéd and hackneyed that it never rises to the occasion of high drama, and the scenes are not effectively built up, but instead strewn all over the place. A sharper focus was needed. The scenes shift so erratically and the characters are underdeveloped. This infraction may be the fault of Kenny Leon, the director who recently won the best director Tony for the brilliant revival of A Raisin In the Sun. Mr. Leon’s former credits have either been August Wilson plays or non-musical revivals. A musical is a different genre entirely and pacing and placement is very crucial. You have to draw the audience into every number, and a lot of the numbers here just leave you cold and seem dreary and bleak. George C. Wolfe is one of the few directors who mastered the art of navigating  both genres. Just think of Angels in America and Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk.

A biographical drama of the life of Tupac Shakur would have served for a better evening in the theatre and a better understanding of the artist himself.

TENDER MOMENT: Tonya Pinkins & Christopher Jackson in ‘Holler If Ya Hear Me.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published June 19, 2014
Reviewed at press performance on June 15, 2014

The post ‘Holler’: Not the Gospel according to Tupac appeared first on StageZine.