New Orleans (musical)

Last updated

New Orleans: the Storyville Musical is a musical by Toni Morrison, Donald McKayle and Dorothea Freitag, set in 1917 in New Orleans' Storyville district. [1] Produced in workshop in 1982, it also received staged readings at New York Shakespeare Festival in 1984 but was never fully produced. It was Morrison's first venture in the medium of theatre.

Contents

Numerous working titles and variations have been used in press coverage of the piece, including Storyville, District Storyville, New Orleans, N'Orleans: the Storyville Musical and New Orleans: the Storyville Musical.

Development

Choreographer and director Donald McKayle first explored the story of New Orleans' Storyville when he collaborated with composer Dorothea Freitag in 1962, with the influential piece District Storyville, a ballet inspired by the early life of Louis Armstrong in a New Orleans brothel. It tells the story of a madam, the brothel prostitutes, a jazz horn player and "Little Lou", a child who dreams of being a musician as well. [2] [3]

McKayle returned to similar subject matter and the origins of jazz music with the 1975 musical Doctor Jazz. McKayle directed and choreographed the Buster Davis musical, a production fraught with troubles that included a difficult relationship with producer Cyma Rubin. The New York Times called the show "disastrous" and McKayle described it as "an endless series of mishaps." [4] [5]

In 1981, shortly after the opening of McKayle's Sophisticated Ladies , a revue based on the music of Duke Ellington, a young producer named Kevin Gebhard approached McKayle. Gebhard had seen the 1980 production of District Storyville at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He saw the potential of adapting the piece into a full musical and McKayle agreed.

McKayle approached Alice Childress to collaborate on the Storyville musical. Although she showed interest, she did not commit to the project. Gebhard then suggested novelist Toni Morrison. After a promising first meeting, they began to collaborate. "She seemed eager to work on the project," recalled McKayle in his memoir.

Morrison wanted to try writing lyrics as well. Paired with Dorothea Freitag, composer of the 1962 ballet, Morrison wrote lyrics to new songs. The musical also incorporated existing music such as that of Jelly Roll Morton and Sidney Bechet. McKayle contributed some input to the songs, and suggested selections of antebellum music that could inform the content. [6]

1982 workshop

In 1981, Storyville was announced as a new Broadway musical, featuring the playwriting debut of Toni Morrison. It was planned to open on Broadway in fall 1982, with Donald McKayle as director and choreographer and Geoffrey Holder as costume designer. It was producer Kevin Gebhard's first credit. [7]

In February 1982, Paramount Theater Productions, a division of Paramount Pictures, announced its backing of several theater ventures, including District Storyville. [8]

That July, New Orleans went into a six-week workshop production, with a cast that included Carmen de Lavallade, Lynne Thigpen and folksinger Odetta. "I thought working with other people would be very difficult for me, but something magical has happened," Morrison told The New York Times. "I had no idea how infectious this would be." [9]

By September, the workshop run had concluded. Producer Kevin Gebhard announced that New Orleans would not be moving to Broadway after all, and that Paramount had exited as a backer. Instead, a further workshop would refine the work, funded by an anonymous financial backer. [10]

Variety reported in March 1983 that producer Kevin Gebhard disagreed with Morrison and McKayle on the direction future rewrites would take, and exited the project. The authors were then seeking new management to continue development. The cost of the 1982 workshop process was $150,000. [11]

1984 reading

In August 1984, Joseph Papp produced staged readings of New Orleans at the Public Theater. The production was credited as "By Toni Morrison, with Donald McKayle, music by Sidney Bechet and Jelly Roll Morton, additional music and musical direction by Dorothea Freitag, lyrics by Toni Morrison." The production was directed by Ron Himes [12]

Cast and Crew

Legacy

In his memoir, Donald McKayle described the show as ultimately unsuccessful: "Some of the songs that emerged were wonderful and the language exquisite, but the play did not hang together." Morrison's stage directions, which she read aloud to audiences at both the 1982 workshop production and the 1984 staged readings, were "inseparable" to the piece. Without these sections being read, the audience could not access them, and at the same time they could not hold audience attention. [13]

In 1986, nearing the premiere of her play Dreaming Emmett , Toni Morrison noted to a reporter from UPI that she did not consider herself a playwright, and also that she intentionally did not list New Orleans among her credits because she did not originate the concept. "I wrote the play like an assignment." [14]

A decade later, theatre artist Mark Green, who had attended both workshop and reading of New Orleans, encouraged McKayle to continue to develop the premise as a musical. With original composer Dorothea Freitag deceased, McKayle began to work with lyricist Pamela Phillips-Oland and composer Steven Bramson on a production that became Shimmy. [15] The show received a staged reading in 1994, but was never produced. [16]

Related Research Articles

Stephen Flaherty is an American composer of musical theatre and film. He works most often in collaboration with the lyricist/book writer Lynn Ahrens. They are best known for writing the Broadway musicals Ragtime, which was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and won the Tony for Best Original Score; Once on This Island, which won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, the Olivier Award for London's Best Musical, and was nominated for a Grammy Award and eight Tony Awards; and Seussical, which was nominated for the Grammy Award. Flaherty was also nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for his songs and song score for the animated film musical Anastasia.

Lynn Ahrens is an American songwriter, singer, and librettist for the musical theatre, television and film. She has collaborated with Stephen Flaherty for many years. She won the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award for the Broadway musical Ragtime. Together with Flaherty, she has written many musicals, including Lucky Stiff, My Favorite Year, Ragtime, Seussical, A Man of No Importance, Dessa Rose, The Glorious Ones, Rocky, Little Dancer and, recently on Broadway, Anastasia and Once on This Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chita Rivera</span> American actress, dancer, and singer

Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero Anderson, professionally known as Chita Rivera, is an American actress, singer and dancer best known for originating roles in Broadway musicals including Anita in West Side Story, Velma Kelly in Chicago, and the title role in Kiss of the Spider Woman. She is a ten-time Tony Award nominee and a three-time Tony Award recipient, including one for Lifetime Achievement. She is the first Latina and the first Latino American to receive a Kennedy Center Honor and is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her autobiography, Chita: A Memoir, was published in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donna McKechnie</span> American actress

Donna McKechnie is an American musical theater dancer, singer, actress, and choreographer. She is known for her professional and personal relationship with choreographer Michael Bennett, with whom she collaborated on her most noted role, the character of Cassie in the musical A Chorus Line. She earned the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for this performance in 1976. She is also known for playing Amanda Harris/Olivia Corey on the Gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows from 1969 to 1970.

Martin Charnin was an American lyricist, writer, and theatre director. Charnin's best-known work is as conceiver, director, and lyricist of the musical Annie.

<i>Raisin</i> (musical) Musical by Judd Woldin and Robert Brittan

Raisin is a musical with music by Judd Woldin, lyrics by Robert Brittan, and a book by Robert Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg. It is an adaptation of the Lorraine Hansberry play A Raisin in the Sun; the musical's book was co-written by Hansberry's husband, Robert Nemiroff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Morrison</span> American actor, dancer, and singer

Matthew James Morrison is an American actor, dancer, and singer, best known for his role as Will Schuester on the Fox television show Glee (2009–2015).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald McKayle</span> American dancer and teacher (1930–2018)

Donald McKayle was an American modern dancer, choreographer, teacher, director and writer best known for creating socially conscious concert works during the 1950s and '60s that focus on expressing the human condition and, more specifically, the black experience in America. He was "among the first black men to break the racial barrier by means of modern dance." His work for the concert stage, especially Games (1951) and Rainbow Round My Shoulder (1959), has been the recipient of widespread acclaim and critical attention. In addition, McKayle was the first black man to both direct and choreograph major Broadway musicals, including the Tony Award-winners Raisin (1973) and Sophisticated Ladies (1981), and he worked extensively in television and film. As a young man he appeared with some of the twentieth century's most important choreographers, including Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow, and Merce Cunningham, and in some of Broadway's landmark productions, including House of Flowers (1958) and West Side Story (1957), where he served for a time as the production's dance captain. A Tony Award and Emmy Award nominee, McKayle held an endowed chair for the last decades of his life in the Dance Department at UC Irvine, where he was the Claire Trevor Professor of Dance. He previously served on the faculties of Connecticut College, Sarah Lawrence College, and Bennington College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Conservatory Theater</span> Theater company and historic place in San Francisco, California

The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is a nonprofit theater company in San Francisco, California, United States, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. It also has an attached acting school.

Wayne Louis Cilento is an American director, choreographer, actor and dancer. He is best known for originating the role of Mike in the Broadway show A Chorus Line, and later becoming one of Broadway's most prolific choreographers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Skinner (actress, born 1970)</span> American singer

Emily Skinner, also known as Emily Scott Skinner, is a Tony-nominated American actress and singer. She has played leading roles in 10 Broadway productions including New York, New York, Prince of Broadway, The Cher Show, Side Show, Jekyll & Hyde, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty, Dinner at Eight, Billy Elliot, as well as the Actor's Fund Broadway concerts of Dreamgirls and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. She has sung on concert stages around the world and on numerous recordings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liliane Montevecchi</span> French-Italian actress and entertainer

Liliane Montevecchi was a French-Italian actress, dancer, and singer.

It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues is a musical written by Charles Bevel, Lita Gaithers, Randal Myler, Ron Taylor, and Dan Wheetman. It was originally produced at The Denver Center for the Performing Arts and later presented by the Crossroads Theatre, in association with San Diego Repertory Theatre and Alabama Shakespeare Festival in New York City at the New Victory Theatre, Lincoln Center, and Broadway's Ambassador Theatre, where it garnered five Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical.

Nana Kimati Dinizulu was an American virtuoso percussionist, widely acclaimed for his artistry with African percussion in jazz, folk, classical, popular, ballet, and musical theater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Morrison</span> American actress (born 1956)

Ann Morrison is an American actress, best known for her Broadway debut as Mary Flynn in the Stephen Sondheim/George Furth musical, Merrily We Roll Along directed by Harold Prince for which she won the 1982 Theatre World Award. Off-Broadway she played Lizzie in the highly acclaimed Polly Pen/Peggy Harmon musical Goblin Market which garnered her a 1986 Drama Desk Award Nomination as Best Actress in a Musical and a Best Plays Theatrical Yearbook Citation as Best Actress in a Musical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carmen de Lavallade</span> American dancer and actress (born 1931)

Carmen de Lavallade is an American actress, choreographer and dancer.

Haruki Fujimoto was a Japanese-born theatre performer, dancer, choreographer, and teacher.

<i>Dreaming Emmett</i>

Dreaming Emmett is the first play by the Nobel-winning African-American writer Toni Morrison. First performed in 1986, the play was commissioned by the New York State Writers Institute at SUNY-Albany. The play's world premier, which was directed by Gilbert Moses, was on January 5, 1986 at Capital Repertory Theatre's Market Theater in Albany, New York. After its first production, Morrison reportedly destroyed all known video recordings of the play and copies of the script. Thus, all descriptions of the plot are reconstructed from contemporary reviews.

Erika Leigh Henningsen is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her work on Broadway and for originating the role of Cady Heron in the 2018 Tony-nominated musical Mean Girls, for which she received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashley Park (actress)</span> American actress (born 1991)

Ashley Jini Park is an American actress, singer, and dancer who is best known for her portrayal of Mindy Chen on the Netflix comedy series Emily in Paris. She originated the role of Gretchen Wieners in the Broadway musical Mean Girls, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical.

References

  1. ↑ Gillespie, Carmen (2007). A Critical Companion to Toni Morrison. Facts on File, Inc. p. 258. ISBN   9781438108575.
  2. ↑ Anawalt, Sasha (December 15, 1991). "DANCE; For Donald McKayle, the Dance Goes On". New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  3. ↑ Dunning, Jennifer (May 9, 1980). "Composer of 'Storyville' Plays a Lot of Piano in It". New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  4. ↑ Barnes, Clive (March 20, 1975). "'Doctor Jazz' Opens at Winter Garden". New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  5. ↑ McKayle, Donald (2002). Transcending Boundaries - My Dancing Life. Routledge. pp. 243–245.
  6. ↑ McKayle, Donald (2002). Transcending Boundaries - My Dancing Life. Routledge. p. 281.
  7. ↑ "Toni Morrison to make Broadway debut". The Afro American. November 21, 1981. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  8. ↑ Lawson, Carol (February 6, 1982). "Paramount Pictures going into legitimate theater". The Day. New York Times News Service. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  9. ↑ Lawson, Carol (July 23, 1982). "BROADWAY; Book and lyrics of new musical by Toni Morrison". New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  10. ↑ Lawson, Carol (September 6, 1982). "Broadway has everything - even 'commercial interruptions'". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. New York Times News Service. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  11. ↑ Hummler, Richard (March 16, 1983). "Workshop productions a growing trend despite inflated costs". Variety.
  12. ↑ Program - New Orleans. New York Shakespeare Festival. August 10, 1984.
  13. ↑ McKayle, Donald (2002). Transcending Boundaries - My Dancing Life. Routledge. p. 281.
  14. ↑ Fleming, Jon (January 2, 1986). "Toni Morrison Takes a Dramatic Turn". Deseret News. UPI. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  15. ↑ McKayle, Donald (2002). Transcending Boundaries - My Dancing Life. Routledge. p. 282.
  16. ↑ Klein, Alvin (February 20, 1994). "THEATER; An Old Show Kicks Off New Ones". New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.