 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(April 2018) |
Rodney Hicks | |
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| Born | March 28, 1974 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Rodney Hicks (born March 28, 1974) [1] is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He is perhaps best known for originating the role of Bob in the Broadway musical Come from Away (2017) as well as playing various roles in the original and closing Broadway cast of the musical Rent . [2]
Hicks made his Broadway debut in 1996 as part of the original cast of the musical Rent, where he originated the role of Paul and was the understudy for the role of Benjamin Coffin III. [2] He returned to the cast of Rent in 2007 as the main performer of Benjamin Coffin III, originated by Taye Diggs, where he became the final actor to play the role before the production closed that year. [3] The final performance, including Hicks, was recorded in Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway . [4] In 2000, Hicks starred as Peter in revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, which ran for six months in the Lyric Theatre on Broadway. [5] Hicks later also starred as Joe Bonaparte in the 2000 revival of Charles Strouse's Golden Boy .[ citation needed ] Off-Broadway, he co-starred alongside Robert Cuccioli in the 2006 revival of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, and can be heard on the new cast recording.
In 2010, he played the role of Clarence Norris in the musical The Scottsboro Boys , which was directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Susan Stroman at Off-Broadway's Vineyard Theatre. The show opened on March 10 and ran until April 18, 2010. [6] The show has received 9 Drama Desk nominations including Best New Musical, 6 Outer Critics Circle awards including Best New Musical and is the winner of two Lucille Lortel awards including Outstanding New Musical and Outstanding Choreography. The show opened on Broadway October 31, 2010, after beginning previews on the 6th of that month. It closed December 12, 2010. He played the lead role of Haywood Patterson in the 2012 Philadelphia Theatre Company production of The Scottsboro Boys, where he was awarded the 2012 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Leading Male in a Musical. At the Village Theatre in Seattle, Hicks played the role of Jim, where he was recognized with a Seattle Times Footlight Award for his performance and a Broadway World Seattle's Critics Choice Award (Jay's Picks) for Outstanding Leading Actor.
In 2011, Hicks played the role of Curly in the first all African-American cast of Oklahoma! at Portland Center Stage in Portland, Oregon. The production was directed by Chris Coleman, who Hicks would later marry.
In 2014, Hicks took part in a lab production of Come from Away, which would later open on Broadway on March 12, 2017. Rodney departed from the cast of Come from Away on June 14, 2017, after being diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological condition that causes a person's voice to spasm. [7] Hicks was subsequently unable to appear in the live stage recording of the musical, released in 2021 on Apple TV+. After treatment, Hicks regained his ability to speak and sing clearly. He has appeared in regional theatres across the country varying in plays from King Lear , Lobby Hero through to Ain't Misbehavin' and Two Gentlemen of Verona . In 2023, he played Walter in Chess at The Muny. [8]
Hicks is currently working on a writing project called, '1 9 6 8'. [9] Hicks's published work as a playwright includes Ms. Pearl's Cabaret (2019 Eugene O'Neill Playwriting Conference Semi-Finalist), FLAME BROILED. or the ugly play (Premiered at Local Theatre Company, Boulder CO, Fall 2019), and Just Press Save (2018 Eugene O'Neill Playwriting Conference Semi-Finalist), the last of which was featured at the 2020 Pride Plays Festival. [10] The virtual reading and workshop was directed by Michael Greif, who previously directed Hicks in Rent. [11]
Off-stage, Hicks has appeared on several television shows, such as portraying Delray Williams in NYPD Blue , the guest lead Jerome Davis in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent playing opposite Faith Ford and Johnny Galecki, and as Perry on the last season of ABC's Hope and Faith . While living in the Pacific Northwest Hicks guest-starred on NBC's Grimm and TNT's Leverage.
Hicks was born and raised in Philadelphia. He graduated from Roxborough High School in 1992. That same year, he enrolled in Mansfield University, but dropped out in 1994 to pursue acting as a full-time career. He earned early success performing alongside Lauryn Hill from the hip/hop group The Fugees in the musical Bring in the Morning - A Wake up Call, followed by a role in the John Adams and June Jordan pop opera I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky, which was directed by Peter Sellars.
Hicks is married to Chris Coleman, the artistic director at the Denver Theatre Center for Performing Arts, who he met while auditioning for Oklahoma!. [12] After getting diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, Hicks returned to his home in the Pacific Northwest with Coleman to recover. Since his move to Denver in 2018, Hicks has had a world premiere of his play 'FLAME BROILED. or the ugly play' and continues to write and act. Hicks is a meditator.
Paula Vogel is an American playwright who received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play How I Learned to Drive. A longtime teacher, Vogel spent the bulk of her academic career – from 1984 to 2008 – at Brown University, where she served as Adele Kellenberg Seaver Professor in Creative Writing, oversaw its playwriting program, and helped found the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium. From 2008 to 2012, Vogel was Eugene O'Neill Professor of Playwriting and department chair at the Yale School of Drama, as well as playwright in residence at the Yale Repertory Theatre.
Susan P. Stroman is an American theatre director, choreographer, film director and performer. Her notable theater productions include Oklahoma!, The Music Man, Crazy for You, Contact, The Producers, The Frogs, The Scottsboro Boys, Bullets Over Broadway, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, and New York, New York.
John Cullum is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in many stage musicals and dramas, including Shenandoah (1975) and On the Twentieth Century (1978), winning the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for each. In 1966 he gained his first Tony nomination as the lead in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, in which he introduced the title song, and more recently received Tony nominations for Urinetown The Musical (2002) and as Best Featured Actor in the revival of 110 in the Shade (2007).
Marc Acito is an American playwright, novelist, and humorist.
Frank William Chase is an American actor, director, and singer, best known for his work on Broadway and for his role as country superstar Luke Wheeler on ABC's Nashville.
Julia Kathleen Murney is an American actress and singer, also known for television commercial voice-overs. Until 2005, she was commonly known as the Broadway actress who had technically never appeared on Broadway. This was because her fame came mostly from her performances on the Broadway charity circuit, and not traditional Broadway productions. She played the role of Elphaba in the musical Wicked, both on the US national tour (2006) and on Broadway (2007). She is also a two-time Drama Desk Award nominee, for The Wild Party (2000) and Falling (2013).
Francis Jue is an American actor and singer. Jue is known for his performances on Broadway, in national tours, Off-Broadway and in regional theatre, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and at The Muny in St. Louis. His roles in plays and musicals range from Shakespeare to Rodgers and Hammerstein to David Henry Hwang. He is also known for his recurring role on the TV series Madam Secretary (2014–2019).
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.
Norm Lewis is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway, in the West End, film, television, recordings and regional theatre. He’s also noted for his wide vocal range. Lewis was the second African-American actor after Robert Guillaume to perform in the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the first one to do so in the Broadway production. In 2023, he reprised the role in the show's sequel, Love Never Dies, in London's West End.
The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Foundation, with additional support from the Theatre Development Fund.
Colman Jason Domingo is an American actor, writer and director. Known for his roles on stage and screen, Domingo has received various accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award and nominations for a Tony Award and Laurence Olivier Award.
Katherine Baldwin is an American singer and actress known for her work in musical theater. She received a Tony Award nomination for her work in the 2009 Broadway revival of Finian's Rainbow. She also co-starred opposite Bette Midler, David Hyde Pierce, and Gavin Creel in the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!, for which she received Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle award nominations for her work as the saucy millineress Irene Molloy. Baldwin continued with the production until it closed in August 2018.
Donald Ragan Stephenson IV, known as Don Stephenson, is an American actor and stage director. He has numerous credits on both television and in the theatre.
James T. Lane is an American actor and dancer. He made his Broadway debut with the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line, playing Richie Walters. After that, Lane joined the cast of Chicago: The Musical, playing the role of Aaron and Amos Hart. Other credits include an episode on One Life to Live as a James Brown impersonator. Lane was last been seen on Broadway in The Scottsboro Boys, playing the roles of Ozie Powell and Ruby Bates. In 2013, Lane reprised his A Chorus Line role in The West End.
The Scottsboro Boys is a musical with a book by David Thompson, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. Based on the Scottsboro Boys trial, the musical is one of the last collaborations between Kander and Ebb prior to the latter's death. The musical has the framework of a minstrel show, altered to "create a musical social critique" with a company that, except for one, consists "entirely of African-American performers".
Joshua Anthony Charlton Henry is a Canadian-American actor and singer of stage and screen.
Brandon Victor Dixon is an American actor, singer and theatrical producer. As a musical theatre actor, he is known for Tony Award-nominated Broadway performances as Harpo in the 2005 musical The Color Purple and Eubie Blake in Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed (2016). He originated both roles, as well as the leading role of Berry Gordy Jr. in Motown: The Musical (2013) on Broadway, which earned a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In 2016, Dixon assumed the role of Aaron Burr in the Broadway company of Hamilton. Off-Broadway as well as in London's West End, Dixon played the role of Hayward Patterson in The Scottsboro Boys and was nominated for a 2014 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.
Rob McClure is an American actor and singer, best known for his work on the Broadway stage.
Taylor Elizabeth Louderman is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She is best known for originating the role of Regina George in the Broadway musical Mean Girls, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2018.
Kate Rockwell is an American actor, dancer, and singer. She is known for her work on Broadway and for originating the roles of Skylar in Bring It On: The Musical in 2011 and of Karen Smith in the 2018 musical Mean Girls, for the latter of which she received Drama Desk Award and Helen Hayes Award nominations.
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