Actor-writer-director-dancer-choreographer Vernel Bagneris' musical One Mo' Time may be headed for Broadway in the fall of 1999. According to publicist Judy Jacksina, the show has be optioned by producer Adam Epstein. The production would mark the twentieth anniversary of the musical, which first opened at the Village Gate Oct. 22, 1979 and went on to run a phenomenal 1,372 performances. That staging was directed by Bagneris and featured him along with Sylvia Williams, Thais Clark, Topsy Chapman and John Stell.
One Mo' Time takes a look at the hardships that faced the African American performer in the early decades of this century. The musical is set in the 1920s at New Orleans' now vanished Lyric Theatre, the only venue where black performers were then allowed to perform.
A sequel to One Mo' Time, Further Mo', ran at the Gate in 1990.
Bagneris most recently appeared on the New York stage in the Broadway musical The Life. His other credits include the movie Pennies from Heaven.
No theatre or opening date has been mentioned for the new production. Epstein also reportedly is developing a "rock 'n' roll version" of Shaw's Pygmalion. No further information on this project could be learned at press time.
