PHOTO CALL: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom: Opening Night

February 10, 2003

After a much-maligned preview period, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom opened on Thursday Feb. 6 at the Royale Theatre on West 45th St. After the show, the Roosevelt Hotel on Madison Ave & 45th St hosted a party celebrating the event.

The original production of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom opened at the Cort Theatre in October 1984. The play, August Wilson's first Broadway production, won the 1984 New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Charles S. Dutton was nominated for a Tony Award for his prortrayal of Levee, a role he is reprising in the revival.

To see more photos from the opening of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, please click here

Photos by Aubrey Reuben.

BOTTOM:(L-R) Betsy and Walter Cronkite, Lynn Redgrave, and Star Jones and Lela Rochon at the opening night of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.