Heaven, a new musical aiming at a November opening on Broadway, will be the second musical of the year to emply the music of composer Duke Ellington. A parable of good and evil with book and lyrics by Cinda Firestone, Heaven uses sacred music written by Ellington in the 1970s, toward the end of his life, according to production spokesperson Mickey Alpert. Heaven will be directed and choreographed by Vincent Paterson, who did the dances for the current Evita film and who was nominated for a Tony Award for Kiss of the Spider Woman Woman in 1992.
An unrelated production,Play On!, which opens March 20 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, uses many of Ellington's pop hits from the 1920s-50s.
Heaven will be produced by Stan Fox and Lisa Cohen.
No theatre has yet been booked by the production.
-- By Robert Viagas
