The Broadway premiere of Oscar winner Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play Choir Boy begins previews December 12 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The music-filled play, which debuted to critical acclaim Off-Broadway in 2013, follows the hopes and dreams of the young singers at the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys, an institution dedicated to the education of strong, ethical black men.
The Manhattan Theatre Club production of Choir Boy is directed by Trip Cullman and will officially open on Broadway January 8, 2019.
The cast features Nicholas L. Ashe as Junior Blake, Daniel Bellomy (Ensemble), Jonathan Burke (Ensemble), Gerald Caesar (Ensemble), John Clay III as Anthony Justin “AJ” James, Chuck Cooper as Headmaster Marrow, Caleb Eberhardt as David Heard, Marcus Gladney (Ensemble), J. Quinton Johnson as Bobby Marrow, Austin Pendleton as Mr. Pendleton, and Jeremy Pope as Pharus Jonathan Young.
Watch the cast—including Clay III, Johnson, Eberhardt, Pope and Ashe—perform 'I Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray', one of the songs featured in the play, in the video above.
Choir Boy’s creative team includes Jason Michael Webb (music direction, arrangements and original music), David Zinn (scenic and costume design), Peter Kaczorowski (lighting design), Fitz Patton (original music and sound design), Cookie Jordan (hair and make-up design), Thomas Schall (fight director), and Camille A. Brown (movement).
Ashe, Cooper, Pendleton, and Pope are all returning to the play following the 2013 Off-Broadway production at MTC’s The Studio at Stage II – Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Series. The play was commissioned by MTC with support from Time Warner Inc. Support for Choir Boy is provided by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.
