Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff/Artistic Producer) will present free staged readings of A Good Man, a new musical with music by Ray Leslee, and book and lyrics by Philip Goodman, directed by Jerry Dixon. The readings will take place on Thursday, November 3 at 4:00pm, and Friday, November 4 at 1:00pm and 4:00pm, at The Snapple Centre, 1627 Broadway, NYC, NY.
A Good Man, based on the novel by the late Jefferson Young, tells the story of Albert Clayton, an African American sharecropper in post-World War II rural Mississippi, where blacks are leaving for the urban north in droves. Albert, proud of his work and accomplishments, resists the trend and, upon learning that his wife is pregnant, decides to fulfill a dream to fix up and put fresh white paint on his shabby tenant house. He encounters a firestorm of criticism and resistance for this presumption, and not only from the locAl White community.
A Good Man, says Amas Artistic Producer Donna Trinkoff, "is a beautiful, honestly written musical story about quiet grace under enormous pressure, and it's so deceptively simple that it rings starkly true and with great impact for all of us. Grace is powerfully evident in the character of our hero, whose "white house" is a vision of what life might be, were he to fulfill his right to pursue his dreams. Philip S. Goodman's taut book and lyrics are miracles of quiet dignity. Surprises abound, and they seem inevitable in retrospect, yet we never see them coming. Ray Leslee's powerful music cultivates seam upon seam of blues and devotional tradition and nuance, and we not only hear these songs, we almost feel and smell them ... moist, rich, dark, and life-giving."
Tony Award winner Nikki M. James (Book of Mormon), John Jellison (Memphis), Bob Stillman (Grey Gardens) will join Joshua Henry (Tony nomination, The Scottsboro Boys) as Albert Clayton, Cheryl Alexander (Dreamgirls, Little Ham), Jeremy Gumbs (The Scottsboro Boys, The Lion King), John Jellison (Memphis, All Shook Up), Anastacia McClesky (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Hair), and Kenneth Robinson (Baby It's You!). Director Jerry Dixon's multifaceted career includes performance (Once on this Island, 5 Guys Named Moe), and music and lyrics (Laugh Whore, An Evening with Mario Cantone). He has directed regionally on both coasts. Jason Michael Webb music directs.
The presentations are part of the ongoing Amas Six O'Clock Musical Theatre Lab, a development series for writers, lyricists and composers to mount staged readings of their new musicals free to the public. The Amas Six O'Clock Musical Theatre Lab is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, and by the ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund, the BMI Foundation, the Barbara Bell Cummings Foundation, the Dramatists Guild, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, the Edith Meiser Fund, the Shubert Foundation, and through the generous support of many individuals.
OFF-OFF BROADWAY THEATRE LISTINGS/FREE EVENTS
A Good Man, a free staged reading of a new musical written by Ray Leslee and Philip S. Goodman, directed by Jerry Dixon, music direction by Jason Michael Webb, presented by Amas Musical Theatre as part of The Amas Six O'Clock Musical Theatre Lab, on Thursday, November 3 at 6pm, and Friday, November 4 at 3pm and 7pm, The Snapple Center 1627 Broadway (at 50th Street)
