Billy Porter Joins Producing Team of BILLY STRAYHORN: SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR in Pittsburgh

 Pittsburgh Public Theater has announced that Billy Porter will join as a producer the upcoming world premiere jazz musical Billy Strayhorn: SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR, on stage September 19 to October 8 at the O’Reilly Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh. The cast features Broadway star and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” regular Darius de Haas as Billy Strayhorn, along with J.D. Mollison of Broadway’s Les Miserables as the incomparable Duke Ellington. 

Billy Porter is an Emmy, Tony, and Grammy award-winning actor, singer, director, producer, composer, and playwright. Porter has numerous theater credits, including the role of “Lola” in the Broadway musical Kinky Boots, for which he won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards, as well as the Grammy for best musical theater album. He won his second Tony Award in 2022 for “Best Musical” as a producer on A Strange Loop. Porter released his first literary project, “Unprotected,” in October 2021, which was published by Abrams Press. As a recording artist, Porter recently released his singles “Fashion,” “Baby Was A Dancer,” and “Children” under his record deal with Island Records (UK) and Republic Records (US). His forthcoming album, The Black Mona Lisa, is due out this Fall.

“People don't know or appreciate who Billy Strayhorn was. He was an accomplished musical genius and an openly gay Black man back in the day. His story needs to be told, and Darius de Haas is the perfect person to bring Strayhorn to life,” said Billy Porter. “This new musical, under the inspired direction of Kent Gash, deserves to have its world premiere in Pittsburgh where Strayhorn first discovered his love of music. I am proud to be a producer on this thrilling musical that finally tells his personal story.”

Billy Strayhorn: Something to Live For kicks off the 2023/2024 season at Pittsburgh Public Theater and is written by Rob Zellers (The Chief) with Kent Gash (Paradise Blue, City Theatre) and directed by Gash, featuring music and lyrics by Billy Strayhorn and a nine-piece jazz band led by Yamaha-sponsored artist and jazz phenom Matthew Whitaker.