J. Harrison Ghee, Steven Pasquale Will Lead Industry Reading of MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL

MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL the 1994 iconic blockbuster book by John Berendt, which still holds a New York Times bestseller list record, is being developed into a new musical and will have an invitation-only industry reading on August 3rd and 4th, 2023 in New York City. The cast for the reading will include J. Harrison Ghee as Lady Chablis, Steven Pasquale as Jim Williams, Austin Colby as Danny Hansford, Amber Gray as Minerva, Jennifer Laura Thompson as Vera Strong, Harriet Harris as Serena Barnes/Dawn Avery, Paul Alexander Nolan as Joe Odom,  Miss Dirty Martini as Mandy Nichols, Bailee Endebrock as Corinne Strong, Jessica Molaskey as Alma Knox Carter, Shanel Bailey as Lavella Cole, Grace McLean as Emma Dawes and Lance Roberts as Bobby Hutchins.

The new musical is being directed by Tony Award winner Rob Ashford, written by MacArthur  “Genius” Grantee and Pulitzer Finalist Taylor Mac, with music and lyrics by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown and choreography by Tanya Birl with associate choreography by Jovan Dansberry. 

The cast also features Cameron Bond, Maya Bowles, Sean Donovan, Wes Garlington, Andre Terrell Malcolm, Aaron James McKenzie, Kayla Pecchioni, Ahmad Simmons, Allie Trimm, and Cole Wachman. Casting by The Telsey Office.

MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL, a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize  for General Nonfiction, is the story of a socially prominent Savannah, Georgia, antiques dealer  who was tried, and retried, for murder. The book was on the New York Times Best-Seller for  216 weeks and was adapted for Clint Eastwood's 1997 film of the same name. 

The invitation only industry readings will take place in New York City on August 3rd and 4th.  MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL is being produced by Hal Luftig,  Craig Haffner, and Sherry Wright.  

Biographies

Rob Ashford (Director) is a Tony Award, Olivier Award, Emmy Award, Drama Desk  Award and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning director and choreographer. Broadway Theatre  credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Frozen, How To Succeed In Business, Promises,  Promises, Evita, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Shrek, John Water’s Cry Baby, Curtains, & The  Wedding Singer. London Theatre credits include The Winters Tale, Romeo & Juliet, The  Entertainer, Harlequinade, Macbeth, Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, and  the Olivier Award-winning productions of Anna Christie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and  Parade. He directed and choreographed NBC’s “Sound of Music Live!” and “Peter Pan Live!”.  He directed and choreographed Carousel, Carmen, & The Barber of Seville for Chicago Lyric  Opera and Houston Grand Opera and choreographed Candide at La Scala, ENO, and Chatelet in Paris. He choreographed and staged the 2009, 2013, 2014, & 2015 Academy Awards, winning an Emmy for his work on Baz Luhrmann’s 2009 production number featuring Hugh  Jackman and Beyonce. He has staged The Tony Awards for 8 years and has also staged tributes  at The Kennedy Center Honors for Barbra Streisand, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerry Herman,  Barbara Cook, Tom Hanks, Shirley MacLaine, and Meryl Streep. Films include choreography for Disney’s Cinderella, Beyond the Sea, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Ted 2, Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.  

Taylor Mac (Book) is a MacArthur Fellow, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, a Tony Nominee (for  Best Play), and the recipient of the Kennedy Prize (with Matt Ray), the Doris Duke Performing  Artist Award, a Guggenheim, a Drama League Award, a NY Drama Critics Circle Award, two  Obie’s, two Bessies, and the first American to receive the International Ibsen Award. Mac is  the author of Joy and Pandemic (Huntington Theater); The Hang (with Matt Ray); Gary, A  Sequel to Titus Andronicus; A 24-Decade History of Popular Music; Hir; The Fre, The Walk  Across America For Mother Earth, The Lily’s Revenge; The Young Ladies Of; and The Be(A)st  of Taylor Mac. The documentary Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music recently premiered on HBO to critical acclaim. 

Jason Robert Brown (Music and Lyrics) has written the music and lyrics to several  of the most renowned and influential musicals of our time, including the generation-defining  The Last Five Years, his debut song cycle Songs for a New World, and the seminal Parade,  which just won a 2023 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, starring Ben Platt and directed  by Michael Arden. His other musicals include 13, which was made into a feature film on  Netflix last year; The Bridges of Madison County, winner of Tony Awards for score and  orchestrations; Mr. Saturday Night with Billy Crystal; and Honeymoon In Vegas. As a pianist,  singer and bandleader, Jason has performed concerts around the world. His latest  album, “Coming From Inside The House,” features Ariana Grande and Shoshana Bean and is  available from Craft Recordings. 

Tanya Birl (Choreographer) is a New York City based Movement Director and  Choreographer. Choreography: How I Learned What I Learned (OSF), Twelfth Night (The  Public Theater), The Red Letter Plays (The Signature Theater), Comedy of Errors (Classic  Stage company), As You Like It (The Guthrie Theater) and Peter and the Star Catcher (Oregon  Shakespeare Festival). Select performance credits, Broadway: Memphis the Musical, Cat on a  Hot Tin Roof, How to Succeed, On The Town. Others: The Lion King, The Bubbly Black Girl…,  The Wiz, West Side Story. Tanya is currently in the process of writing an original choreo-play  titled ‘A Play in 3 Movements’ about intergenerational trauma/healing and its links to auto immunity in women. She is a 2023/24 MAP Fund Grantee, 2022 NoMAA artist in residence  and a High-Arts/Critical Breaks Fellow in collaboration with OSF New Works. 

Jovan Dansberry (Associate Choreographer). Broadway: Bob Fosse’s DANCIN’, King  Kong. The Metropolitan Opera: Fire Shut Up In My Bones, Porgy and Bess, La Traviata.  TV/Live Performance: “Saturday Night Live!,” “The Tonight,” The Tony Awards, “Dancing  With The Stars,” Hulu’s “Up Here,” “POSE.” Theatre: Pirates of Penzance (Roundabout  Theatre), I Married An Angel (City Center Encores!), Outer Critics Circle Special  Achievement in Theater. Education: B.A. in Dance; Loyola Marymount University in Los  Angeles, CA. 

JOHN BERENDT (Award-Winning Author) was born and raised in Syracuse, New York. He  attended Harvard, where he majored in English and wrote for the Harvard Lampoon. Upon  graduation he was hired by Esquire magazine--first as an editor, then as a monthly  columnist. Later he became the editor of New York Magazine. It was during a trip to the South  in the mid-1980s that he discovered Savannah--a cloistered, inward-looking garden city that  basked on the Georgia coast, reveling in its own peculiarities and giving not a thought to the  outside world. He was enchanted and began writing about the city and its people in what would  eventually become Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.