The new musical drama Soon of a Mornin' will have its world premiere at the New York Musical Theatre Festival beginning September 13th and will run through through September 24th; the show will playTheatre Row's Lion Theatre (410 West 42nd Street).
The show which "follows an African-American family of tenant farmers beginning in 1934 as they struggle to re-build their lives," according to production notes. In the musical, the overworked Reverend Mooney looks after Gee's Bend, Alabama, a town haunted by the ghosts of slavery yet whose struggles are documented in a number of beautiful quilts. Co-starring in
Soon of a Mornin' are Milton Craig Nealy (
Once on This Island, Caroline, or Change) as Isom, Richard E. Waits (
A Tale of Two Cities, Swing) as Reverend Mooney, Carole Denise Jones (
Chicago, Forum) as Sarah Mae, Megan Magill (
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown) as Annie, Fred Rose (
Phantom, Cabaret) as Freidberg, Jason Veasey as Frank and Bianca Jazzmine Otley as Patsy.
The musical features book, lyrics and music by Andrea Frierson-Toney. Produced by
Robert Carreon and inspired by the Gee's Bend quilters and Library of Congress 1941 Field recordings of their Alabama community, the show was originally commissioned by Musical Theatre Works in 2004 and won the 2004 Library of Congress Parsons Fund Award in Ethnographic Research. n excerpt from
Soon of a Mornin' was performed at the Kennedy Center as part of the 'Page to the Stage Theatre Festival.' The show will be choreographed by
Gerry McIntyre (
Side by Side by Sondheim at the 2005 Berkshire Theatre Festival).
Frierson-Toney (book/music/lyrics) has played leading roles in 9 Broadway shows including
The Lion King, Once on This Island, Bring in 'Da Noise/Funk, Eubie!, A Christmas Carol, Marie Christine and
Juan Darien. The first musical she wrote,
Lady Be Good, featured the music of Ella Fitzgerald and was work shopped at Lincoln Center, winning a 1999 NYS Council on the Arts Development Grant as well as a New Professional Theatre's Writers Festival 2000. She has also written for the Nickelodeon TV series 'Allegra's Window' in which she also starred as 'Miss Melody.'
Soon of a Mornin's performance schedule is Tuesday, Sept. 13th at 8 PM, Saturday, Sept. 17th at 1 PM, Sunday, Sept. 18th at 8 PM, Monday, Sept. 19th at 4:30 PM, Tuesday, Sept. 20th at 1 PM, and Saturday, Sept. 24th at 4:30 PM.
$15 tickets are available via
www.nymf.org or (212) 352-3101 or Toll Free at (866) 811-4111. They will also be available at Virgin Megastore in Times Square for cash/credit card sales. Remaining tickets will be available one hour prior to each performance at the Lion Theatre Box Office.
