Photos and Video: Sneak Peek - Garth Drabinsky's Broadway-Bound SOUSATZKA Hits the Rehearsal Studio in Toronto

Keith Tomasek, a blogger from Ontario, Canada, was recently invited to an open rehearsal for Garth Drabinsky's Broadway-bound SOUSATZKA, where he captured some great backstage moments and previews from the event. Below, watch three clips from the rehearsal, plus check out behind-the-scenes photos!

"Journalists weren't attending the open rehearsal to review performances," Tomasek wrote in his blog, "however I can say that all the performances were top notch."

Based on the original novel Madame SOUSATZKA written by Bernice Rubens, SOUSATZKA is set in London, England in 1982 and tells the story of a musical prodigy torn between two powerful women from vastly different worlds: his mother, a political refugee from South Africa and his piano teacher, a brilliant eccentric with a shattered past. These two proud, iconoclastic women must ultimately cross cultural and racial divides to find common ground, or else jeopardize the young musician's destiny.

Speaking about the play's politics -- mentioning England under Margaret Thatcher and the right wing's "hatred and antipathy towards Nelson Mandela" -- Drabinsky commented during the rehearsal, "I was able to place the musical in the context of the political upheaval of certain periods of the 20th century... the miracle is that the South African people never gave up hope, never stopped fighting for justice."

SOUSATZKA stars Tony Award-winner Victoria Clark (The Light In The Piazza), Tony Award-nominee Montego Glover (Memphis), two-time Tony Award-winner Judy Kaye (Phantom of the Opera, Nice Work if You Can Get it), and features the Broadway debut of Jordan Barrow (The Tempest / Shakespeare in the Park).

SOUSATZKA, a Garth Drabinsky production presented by Teatro Proscenium Limited Partnership (Richard Stursberg, CEO) and written by three-time Tony Award-nominated book writer Craig Lucas (An American in Paris, The Light In The Piazza, Prelude to a Kiss) and the legendary team of Tony Award-winning Lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr. (Closer Than Ever, Baby, Big, Fosse) and Academy Award-winning Composer David Shire (Closer Than Ever, Baby, Big, the film Norma Rae), will begin previews on February 25.

Choreographed by ten-time Tony Award-nominee Graciela Daniele (Ragtime, The Visit) and directed by Adrian Noble (former Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Secret Garden, Macbeth /Metropolitan Opera), SOUSATZKA will officially open on Thursday, March 23, 2017 at Toronto's historic Elgin Theatre (189 Yonge Street). SOUSATZKA's pre-Broadway strictly limited engagement is scheduled to run through April 9, 2017. Planning is underway for an October 2017 Broadway premiere.

Below, watch three clips from the rehearsal, plus check out behind-the-scenes photos!

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Sara Jean Ford and Jordan Barrow in rehearsal for SOUSATZKA

In rehearsal with SOUSATZKA

In rehearsal with SOUSATZKA

Richard Maltby Jr., David Shire, Garth Drabinsky and Adrian Noble

The band: Jihwan Kim, Piano: Talu Green, South African Drums: Jimmy Mngwandi, Bass; Andy Colloy, Synthesizer; Jamie Drake, Drums.

Costume renderings by HAMILTON designer Paul Tazewell

Costume renderings by HAMILTON designer Paul Tazewell

Costume renderings by HAMILTON designer Paul Tazewell