Single tickets are now on sale for the new Broadway musical, Paradise Square. The first new musical announced for Broadway since the industry-wide shut down, Paradise Square begins previews February 22, 2022 at Broadway's Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street), where it opens March 20, 2022.
Prior to Broadway, the production will play a five-week limited engagement from November 2-December 5, 2021 at Chicago's
James M. Nederlander Theatre (24 West Randolph Street).
Paradise Square stars
Joaquina Kalukango (Tony Award nominee for Slave Play, Netflix's "One Night in Miami"),
Chilina Kennedy (over 1,200 performances in Beautiful: The
Carole King Musical on Broadway; International tour of The Band's Visit), Tony Award nominee
John Dossett (Broadway's Pippin, Newsies, Gypsy, Ragtime),
Sidney Dupont (Broadway's Beautiful: The
Carole King Musical; National tours of Memphis, A Chorus Line), A.J. Shively (Broadway's La Cage aux Folles, Bright Star),
Matt Bogart (Broadway's Smokey Joe's Café, Jersey Boys),
Nathaniel Stampley (Broadway's The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, The Color Purple),
Gabrielle McClinton (Broadway's Pippin, Chicago),
Jacob Fishel (Broadway's Fiddler on the Roof), and
Kevin Dennis (Canadian productions of Young Frankenstein, Assassins).
The distinguished creative team for Paradise Square features direction by two-time Tony Award nominee Moisés Kaufman (I Am My Own Wife, The Laramie Project), choreography by two-time Tony Award winner
Bill T. Jones (Spring Awakening, Fela!), and a book by
Christina Anderson (Good Goods, Inked Baby),
Marcus Gardley (The House That Will Not Stand),
Craig Lucas (The Light in the Piazza) and
Larry Kirwan (Lead singer of
Black 47).
Paradise Square is produced by
Garth H. Drabinsky (Kiss of the Spider Woman (Tony Award, Best Musical), Show Boat (Tony Award, Best Revival of a Musical), Ragtime, Fosse (Tony Award, Best Musical), Parade). Mr. Drabinsky's longtime colleague, documentary filmmaker
Peter LeDonne (the Academy Award-nominated Curtain Call and Sister Rose's Passion) is co-producing.
The production also features Colin Barkell,
Karen Burthwright,
Kennedy Caughell,
Dwayne Clark,
Garrett Coleman,
Eric Craig,
Colin Cunliffe,
Chloe Davis,
Josh Davis,
Bernard Dotson,
Jamal Christopher Douglas,
Camille Eanga-Selenge,
Sam Edgerly,
Shiloh Goodin,
Jacobi Hall,
Sean Jenness,
Joshua Keith,
Jay McKenzie,
Ben Michael,
Jason Oremus,
Kayla Pecchioni,
Eilis Quinn,
Erica Spyres,
Lael Van Keuren,
Alan Wiggins,
Kristen Beth Williams and
Hailee Kaleem Wright.
The multi-award-winning creative team features scenic design by
Allen Moyer, costume design by
Toni-Leslie James, lighting design by
Donald Holder, and sound design by
Jon Weston. Dramaturgy is by
Thulani Davis and Sydné Mahone. Projection design is by
Wendall K. Harrington. Special effects are by
Gregory Meeh. Hair and wig design is by
Matthew B. Armentrout. Associate choreographer is
Gelan Lambert. Irish and Hammerstep choreography is by
Garrett Coleman and
Jason Oremus.
Anne Allan is Associate Producer and Senior Resident Director. Zachary Florence is Associate Producer.
Jeff Chrzczon is General Manager. Casting is by Stewart/Whitley, CSA.
ABOUT THE MUSICAL
New York City. 1863. The Civil War raged on. An extraordinary thing occurred amid the dangerous streets and crumbling tenement houses of the Five Points, the notorious 19th-century Lower Manhattan slum. For many years, Irish immigrants escaping the devastation of the Great Famine settled alongside free-born Black Americans and those who escaped slavery, arriving by means of the Underground Railroad. The Irish, relegated at that time to the lowest rung of America's social status, received a sympathetic welcome from their Black neighbors (who enjoyed only slightly better treatment in the burgeoning industrial-era city). The two communities co-existed, intermarried, raised families, and shared their cultures in this unlikeliest of neighborhoods.
The amalgamation between the communities took its most exuberant form with raucous dance contests on the floors of the neighborhood bars and dance halls. It is here in the Five Points where tap dancing was born, as Irish step dancing joyously competed with Black American Juba.
But this racial equilibrium would come to a sharp and brutal end when President Lincoln's need to institute the first Federal Draft to support the Union Army would incite the deadly NY Draft Riots of July 1863.
Within this galvanizing story of racial harmony undone by a country at war with itself, we meet the denizens of a local saloon called
Paradise Square: Nelly Freeman (
Joaquina Kalukango), the indomitable Black woman who owns it; Annie O'Brien (
Chilina Kennedy), her Irish-Catholic sister-in-law and her Black minister husband, Rev. Samuel Jacob Lewis (
Nathaniel Stampley); Willie O'Brien (
Matt Bogart), Nelly's Irish husband, who is off fighting for the Union army; Owen Duignan (A.J. Shively), a conflicted newly arrived Irish immigrant; Washington Henry (
Sidney Dupont), a fearless freedom seeker; Frederic Tiggens (
John Dossett), an anti-abolitionist political boss, and Milton Moore (
Jacob Fishel), a penniless songwriter trying to capture it all. They have conflicting notions of what it means to be an American while living through one of the most tumultuous eras in our country's history.
The world premiere of Paradise Square was produced in January 2019 by Berkeley Repertory Theatre (Artistic Director,
Tony Taccone; Managing Director,
Susan Medak). The musical was originally conceived by Mr. Kirwan.
With visceral and nuanced staging and choreography that captures the pulsating energy when Black and Irish cultures meet, Paradise Square depicts an overlooked true-life moment when hope and possibility shone bright.
TICKET INFORMATION:
Individual tickets for Paradise Square are available at Telecharge.com. Tickets for groups of 10 or more are available by calling Broadway Inbound Group Sales at (866) 302-0995 or emailing info@broadwayinbound.com.
For more information, visit
https://paradisesquaremusical.com.
For the latest health and safety procedures and guidelines, visit
https://shubert.nyc/about-us/covid-19-terms-conditions.
