Wayne Brady Among Starry Cast for Broadway-Bound SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE Developmental Lab

Last year, it was announced that a Broadway revival of SMOKEY JOE'S CAFÉ was on the way for summer 2016, with direction by Jerry Zaks and choreography by Warren Carlyle.

Those plans never panned out, but Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel and Tom Viertel confirmed today that there will be invited presentations of selections from the musical this September, in anticipation of a Broadway production to be announced.

The cast of the fall developmental reading includes Wayne Brady, Dwayne Cooper, J. Daughtry, Chester Gregory, Aisha Jackson, Nicole Vanessa Ortiz, Emily Padgett, Ben Thompson and Alysha Umphress.

Musical direction by Sonny Paladino, choreography is by Joshua Bergasse, and direction is by John Rando.

The show, which holds the record as Broadway's longest running revue (2,036 performances), celebrates the pop hits written by the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller during the 1950s and 60s, including "Kansas City," "On Broadway," "Poison Ivy," "Yakety Yak," "Charlie Brown," "Hound Dog," 'I'm A Woman," " Love Potion #9," "Jailhouse Rock" and "Spanish Harlem."

SMOKEY JOE'S CAFÉ was nominated for seven 1995 Tony Awards.

Photo Credit: Monica Simoes