The Apollo Theater will bring the New York premiere of TWISTED MELODIES, an intimate one-man production inspired by the life, artistry, and struggles of 1970s soul singer and composer Donny Hathaway, to its iconic stage, 45 years after Hathaway himself last performed on it. From his hits with Roberta Flack, his solo songs, and his work as both an arranger and studio musician for artists such as Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, and the Staples Singers, to his diagnosis of schizophrenia, Hathaway's personal struggles both inspired and hampered his music.
Directed by Derrick Sanders and written and performed by Kelvin Roston Jr., this limited engagement at the Apollo Theater opens on Thursday, May 30 and runs through Sunday, June 2. The performance is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. with 3:00 p.m. performances on Saturday and Sunday.
"The Apollo prides itself in honoring our artist's legacies, and Donny Hathaway's personal and artistic journey is a vital one to tell," said Apollo Theater Executive Producer
Kamilah Forbes. "Not only did he make brilliant contributions to the musical cannon, we can still learn today from his struggle with mental illness, an issue that is too often kept hidden. It is an honor to partner with Baltimore Center Stage, Congo Square Theatre Company, and Mosaic Theater Company to tell this powerful story and engage with audience members across the nation."
Tickets for Twisted Melodies start at $55 and are available now at the Apollo Theater Box Office: (212) 531-5305, 253 West 125th Street, and Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000 or
www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets for the Live Wire event "Everything is Everything, the Music of Donny Hathaway" on Monday, May 13 at 6:30 p.m. are free and can be reserved at the Apollo Theater Box Office: (212) 531-5305, 253 West 125th Street.
The legendary Apollo Theater-the soul of American culture-plays a vital role in cultivating emerging artists and launching legends. Since its founding, the Apollo has served as a center of innovation and a creative catalyst for Harlem, the city of New York, and the world. With music at its core, the Apollo's programming extends to dance, theater, spoken word, and more. This includes special programs such as the blockbuster concert
Bruno Mars Live at the Apollo, the world premiere theatrical reading of Ta-Nehisi Coates's National Book Award-winning Between the World and Me, 100: The Apollo Celebrates Ella, the annual Africa Now! Festival, and the recent New York premiere of the opera We Shall Not Be Moved. The Apollo is a performing arts presenting organization that also produces festivals and large-scale dance and music works organized around a set of core initiatives that celebrate and extend the Apollo's legacy through a contemporary lens; global festivals including the Women of the World (WOW) Festival and Breakin' Convention ; international and U.S.-based artist presentations focused on a specific theme; and Special Projects, multidisciplinary collaborations with partner organizations. Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, the Apollo Theater has served as a testing ground for new artists working across a variety of art forms and has ushered in the emergence of many new musical genres-including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Among the countless legendary performers who launched their careers at the Apollo are
Michael Jackson,
Ella Fitzgerald,
Stevie Wonder,
Billie Holiday,
James Brown, D'Angelo,
Lauryn Hill, Dave Chappelle, Machine Gun Kelly,
Miri Ben Ari,
Sarah Vaughan,
Gladys Knight, and
Luther Vandross; and the Apollo's forward-looking artistic vision continues to build on this legacy. For more information visit
https://www.apollotheater.org/
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