New Musical WILD ABOUT YOU Sets Fall Developmental Workshop; Lili-Anne Brown to Direct

Keaka Productions, LLC (Brian Spector), producer of the new musical Wild About You by Chilina Kennedy and Eric Holmes, has announced the engagement of award-winning director Lili-Anne Brown and a two-week developmental workshop and industry presentations in late September/early October.

After a successful 29-hour reading in March 2023, a star-studded world premiere recording featuring Alex Newell, Jessie Mueller, Joaquina Kalukango, Lea Salonga and others released in November 2023, Wild About You played a sold-out, two-night concert series at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London in March 2024 starring Rachel Tucker (Wicked, Come From Away), Eric McCormack (The Cottage, Will and Grace), Todrick Hall (Chicago, Kinky Boots) and others.

Lili-Anne Brown, a Chicago South Side native, works as a director, actor and educator, and has performed in, directed and produced many award-winning shows in Chicago and nationally.   Recent directing credits include:  The Hot Wing King (Writer's Theatre); Waitress, Rent and The Color Purple (The Muny), The Nacirema Society…, School Girls, or The African Mean Girls Play and the world premieres of Ike Holter's I Hate It Here and Lottery Day (Goodman Theatre); Dreamgirls (McCarter Theater and Goodspeed Musicals), FELA! (Olney Theater), Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Huntington Theatre), Ain't No Mo' (Woolly Mammoth and Baltimore CenterStage), Once on This Island (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Acoustic Rooster...(Kennedy Center and National Tour), Put Your House in Order (La Jolla Playhouse), Cullud Wattah (Victory Gardens). She is the former Artistic Director of Bailiwick Chicago, where she focused programming on Chicago-premiere musicals and new play development with resident playwrights.  She has received 2 Helen Hayes Awards, 5 Jeff Awards, 2 BTA awards and one African American Arts Alliance Award for excellence in directing. She is a 2021 recipient of the 3Arts Award for Theatre, the 2023 Zelda Fichandler Award Finalist, and is currently part of the inaugural cohort of the Walder Foundation's Platform Award.  She is a member of SDC, AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and a graduate of Northwestern University.

ABOUT THE SHOW

Olivia finds herself at a life-or-death crossroads. As she faces the fallout of her relentless need to please, the true extent of the chaos she has woven becomes painfully clear. In a race against time, she sifts through the poignant memories of her three great loves, seeking the key to untangling her past. With every revelation, she edges closer to a second chance, driven by the desperate hope of reuniting with the love of her life – her son.

Wild About You features music and lyrics by Chilina Kennedy (The Great Gatsby, Paradise Square, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), book by Eric Holmes (The Good Fight), and music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations by Daniel Edmonds (The Great Gatsby, Shucked).

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