Walter Russell III, Cedric Lemar & More to Lead SLIPPIN' THROUGH THE CRACKS Developmental Reading

A developmental reading of Slippin' Through the Cracks, the new musical about the legendary bluesman, Bobby Rush, will be presented to an invitation-only industry audience in New York City on Tuesday, March 7th and Wednesday, March 8th.

Nathan Gehan and Jamison Scott of ShowTownProductions, Wendall K. Harrington and Stephen Lloyd Helper are developing Slippin' Through the Cracks the inspiring, yet little-known story of Bobby Rush, told by a cast of 15 actors and 5 musicians who play family members, business associates, fellow artists and others in Rush's exciting and turbulent life. As a thrilling coda to the musical, Mr. Rush joins the company on stage performing a final song in the show.

The cast for the industry presentation of Slippin' Through the Cracks includes Walter Russell III (Broadway's MJ The Musical and the youngest-ever winner of a Grammy® Award) as Young Bobby Rush, Cedric Lemar (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Santa Cruz Shakespeare) as Bobby Rush, Mark Henderson (TV's "Hawthorne" and "Jag") as Emmett Eliss Sr. and Older Bobby Rush. And Bobby Rush as himself!

Playing other roles, including family members, Blues great koko Taylor, Howlin' Wolf, James Brown, Rufus Thomas, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Calvin Carter, B.B. King, Little Walter, JB Lenoir, Mel London, artist manager Scott Campbell, Leonard Chez (of Chess Records) are Melvin Abston (Death of a Salesman [2022], Sister Act), Max Clayton (The Music Man [2022], Moulin Rouge! The Musical), Hosea Griffith (Opera Mississippi, The Magic of Opera), Sheldon Henry (Tina), David Jennings (Tina, Once On This Island [2017]), Jessie Lenat ("Sneaky Peat"), Lizan Mitchell (Ohio State Murders), Kyle Taylor Parker (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Kinky Boots), Akilah Ayanna Sailers (Mrs. Doubtfire), Carla R. Stewart (Tina, The Color Purple [2015]) and NaTasha Yvette Williams (Some Like it Hot, The Color Purple [2015]).

The music and lyrics for Slippin' Through the Cracks are by Bobby Rush. The book is by Mr. Rush and Stephen Lloyd Helper, who conceived the Broadway hit Smokey Joe's Café. Mr. Helper also serves as co-director of the production. The musical is co-directed by Arminda Thomas, with musical direction by Felton Offard. Stage directions are being read by Asha Etchison. Casting is The Telsey Office.

Two-time Grammy-winner, Blues Hall of Famer, six-time Grammy nominee and 14-time Blues Music Award winner, Bobby Rush has been making recordings for nearly 70 years with more than 400 recordings and 27 studio albums to his name.

Developmental readings and workshops have been held at New Stage Theatre, Jackson, MS.

Multi-Grammy and Blues Awards winner Bobby Rush is a living legend with an exciting, entertaining, deeply relevant story to tell. Slippin' Through the Cracks, tells it with the award-winning music and lyrics of Bobby Rush and hilarious and poignant book by Rush and Stephen Lloyd Helper. Nathan Gehan and Jamison Scott of ShowTown Productions and Stephen Lloyd Helper are developing Slippin' Through the Cracks for Broadway.

Slippin' Through the Cracks is the first Broadway musical in history to come authentically straight out of the Mississippi Delta where American music was born. It was begun and professionally workshopped in Jackson, Mississippi to ensure its authenticity. Our formidable true Blues culture and music has been grievously overlooked since the beginning of Broadway. Now, through Rush, Helper and an incredible artistic team, this terrible oversight can at last be rectified. This new book musical brings the power, elation, hardship and beauty of the real Blues to theatrical life in this American story.

At age 87, Bobby Rush is one of the last of the original African American Bluesmen of the Southern and Chicago Blues Scene. He grew up a sharecropper picking and chopping cotton, riding a mule and harvesting sugar cane. He has brought the Blues from the dilapidated juke joint shacks to millions across the world including to 40,000 Chinese at the Great Wall of China.

This story is not the constantly told tale of the perils of fame and tragic downfall from celebrity that few of us experience. This story belongs to all of us as digging deep to find the strength to succeed at doing what we love against barriers, challenges, and demands for the pound of flesh. And in a true coup de theatre, the great Bobby Rush himself makes a roof-raising appearance, singing and dancing in the fantastic finale, Funky Old Man. A stirring symbol of determination and resilience, of optimism and hope, that all of us need right now.

While writing some of the greatest of stripped back Delta Blues songs of all time, he also reinvents the form into funky, heart-pounding, danceable Blues that lift you out of your seat. From emotional dark bass notes of love gone wrong and life's hardships to riotous, neo-vaudevillian comedy of human foibles, the music of Bobby Rush has it all. It brings the heart, energy and the contagious thrill to make Slippin' Through the Cracks a freight train bound for success.

For Bobby Rush, his Grammy wins and nominations, 14 Blues music awards and keys to countless cities are recognition of his storytelling gifts, music making and the deep connection his songs have with all that hear them. They thrive now in a great score married to a great story for the theater.

Slippin' Through the Cracks encapsulates the message Bobby Rush has for us today: "If a dirt-poor country boy, with no education, no opportunities, faced with great troubles, can make it through life doing what he loves, so can you."