New Stage Theatre Announces the Cast for SWEET POTATO QUEENS

New Stage Theatre presents the new musical Sweet Potato Queens March 13 - 24, 2019. Curtain times and dates for performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Sundays. Ticket prices are $35.00 with discounts available for students, senior citizens, and groups. Tickets can be purchased at the box office, located inside the Jane Reid Petty Theatre Center, charged by phone by calling the theatre at (601) 948-3531 or ordered online at www.newstagetheatre.com. Sponsored by Sid Davis, Chairman of the Board Peoples Bank Mendenhall.

Sweet Potato Queens is a high-powered musical that tells the story of Jill and her closest friends and how they learn to grab life by the sequins, feathers and tiaras to live their lives on their own terms...as big as a parade! Based on the wildly-successful books by Jill Conner Browne, this brilliant new show features a writing dream team of pop music and Broadway song icons Melissa Manchester, Rupert Holmes and Sharon Vaughn. Recommended for ages 18+

Starring as Her Royal Highness Jill Conner Browne is Broadway star and Drama Desk Award Nominee Janine LaManna. Janine LaManna's career as a performer has spanned over 25 years in theatre, film and television, and concert halls around the world. Her Broadway credits include Janet Van De Graaff in the Tony award winning hit, The Drowsy Chaperone, Nicki in the revival of Sweet Charity starring Christina Applegate, Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical (earning her a Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical), Lois Lane in Kiss Me Kate, The Look of Love, Swing!, and Evelyn Nesbit in Ragtime. She also played Velma Kelly in the First National Tour of Chicago, and was Chita Rivera's stand-by in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Janine is the first actor to play the infamous Carmen Sandiego on the PBS series, Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? Other credits include, Devious Maids, Two Weeks Notice, and Candide with the New York Philharmonic for PBS' Great Performances. Numerous off-Broadway and regional theatre credits include Enter Laughing and High Spirits at the York Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Eugene O'Neil Theater, Goodspeed Opera House and an IRNE nomination for her role as Amneris in Aida at North Shore Theater. She can be heard on the original cast recordings of Sweet Charity, Seussical, Enter Laughing, Kris Kringle - the Musical, and The Music of The Sherman Brothers. In 2007, after being featured on CNN's American Morning for her roles as a Broadway star and military wife, she was invited to sing at the White House for National Military Spouse Appreciation Day. Janine was honored in 2006 with the Wagner College Fellows Award.

Sweet Potato Queens is directed by Brookhaven native Randy Redd whose Broadway and Off Broadway credits include Parade directed by Harold Prince, Ring Of Fire, Million Dollar Quartet, Smoke On The Mountain, Andrew Lloyd Webber's By Jeeves, Terrence McNally's Some Men, The Burnt Part Boys, Randy Newman's Faust, Pump Boys & Dinettes (City Center Encores), Alain Boublil's Manhattan Parisienne, Allegro directed by John Doyle, and, most recently, The View Upstairs. "I couldn't be more excited to return to New Stage and to bring the iconic Sweet Potato Queens home to Jackson!," said Redd. "We've put together a dynamite cast and creative team that will definitely "make your heart sing!"

Francine Reynolds, Artistic Director of New Stage Theatre writes, "We are thrilled with the company that has been assembled for the New Stage Theatre production of Sweet Potato Queens. Many will be making their debut at New Stage, including Broadway star and Drama Desk Award Nominee Janine LaManna, and I can't wait for our audiences to see their talent displayed in the show. With Randy Redd at the helm as director, the show is guaranteed to be a hit."

The cast includes: Courtney Holifield as Flower Tammy/Sweet Potato Queen (Canton), Taylor Newby as Floozie Tammy/Sweet Potato Queen (Brooklyn, NY), Mandy Kate Myers as Too Much Tammy/Sweet Potato Queen (Pearl), Drew Stark as George/Sweet Potato Queen (Jackson), Ben Kahre as Tyler (Brooklyn, NY), Jolyne Shirley as Mama (Jackson), and Turner Crumbley as Daddy (New Orleans, LA). Janine LaManna, Ben Kahre, and Turner Crumbley appear through the courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.

Sweet Potato Queens performances are March 13 - 24, 2019. Ticket prices are $35.00 with discounts available for students, senior citizens and groups. Tickets can be purchased at the box office, charged by phone by calling the theatre at (601) 948-3531 or ordered online at www.newstagetheatre.com. The theatre is located in the Jane Reid Petty Theatre Center at 1100 Carlisle Street in the Belhaven neighborhood.

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