Jordan Donica & More Join TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA at Red Bull Theater

RED BULL THEATER has revealed final additions to the cast of the one-night-only, all-star benefit performance of the award-winning musical Two Gentlemen of Verona. 

Jordan Donica (Camelot - Tony Award nomination, Lincoln Center Theater; Into the Woods - City Center Encores!, My Fair Lady - Lincoln Center Theater, Raoul in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, Hamilton National Tour, Rent - Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts) will play Valentine, opposite Jin Ha (Broadway: Hamilton, M. Butterfly; Here We Are - world premiere at The Shed; Road Show - City Center Encores!; A Little Night Music in Concert at Geffen Hall) as Proteus, the titular Two Gentlemen of Verona!

Also joining the cast will be Delphi Borich (Broadway: Camelot- Lincoln Center Theater, Into the Woods; Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella National Tour); Ben Jones (Red Bull Theater's Return to Forbidden Planet), Nasia Thomas (Broadway: Six, Caroline, or Change, Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Time of the Temptations, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical; Jelly's Last Jam - City Center Encores!); Mikayla Renfrow (Broadway: Disney's Aladdin, Wicked); and DeMarius Copes (Broadway: currently in Elf; Some Like It Hot, Mean Girls; Hamilton National Tour);  they will comprise the Chorus and complete the cast.

They join the previously announced Chuck Cooper, André De Shields, Coby Getzug, Taylor Iman Jones, Kelvin Moon Loh, John-Michael Lyles, Alisa Melendez, Sam Simahk, and Alysha Umphress.

This one-night-only performance will take place Monday December 16th (7:30 PM) at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space. This groundbreaking rock musical has a book by John Guare (The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation) and Mel Shapiro, lyrics by Mr. Guare, and music by Galt MacDermot (Hair).  Zi Alikhan directs.

 This concert event is a celebratory fundraiser for Red Bull Theater, the not-for-profit classical theater, supporting Off-Broadway productions, the award-winning Revelation Reading series, and education and accessibility programs including Shakespeare in Schools. Proceeds help to make all of its programs possible. Join special guests F. Murray Abraham, Michael Cerveris, Manoel Felciano,  John Guare, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Ann Harada, Richard Maltby Jr., Roberta Maxwell, Kathryn Meisle, Mary Testa, Sarin Monae West, Nick Westrate, and more for a fun-filled celebration! Tickets for this benefit event are now on sale, from $77 (service fees apply).  

Two Gentlemen of Verona will have choreography by Karla Puno Garcia. The design team will include Lux Haac (costumes), Paul Hudson (lighting), Peter Brucker (sound), Nicholas Hussong (projections), and Lauren Russell (props). Greg Pliska will serve as Music Director.

Based on William Shakespeare’s comedy of the same name, Two Gentlemen of Verona tells the story of lifelong friends Proteus and Valentine, who leave their rural hometown to experience life in urban Milan. Valentine falls in love with Sylvia, whose father has betrothed her against her will to the wealthy but undesirable Thurio, and plots to win her hand. Disregarding his loyalty to Valentine and his hometown sweetheart, Julia, Proteus also sets his sights on Sylvia. He plans to expose his friend's intentions to her father, have Valentine banished from Milan, and claim her for himself.

The original Broadway production won the 1972 Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical, beating out Follies, Grease, and Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death. It was nominated for eight Tony Awards, including Best Original Score. It also won seven Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Book, Lyrics and Music. "What I really love about Two Gentlemen is its simplicity. Beneath all the multicolored gimmicks and extravagances, there are real people living and loving, and this I find very moving,” wrote Clive Barnes in The New York Times.

"In 1971, in a spirit of love and jubilation, Mel Shapiro, Galt MacDermot and I wrote a musical version of Two Gentlemen of Verona to be performed in Central Park and on the gritty streets of New York.  It moved indoors to the glitter of Broadway where it won the Tony for Best Musical.  It’s as much a love letter to Shakespeare as it is to New York,” said Mr. Guare.

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