Photos: HIPPEST TRIP- THE SOUL TRAIN MUSICAL Prepares For Its World Premiere!

See first look photos from rehearsals for the world premiere of Hippest Trip – The Soul Train Musical at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater. Performances of Hippest Trip begin on Friday, August 25 at the Toni Rembe Theater. For tickets, visit www.act-sf.org/whats-on/2023-24-season/soul-train/. 

Journey back to 1971 Chicago, when Black entrepreneur and radio DJ Don Cornelius transformed the pop culture landscape by recognizing the lack of Black musical artists on television. Within a year, his local dance show went national and became one of the longest running shows in television history. Elegant, determined, and complicated, Cornelius set trends for nearly 40 years by giving a stage—and a camera—to the artists who created the soundtrack of multiple generations, and to the dancers, many of whom went on to became superstars.

The cast of Hippest Trip includes (in alphabetical order): Terence Archie (Ensemble), Angela Birchett (Delores Cornelius), Unissa Cruse (Swing), Quentin Earl Darrington (Don Cornelius), Kayla Davion (Jody Watley), Sidney Dupont (Tony Cornelius), Jennifer Marie Frazier (Ensemble), McKenzie Frye (Ensemble), Cameron Hah (Cheryl Song / Ensemble), Amber Iman (Pam Brown), Rich James (Tyrone Proctor / Ensemble), Jaquez (Jeffrey Daniel), Justin Jorrell (Ensemble), Jahi Kearse (Ensemble), Alain “Hurrikane” Lauture (Don Campbellock / Ensemble), Alora Tonielle Martinez (Ensemble), Miki Michelle (Ensemble), Mayte Natalio (Rosie Perez / Ensemble), Amanda Le Nguyen (Swing), Aché Richardson (Ensemble), Roukijah “NutellaK” Rooks (Ensemble), SeQuoiia (Ensemble), Charlene “Chi-Chi” Smith (Damita Jo / Ensemble), Aya Travick-Best (Swing), and Maleek Washington (Ensemble).
 
The acclaimed creative team of Hippest Trip includes two-time Tony Award-nominated playwright and MacArthur Genius Dominique Morisseau (Broadway’s Ain’t Too Proud; The Detroit Project; “Shameless”), Kenny Seymour (Music Supervision, Orchestrations & Arrangements), three-time Tony Award nominated and Obie Award winning choreographer Camille A. Brown (A.C.T.’s Toni Stone; Broadway’s for colored girls…), and acclaimed director and NAACP Image Award recipient Kamilah Forbes (Apollo Theater’s Executive Producer, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me on HBO; By The Way, Meet Vera Stark). Rounding out the creative team are Jason Sherwood (Scenic Designer), Dede Ayite (Costume Designer), Jen Schriever  (Lighting Designer), Jonathan Deans (Sound Designer), Aaron Rhyne (Projection Designer), Mia Neal (Wigs Designer), Jimmy Keys (Music Curator), and Sean Kana (Music Director), Zane Mark (Dance Music Arranger), X Casting / Victor Vazquez, CSA (Casting), Adesola Osakalumi (Associate Choreographer and Dance Consultant), Rickey Tripp (Associate Choreographer), Matthew Johnson Harris (Associate Director), Eryn Allen (Associate Music Director), Anixter Rice Music Service (Copyist), Randy Cohen (Keyboard Programmer), Ann James (Intimacy and Cultural Coordinator), Stori Ayers (Writer’s Associate), Kevin Bertolacci (Production Stage Manager), Shannon Hammons and Wesley Apfel (Assistant Stage Managers).

Hippest Trip is produced by special arrangement with Tony Award nominee Matthew Weaver (Rock of Ages), Jeffrey Tick (former owner of Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theater), and Richard Gay (5Pack Entertainment founder, Superfly COO, and former executive at Viacom’s Music Networks & BET Networks). Serving as executive producers are four-time Grammy Award-winning & Academy Award-winning artist and author of Soul Train: The Music, Dance and Style of a Generation Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson; Don Cornelius’s son Tony Cornelius; Emmy Award nominated CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker; Live Nation Urban president Shawn Gee, and Broadway veteran Devin Keudell (MJ, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical).