STAGE TUBE: Go Behind the Scenes with JELLY'S LAST JAM at Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre's JELLY'S LAST JAM, directed by Signature Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's La Cage Aux Folles, West Side Story) and choreographed by Jared Grimes (Broadway's After Midnight), runs now through September 11 in Signature Theatre's intimate MAX Theatre. The musical about famed and notorious jazz entertainer Jelly Roll Morton by George C. Wolfe, Susan Birkenhead, and Luther Henderson features the music of Jelly Roll Morton.

Below, check out the cast of Jelly's Last Jam in the rehearsal room, plus watch Signature's talented, hardworking tech crew transform the MAX Theatre from a drag club on the French Riviera in La Cage aux Folles to the Jungle Inn, a 1920s jazz club, for Jelly's Last Jam!

JELLY'S LAST JAM tells the story of one of jazz music's pioneers with a jazz, blues, and ragtime score based on Jelly Roll Morton's original music. Journey from the back alleys of New Orleans to the dance halls of Chicago to the stages of New York with "he who drinks from the vine of syncopation" in a sizzling memoir of pride, lust and a past denied.

The production will star acclaimed jazz pianist and vocalist Mark G Meadows (Jazz at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center) as Jelly Roll Morton, as well as Tony Award Winner Cleavant Derricks (Broadway's Dreamgirls) as The Chimney Man and Helen Hayes Award Winner Felicia Boswell (Broadway's Motown the Musical, Memphis) as Anita.

Meadows, Derricks and Boswell are joined in the cast by Iyona Blake(Creative Cauldron's Caroline, or Change) as Gran Mimi, Guy Lockard (The Kennedy Center's Side Show) as Jack the Bear, Nova Y. Payton (Signature's La Cage Aux Folles), Kara-Tameika Watkins (Signature'sDreamgirls), and Eben Logan (Studio Theatre 2ndStage's Carrie) as The Hunnies and Elijah Mayo as Young Jelly.

The ensemble is rounded out by Chris Broughton (Broadway's After Midnight), DeWitt Fleming Jr. (New York City Center's Cotton Club Parade), Olivia Russell (Shakespeare Theatre Company's Kiss Me Kate),DeMoya Watson Brown (Signature's Dreamgirls), VaShawn McIlwain (Signature's Showboat), Joseph Monroe Webb (New York City Center's Cotton Club Parade), Stephen Scott Wormley (Signature'sHairspray).

The creative team includes Musical Direction by Darius Smith; Scenic Design by Dan Conway; Costume Design by Dede M. Ayite; Lighting Design by Grant Wilcoxen; Sound Design by Lane Elms; Wig Design by Leah Loukas; Fight Choreographer Casey Kaleba; Production Stage Manager Kerry Epstein; Assistant Stage Manager Taryn Friend; Production Assistant Cris Ruthenberg Marshall; New York Casting byLaura Stanczyk Casting, CSA.

For more information, visit www.sigtheatre.org.

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