WHAT’S HAPPENING BROADWAY FANS?! Can you believe the 72nd Annual Tony Awards is just 16 days away. We’ve been having so much fun with our TOP 40 TONY AWARDS COUNTDOWN so much, we are always excited the minute we wake up to pick that lucky show of the day. Are you ready for more?
At # 16 on our countdown is one of the most legendary rock n’ roll, rhythm and blues musical revues ever produced on the Great White Way, it became well renowned as the longest jukebox musicals them all. We of course are walking about that one hot spot…. Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller. The revue featured songs written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
From the 1995 telecast. Ken Ard, Adrian Bailey, Frederick B. Owens, and Victor Trent Cook (from the original cast) performing the Lieber and Stoller classic which they collaborated with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil… the ultimate doo wop anthem about our street…. ON BROADWAY. This performance was actually the opening performance of that year’s ceremony. You see the quartet boys starting their way outside the Virginia Theatre (now the August Wilson Theatre) before hitting the streets of Broadway all the way to the Minskoff Theatre (where that year’s ceremony was held).
Originally directed by Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Joey McKneely, the show originally premiered in 1994 at the Doolittle Theatre in Los Angeles, California before making its way to Broadway’s Virginia Theatre (now the August Wilson Theatre) in 1995. The original cast included…
Ken Ard,
Adrian Bailey,
Brenda Braxton,
Victor Trent Cook,
Bj Crosby,
Pattie Darcy Jones,
DeLee Lively-Torti,
Frederick B. Owens,
and Michael Park.
During the Broadway run, notable recordings artists appear joined the company including…
Ben E. King,
Pam Tillis Official Music Page,
Gladys knight,
Tony Orlando,
Lou Rawls,
Gloria Gaynorr.
and Rick Springfield
The original Broadway run of SMOKEY JOE’S CAFE lasted for 2,036 performances becoming the Longest Running Revue Musical in Broadway History.
It was nominated 7 Tony Awards in 1995 including Best Musical but lost all of the categories. However, the show’s original cast album went on to win a Grammy Award in 1996 for Best Musical Show Album (now renamed Best Musical Theatre Album).
Along with Broadway, the show went on to become a worldwide hit including London's West End.
SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE s set to return to the New York stage this summer with an all new Off Broadway revival. Under the direction and staging by Joshua Bergasse, the production is currently on an out of town tryout at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine now through June 9th, 2018. It will officially arrive off Broadway at Stage 42. Previews begin July 6th, 2018 and Opening Night set for July 22nd, 2018
Jelani Remy,
Alysha Umphress,
Kyle Taylor Parker,
Dwayne Cooper,
Emma Degerstedt,
John Edwards,
Dionne Dadrinelle Figgins,
Nicole Vanessa Ortiz,
and Maximilian Sangerman.
In addition to its success on the live stage, SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE was captured on film. The original production was filmed on its final performance on Broadway back in 2000 for Broadway Worldwide and is available on DVD.
Doesn't this show make you want to boogie?
#TonyAwards #CountdownToTheTonys #BroadwaysBiggestNight #NYBTTonyAwardsCountdown #NewYorkBroadwayTours #Top40Countdown #ThisIsBroadway
www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/arts/music/pop-rock-and-jazz-in-nyc-this-week.html
Grand Ole Opry Opry City Stage
13 Pop, Rock and Jazz Concerts to Check Out in N.Y.C. This Weekend
nytimes.com
Our guide to pop and rock shows and the best of live jazz happening this weekend and in the week ahead.Tickets are still available for our Grits & Glamour show in Huntington, New York on 6/2 at The Paramount.
pamtillis.com/event/grits-and-glamour-29/
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