Thulani Davis News

Paradise Square began its pre-Broadway engagement yesterday, November 2, at Chicago's James M. Nederlander Theatre (24 West Randolph Street). The production plays five weeks only through December 5, 2021. Check out the cast performing 'Someone to Love'.

Experience the opening number for Paradise Square, A New Musical. Featuring Tony Award nominee Joaquina Kalukango (Slave Play), Chilina Kennedy (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Nathaniel Stampley (The Color Purple), Matt Bogart (Jersey Boys), Kevin Dennis (Assassins) and the ensemble, the show’s exuberant and emotional opening number can be viewed below!

BroadwayWorld has a first listen to 'I'd Be A Soldier' from Paradise Square -which begins previews February 22, 2022 at Broadway's Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street), where it opens March 20, 2022.

Single tickets are now on sale for the new Broadway musical, Paradise Square. The first new musical announced for Broadway since the industry-wide shut down, Paradise Square begins previews February 22, 2022 at Broadway’s Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street), where it opens March 20, 2022.

Seattle Opera continues its commitment to bringing contemporary stories to Seattle audiences with two new operas for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons.

The Metropolitan Opera announced today that Anthony Davis's X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X will have its company premiere on November 3, 2023, making it the second opera by a Black composer in Met history, after Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones. Playwright and director Robert O'Hara, who received a Tony Award nomination for his direction of Slave Play in 2020, creates the new production, which stars baritone Will Liverman in the title role.

Director and Choreographer, Gerry McIntyre says, “At a time when people are feeling the need to do something in our hurting world but don’t know how to start, this production is an incredible reminder that you just need to take the first step. Or write the first note. Nina Simone: Four Women meditates on Nina Simone’s transition from a singer to an activist.'

Set in the fragments of a shattered world, this provocative and powerful musical exploration imagines a conversation between Simone and three African-American women. In the aftermath of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963, Nina Simone rocked the nation with 'Four Women,' her tribute in song to the four young girls murdered. Scholar and artist Thulani Davis called the song 'an instantly accessible analysis of the damning legacy of slavery, that made iconographic the real women we knew and would become.'

HEARTBEAT OPERA will return to the in-person stage for its eighth season this year.  Heartbeat's 2021-22 season kicks off in September with a free outdoor screening of BREATHING FREE, their visual album that connects Beethoven's Fidelio with the work of Black composers and lyricists such as Harry T. Burleigh, Langston Hughes, and Anthony Davis.

South Street Seaport Museum has announced its August schedule, including free tours of the historic tall ship Wavertree and the 1908 lightship Ambrose, free demonstrations by Bowne & Co. letterpress printers, an outdoor exhibition on Pier 16, cruises aboard the 1930 tugboat W.O. Decker, and more.

South Street Seaport Museum has announced Opera In Depth: Exploring What Lies Beneath, a virtual discussion on Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 7:30pm, in advance of On Site Opera's upcoming production of What Lies Beneath specifically designed for the 1885 tall ship Wavertree.

Set in the fragments of a shattered world, this provocative and powerful musical exploration imagines a conversation between Simone and three African-American women. In the aftermath of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963, Nina Simone rocked the nation with “Four Women,” her tribute in song to the four young girls murdered.

On Site Opera, New York's pioneering opera company rooted in site-specific storytelling and the immersive experience, in partnership with the South Street Seaport Museum, brings opera aboard the deck of the historic tall ship Wavertree with What Lies Beneath, August 28-September 2, 2021.

Casting and performance dates have been announced for the Broadway run of Paradise Square, which will open on Broadway on Sunday, March 20, 2022 at the Shubert Organization's Barrymore Theatre.

Broadway In Chicago has announced single tickets for the Pre-Broadway Premiere of Paradise Square will go on sale on Tuesday, June 8. This bold and uncompromising new musical, which examines a remarkable yet virtually unknown moment in American history, will play a strictly limited engagement from November 2 - December 5, 2021.

Tonight's the night!  The 87th Annual Drama League Awards will be streamed today, May 21, 2021 at 7:00PM ET. Who will win? BroadwayWorld is updating the list live!

Broadway In Chicago will host the Pre-Broadway Premiere of Paradise Square. This new musical, which examines a remarkable yet virtually unknown moment in American history, will play a strictly limited engagement from November 2 - December 5, 2021, at Broadway In Chicago's James M. Nederlander Theatre. 

Berkshire Theatre Group has announced Tony Award-winner Harriet Harris (Thoroughly Modern Millie) has joined the cast as Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner David Auburn will direct BTG's production.

We've rounded up some of the top productions on stage this summer! Find something near you to see using our comprehensive guide below!

Due to high demand, Tulsa Opera has announced a second performance of Greenwood Overcomes featuring a program of works by 23 living Black composers performed by eight Black artists to commemorate the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The performances will be Saturday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m. CT and Sunday, May 2 at 2:30 p.m. CT at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.