last jam tour

30 Years of Encores!

Jelly's Last Jam

Feb 21 – Mar 3, 2024

WEEK ONE | Feb 21 – 25, 2024 Wed – Fri 7:30pm Sat 2 & 8pm | Sun 2 & 7pm

WEEK TWO | Feb 27 – Mar 3, 2024 Tue – Fri 7:30pm Sat 2 & 8pm | Sun 2pm

Accessible Program PDF

To download a program accessible for screen readers, click here .

Tickets from $45 (fees included)

Approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes with one intermission

Celebrate Black Theater Legacy Night

Fri Mar 1 at 7:30pm Enjoy special drink discounts , a complimentary photo booth , and jazz music curated by WBGO DJ Sheila Anderson . Stay and continue the conversation! Join George C. Wolfe , Susan Birkenhead , and Daryl Waters in a post-show talkback— Black Theater Legacy: Luther Henderson —moderated by director Robert O’Hara . The bars will stay open for an hour after the talkback to keep the conversation flowing.

Click here to listen to the pre-show playlist

Student Rush

Purchase student rush, same-day tickets for $23 (fees included) with a current, photo student ID. Present your photo student ID at the box office on the day of the performance to buy tickets (maximum of two). The box office opens at noon. Tickets are subject to availability.

Group Sales

Special Pricing for Groups To book a group of 10 or more tickets, visit Broadway Plus , call 646.838.0749 , or email [email protected] .

In the process of blowing the roof off the building they also make your hair stand on end Read More

Christopher is stunning as Morton Read More

This is the kind of theatrical deep cut that Encores! does best... you better not miss it . Read More

Take your seat at the legendary Jungle Inn nightclub for an electrifying musical telling the story of jazz through its self-proclaimed inventor: Jelly Roll Morton . Returning to the New York stage for just two weeks, Jelly’s Last Jam features Nicholas Christopher ( Sweeney Todd ) as Jelly, John Clay III ( Choir Boy ) as Jack the Bear,  Alaman Diadhiou as  Young Jelly ,  Joaquina Kalukango ( Paradise Square ) as Anita, Tiffany Mann ( Be More Chill ) as Miss Mamie, Okierete Onaodowan  ( Hamilton ) as Buddy Bolden,  Billy Porter ( Pose ) as Chimney Man, Leslie Uggams ( American Fiction ) as Gran Mimi, as well as original Broadway cast members Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Stephanie Pope Lofgren , and  Allison M. Williams who reprise their roles as the Hunnies.

Encores! Jelly’s Last Jam is led by visionary director Robert O’Hara ( X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X ) with Tap Choreography by tap icon Dormeshia,  Choreography by Edgar Godineaux , and Guest Music Director Jason Michael Webb ( MJ, Choir Boy ) leading the iconic Encores! Orchestra, who perform onstage in this engagement.

Written by Tony-winner George C. Wolfe ( Rustin, Shuffle Along ), the original 1992 Broadway production secured eight Tony nominations, three wins, and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book. Crafting showstopping numbers and piercing ballads alike from Morton’s own music, lyricist Susan Birkenhead ( BOOP! ) and composer Luther Henderson create a uniquely compelling musical backdrop for a show that brilliantly utilizes two of this country’s most potent forms of storytelling—jazz and musical theater.

Casting and programming subject to change.

Want the best seats in the house?

Secure access to premium house seats when you become a Patron starting at $2,500. Please call 212.763.1257 or email [email protected] for more information.

This production includes explicit racial and sexual language and simulated violence. Not recommended for audiences under age 13.

NYT: Bringing a Jazz Tale to a New Generation

“When people walk out of Jelly’s Last Jam , I hope that they’re not only uplifted by the music , but they’re reminded to take care of each other and to take care of the people that they value in their lives.”

— Guest Music Director Jason Michael Webb

Read the feature

Video & Photos

Jelly's Last Jam | "Last Chance Blues" Videography: Bardo Arts/Alex Pearlman, Production Photography: Joan Marcus

Jelly's Last Jam | "The Whole World’s Waitin’ to Sing Your Song" Videography: Bardo Arts/Alex Pearlman, Production Photography: Joan Marcus

Jelly's Last Jam Highlights Videography: Bardo Arts/Alex Pearlman, Production Photography: Joan Marcus

Jelly Roll Morton (Nicholas Christopher) arrives at the Jungle Inn.

Photo by Joan Marcus

The Hunnies (from left to right): Allison M. Williams, Stephanie Pope Lofgren, Mamie Duncan-Gibbs

Gran Mimi (Leslie Uggams)

Young Jelly (Alaman Diadhiou) and the cast of Jelly's Last Jam  tap out a new sound.

Jelly's Last Jam | "Michigan Water" Videography: Bardo Arts/Alex Pearlman, Production Photography: Joan Marcus

Famous cornet player and musical innovator Buddy Bolden (Okieriete Onaodowan).

Buddy Bolden (Okieriete Onaodowan) & Miss Mamie (Tiffany Mann) bring the house down in "Michigan Water."

Jack the Bear (John Clay III) wants "Something More."

Jelly Roll Morton (Nicholas Christopher) and Anita (Joaquina Kalukango) discover that "Lovin' is a Lowdown Blues."

Jelly Roll Morton (Nicholas Christopher) shows the cast of Jelly's Last Jam  "That's How You Jazz."

Inside Encores! Rehearsal: "Jelly's Jam"

Videography: Bardo Arts/Alex Pearlman

Inside Encores! Rehearsal: "Play the Music for Me"

Jelly Roll Morton (Nicholas Christopher), Chimney Man (Billy Porter) & the Hunnies (left to right: Allison M. Williams, Stephanie Pope Lofgren, Mamie Duncan-Gibbs)

Paul Niebanck (left) and James Patterson (right) tell Jelly Roll Morton (Nicholas Christopher, center) "That's The Way We Do Things in New York."

First Day with The Encores! Orchestra

Jelly Roll Morton (Nicholas Christopher) and the cast of Jelly's Last Jam.

Director Robert O’Hara on Jelly’s Last Jam

“How many people get the chance, 30 years after they've seen the original, to actually work on a revival of it, and to have the ability to communicate with the people who created it?”

— Robert O'Hara

Read the interview

Encores! JELLY'S LAST JAM: Celebrating Black Theater Legacy

Curated by Sheila Anderson, WBGO

In the Press

Critic's Pick : Jelly’s Last Jam Review: A Musical Paradise , Even in Purgatory Read More

The cast is a constellation of stars . Read More

The tap numbers ... are genuine showstoppers . Read More

Nicholas Christopher

Jelly Roll Morton

NICHOLAS CHRISTOPHER (Jelly Roll Morton) Born in Bermuda and raised in Boston, Christopher recently starred in the 2023 Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd as Pirelli. Christopher studied at the Juilliard School and The Boston Conservatory, where he cultivated his unique range as both an actor and a singer. Select theater and TV credits include: Hamilton , Miss Saigon , Lazarus (with David Bowie), Hurt Village (Katori Hall), and RENT ; ALL RISE (CBS), United States Of Al (CBS), and Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll (FX).

John Clay III

Jack the Bear

JOHN CLAY III (Jack the Bear) Broadway: New York, New York ; Choir Boy (MTC, OCC nominee). Off-Broadway: A Raisin in the Sun (The Public Theater), Grand Hotel (Encores!). TV: Raising Kanan , PBS’ Great Performances (Mass). Education: Carnegie Mellon University. Clay made his solo concert debut to a sold-out crowd at Green Room 42 this fall. He thanks his wife for constantly challenging him to be the best man he can be. IG: @johnclayiii

Alaman Diadhiou

Young Jelly

ALAMAN DIADHIOU (Young Jelly) is a singer, dancer, songwriter, and entertainer from Leimert Park in Los Angeles. Trained at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, Diadhiou is a 2019 Presidential Scholar in the Arts (Tap Dance) and a graduate of Yale College ‘23 with a BA in Comparative Literature. Diadhiou aspires to be one of the world’s premier live performers, carrying the tradition of the legendary artists who precede him while striving to innovate with his own voice.

Mamie Duncan-Gibbs

MAMIE DUNCAN-GIBBS (Hunnie) is thrilled to be on the City Center stage once again, having performed in Purlie , Chicago , Pal Joey , and Du Barry Was A Lady . Broadway credits include Jelly’s Last Jam , Chicago , Cats , Joseph…Technicolor Dreamcoat , and Liza Steppin’ Out at Radio City. She is currently a Professor of Movement at Manhattan School of Music and instructs fitness classes with senior citizens at LY Daycare and 5-Star Residences of Yonkers. mamieduncangibbs.com

Joaquina Kalukango

JOAQUINA KALUKANGO (Anita) is thrilled to be back at New York City Center. She received the 2022 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical for her performance in Paradise Square . Other Broadway credits include: Into the Woods , Slave Play (Outer Critics Circle award), The Color Purple Revival , Holler If Ya Hear Me , and Godspell . Off-Broadway: The Wild Party (City Center Encores!), Antony and Cleopatra (The Public), Hurt Village (Signature Theatre). @joaquinakalukango

Tiffany Mann

TIFFANY MANN (Miss Mamie) Hailing from Fort Worth, TX, the multi-hyphenate talent Tiffany Mann is no stranger to the spotlight. She has appeared in numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, such as Jerry Springer: The Opera (Lucille Lortel Award for Best Female Actress), Waitress , and the Original Broadway Cast of Be More Chill . She has also appeared on television shows including Orange Is the New Black , New Amsterdam , and the NBC series RISE . @iamtiffanymann

Okieriete Onaodowan

Buddy Bolden

OKIERIETE ONAODOWAN (Buddy Bolden) Grammy Award-winning stage actor best known for his acclaimed performance originating the role of Hercules Mulligan and James Madison in the Tony Award-winning Hamilton . Additional Broadway: A Doll’s House ; Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 ; Rocky ; Cyrano de Bergerac . Off-Broadway: Hamilton (The Public), Luce (LCT), Neighbors (The Public). Film:  American Fiction , Molli and Max In the Future , Hamilton , A Quiet Place 2 . Television:  Jack Ryan , Station 19 , Grey’s Anatomy , Billions , Girls , Ballers .

Stephanie Pope Lofgren

STEPHANIE POPE LOFGREN (Hunnie, Gran Mimi Understudy) is thrilled to be returning to City Center Encores! with this production of George C. Wolfe’s Jelly’s Last Jam . She originated the role of Hunnie #2 in the original Broadway production in 1992 alongside Allison M. Williams and Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, also in this production. Lofgren was last seen at Encores! in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 playing the role of Josephine Baker, and her multi-hyphenate career includes 11 Broadway shows. stephaniepope.com

Billy Porter

Chimney Man

BILLY PORTER (Chimney Man) is an Emmy, Tony, and Grammy Award-winning actor, singer, director, producer, composer, and playwright. Porter has numerous theater credits, including the role of “Lola” in the Broadway musical Kinky Boots , for which he won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards, as well as the Grammy for best musical theater album. He won his second Tony Award in 2022 for “Best Musical” as a producer on A Strange Loop . New album Black Mona Lisa out now!

Leslie Uggams

LESLIE UGGAMS (Gran Mimi) Broadway includes: Hallelujah, Baby! (Tony Award, Theatre World Award); Anything Goes ; King Headley II (Tony nomination); Thoroughly Modern Millie . Regional/Touring: Stormy Weather: The Lena Horne Story (Ovation nomination); Pipe Dream ; Gypsy ; A Little Night Music ; Hello, Dolly! ; Into the Woods ; Guys and Dolls . Film: Deadpool , American Fiction , and more. Television: Roots (Golden Globe nomination), The Leslie Uggams Show , Fantasy (Emmy Award), Empire , New Amsterdam , The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks . leslieuggams.com

Allison M. Williams

ALLISON M. WILLIAMS (Hunnie) made her Broadway debut in the original Broadway hit, The Wiz as the Tornado Eye, Guys and Dolls , Dancin’ , Pippin , and Dreamgirls , to name a few. She recreated the role of Helene in Sweet Charity on Broadway with Debbie Allen, Ann Reinking, and Bebe Neuwirth and was a featured Hunnie in the Original Broadway production of Jelly’s Last Jam with Gregory Hines. Williams graces the cover of Bob Fosse’s book, Razzle Dazzle .

Raymond Baynard

RAYMOND BAYNARD (Ensemble) is a New Jersey native and thrilled to be making his New York City Center debut. Having graduated with a BFA in dance from SUNY Purchase, his credits include: Broadway: MJ the Musical , Hamilton , Bad Cinderella . Tours: Hamilton , The Lion King . Regional: The Great Gatsby .

Shawn Bowers

SHAWN BOWERS (Ensemble, Buddy Bolden Understudy) Broadway: Ain’t Too Proud . Off-Broadway: The Harder They Come (The Public Theater). Favorite credits include: Ragtime (Coalhouse Walker Jr.), Rent (Benny), Smokey Joe’s Cafe (Fred), After Midnight (Male Quartet). Film: Rio Uphill (musical adaptation). TV: Tony Awards, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade ( Ain’t Too Proud ). Thanks to family and friends for their continuous love and support. @shawnedwardbowers

Amanda Castro

AMANDA CASTRO (Ensemble)  Featured in Dance Magazine ’s “25 to Watch” in 2023, Amanda Castro is a Bessie Award-winning Puerto Rican-American multidisciplinary artist. Recent performances: American Dance Platform (Soles of Duende), Chasing Magic (Ayodele Casel),  Rhythm Is Life by Dormeshia at the Joyce, and Anita in West Side Story at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Latest choreographic commission El Camino at New York City Center (collaboration with Ayodele Casel). Gratitude to her unit and the stories that help elevate our collective humanity. acastrodance.com

Joshua Dawson

JOSHUA DAWSON (Ensemble) is thrilled to be making his City Center debut with the company of Jelly’s Last Jam . His recent credits include Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker and Carnegie Hall: Orchestra Moves . He is a senior in the Commercial Dance program at Pace University and he’s so excited to be continuing his professional career. Special thanks to his Mom and Dad, Mrs. Treshawn, MSA, Calli Company, and BAA IG: @mr.broadway

John Edwards

JOHN EDWARDS (Ensemble, Chimney Man Understudy) Actor/Singer/Dancer/Songwriter. Currently starring in MJ The Musical (Jackie Jackson/tour singer/James Brown soloist). Previously seen in the NYC revival of Smokey Joe’s Cafe (Chita Award winner, Lucille Lortel nominee). Broadway and First National Tour of Jersey Boys (Hal Miller/Barry Belson/others). National/International tour of Hairspray (Seaweed J. Stubbs) and In the Heights at The Kennedy Center (Domingo), and more. @therealjohnedwards

Ari Groover

ARI GROOVER (Ensemble, Anita & Hunnie Understudy) is excited to be a part of Encores! Currently playing Tina Turner in the First National North American tour of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical . Broadway: Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (Alline, Tina U/S), Head Over Heels , Holler If Ya Hear Me . Off-Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors (2020 Lucielle Lortel Nominee for Ronnette), Bare . Choreography: Burn All Night (A.R.T.). Film: In the Heights (Warner Bros.), Spider-Man: Homecoming (Sony). TV: The Get Down (Netflix), Law & Order: SVU . Groover is a DJ who goes by “Ari Grooves”. 

Morgan McGhee

MORGAN MCGHEE (Ensemble) is a native of Baton Rouge, LA and a graduate of AMDA and Clark Atlanta University. She was most recently seen in the world premiere of BOOP! The Musical and the revival of The Who’s Tommy . Broadway: Ain’t Too Proud . Off-Broadway: The Harder They Come , Seven Deadly Sins . TV: Law & Order , Everything’s Trash , Flatbush Misdemeanors , FBI , Bull . @morgan.eli

Jodeci Milhouse

JODECI MILHOUSE (Ensemble) New York: New York City Center: Pal Joey (Pearl/Ensemble), The Tap Dance Kid (Mona/Ensemble), Lincoln Center Clark Theater: Sole Defined’s Zaz: The Big Easy (Lynette). DC Area: Baltimore Center Stage: ArtsCentric: Dreamgirls (Deena Jones). Regional: Signature Theatre: After Midnight (Dancing Doll). Television: Saturday Night Live (dancer in “Workout Class” with Megan Thee Stallion). Sending enormous love and gratitude to all my friends, family, CTG, and the entire Jelly’s Last Jam team for this incredible opportunity. @jodecimillhouse

Ramone Nelson

RAMONE NELSON (Ensemble, Jack the Bear Understudy) is stoked to make his New York City Center debut. On Broadway, he recently appeared in the Original Company of MJ The Musical . Other credits include Flick in Violet , Ren in Footloose , and Nicely-Nicely in Guys and Dolls . He holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Florida State University (GO NOLES!). Many thanks to Hybrid, Telsey Casting, God, and his family and friends for their love and support. 2 Corinthians 5:7     

Paul Niebanck

Melrose Brother/Ensemble

PAUL NIEBANCK (Melrose Brother, Ensemble) New York: Richard III , Barbecue , Plenty (The Public); Blood and Gifts , In the Next Room… (LCT ); A Walk in the Woods , BOY (Keen); The Changeling (Redbull); RX (Primary Stages); American Clock (Signature); A Picture of Autumn (Mint); Much Ado About Nothing (TFANA); The Seagull  (Pearl); Leaving Queens (Women’ Project). TV/Film: West Side Story , Manhattan Romance , Madam Secretary , Good Fight , The Blacklist , Person of Interest , Burn Notice . MFA: Yale.

James Patterson

JAMES PATTERSON (Melrose Brother, Ensemble) Broadway and National Tours: Gigi (Dufresne), Mary Poppins (Park Keeper), The Drowsy Chaperone , Beauty and the Beast (Beast, Gaston, and Lumiere understudy), Cats (Munkustrap), State Fair . Other credits; Sondheim on Sondheim (Lyric Opera of Kansas City), Max Von Mayerling in Sunset Boulevard (MTC), Brother Jeremiah in Something Rotten (FST), Georges in La Cage Aux Folles (Riverside Theatre, the Pioneer Theatre Company), Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha (Stages St. Louis). Ty BJH & CGF. jamespattersontheactor.com

Antonia Raye

ANTONIA RAYE (Ensemble) Excited to make her New York City Center Encores debut! Currently in The Lion King on Broadway. Favorite credits: A Chorus Line (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), West Side Story (Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Teatro Lirico di Cagliari), Cabaret (Goodspeed), and After Midnight (NCL). Training: The University of the Arts/BFA. Thank you to God, Family, Friends, casting, and my agents at CESD. @tonitonitoni93 

Salome Smith

SALOME SMITH (Ensemble) Barrington Stage Company: A New Brain . Roundabout Theatre Company: 1776 (Broadway), Little Shop of Horrors (Off-Broadway), 1776 (National Tour), The World Goes Round (Everyman Theater), The Wiz (TUTS), Five Points (Goodspeed Opera House), 1776 (A.R.T.) Film and television: East New York . BA Theatre (Alabama State University). MFA Musical Theatre (Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music) @offsalomebsmith

Taylor Mackenzie Smith

TAYLOR MACKENZIE SMITH (Ensemble) New York City Center Debut! Credits: Disney’s Aladdin (National Tour), Slave Play (Broadway, Associate Movement Director), The Wiz (TUTS) BA in Drama, Dance, Spelman College. Love and gratitude to my incredible parents, family, friends, and Hudson Artists Agency.

Funmi Sofola

FUNMI SOFOLA (Ensemble), an NYC-based dancer originally from Seattle, WA, is grateful to be making her New York City Center debut! Sofola is a graduate of Pace University, a YoungArts winner, and Jacob’s Pillow alum. She has performed works by artists including Caleb Teicher ( BZZZ , Joyce Theater), Demi Remick (Battery Dance), Lisa LaTouche, Al Blackstone, and LaTasha Barnes (Pace University). She is inspired by music, culinary pursuits, and all that brings her joy. @funmi.sofola    

Jordan Simone Stephens

JORDAN SIMONE STEPHENS (Ensemble) is thrilled to be a part of the Ensemble in Jelly’s Last Jam ! Stephens is a classically trained performer who received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Dance along with a Business Management Minor in 2022. Some of her credits include The Nutty Professor that premiered at Ogunquit Playhouse (Ensemble), Some Like It Hot (Director/Choreographer Apprentice, Radio City Music Hall (Ensemble). Stephens is so excited to be a part of this production!

Renell Anthony Taylor

RENELL ANTHONY TAYLOR (Ensemble, Young Jelly Understudy) a New Orleans native, is thrilled to be making his New York City debut! Taylor was last seen in the pre-Broadway production of A Wonderful World as Banjo Ben and as a member of the ensemble. Favorite Regional: Anything Goes (PCLO), White Christmas (Bucks County Playhouse), and performances with The Lex, Forestburgh, and National World War II Museum. Shout-out to my family, friends, mentors, and team at HCKR. Elon MT 2023! @renellt21

Nasia Thomas

NASIA THOMAS (Ensemble, Miss Mamie Understudy) Broadway: SIX (Cleves); Caroline, or Change revival (Radio One); Ain’t Too Proud ; Beautiful (Little Eva). Digital Theater: Out of The Box Theatrics’s streamed production of The Last Five Years (Cathy). Regional: Beauty and the Beast (TUTS), Smokey Joe’s Cafe , (MUNY), The Color Purple (MUNY), Hairspray (MUNY). TV: The 4400 (Kenya), That Damn Michael Che (Kim). BFA MT Elon ‘15, GSA MT ‘11. Gratitude to her loved ones, DGRW, and ancestors for their sacrifices, support, and love. ASÈ. @nasiathomas

Sir Brock Warren

SIR BROCK WARREN (Ensemble) is grateful to be performing again for Encores! in Jelly’s Last Jam . He was recently here in Oliver! Select credits: Paradise Square on Broadway, Ain’t Too Proud on Broadway, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical First National Tour, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical First National Tour, The Harder They Come at The Public Theater, Radio City Christmas Spectacular , Dundu Dole Urban African Ballet, and In The Heights (Warner Bros). Education: MBA, MS, BFA Agent: CTG @only1sirbrock

Chanse Williams

CHANSE WILLIAMS (Ensemble) is thrilled to be making her City Center debut! A Connecticut native, she is based in NYC, a current Pace University BFA Commercial Dance student, and a Jacob’s Pillow alum. Williams wants to thank her wonderful friends and family, the entire team at BLOC, the Jelly’s Last Jam team, and most importantly God for this incredible experience. @chanse.williamss

Topher J. Babb

TOPHER J. BABB (Swing) is overjoyed and immensely thankful to be making their NYCC Encores debut! Credits include: Kinky Boots (Off-Broadway), Pretty Woman (First National Tour), On Your Feet! , Hairspray , Holiday Inn , Ragtime , South Pacific (Regional), and Disney’s Encore! streaming on Disney+. Many thanks to Dave at Daniel Hoff, and my family, both chosen and blood, for their constant love and support. Dream your life, live your dream. @topherjfabb

Reese Britts

Jelly Roll Morton Standby

REESE BRITTS (Standby for Jelly Roll Morton) is excited to be making his City Center debut! Regional: Tootsie (Ogunquit Playhouse); Jelly’s Last Jam , Twelve Angry Men: A New Musical , Merrily We Roll Along (Theatre Latté Da); Man of La Mancha (Asolo Rep); Mamma Mia! , Beauty and the Beast , Smokey Joe’s Cafe (Ordway). Huge thanks to the JLJ creative team and DGRW. So much love to my family, TLD JamFam, and Ryan. Onward! @reese_britts

Crystal A. Burton

CRYSTAL BURTON (Swing) Dance credits include The Tap Dance Kid , After Midnight , Tale of The Lion King , WNBA’s LA Sparks, BET Awards, and more. She is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine, with a BFA, and a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She gives ALL glory to God for her success, and hopes to continue to inspire others using her gift of dance, hence her favorite self quote, “Love, Inspire, Dream, Dance!” @crysbdancin

Charlotte McKinley

CHARLOTTE MCKINLEY (Swing) grew up in Austin, TX where she began performing at age four. She moved to NYC at 18, two weeks after graduating high school. Credits include Personality: The Lloyd Price Musical , The Met Gala, Knicks City Dancers, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel , VMAs, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver , Disney World, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Sugar Hill Nutcracker , and various live performances and theater workshops throughout the city. Shoutout to her family, friends and Bloc!

Cast & Credits

View/hide cast & credits.

Book by George C. Wolfe Music by Jelly Roll Morton Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead Musical Adaptation and Additional Music Composed by Luther Henderson Arrangements & Orchestrations by  Luther Henderson Additional Orchestrations by  Daryl Waters & William David Brohn  Score Consultant  Daryl Waters Scenic Designer  Clint Ramos   Costume Designer  Dede Ayite   Lighting Designer  Adam Honoré Sound Designer  Megumi Katayama Hair & Wig Designer  J. Jared Janas Production Stage Manager  Karen Moore  Music Coordinator  Kimberlee Wertz Casting by  The Telsey Office   Tap Choreography by  Dormeshia Choreography by  Edgar Godineaux Featuring  The Encores! Orchestra Guest Music Director  Jason Michael Webb Guest Music Director as of 2/28  Darryl Archibald Directed by  Robert O’Hara

Featuring  Nicholas Christopher , John Clay III,   Alaman Diadhiou ,  Mamie Duncan-Gibbs , Joaquina Kalukango , Tiffany Mann , Okieriete Onaodowan , Stephanie Pope Lofgren , Billy Porter , Leslie Uggams , Allison M. Williams

With  Raymond Baynard ,  Shawn Bowers ,  Amanda Castro ,  Joshua Dawson ,  John Edwards ,  Ari Groover ,  Morgan McGhee , Jodeci Milhouse ,  Ramone Nelson , Paul Niebanck,  James Patterson ,  Antonia Raye ,  Salome Smith ,  Taylor Mackenzie Smith ,  Funmi Sofola , Jordan Simone Stephens , Renell Anthony Taylor , Nasia Thomas ,  Sir Brock Warren , Chanse Williams ,  Topher J. Babb , Reese Britts ,  Crystal A. Burton , and  Charlotte McKinley

Encores! Artistic Leadership Lear deBessonet | Artistic Director Mary-Mitchell Campbell | Music Director Clint Ramos | Producing Creative Director Josh Clayton | Director of Music Administration & Score Restoration

VP & Producer of Musical Theater Jenny Gersten

Creative Advisors Camille A. Brown, Eisa Davis, and Robert O'Hara

View/Hide Sponsors

LEADERSHIP SUPPORT FOR ENCORES! Stacey and Eric Mindich Fund for Musical Theater

ENCORES! SEASON SPONSORS The Shubert Foundation Stephanie and Fred Shuman Fund for Encores!

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR ENCORES! IS PROVIDED BY Margo and John Ernst The Kaplen Brothers Fund The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation The Frederick Loewe Foundation Daryl and Steven Roth The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc. The SHS Foundation The Ted Snowdon Foundation Marta Heflin Foundation

Jelly’s Last Jam is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com

Show art by Ben Wiseman

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Show Finder

Encores! Jelly's Last Jam

Opening Date: Feb 21, 2024

Closing Date: Mar 03, 2024

New York City Center - Mainstage

131 West 55th St New York, NY 10019

Performance Schedule:

TUESDAY-FRIDAY @ 7:30 PM SATURDAY @ 2 PM & 8 PM SUNDAY @ 2 PM & 7PM No 7 PM performance Sunday, March 3

Nicholas Christopher Billy Porter Joaquina Kalukango Leslie Uggams Okieriete Onaodowan

Jelly Roll Morton, musical adaptation and additional music composed by Luther Henderson

Susan Birkenhead

George C. Wolfe

Robert O’Hara

Choreography

Edgar Godineaux & tap choreography by Dormeshia

TDF Tickets Offers:

TDF member tickets:

Not currently available for this show

Full-price tickets

$ 45 - $ 165

Lottery & Rush

Student Rush: $20 tickets, available at the box office on the day of the performance with no handling fees. Present your photo student ID at the box office on the day of the performance to buy tickets. Tickets are subject to availability and first-come, first-served.

Related articles

Off-Broadway

By: RAVEN SNOOK

Accessibility:

Directions Bus

M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M7, M10, M20, M31, M57, M104

Directions Subway

N/Q/R/W to 57th Street/7th Avenue (accessible station); F to 57th Street/6th Avenue; D/E to 7th Avenue/53rd Street; A/B/C/D/1 to 59th Street at Columbus Circle (accessible station); C to 50th Street/8th Avenue (accessible station—downtown only); 1 to 50th Street/7th Avenue

Assisted Listening System

Wireless FM assistive listening devices are available free of charge with the presentation of either a driver's license or credit card. Assistive listening devices are available on the table next to the House Manager's lectern on the right side of the Orchestra lobby.

Elevator\Escalator

Wheelchair accessible; located near the House Manager's lectern on the right side of the Orchestra lobby.

1345 Garage: 126 West 55th Street (212.710.8230, 212.977.7636); GMC Parking: 211 West 56th Street (800.836.6666)

Wheelchair Info

New York City Center’s Mainstage, Stage I, Stage II and Studio 5 spaces are all wheelchair accessible. Seats for patrons with disabilities are available online, by phone, and at the box office. Please advise us at the time of ticket purchase of your particular needs. Locations are available on the left and right side of the Orchestra and in row G of the Mezzanine.

The box office is in the lobby. It is wheelchair accessible.

New York City Center's mainstage restrooms are located on all seating levels. Restrooms for persons in wheelchairs are located on the left side of the lobby of the Orchestra level. On the Grand Tier/Mezzanine level they are to the left of the concessions and coat check area.

Water Fountain

Orchestra & Mezzanine levels. Both are wheelchair accessible.

The seats in our theater range from 19”-22” wide and are 18” deep. There are armrests on all. They are all joined together, no space between. Some ends have armrests that can fold up for ADA access when wheelchair or walker patrons want to transfer or slide in. Please contact [email protected] in advance of your visit if you require accommodations to your seats.

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• Jelly's Last Jam Story

This vivid, impressionistic portrait of legendary jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton features Tony, Emmy, and Grammy winner Billy Porter ( Pose ) as the Chimney Man and Tony Award winner Joaquina Kalukango ( Paradise Square ) as Anita in a cast led by visionary director Robert O’Hara ( A Raisin in the Sun ). Written by George C. Wolfe ( Shuffle Along ) and set to Morton’s iconic music,  Jelly’s Last Jam  tells a fable of American history, legacy, and truth. In this production, original Broadway cast members Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Stephanie Pope Lofgren, and Allison M. Williams, reprise their roles as the Hunnies.

The original 1992 Broadway production secured nine Tony nominations, three wins, and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book. This wildly imaginative show interrogates Morton, the self-declared “inventor of jazz,” in a purgatorial afterlife, accusing him of denying and denigrating his cultural legacy. Crafting showstopping numbers and piercing ballads alike from Morton’s own music, lyricist Susan Birkenhead ( Working ) and composer Luther Henderson create a uniquely compelling musical backdrop for a show that brilliantly utilizes two of this country’s most potent forms of storytelling—jazz and musical theater.

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‘Jelly’s Last Jam’ Review: A Musical Paradise, Even in Purgatory

Did Jelly Roll Morton “invent” jazz, as he claimed? A sensational Encores! revival offers a postmortem prosecution of one of the form’s founding fathers.

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By Jesse Green

That painful history can be alchemized into thrilling entertainment is both the central idea and the takeaway experience of “ Jelly’s Last Jam ,” the jaw-dropping Encores! revival that opened on Wednesday at City Center. Especially in its first act, as it tells the intertwined stories of Jelly Roll Morton and the early years of jazz, it offers up wonder after wonder, in songs and dances so neatly conceived and ferociously performed that in the process of blowing the roof off the building they also make your hair stand on end.

It might not be immediately apparent from its strange framework that the musical could produce such an effect. The book, by George C. Wolfe, who also directed the 1992 Broadway original, introduces us to Morton (Nicholas Christopher) at the moment of his death. That’s when he is greeted, in a kind of nightclub limbo, by Chimney Man — so called because this forbidding psychopomp, played by the fascinatingly strict Billy Porter, sweeps souls to their destination. Accompanied by a trio of louche, bespangled “Hunnies,” he first puts Morton through a recap of his life, with an emphasis on his lies, betrayals and musicological self-aggrandizement.

How many of those lies and betrayals really happened is unclear; most of the musical’s specific situations and supporting characters seem to be inventions or conflations. But the self-aggrandizement is all too real. Morton, not content to be merely a great pianist and composer in the early years of jazz, repeatedly claimed to have “invented” the genre. It is for this sin — a sin against history but also against Blackness — that the show seeks to prosecute him.

If only real trials were as entertaining. Morton’s privileged but stifling youth in a wealthy, light-skinned New Orleans family is sketched in a series of numbers that efficiently establish the expectations of the Creole class and his rebellions against it. Like most rebellions, his involve exposure to different kinds of people; when the boy (beautifully played by Alaman Diadhiou) sneaks into the dives and brothels on the Blacker side of town, the sounds of tinkers, ragpickers, beignet men and voodoo vendors, layered and compressed and powerfully polyrhythmic, open his ears to a new kind of music.

As presented here, that music is sensationally catchy. (Though mostly Morton’s, it also includes material written by Luther Henderson for the 1992 production.) Somewhat miraculously considering its knottiness, it has been set with lyrics, by Susan Birkenhead, that spark and sparkle. In numbers like “The Whole World’s Waitin’ to Sing Your Song,” she weaves scat and slang and classic Broadway wordsmithery (“Slide that sound/Roll that rhythm/Syncopate the street-beat with ’em”) into a multipurpose dramatic net.

But even when left basically alone, the old songs are made to work extra hard. Morton’s “ Michigan Water ” (which tastes “like sherry wine” compared to Mississippi’s “turpentine”) is not just a rip-roarer for Tiffany Mann as Miss Mamie, a local blues singer, and Okieriete Onaodowan as Buddy Bolden, a (real) pioneer of jazz cornet, but also a road sign pointing young Jelly north.

Over and over, the songs do that kind of triple duty, providing entertainment, plot and context. The Encores! production, directed with breakneck intensity by Robert O’Hara, likewise works on all levels at once, with entertainment being the most consistent. For one thing, it is marvelously and luxuriously cast: Joaquina Kalukango plays Morton’s love interest, Anita, in just two scenes (but one of them lets her make “Play the Music for Me” a whole novel in song), and Leslie Uggams, in fierce and full voice, plays Morton’s grandmother in just one. Perhaps that’s wise; Uggams snarling, “If you spit in the water, there’s no going back to the well” leaves your head spinning.

And though the endlessly inventive, often off-center tap choreography (by Dormeshia) tends to overwhelm the regular kind (by Edgar Godineaux), they both make their points along with the music. In one number, “That’s How You Jazz,” the ensemble builds a song before your eyes and ears: first imitating tubas for some “lowdown foundation,” then banjos for some “sweet-ass syncopation,” then horns for “some bluesy variations” — all while performing steps that seem to turn their bodies into bobbing notes on a staff.

It is, in some ways, an overmuchness of riches — this even before mentioning the endearing John Clay III as Morton’s buddy Jack the Bear, or the fact that the Hunnies (Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Stephanie Pope Lofgren and Allison M. Williams) are reprising their roles from the original production, looking just as great today, in Dede Ayite’s costumes, as they did 32 years ago.

But if the upswing of the story’s arc lifts all its talents, the downswing sometimes confounds them. Especially in the second act, as Morton, falling behind the tastes of the times, doubles down on his renunciation of Blackness — there are “no Black notes” in his songs, he insists — the story grows repetitive in its overbearing frame. Lacking any possible forward motion except metaphysically, it can offer only a kaleidoscopic crisis of memories and psychobabble. Were it not for Porter’s flat-out refusal to let your attention stray, it would.

Or it would if not for the star-making turn at the center of the action. (I have buried both the lead and the lede.) Christopher is stunning as Morton, with the huge, rich voice and expressive density we usually associate with female divas. He has the acting bandwidth to keep both the immediate moment and the larger situation of the character in play, never flagging in an exhaustingly emotional role. And, as would not have been apparent when he recently played Sweeney Todd in the interregnum between Josh Groban and Aaron Tveit, he also dances well.

Aside from gala productions like “ A Chorus Line ,” “Jelly’s Last Jam” is in fact the biggest dance musical I’ve seen at City Center. Encores! has evidently put a lot of resources into it. Though the sets (by Clint Ramos) are minimal, they’re handsome, and the lighting, by Adam Honoré, is luscious. Even the wigs (by J. Jared Janas) are exceptional. The 15-person band sounds fantastic playing the original arrangements and orchestrations, slightly tweaked for today by the music director, Jason Michael Webb. OK, the amplification isn’t yet ideally balanced, but that’s always an issue at an Encores! first performance.

Whether all that goodness recommends a Broadway transfer, as has been rumored, is not for me to say. The book has unsolvable problems, but then so do most musicals, until they are solved — or bulldozed. Even then, few give you a first act like this one, or a subject — the creation of American music in the furious cauldron of race — as hot. I mean hot as entertainment, of course, but also, even hotter, as history.

Jelly’s Last Jam Through March 3 at New York City Center, Manhattan; nycitycenter.org . Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes.

Jesse Green is the chief theater critic for The Times. He writes reviews of Broadway, Off Broadway, Off Off Broadway, regional and sometimes international productions. More about Jesse Green

Encores! Jelly's Last Jam Tickets

About Encores! Jelly's Last Jam

A vivid, impressionistic portrait of legendary jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton, the original 1992 Broadway production of Jelly’s Last Jam secured national recognition for writer/director George C. Wolfe ( Shuffle Along, Angels in America ), as well as nine Tony nominations, three wins, and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book.

Now, Nicholas Christopher, Joaquina Kalukango, Billy Porter, and Leslie Uggams star. visionary director Robert O’Hara ( A Raisin in the Sun ) takes up the mantle of this wildly imaginative show that interrogates the self-declared “inventor of jazz” in a purgatorial afterlife, accusing him of denying and denigrating his cultural legacy. With showstopping numbers like “That’s How You Jazz” crafted by lyricist Susan Birkenhead ( Working ) and composer Luther Henderson from Morton’s own music, Jelly’s Last Jam captures the profound contradictions behind the artist’s explosive talent. Brilliantly utilizing two of this country’s most potent forms of storytelling — jazz and musical theatre — Jelly’s Last Jam weaves a complex fable of American history, legacy, and truth.

February 21st, 2024

March 3rd, 2024

New York City Center

320 Reviews

See it if Well done biopic with great singing and dancing

Don’t see it if Themes of racism

See it if unvarnished portrait of Morton/M as narcissist/colorist; propulsive M music&big tap dance nos bring down house; superb leads/orchestra

Don’t see it if where's the drama? 2nd act anticlmctic; thesis: M's problems b/c not true 2 blk roots, is weak; missing bravura tap dancer like GHines as M

See it if you're looking for an entertaining remake of classic, with a very talented and energetic cast, some good voices and exciting choreography.

Don’t see it if Jazzy tap dancing numbers are not your thing, they do blur after a while. The book isn't so great, and some of the non-chorus scenes drag.

See it if you want to see some superb acting, dancing, and singing by this talented cast. One great musical number after another.

Don’t see it if you don't like tap dancing, as there's plenty of it. Jelly was not a very sympathetic character, but his story is certainly entertaining.

Stars on stage

Billy Porter

Nicholas Christopher

Joaquina Kalukango

Leslie Uggams

Okieriete Onaodowan

Encores jelly's last jam cast and creative team.

By: George C. Wolfe Songs by: Jelly Roll Morton (music) and Susan Birkenhead (lyrics) Director: Robert O'Hara Choreography: Edgar Godineaux; tap choreography by Dormeshia Cast list: Nicholas Christopher (as Jelly), John Clay III (as Jack the Bear), Joaquina Kalukango (as Anita), Tiffany Mann (as Miss Mamie), Billy Porter (as Chimney Man), Leslie Uggams (as Gran Mimi), Okieriete Onaodowan (as Buddy Bolden), Alaman Diadhiou (as Young Jelly), Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Stephanie Pope Lofgren, Allison M. Williams (as the Hunnies) Design: Clint Ramos Costumes: Dede Ayite Lighting: Adam Honoré Sound: Megumi Katayama Other info: Musical adaptation and additional music composed by Luther Henderson; music direction by Jason Michael Webb

Accessibility

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Unfortunately, tickets for this event are no longer available.

Get the latest updates on Encores! Jelly's Last Jam

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Encores! Jelly's Last Jam Tickets

About Encores! Jelly's Last Jam

A vivid, impressionistic portrait of legendary jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton, the original 1992 Broadway production of Jelly’s Last Jam secured national recognition for writer/director George C. Wolfe ( Shuffle Along, Angels in America ), as well as nine Tony nominations, three wins, and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book.

Now, Nicholas Christopher, Joaquina Kalukango, Billy Porter, and Leslie Uggams star. visionary director Robert O’Hara ( A Raisin in the Sun ) takes up the mantle of this wildly imaginative show that interrogates the self-declared “inventor of jazz” in a purgatorial afterlife, accusing him of denying and denigrating his cultural legacy. With showstopping numbers like “That’s How You Jazz” crafted by lyricist Susan Birkenhead ( Working ) and composer Luther Henderson from Morton’s own music, Jelly’s Last Jam captures the profound contradictions behind the artist’s explosive talent. Brilliantly utilizing two of this country’s most potent forms of storytelling — jazz and musical theatre — Jelly’s Last Jam weaves a complex fable of American history, legacy, and truth.

February 21st, 2024

March 3rd, 2024

New York City Center

320 Reviews

See it if Well done biopic with great singing and dancing

Don’t see it if Themes of racism

See it if unvarnished portrait of Morton/M as narcissist/colorist; propulsive M music&big tap dance nos bring down house; superb leads/orchestra

Don’t see it if where's the drama? 2nd act anticlmctic; thesis: M's problems b/c not true 2 blk roots, is weak; missing bravura tap dancer like GHines as M

See it if you're looking for an entertaining remake of classic, with a very talented and energetic cast, some good voices and exciting choreography.

Don’t see it if Jazzy tap dancing numbers are not your thing, they do blur after a while. The book isn't so great, and some of the non-chorus scenes drag.

See it if you want to see some superb acting, dancing, and singing by this talented cast. One great musical number after another.

Don’t see it if you don't like tap dancing, as there's plenty of it. Jelly was not a very sympathetic character, but his story is certainly entertaining.

Stars on stage

Billy Porter

Nicholas Christopher

Joaquina Kalukango

Leslie Uggams

Okieriete Onaodowan

Encores jelly's last jam cast and creative team.

By: George C. Wolfe Songs by: Jelly Roll Morton (music) and Susan Birkenhead (lyrics) Director: Robert O'Hara Choreography: Edgar Godineaux; tap choreography by Dormeshia Cast list: Nicholas Christopher (as Jelly), John Clay III (as Jack the Bear), Joaquina Kalukango (as Anita), Tiffany Mann (as Miss Mamie), Billy Porter (as Chimney Man), Leslie Uggams (as Gran Mimi), Okieriete Onaodowan (as Buddy Bolden), Alaman Diadhiou (as Young Jelly), Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Stephanie Pope Lofgren, Allison M. Williams (as the Hunnies) Design: Clint Ramos Costumes: Dede Ayite Lighting: Adam Honoré Sound: Megumi Katayama Other info: Musical adaptation and additional music composed by Luther Henderson; music direction by Jason Michael Webb

Accessibility

Wheelchair access, assistive listening devices

Unfortunately, tickets for this event are no longer available.

Get the latest updates on Encores! Jelly's Last Jam

Sign up to our mailing list to receive exclusive offers, new show ticket alerts and seasonal promotions. You can unsubscribe at any time.

More shows you may like

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Long Wharf Theatre Season 2024/25

Shows & events, community & learning, jelly’s last jam, sep 17 – sep 18, 2022, 222 sargent drive, new haven.

About the Show

Concert Performance, In-Person, 222 Sargent Drive Book by George C. Wolfe Music by Jelly Roll Morton Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead Musical Adaptation and Additional Music Composed by Luther Henderson Directed by Dennis Whitehead Darling Creative Consultation by Patricia McGregor Choreography by Chris Bell Musical Direction by David Freeman Coleman Casting by Stephanie Yankwitt, tbd casting co. In partnership with the Stetson Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library

At the birth of jazz in the early 20th century, one man led the band. The legendary Jelly Roll Morton revolutionized American music like no one before him. His life—the dizzying heights and inconceivable lows—becomes a thrilling theatrical ride in Jelly’s Last Jam . With an electrifying cast and a red-hot band, this concert reading spotlights the story of a trailblazing artist and celebrates New Haven’s love affair with jazz.

Learn about the show from  Jelly’s Last Jam  director Dennis Whitehead Darling

Creative Team

George c. wolfe.

Theatre directing credits include  The Iceman Cometh ,  Shuffle Along ,  or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed  (NY Drama Critics’ Circle Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Musical);  Lucky Guy ;  T he Normal Heart  (Drama Desk);  Jelly’s Last Jam   (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award);  Angels in America: Millennium Approaches  (Tony Award and Drama Desk) and  Perestroika   (Drama Desk);   Bring in ‘da Noise , Bring in ‘da Funk  (Tony and Drama League Award);  Topdog /Underdog   (Obie Award);  Twilight: Los Angeles , 1992   (Drama Desk); Elaine Stritch at Liberty (Tony for Special Theatrical Event);  The Tempest ;  Caroline, or Change  (Olivier Award Best Musical); and  A Free Man of Color .   From 1993-2005  Wolfe  was the Producer of The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival. He is the writer of the award-winning The  Colored Museum ,  Shuffle Along … , he directed/adapted  Spunk  (Obie), and  Harlem Song .  

Jelly Roll Morton

Jelly Roll Morton was a New Orleans jazz composer and pianist , a defining figure in the evolution of jazz , and a pioneer of prearranged, semi – orchestrated effects in jazz-band performances. Morton was one of the first ragtime piano players and the self-proclaimed inventor of jazz. He was instrumental in the transition from early jazz to orchestral jazz in New Orleans at the turn of the 20 th century . He moved to California circa 1917 and made his recording debut in 1923. Following that he created recordings with his jazz group, the Red Hot Peppers, which gained him national acclaim. Hi s most famous pieces include “Black Bottom Stomp,” “King Porter Stomp,” “Shoe Shiner’s Drag,” and “Dead Man Blues.” (Sources: Encyclopedia Brittanica , “Music Rising ” at Tulane University)  

Susan Birkenhead

Susan Birkenhead received a Tony Nomination, a Grammy nomination and a Drama Desk Award for her lyrics for Jelly’s Last Jam . She was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Triumph of Love , and won a Drama Desk Award and a Tony nomination for Working . She won an Outer Critics Circle award for What About Luv , and an L.A. Drama Critics Award for Minsky’s . She wrote additional lyrics and new songs for the Broadway version of High Society , and wrote songs for the Off Broadway Stars of David , and A My Name Is Alice . She has also written The Secret Life of Bees with Lynn Nottage and Duncan Sheik, which will open in London in April of ‘23. ….and Betty Boop’s Day Off , with Bob Martin and David Foster, which will open in Chicago in December ’23.  

Luther Henderson

Luther Henderson was a composer, arranger, orchestrator, music director, and performer w ith a long and impressive career spanning multiple genres . H enderson worked on more than 50 Broadway productions. He served as the original pianist and orchestrator, arrange r , and musical supervisor for Ain’t Misbehavin ‘ . For Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music , he was the musical consultant and arranged several selections. He orchestrated the Tony Award-winning Raisin and Play On! As a dance arranger, Henderson ‘s credits included Flower Drum Song , Do Re Mi , Funny Girl , and No, No Nanette . He also had a robust recording career, featuring albums with the Canadian Brass Quintet , Eileen Farrell , Columbia Records, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Andre Kostelanetz Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, Mandy Patinkin, Polly Bergen, Anita Ellis, and others. (Sources: National Endowment for the Arts, Playbill.com)  

Dennis Whitehead Darling

Dennis Whitehead Darling is a Stage Director in opera and theatre in the United States and Europe. His recent directing credits include the world premieres of Marian’s Song (Houston Grand Opera), Sanctuary Road (North Carolina Opera) and Why I Live at the PO (UrbanArias), Buried Deep: The Lynchburg Pools (End Station Theatre), and The Secret River (Opera Orlando). Other works include: Die Zauberflöte (Pensacola Opera), La Bohème (Opera Columbus), Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Carnegie Mellon University), The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (Red Mountain Theatre), Independence Eve (Opera Birmingham), Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Hattiloo Theatre/Spazio Teatro No’hma – Milan), Jelly’s Last Jam (Hattiloo Theatre), The Parchman Hour (Hattiloo Theatre), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Spazio Teatro No’hma – Milan), Intimate Apparel (University of Memphis), Movin’ Up in the World (Opera Memphis), Sunset Baby (Hattiloo Theatre), James and the Giant Peach (Circuit Playhouse), Blue Viola (Opera Memphis), Mr. Rickey Calls A Meeting (Hattiloo Theatre), Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet (Hattiloo Theatre).

Patricia McGregor

Born in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Patricia McGregor is a director and writer working in theater, film, and music. She has recently been named Artistic Director of New York Theater Workshop. McGregor has twice been profiled by  The New York Times  for her direction of world premieres. Productions include  Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole  (co-writer and director, Geffen Playhouse); Sisters In Law  (The Wallis);  What You Are , A Midsummer Night’s Dream , Measure for Measure (The Old Globe); Skeleton Crew (Geffen Playhouse);  Good Grief  (Center TheatreGroup);  Hamlet (The Public Theater);  The Parchman Hour  (The Guthrie Theater);  Ugly Lies the Bone  (Roundabout Theatre Company);  brownsville song… (Lincoln Center); Indomitable: James Brown  (The Apollo);  Holding It Down (Metropolitan Museum); A Raisin in the Sun , The Winter’s Tale ,  Spunk  (California Shakespeare Theater); Adoration of the Old Woman  (INTAR);  Blood Dazzler  (Harlem Stage);  Four Electric Ghosts  (The Kitchen); and the world premiere of  Hurt Village  (Signature Theatre Company). She served as Associate Director of Fela! on Broadway. For many years, she has directed The 24-Hour Plays  on Broadway and the  Raisin In The Sun  Broadway benefit for Adam Driver’s Arts In the Armed Forces. She served as director for HBO emerging writer’s showcase and tour consultant to Raphael Saadiq and J Cole. Her short film  Good Grief  will premiere this year. She co-founded Angela’s Pulse with her sister, choreographer, and organizer Paloma McGregor. McGregor attended the Yale School of Drama, where she was a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow and Artistic Director of the Yale Cabaret.

Chris Bell, NYC by way of SAT. MFA (Case Western Reserve), BS Dance (Lamar), and because he likes camping and the beach BS Geology. He currently makes work with Raja Feather Kelly & the feath3r theory and is a frequent collaborator with (and former choreographic assistant to) Mark Dendy. Current & Recent Projects: The Wild Party (Choreographer, Up Until Now Collective), Eighty-Sixed (Associate Choreographer, Diversionary Theater). As an Educator he works for Roundabout Theatre, Marquis Studios and TADA! Youth Theaters. His company chrisbelldances (CBD) has presented work nationally and in NYC including evening length works at Dixon Place and Gibney Dance Center. CBD was the first dance company in residence at the Cherry Grove Community House and Theater, America’s oldest continuously operating LGBTQIA+ theater. CBD is an inaugural member of the Queensboro Dance Festival and is currently on the 2022 summer tour presenting free dance events in neighborhoods across Queens.

David Freeman Coleman

Associate Professor of Theater at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Lecturer of Music at Tufts University, Director of Choral Music at Dana Hall School. Recent music direction credits include Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Central Square Theater & Greater Boston Stage), Once On This Island (Speakeasy – Eliot Norton Award Nomination for Outstanding Music Direction), The Bluest Eye (Huntington Theater), Wild (A.R.T.), Passing Strange (Moonbox), Choir Boy (Speakeasy – Eliot Norton Award Nomination for Outstanding Musical Direction), Miss You Like Hell (Company One/A.R.T.). Has worked with Idina Menzel, Audra McDonald, Mariah Carey, Bobby McFerrin, Ryan Gosling and the Boston Pops. (he/him). More info at www.davidfcoleman.com .

Charles Coes

New York: Small World Stories (Phantom Limb), Golden Shield (MTC), Letters of Suresh (2St), Sing Street (NYTW), Natural Shocks (WP), For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday (Playwrights), Robber Bridegroom (Roundabout), Servant of Two Masters (TFANA). Regional: Portland Stage, St. Louis Rep, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Rep, Two River Theater, Arena Stage, OSF, Baltimore Center Stage, Milwaukee Rep, Old Globe, The Guthrie, The Huntington, South Coast Rep, Dallas Theater Center, Ford’s Theater and others. Broadway Associate: Almost Famous , Lehman Trilogy , To Kill a Mockingbird , Girl from the North Country , Jitney , Junk , Great Comet. .. , Peter and the Starcatcher .   

Nathan A. Roberts

Nathan A. Roberts is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, instrument-maker, and sound designer who specializes in creating original music and soundscapes for plays, often live onstage. Long Wharf Theatre :   It’s a Wonderful Life  (foley artist).   Off Broadway : Second Stage:  Letters of Suresh ; WP Theater:  Natural Shocks ; TFANA:  The Servant of Two Masters ; Playwrights Realm:  Crane Story, Dramatis Personae . Regional :  Oregon Shakespeare Festival:  The Way the Mountain Moved;  Baltimore Center Stage:  Miss You Like Hell, Fun Home, The Christians, Les Liaisons Dangereuses;  Milwaukee Rep:  Animal Farm;  Dallas Theater Center/Guthrie Theater:  Sense and Sensibility ; The Old Globe:  Tokyo Fish Story ; Yale Repertory Theater:  Assassins, Accidental Death of an Anarchist ; Hartford Stage:  Twelfth Night, The Tempest.  Education :  MFA, Yale School of Drama. Faculty :  Lecturer in Theater and Performance Studies, Yale University.

Daniel Gookin

Daniel Gookin worked at Long Wharf Theatre for 20 years, first as an usher in the mid 90’s and ultimately as Master Electrician. He is currently a bookkeeper at Superior Spring in Hamden while also running a management company with his husband Matt. Dan still gets to scratch that artistic itch by doing lighting designs for Hamden High School and as a singing member and Production Manager of The Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus. Dan and Matt are the proud parents of their fur baby Boris who would always show up t o meet the actors and provide puppy therapy during LWT tech rehearsals.  

Stephanie Yankwitt

Stephanie Yankwitt, CSA (tbd casting co.) Theatrical collaborators include Long Wharf Theatre, Soho Rep, Tectonic Theater Project, NAATCO., Primary Stages, La Jolla Playhouse, and Miami New Drama. Current film collaborators include ongoing work with Culture House, O Positive Films, AFI, Lexicon Films and The Gotham Film & Media Institute. Upcoming work includes the “Growing Up,” a series on Disney+ and “Who You Callin’ a Bitch” a Netflix series – both for Culture House, and a world premiere of Shayok Misha Chowdhury’s play PUBLIC OBSCENITIES for Soho Rep & NAATCO this winter.

Kelly Hardy

  Long Wharf: An Iliad , The Underpants . Broadway: Anastasia , The Real Thing . New York: 2nd Stage, Fiasco Theatre, Lincoln Center – LCT3, The Public, Vineyard Theatre, Red Bull Theatre, NYMF, Theatre for a New Audience, Working Theatre, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, The Actors Company Theatre. Regional: Hartford Stage, Goodspeed Opera House, Trinity Repertory Company, La Jolla Playhouse, New York Stage and Film, North Coast Rep, Bard SummerScape, Bucks County Playhouse. International: Royal College of Music, London; Shakespeare’s Globe, London. Education: UC San Diego.  

Chelsea Janke

Chelsea Janke is a freelance AEA stage manager based in New York City. She is excited to be back at Long Wharf after working as a production assistant for LWT during the 2018-2019 season. Other credits include Broadway: The Lehman Trilogy and Slava’s Snowshow ; Off Broadway: The Vagrant Trilogy (The Public Theater), The Tap Dance Kid (City Center), and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She wants to thank her entire LWT family for their support and for always being willing to go get tacos!  

Katherine Brown

Kat herine Brown is a graduate of Southern Connecticut State University’s Theatre Department. She recently acted as lighting supervisor for Long Wharf Theatre’s 2021-2022 season. Other recent credits include Out of Bounds (Master Electrician), Red Velvet (Master Electrician), Matilda (Lighting Designer, Sound Designer, A1), and The Flamingo Kid (Spot Op).  

Iris Beaumier

Iris Beaumier recently made her Broadway debut as The Narrator Alternate in The Little Prince . She previously played Josephine Baker in The Dark Star from Harlem at LaMaMa Theatre in New York City (AUDELCO for Best Lead Actress in a Musical). Regional credits include Sarah in Ragtime ( Theatreworks Silicon Valley), Godspell (Theatre Aspen), Marvelous Wonderettes (Rep. Theatre of St.Louis ), Rent (Weathervane Playhouse), and Dr. Rees Ziti’s Pageant ( ArsNova’s ANTFest ), originating the role of Restin . TV and film credits include “Modern Love” (Amazon), “Blindspot” (NBC), “ Alternatino ” (Comedy Central), “Instinct” (CBS ) , and “Mariannes Noires” (Round Room Image), a documentary about Afro-French womanhood. Carnegie Mellon University, proud NYC native. @ iris.beaumier www.irisbeaumier.com  

Bryan Terrell Clark

Broadway: Happiness in  Thoughts of a Colored Man,  George Washington in  Hamilton,  originated the role of Marvin Gaye in  Motown: The Musical  (Grammy nomination). Theatre:  Fences  (Corey) opposite Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett,  Immediate Family  directed by Phylicia Rashad. Film:  Our Son directed by Bill Oliver,  Sneakerella  (Disney),  Collateral Beauty  (Warner Bros.). Television: “Saint X” (Hulu), “Inventing Anna” and “When They See Us” (Netflix), “Snowpiercer” (TNT/Netflix), “Queen Sugar” and “Cherish the Day” (OWN), “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” (NBC), “The New Edition Story” (BET). Education: Yale School of Drama. Bryanterrellclark.com. Instagram @therealbtc

Tina Fabrique

Tina Fabrique is happy to return to Long Wharf Theat re, where she starred as Ella Fitzgerald in her one woman show ELLA , the role she created at Theaterworks and toured for 7 years. Broadway credits include: Bring in Da Noise , The Wiz , Ragtime , Dessa Rose , How To Succeed … , and Go spel at Colonus . Off Broadway – 70, Girls, 70 , Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope , Most Happy in Concert (2022 Williamstown Theater Festival) . Tina played Duppy Mary in Mary s Seacole at Mosaic Theater in Washington, DC this spring. TV credits include Blue Bloods , New Amsterdam , God Friended Me , The Last OG , Law and Order: SVU and Criminal Intent . Tina sings the original theme song to Reading Rainbow on the TV show.  

Carmen Ruby Floyd

Carmen Ruby Floyd has graced the stages of the world from the United States to Japan, with her “utmost expressiveness and beauty of tone.” Last seen on Broadway in Hello, Dolly , she understudied legend Bette Midler – making her the first African American Dolly since Pearl Bailey.   Other Broadway credits: OBC of Avenue Q , Disney’s The Lion King , Porgy and Bess revival, Chicago , and OBC of After Midnight . The New York Times wrote, “The swagger and big voice of Carmen Ruby Floyd provide… star quality and star charisma…” A frequent voiceover and recording artist, she has been heard on radio and television around the globe. An exciting addition to an already fascinating career, Ms. Floyd released her debut album – Broadway, Jazz Me! Married to fellow Broadway and Film Actor, J. Bernard Calloway (Ms. Pat Show) their favorite co-production is their son, Jacob. All Media @CarmenRubyFloyd  

Sydney James Harcourt

A sought after vocalist and Grammy winner, Sydney has performed on the world’s finest concert stages including Radio City, Avery Fisher, Carnegie Hall, and Arthur Ashe Stadium (US Open Finals). He has appeared on and off-Broadway starring in productions like the cultural phenomenon H amilton (OBC), Disney’s T he Lion King , Green Day’s A merican Idiot , and the U.S. Premier of Bob Dylan’s G irl From the North Country where he originated the role of Joe Scott, receiving critical raves and nominations for the Drama Desk,  Lortel , and Audelco Awards.  Television credits include Tell Me A Story , Blue Bloods , FBI , NCIS , Elementary , Younger , The Good Wife , and he currently stars in C astlevania : Nocturne (Netflix).  Films include Hamilton , Disney’s Enchanted , and leading the upcoming musical feature ‘ I’m Not Gay’ .  

Christian McQueen

Originally a native of Southern California, Christian moved to NYC after attending Kansas Wesleyan University and majoring in Theater and Music. He was last seen in the National Tour of Anastasia where he was in the ensemble and also covered the principal role of Gleb. Getting to sing the music of Jelly’s Last Jam is a dream for Christian. Needless to say he is very grateful to be a part of this project. You may follow him on all his socials @TheShow6000  

Sharaé Moultrie

Sharaé Moultrie is a NYC-based actor, singer, and commercial model. Sharaé has performed across the globe in musicals and at renowned venues such as Feinstein’s/54Below, Joe’s Pub at the Public, and music festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Notable roles include Deena Jones ( Dreamgirls , International Tour), Rizzo ( Grease ), Emmie Thibodeaux ( Caroline, or Change ), and Lady Larken ( Once Upon A Mattress ). Her TV/Film appearances include FBI: Most Wanted , Hal King the Musical , and the 95th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade . She gives special thanks to God, her family, friends, and agents for their support. Follow her journey at www.iamsharae.com .  

Justin G. Nelson

Justin G. Nelson is a multi-hyphenate based in NYC. He is thrilled to be making his debut at Long Wharf Theatre. His recent credits include Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare Theatre Company) and The North American Tour of Wizard of Oz . Follow him on IG @justingnelson  

Jessica Hailey Reese

Jessica Hailey Reese  is from Kennesaw, Georgia. She recently graduated from The University of Oklahoma and has had the honor of working with Music Theatre Wichita as Viola in Twelfth Night and Marty in Grease . She recently spent the summer at Theatre Aspen as Sister Margaretta in The Sound of Music and in the ensemble of Gypsy . Some other roles include: Dynamite/Pearl in Hairspray , Woman 2 in Songs For A New World , Woman 2 in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change , Margot in Legally Blonde and many other thrilling shows. Jessica is grateful to her family for pushing her to “dance to her own music” and follow her dreams. IG: @jessicahaileyreese  

Steve Routman

Steve Routman Long Wharf: The Underpants (CT Critics Award), Other People’s Money (CT Critics Nom.), The Second Mrs. Wilson , Our Town . Regional: over 35 theaters around the country, including Hartford Stage, Goodspeed Opera House, and Westport Playhouse. Film : Killers of the Flower Moon , Boston Strangler , Mother’s Instinct , The Trial of the Chicago 7 , Inside Llewyn Davis , The Wolf of Wall Street , The Bourne Legacy , T he Irishman . Television: Marvelous Mrs. Maisel , FBI: Most Wanted , Fosse/Verdon . Steveroutman.com .  

Julian Rozzell Jr.

Julian Rozzell   is a resident of New York City, residing in Brooklyn, NY. He recently performed in Shakespeare in the Park’s production of Merry Wives at The Public Theater. Hagrid in the Broadway version of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child . Most recently he was in the TONY nominated Skin of our Teeth at Lincoln Center. Television credits include recurring roles on Boardwalk Empire , Bull , Law and Order , Blacklist , Harlem , and Fallout directed by Jonathan Nolan.  

Justin Sudderth

Justin Sudderth   is a recent graduate of Montclair State University’s B.F.A. Musical Theatre Program. His recent credits include Something Rotten! ( Forestburgh Playhouse), Mama Mia! ( Forestburgh Playhouse), and Our Town (The Barnstormers Theatre ) .  

Amaya White

Amaya White is a recent graduate from Montclair State University and a New Jersey native. She most recently starred as Casey Seeger in An Officer and a Gentleman (1st national tour). Other credits include: Baby: The Musical , Hair, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert , LINK. Endless thanks to God, the Collective, family, and friends! @yourstrulyamaya

Jason SweetTooth Williams

Jason SweetTooth Williams is a New York City-based theater artist. Most recently Jason was seen on Broadway in Be More Chill ! He’s worked extensively with writer Joe Iconis , appearing in such Iconis -penned musicals as Bloodsong of Love (Ars Nova), The Black Suits (SPF- The Public Theater), ReWrite (Urban Stages), Things To Ruin , and others. Jason originated roles in Disney’s Freaky Friday (La Jolla Playhouse, Signature Theater), Benny and Joon (The Old Globe), and Crossing Brooklyn (Transport Group). He appeared opposite Jackie Hoffman as Prince Dauntless in Transport Group’s Off-Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress . As a writer, Jason co-wrote the new musical Broadway Bounty Hunter (with Iconis and Lance Rubin), which premiered in NYC at Greenwich House Theater and starred the great Annie Golden!  

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Jelly’s Last Jam

Closed: March 3, 2024

Review: Jelly’s Last Jam Not Only Blows the Roof Off City Center, It Obliterates It

George C. Wolfe’s musical returns in a thrilling new production staged by Robert O’Hara.

The ceiling at New York City Center is notoriously high. It would take a lot of might to bring it down. But the phrase “they blew the roof off” must have been coined with crowd-pleasers like Jelly’s Last Jam in mind. Robert O’Hara’s powerful new staging of this 1992 George C. Wolfe-Susan Birkenhead-Luther Henderson musical for Encores! not just blows the roof off the joint, it completely obliterates it.

A stylized profile of musician Jelly Roll Morton, the show is predominately remembered as having been a vehicle for iconic tap dancers Gregory Hines and Savion Glover, who played older and younger versions of the pioneering jazz artist. In our current era of theatrical and cinematic hagiographies, Wolfe’s book still proves innovative three decades later as it confronts Morton’s legacy in this revolutionary Black American artform with his history as a denialist of his background.

That is to say, this isn’t a show that lets Ferdinand La Menthe Morton off the hook because of his accomplishments; it’s a warning about how denying your past can lead to the ruination of your future. A mixed-race, light-skinned member of the New Orleans French Creole gentry, the show introduces the young Morton (the smashing tap dancer Alaman Diadhiou) as he embraces his musical roots in the juke joints of the bayou. His discovery of the blues from trumpeter Buddy Bolden (Okieriete Onaodowan in a stately cameo) and singer Miss Mamie (Tiffany Mann, one of many in the cast who sing the house down) leads to his getting disowned by his family matriarch (Leslie Uggams in a cameo that shows how stillness can be scarier than anything else).

In return, the adult Jelly (Nicholas Christopher), who hits the road with darker-skinned musical partner Jack the Bear (the beautifully sympathetic John Clay III), chooses to forget his Black roots, embracing the Creole part of his background so fully that it leads him to spurn both Jimmy and Anita (Joaquina Kalukango), the woman he loves in fits of racism and braggadocio. At the end of his life, Jelly is provoked by the mystical Chimney Man (a glimmering Billy Porter) into looking backwards and inwards to admit to his real heritage.

Under the confines of the 10-day Encores! rehearsal period, director O’Hara and his team have come up with a precis of a production that’s pretty fabulous. Edgar Godineaux’s dances are nothing short of thrilling, vigorously building until they pop off the stage like magic. You can practically see the heat lines rising from the floor as the cast performs Dormeshia’s unbelievable tap choreography. The two movement specialists come together for the show’s absolute highlight, “That’s How You Jazz,” a number that keeps topping itself as the dancers transform their bodies into a whole ragtime band (the actual 15-member orchestra, conducted by Jason Michael Webb, is equally electrifying).

O’Hara, a longtime mentee of book writer and original director Wolfe, has a stirringly Brechtian take on the piece itself, complete with a wall of harsh spotlights (Adam Honoré did the fascinatingly accusatory lighting) and a stately gateway to heaven or hell upstage center (Clint Ramos did the unchanging set). I’d kill to see his ideas developed further in full: this is a start, and it will only get better. Really, the only downside was Megumi Katayama’s sound: ear-piercing in some spots, too low in others, mixed in a way that never quite allows us to hear Birkenhead’s smart lyrics (the music itself is all Jelly Roll, with embellishments by Henderson, and orchestrations by Henderson, Daryl Waters, and William David Brohn). That part was a real disaster, and I found myself struggling to catch what was being said.

And that’s the real shame, because not being able to understand what they’re singing took a lot away from the three stirring central performances. As Anita, Kalukango is at turns sexy and empathetic, her life-building expertly aided by Dede Ayite’s spot-on costumes and J. Jared Janas’s generation-spanning wigs. Porter is perhaps the best he’s ever been as the literal angel/devil on Jelly’s shoulder, slithering on and off stage with power and intensity. Christopher, who spent the month preceding this playing both Sweeney Todd and Pirelli a few avenues over, is just plain amazing, infusing Jelly with enough compassion to get us on his side, while scarily pulling the rug out. I can’t believe these three actors found such full characterizations in under two weeks.

Scene after scene, Jelly’s Last Jam left me on the edge of my seat; not bad for a 32-year-old show. This is the kind of theatrical deep cut that Encores! does best, and if you’re a fan of the American musical, you better not miss it.

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Jelly’s Last Jam  | 

When legendary musician Jelly Roll Morton’s soul is forced to face the music, the self-proclaimed “inventor of jazz” is left at the ultimate crossroads. With soulful melodies, electrifying tap dancing, and fiery tunes that will leave you breathless, get your groove on with this dazzling musical masterpiece.

“Makes the invention of jazz a miraculous, eruptive theatrical event.” - New York Times

Book by George C. Wolfe

Music by Jelly Roll Morton

Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead

Musical Adaptation and Additional Music Composed By Luther Henderson

2 Hours, 30 Minutes One 15 Minute Intermission

OPENING NIGHT: JUN 2

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John Clarence Stewart

Jelly roll morton.

John was most recently seen as Big Teak in the latest season of the hit show, P-Valley , written by Pulitzer Prize Winner Katori Hall. John was born and raised in Stone Mountain GA, and started his theater journey in the Atlanta theater community. He moved to NY after performing as Tray in the world premiere of brownsville song (b-side for tray) at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. John made his television debut on the series Gotham and The Mysteries of Laura . Since then he has played lead roles in notable shows such as NBC’s Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and What If…? , as well as Marvel’s Luke Cage on Netflix. This past year, John starred in a solo performance at 54 Below. BroadwayWorld called him, “the most authentic, the most genuine, the most sincere person an audience could ever hope to find on a stage.” This year, John debuted his self-written and performed one man show, Soft As It Began , in the Stripped Bare Arts incubator project with Synchronicity Theater in Atlanta.

Cress Williams

Chimney man.

Cress is best known for starring as DC’s title-character in The CW’s critically acclaimed Greg Berlanti drama series, Black Lightning . Additionally, he also stars in the murder-mystery film,  What Remains , alongside Kellan Lutz and Anne Heche. Other film credits include Two Days in the Valley opposite James Spader, Jeff Daniels, Teri Hatcher, and Charlize Theron; as well as Never Been Kissed with Drew Barrymore, Michael Vartan, and David Arquette. Some theater credits include Othello , Elephant Man , Extremities , and Red Noses . Television credits include ER , NYPD Blue , The West Wing , Grey’s Anatomy , and Friday Night Lights . Cress can also be seen in four successful seasons as a series regular on Hart of Dixie with Rachel Bilson, in addition to stints on Prison Break ; Living Single ; Nash Bridges ; Close to Home ; Code Black ; Cold Case ; and Beverly Hills, 90210 .

Jasmine Amy Rogers

Jasmine recently wrapped a run in Chicago as the title character in the Broadway bound production of BOOP! The Musical , reteaming her with director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell. She played the scene stealing Gretchen Wieners in the National Tour of Mean Girls , was seen as Melody Green in Paper Mill Playhouse’s production of The Wanderer and as Francis Bassey in the world premiere of Becoming Nancy , directed by Jerry Mitchell at the Alliance Theatre. TV includes Evil on Paramount+.  She was a Jimmy Awards’ finalist and appeared in Cabaret as Sally Bowles at the Manhattan School of Music where she studied musical theater.

Wilkie Ferguson III

Jack the bear.

Wilkie is thrilled to return to Pasadena Playhouse after performing in Stormy Weather and Ray Charles Live (Young Ray). A graduate of New World School of the Arts, Wilkie studied mathematics at Morehouse College and classical piano at Eastman School of Music before joining the faculty of the Boys’ Choir of Harlem as assistant director/music theory instructor. Broadway: Porgy and Bess ; Motown: The Musical ; Wonderland . Tours: In the Heights ; Hairspray . Off Broadway/Regional: Fetch Clay , Make Man (Kirk Douglas Theatre); Recorded In Hollywood (ovation nomination); Cotton Club Parade (Encores). Musical Director: 9 to 5 (Musical Theatre West) Newsies (5-Star Theatricals); Kinky Boots (Moonlight Stage). Composer/Orchestrator: Show Way (Kennedy Center); Parrotheads (Netflix’s Jimmy Buffett documentary). IG: @wilkieferguson, @takeonmemusical.

Karole Foreman

Gran mimi/ensemble.

1776 (National Tour); Lady Day (Ovation Award – Cygnet Theatre, freeFall Theatre, International City Theatre, Ebony Repertory Theatre, Pacific Conservatory Theatre); A Few Good Men (La Mirada Theatre); Blues in the Night (ICT/Ebony Rep); A Little Night Music (SD Theatre Critics Nomination) and Stupid F’ing Bird (Cygnet Theatre); Porgy & Bess , Sweeney Todd , Intimate Apparel (Ensemble Theatre Company); Fences (PCPA/ ICT, NAACP Nomination); Wedding Band (Antaeus – Stage Raw Nomination); Next to Normal (OC Weekly Award); Parade , Jelly’s Last Jam (Suzi Bass Award, Mark Taper/Alliance Theatre); Mamma Mia! (Vegas); and numerous regional theaters. TV: Days of Our Lives , Monster , The Connors , Good Trouble , NCIS , Brooklyn 99 , Crazy Ex-Girlfriend , Rebel . Film: The Banality , 42 , Rebirth , Buddy Solitaire . www.karoleforeman.com

Eric B. Anthony

Three finger jake/ensemble.

Stage Raw , Ovation, NAACP Theatre, BroadwayWorld , Eddon, Scenie, YoungArts, and ACT-SO Award recipient. Proud AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and NAACP member. Broadway: Mary Poppins ; Hairspray ; The Lion King . Off-Broadway/Regional: THREE ; For the Love of a Glove ; Bronco Billy – The Musical ; Five Guys Named Moe ; Merrily We Roll Along ; Midsummer Night ; Recorded in Hollywood ; Kiss Me, Kate ; Dreamgirls ; The Producers ; The Wiz ; Rent ; Sophisticated Ladies ; Jelly’s Last Jam ; Damn Yankees ; Grand Hotel ; Bye Bye Birdie ; Golden Boy ; Fame ; The Difficulty of Crossing a Field ; bonded ; Something Happened . Film: I’ll Be Watching ; Coffee House Chronicles ; Waiting in the Wings . TV: Encore! ; The Affair ; Tosh.0 . “Gratitude to my supportive family and friends, for the unconditional love. Glory to GOD for everything!” @EricBAnthony #IlluminatingHumanity

Doran Butler

Young jelly/ensemble.

Doran first fell in love with tap dance after meeting Debbie Allen at the age of thirteen. He asked her if he could be the understudy for the lead role of Alex in Debbie Allen’s Alex in Wonderland at the Kennedy Center. He also played Young Charley to Wayne Brady’s Charley in Michael Arden’s Merrily We Roll Along at the Wallis Annenberg Center. His television credits include ABC’s Single Parents , HBO’s The Comeback and Curb Your Enthusiasm , two of Ryan Murphy’s series, Netflix’s , and FX’s American Crime Story: Impeachment . Most recently he’s reoccurring in the final season of Freeform’s Good Trouble . He can also be seen in Damien Chazelle’s film La La Land .

Chante Carmel

Chante is humbled and honored to be able to grace the stage once again. Broadway: Motown . National Tours: The Lion King , Waitress (first national tour), Motown (first national tour), Dirty Dancing , Rent . Regional Theater:  Dreamgirls . TV/Film: Baby Blue , Beauty and the Baller , New Girl , ER , A Different World , Buppies , A Beautiful Soul , Boston Public , Where I Live . Songwriter: “Live Your Dreams,” Save the Last Dance . Chante is also an accomplished author with her acclaimed book Sh!t I Learned On Tour (available on Amazon). This show is for my beautiful son DJ, “you are my dream come true.” Thank you God, my husband, amazing parents, family/friends, Fire Starter Entertainment, and The Talent Connect Management. IG: @iamchantecarmel

Cyd Charisse Glover-Hill

A bona fide worshiper, Cyd has been dancing professionally since the age of seven and made her Broadway debut in the Tony award winning musical, Black and Blue , at the age of 12. Additional credits: A Gala for the President , Cool Women , Jazz-Tap/Hip Hop Tour (Jacob’s Pillow), The Gregory Hines Show . Graduate of USC (BS) and CBU (MA), entrepreneur, choreographer, grant recipient (Irvine Dance in California), and sought after dance instructor. Greatest accomplishment: being Jhalen and Karina’s mom. Cyd is grateful to her Lord and Savior Jesus for the opportunity to return to the stage, and thanks her supportive husband, Prentice, her mom, and dance instructors for nurturing her gifts. “A City on a Hill can’t be hidden.”

Summer Nicole Greer

Summer, a Southern California native, is thrilled to be making her Pasadena Playhouse debut. Some of her most recent credits include: Dyanne in Million Dollar Quartet (Musical Theater West/5-Star Theatricals), Armelia in Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Laguna Playhouse), and The Voice of the People and Michelle Obama understudy in 44: The Unofficial Unsanctioned Obama Musical (Bourbon Room). Additionally, she’s been featured on FOX’S I Can See Your Voice , and plays a number of roles as a live vocalist at the Disneyland Resort. She is also an accredited Los Angeles session vocalist for many acts, including world-renown K-POP group BTS. IG: @summersometimes

Janaya Jones

Regional Credits: Della/Belle in Team Starkid’s VHS Christmas Carols ; Felicia Farrell in Memphis , Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame , and Linda in The Wedding Singer (Moonlight Amphitheatre); Lady of the Lake in Spamalot (Theatre at the Welk); Featured Performer in R-E-S-P-E-C-T (Lamb’s Players Theatre); Marty in Grease (Musical Theatre West); and Stanley Uris/Henry Bowers in the Rockwell musical Stephen King’s It: A Musical Parody . Other credits include shows at The Old Globe Theatre, Performance Riverside, San Diego Music Theatre, and 5 Star Theatricals. Disneyland Credits: Queenie and The Jambalaya Jazz Band , Five and Dime Jazz Band, The Disney Junior Dance Party , Frozen: Live at the Hyperion . To My Love, Will and My Rock, Mom. @Esmerelduhhh_

Grasan Kingsberry

Buddy bolden/ensemble.

Emmy, Grammy, ACCA, and Regional BroadwayWorld Award-winning artist. With a BFA from The Juilliard School, he was featured in 11 Broadway productions including the Tony winning Best Revival of Once On This Island . Grasan contributed to the original 2005 Broadway production and the 2015 Tony, Grammy, and Emmy-winning revival of The Color Purple . Other Broadway credits:  Motown , Nice Work If You Can Get It , Leap of Faith , On A Clear Day You Can See Forever , Dirty Rotten Scoundrels , Finian’s Rainbow , Catch Me If You Can , and Aida . TV: Mozart in the Jungle (Ben), Smash , Royal Pains , All My Children , Today Show . Film: The Aerialist and I Am Legend . Currently faculty at USC Kaufman School of Dance and DADA. IG: @gray_sandy

Amber Liekhus

Described as a “versatile singer, whose voice is at once regal and affectionate” ( LA Times ), Amber has had a thrilling career in the US and abroad. Favorites include: Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd and U/S for Ruby in King Hedley II at A Noise Within, Annie at The Hollywood Bowl, Sweet Charity with Reprise 2.0, Blues in the Night at the Wallis, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Rent with McCoy Rigby. Accomplished operatic soprano, Amber appeared as Queen of El Dorado in Candide at LA Opera, the title role in Suor Angelica with Opera di Roma, and Lily in Porgy and Bess at San Francisco Opera and Los Angeles Opera. Love to husband Justin and their kids, Julien and Jasper.

Davon Rashawn

Davon has been exploring the intricacies of dance since he was a child. His environment instilled a constant search for diversity in the arts. He took his studies to the University of Southern California where he earned his BFA in dance. Since then, he’s danced works by Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, and Jermaine Spivey. Professionally he’s also worked in shows like Hairspray , Catch Me If You Can , Mamma Mia! , Tarzan , and Graffiti Pete in In the Heights . Presently he’s been splitting his time between the concert and commercial world. He’s appeared on Nickelodeon, New York Fashion Week, Snapchat and commercials with Gal Gadot, Hozier, and Zendaya. He’s really excited to be making his debut at the Pasadena Playhouse!

Joe Aaron Reid

Foot-in-yo-ass sam/ensemble.

Joe is thrilled to be making his Pasadena Playhouse debut. Internationally acclaimed for originating the role of Curtis Taylor Jr. in the West End smash hit musical Dreamgirls , opposite Pasadena Playhouse and Glee alum, Amber Riley. His additional West End credits include originating Benny in Lin Manuel Miranda’s Tony and Olivier Award-winning, In The Heights , and Stephen in the European premiere of Mark Gerrard’s, Steve . His Broadway credits include If/Then , Ghost , Catch Me If You Can , Finian’s Rainbow , Chicago , and Curtains . TV/film: Smash , The Homemade Sketch Show , Robozuna , Pretty Little Liars: Summer School (2024), and The Holiday Exchange (2024). Many thanks to 44 West Entertainment. Love to A & D. @Joeaaronreid

Naomi C. Walley

Naomi hails from Chicago, IL. Pasadena Playhouse debut! Broadway: Chicago (Velma Kelly). Off Broadway: A Chorus Line (Bebe, NY City Center). National Tour: The Bodyguard (Rachel/Nikki Marron alternate). International Tour: West Side Story (Anita) as well as numerous regional productions. TV/Film: Winning Time (HBO), Deadly D*lf (Tubi), In The Heights (Warner Brothers Studios), and The Get Down (Netflix). Naomi has also had the privilege of developing various new works and Broadway productions, including the 2020 Broadway revival of West Side Story and most notably MJ: The Musical . She wishes to thank God, Kent and Dell, Innovative Artists, and of course, all of her friends and family for their undying love and support! Follow @naomicwalley

Hannah Yosef

Too tight nora/ensemble.

Hannah is a dancer, singer, and actor based in Los Angeles, California. This Texas native decided to follow her dreams by moving to LA to receive a BFA in Performing Arts from The American Musical & Dramatic Academy. Her first steps in front of the camera became reality in music videos such as Tinashe X Griffin “Scandalous” and Candy Lover Ft. Ken-Y “Maldita Locura”. Other credits include commercials for Volkswagen “Made By America ” and for Outshine “Joy Inside Out”. Above anything else, Hannah is inspired by people and their stories and she is incredibly grateful for her mom, brother, mentors, and all that have shed light and love in her life.

George C. Wolfe (Book)

Theatre directing credits include The Iceman Cometh , Shuffle Along , or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed (NY Drama Critics’ Circle Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Musical); Lucky Guy ; The Normal Heart (Drama Desk); Jelly’s Last Jam (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award); Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (Tony Award and Drama Desk) and Perestroika (Drama Desk); Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk (Tony and Drama League Award); Topdog/Underdog (Obie Award); Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (Drama Desk); Elaine Stritch at Liberty (Tony for Special Theatrical Event); The Tempest ; Caroline, or Change (Olivier Award Best Musical); and A Free Man of Color . From 1993-2005 Wolfe was the Producer of The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival. He is the writer of the award-winning The Colored Museum , Shuffle Along… , he directed/adapted Spunk (Obie Award), and Harlem Song .

Ferdinand La Menthe “Jelly Roll” Morton (Music)

Morton was born in the Creole gentry of New Orleans in 1891, but was irresistibly drawn to the excitement of the infamous Storyville district where he made his reputation as a pianist. At a young age he left New Orleans to travel the country, landing in Chicago in the 1920s. He and his band, The Red Hot Peppers, became the top black recording artists for RCA Records in 1927-1928. Morton’s music integrated the sounds of ragtime, blues, African rhythms and French opera, establishing him as one of the great jazz pioneers. But by 1930 his music was considered old hat. He died in Los Angeles in 1941.

Susan Birkenhead (Lyrics)

Susan Birkenhead received a Tony Nomination, a Grammy nomination and a Drama Desk Award for her lyrics for Jelly’s Last Jam , which she wrote with George C. Wolfe.  She was nominated for a Tony award for Working , and a Drama Desk Award for Triumph of Love . She won an Outer Critics Circle Award for What About Luv? and a Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Minsky’s . She wrote additional lyrics for High Society on Broadway, and  was one of several writers of A My Name Is Alice and Stars of David off Broadway. The Secret Life of Bees , which she’s written with Lynn Nottage and Duncan Sheik, just finished a run in London and will open in New York in 2025. Boop , which she’s written with David Foster and Bob Martin, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, will go into rehearsals in January and will open on Broadway in April of 2025.

Luther Henderson (Musical Adaptation and Additional Music Composed)

Luther Henderson was a composer, arranger, orchestrator, music director, and performer with a long and impressive career spanning multiple genres. Henderson worked on more than 50 Broadway productions. He served as the original pianist and orchestrator, arranger, and musical supervisor for Ain’t Misbehavin‘ . For Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music , he was the musical consultant and arranged several selections. He orchestrated the Tony Award-winning Raisin and Play On! As a dance arranger, Henderson‘s credits included Flower Drum Song , Do Re Mi , Funny Girl , and No, No Nanette . He also had a robust recording career, featuring albums with the Canadian Brass Quintet, Eileen Farrell, Columbia Records, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Andre Kostelanetz Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, Mandy Patinkin, Polly Bergen, Anita Ellis, and others. (Sources: National Endowment for the Arts , Playbill.com )

Kent Gash (Director)

Co-Author and Director, Something to Live For at Pittsburgh Public ( BroadwayWorld Best New Musical), The Three Musketeers at Oregon Shakespeare and The Acting Co. Tarell McCraney’s Choir Boy , Steppenwolf, Studio Theatre  (Jeff & Bay Area Critics Awards). LA: August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean at South Coast Rep, Harriet’s Return at Geffen Playhouse. NYC: Barbecue at the Public, Lockdown at Rattlestick, Miss Evers’ Boys (NYC premiere) at Melting Pot. Select from 100+ Award winning Regional: Guys and Dolls at the Guthrie; The Wiz at Ford’s Theatre; “Master Harold”…and the Boys at Arizona Theatre Company; Tarell McCraney’s Wig Out! at Studio Theatre DC and Sundance; Jelly’s Last Jam ; Pacific Overtures ; Topdog/Underdog (Norton Award); God of Carnage ; Five Guys Named Moe ; Quiara Hudes’ Elliot, a Soldier’s Fugue ; and 26 MILES, as the Associate Artistic Director at Alliance Theatre (2001-2009). Troilus and Cressida , Godspell , Twelfth Night , Guys and Dolls , Beehive , as Associate Artistic Director at Alabama Shakespeare Festival (1999-2001). Kent is the current Artistic Director at The Acting Company (2021-present) and Founding Director of New Studio on Broadway, Tisch, NYU. BFA: Carnegie-Mellon. MFA: UCLA.

Darryl Archibald (Music Direction)

Some Like It Hot (Broadway – Shubert Theatre); Motown: The Musical (Broadway – Nederlander Theatre); Yemandja the new Angelique Kidjo musical (music supervisor – world tour); Jelly’s Last Jam (guest conductor – New York City Center); Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ (Pre Broadway engagement – The Old Globe); Encore! on Disney+ ( Ragtime episode); The Color Purple (Broadway tour and Paper Mill Playhouse); Wicked (substitute conductor – Pantages Theater); Memphis (Broadway tour); A Little Night Music , Ragtime , Little Shop of Horrors with M.J. Rodriguez (Pasadena Playhouse); Dear World with Tyne Daly (VPAC); Two By Two with Jason Alexander (Reprise); Passion (Boston Court); Jonathan Dove’s Innocence (Banff Centre). Full bio at darrylarchibald.com.

Dell Howlett (Choreographer)

Dell is a New York based Virginia born choreographer/director. Selected credits: Forsyth County Is Flooding (Atlanta Opera), Malvolio (Classical Theatre of Harlem), Billy Strayhorn: Something to Live For (Pittsburgh Public Theatre), Toni Stone (Alliance Theatre and Milwaukee Repertory) It Came From Outer Space (Chicago Shakespeare Theater and TheatreSquared), Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Guys and Dolls (Guthrie Theatre), Paradise Square (Associate to Bill T. Jones, Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Wiz (Ford’s Theater), WigOut (Studio Theater), The C.A. Lyons Project (Alliance Theater). Head of Dance at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts in the Department of Drama’s New Studio on Broadway. Upcoming: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Summer 2024, Classical Theatre of Harlem), Mandela the Musical (Fall 2024), and Furlough’s Paradise (Spring 2025, Geffen Playhouse). IG: @aristotlejr

Edward E. Haynes, Jr. (Scenic Design)

Ed is excited to be returning to the Playhouse where he last designed Crowns . Regional credits include: Arizona Theatre Company, Laguna Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, Muny Opera, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mark Taper Forum, Ebony Repertory Theatre Company, South Coast Rep, Kirk Douglas Theatre, Berkeley Rep, East West Players, Hollywood Bowl, Marin Theatre Company, TheatreWorks, Intiman Theatre, Trinity Rep, Pittsburgh City Theater, Alley Theatre, Alliance Theatre, and many he can no longer remember. Television credits include: MTV’s Spring Break 2012 & 2011 , Hip Hop Harry , The Tony Rock Project , and Culture Clash . Ed is the father of twins, Denis and Wesly, and husband to Director Elizabeth Bell-Haynes. edhaynes.carbonmade.com

Samantha C. Jones (Costume Design)

Samantha (she/her) is thankful to be returning to Pasadena Playhouse, where she previously designed Stew . She is a costume designer and educator with previous design credits at Geffen Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Huntington Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Court Theatre, Paramount Theatre (Aurora), Drury Lane Theatre, Writers Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Chicago Children’s Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Cleveland Playhouse, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, First Stage Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Peninsula Players Theater, and others. Current production(s): The Lonely Few (MCC Theatre). Her work can be viewed at samanthacjones.com.

Rui Rita (Lighting Design)

Rui (he/him) Select Broadway: Skeleton Crew , Velocity of Autumn , Trip to Bountiful , Present Laughter , Dividing the Estate , Enchanted April . Off Broadway premieres: Paradise Blue , Horton Foote’s Old Friends and The Orphans’ Home Cycle (Hewes Award) (Signature Theatre), Happiest Song Plays Last (Second Stage), Just Jim Dale (Roundabout Theatre Company), Nightingale and Moonlight and Magnolias (Manhattan Theatre Club), The Carpetbagger’s Children and Far East (Lincoln Center Theater), Dinner with Friends (Variety Arts Center). Off Broadway revivals: The Piano Lesson (Signature Theatre), Talley’s Folly (Roundabout Theatre Company), Engaged (TFANA; Obie Award). Recent regional credits: Alley Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Center Stage Theater, Center Theatre Group, Dallas Theater Center, Ford’s Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Huntington, Oregon Shakespeare, The Old Globe. For Pasadena Playhouse, Fly , for which he received an LADCC Award. designbyrui.com.

Danny Erdberg (Sound Design)

Daniel is excited to return to The Pasadena Playhouse where he’s designed the Holiday Spectacular , A Little Night Music , Sunday in the Park with George , and Head over Heels . New York: The Public Theater, New York City Opera, 92Y, Roundabout, City Center, Atlantic Theater Company, and 59E59. Regional: Arena Stage, Arizona Theater Company, Geva, Milwaukee Rep, Geffen Playhouse, ACT, Merrimack, Saratoga Opera Festival, Virginia Stage, Long Wharf, as well as productions in Korea, Japan, China, Canada and Cuba. Broadway Associate: The Iceman Cometh (Tony Nomination), Significant Other , Violet , The Glass Menagerie , A Streetcar Named Desire , The Heiress , and The Nance (Tony Win). Danny is a member of IATSE, USA829, SDC and the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab. Graduate of Northwestern University.

Ursula Kwong Brown (Sound Design)

Ursula is thrilled to return to the Pasadena Playhouse, where recent credits include the Holiday Spectacular , A Little Night Music , Sunday in the Park with George , and Head Over Heels . Other regional credits: The Wizard of Oz at ACT, Holiday at Arena Stage, King Lear at the Wallis Annenberg, The Wickhams at Arizona Theatre Company, Native Gardens at Merrimack and the world premiere of Stonewall with NYC Opera. As a composer, her work has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre, le Poisson Rouge, the Victoria & Albert museum, the National Portrait Gallery in London, as well as by festivals and ensembles across the country and around the world. Ursula received her B.A. in Music and Biology from Columbia University and her Ph.D. in Music Composition and New Media from UC Berkeley. More info at www.ursulakwongbrown.com

Shelia Dorn (Wig Design)

Theater: King Hedley II ; Fat Ham ; Twelfth Night ; Black Cypress Bayou ; Three Sisters; The Bluest Eye ; Mountain Top ; The Book of Will ; Radio Golf ; Anna in the Tropics ; All’s Well That Ends Well ; Seven Guitars ; Gem of the Ocean : “THREE” Sisters ; The Wiz ; Open Fist ; Picnic ; The Great Jheri Curl Debate ; Mommie & Clyde ; A Midsummer Night’s Dream ; The Lion King ; The Direction Home ; The Producers ; Lady Day ; Our West Side Story ; Shooting Star ; Two Trains Running ; Beauty and the Beast ; Drama Queens ; Letters from Zora ; I Go Somewhere ; Heartbreak Hotel ; Siamese Sex Show ; The Story of Alice ; Hattie: What I Need You to Know ; Painting in Red ; Dunbar Hotel . Film/TV: Something About Mother ; Dragon Fly ; Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story . Shelia’s passion project is donating her services as the resident hair and makeup designer for Amazing Grace Conservatory, a non-profit Performing Arts organization for aspiring artists ages 7-18.

Joy DeMichelle (Intimacy Coordinator)

Joy is thrilled to be working at Pasadena Playhouse! Joy is a Los Angeles based intimacy coordinator, actor, and acting coach. Recent intimacy credits include Choir Boy ; Hedda Gabler ; Winter’s Tale ; The High Table ; Apartment Living ; TJ Loves Sally 4Ever ; and The Light . Television/Film: ACX-Cross , We’re Not Married , 4 to 6 Seconds , and Color of Autumn . Joy has facilitated workshops for CBS Studios Pipeline Challenge, Celebration Theatre, USC, and CSULB Theatre Departments. Memberships include: ICOC (Intimacy Coordinators of Color); National Alliance of Acting Teachers; SAG/AFTRA; AEA; and serves on the board of GMIC (Global Majority Intimacy Coordinators). Joy is a graduate of NC A&T University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, and Rutgers University. www.JoyDeMichelle.com

Rachel Flesher (Fight Coordinator)

Rachel Lee Flesher (Fight Director) (they.she.he) Select Los Angeles:  One of the Good Ones  (Pasadena Playhouse);  Pang Spa (Chalk Theatre);  Cabaret, Destiny of Desire, Dial M for Murder  (The Old Globe Theatre)  Cassils   Human Measure  (RedCat Theatre)  Radical  (IAMA theatre Company) .  Select Chicago:  Romeo and Juliet  (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre)  Twilight Bowl, Relentless  (Goodman Theatre);  The Burials  (Steppenwolf for Young Adults);  Constellations, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, The Most…Miz Martha Washington  (Steppenwolf Theatre);  The Displaced  (Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination) (Haven Theatre);  First Love is the Revolution  (Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination) (Steep Theatre). Select Regional:  As You Like It  (Saint Louis Shakespeare);  There’s Always the Hudson  (Woolly Mammoth Theatre);  Othello  (Dallas Shakespeare Theatre);  West Side Story  (Lyric Theatre Oklahoma). Select TELEVISION: Intimacy Coordinator:  GLOW  (Netflix);  You (Warner Horizons),  Hunters  (Amazon);  The Summer I Turned Pretty  (Apple TV+);  Gaslit (NBC Universal). EDUCATION: Flesher is an Intimacy Coordinator on the SAG-AFTRA registry, the founder and CEO of Intimacy Professionals Education Collective (accredited by SAG-AFTRA), a Certified Intimacy Director and Intimacy Coordinator. Flesher is a SAG-AFTRA stunt performer, a Certified Fight Director and Fight Instructor with the Fight Directors Canada.

Ryan Bernard Tymensky, CSA (RBT Casting)

Ryan has made significant casting contributions to the film, television, and theater industry. With over a decade of experience working at one of the worlds premiere casting offices, The Telsey Office, Ryan has built a diverse portfolio spanning across various mediums. Ryan’s versatility in the world of casting speaks for itself. For the last eight years, Ryan has cast many theater productions in Los Angeles, including many shows at Pasadena Playhouse and The Wallis. Their portfolio also includes notable TV and film projects such as the Wicked movies, This Is Us , Atypical , and many more. Ryan puts inclusion and diversity at the heart of everything they do. Their mission is to celebrate and actively advocate for performers who reflect the full spectrum of human diversity to help expand a multiplicity of narratives; narratives that reflect the real world we live in and challenge conventional boundaries that currently exist in the entertainment industry. rbtcasting.com. @rbtcasting

lark hackshaw (Stage Manager)

Broadway: Two hilarious comedies, The Cottage and Chicken & Biscuits ; the Pulitzer & Tony Award winning A Soldier’s Play , the iconic revival for colored girls… enuf and Stick Fly . lark has worked for the World Famous Apollo and has headed hundreds of productions regionally, among them: Alliance Theatre, Delaware Theatre Company, Indiana Rep, Arena Stage, Cleveland Playhouse, San Jose Rep, Arizona Theatre Co, Trinity Rep, MUNY, NC Black Rep as well as taken out several  tours. lark is a longtime Line Producer/Executive Assistant for Winston-Salem’s National Black Theatre Festival. Much love to my forever supporter, C.B.

David S. Franklin (Assistant Stage Manager)

Past Productions at Pasadena Playhouse include One Of The Good Ones , KATE (ASM), Inherit the Wind , The Sound Inside (ASM), The Father (ASM), Stoneface , Defiance , Showtune (The Music of Jerry Herman), and Sisterella to name a few. Over at Center Theatre Group Highlights include: Baz Luhrmann’s La Bohème , Curtains , Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson , Two Unrelated Plays by David Mamet , Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo , The Lieutenant of Inishmore , God of Carnage , Red , Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike , Bent , Zoot Suit , Archduke , Linda Vista , King James , The Old Man and the Pool , The Secret Garden , and A Transparent Musical . Other Los Angeles: Los Angeles Theatre Center in its heyday from 1985–1990, Geffen Playhouse. Regional: Seattle Rep, Intiman Theatre. New York: Public Theater. Tours: Europe — Quotations from a Ruined City , Law of Remains (with Reza Abdoh’s Dar a Luz company).

Miriam Mendoza (Assistant Stage Manager)

Miriam (she/her) is extremely excited to be returning to Pasadena Playhouse. Credits include One of the Good Ones , Inherit the Wind (Pasadena Playhouse); world premiere of Alma, Tambo & Bones (Center Theatre Group – Kirk Douglas Theatre); 2:22 A Ghost Story and The Secret Garden (Center Theatre Group – Ahmanson Theatre); world premiere of A Transparent Musical (Center Theatre Group – Mark Taper Forum); The Half Life of Marie Curie (Theatre SilCo). An El Paso, Texas native, Miriam teaches and works around the Los Angeles area. She is a company member of New Swan Shakespeare Festival and has worked for the Walt Disney Company’s Imagination Campus (formerly known as Disney Performing Arts). MFA in Stage Management from the University of California, Irvine.

Jessica Keasberry-Vnuk (Assistant Stage Manager)

Jessica is so excited to be back at Pasadena Playhouse! Past credits include: Inherit the Wind (Pasadena Playhouse); Galilee, 34 (South Coast Repertory); A Weekend with Pablo Picasso (LA Theatre Works Tour); 2024 LA Writers’ Workshop Festival, A Christmas Story , A Transparent Musical , The Secret Garden , 2:22 A Ghost Story (Center Theatre Group); The Gardens of Anuncia (The Old Globe); Ghosts, Orlando (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Peter Pan and Tinker Bell (Lythgoe Family Panto); Driving Miss Daisy , Clybourne Park , King of the Road (Laguna Playhouse); The Glass Menagerie (International City Theatre). She received her B.A. in Drama and Certificate in Arts Management from the University of California, Irvine.

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Digital Tickets

Pasadena Playhouse is thrilled to introduce a new Digital Ticket experience for performances beginning May 2024.

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REVIEW THE USER GUIDE

Open Captioning

Guests who enjoy open captioning may request to be seated in view of a video screen with text descriptions synchronized to the onstage action designed for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The Open Captioned performance of Jelly’s Last Jam will be on Sunday, June 16, 2024 at 2:00 PM.

Audio Description

Join us for our Access performance to take advantage of the audio description service. The service includes verbal descriptions of actions, costumes, scenery, and other visual elements of the production and is designed for patrons who are blind or have low vision. Guests may request a listening device to hear live audio descriptions. Audio description is available in all seating locations on the Orchestra level of the theater. If you would like to hear the pre-show notes, please be in your seat 15 minutes before showtime.

The audio-described performance of Jelly’s Last Jam will be on Sunday, June 16, 2024 at 2:00 PM.

Wine Wednesday

Preview week Wednesday, ticket holders are invited to come early and enjoy complimentary wine prior to the show at Pasadena Playhouse.

The Wine Wednesday performance of Jelly’s Last Jam will be on Wednesday, May 29 at 8:00 PM.

This production of Jelly’s Last Jam includes explicit racial and sexual language, simulated violence, simulated sexual situations, strobe lighting, and theatrical haze.

Jelly's Last Jam 2024

Jelly's last jam - 2024 - off-broadway history , info & more.

New York City Center

A vivid, impressionistic portrait of legendary jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton, the original 1992 Broadway production of Jelly’s Last Jam secured national recognition for writer/director George C. Wolfe (Shuffle Along, Angels in America), as well as nine Tony nominations, three wins, and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book. Now, visionary director Robert O’Hara (A Raisin in the Sun) takes up the mantle of this wildly imaginative show that interrogates the self-declared “inventor of jazz” in a purgatorial afterlife, accusing him of denying and denigrating his cultural legacy. With showstopping numbers like “That’s How You Jazz” crafted by lyricist Susan Birkenhead (Working) and composer Luther Henderson from Morton’s own music, Jelly’s Last Jam captures the profound contradictions behind the artist’s explosive talent. Brilliantly utilizing two of this country’s most potent forms of storytelling—jazz and musical theater—Jelly’s Last Jam weaves a complex fable of American history, legacy, and truth.

Jelly's Last Jam - 2024 - Off-Broadway Cast

Billy Porter

Joaquina Kalukango

Tiffany Mann

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PREVIEW Jelly's Last Jam - 2024 - Off-Broadway

FEATURED REVIEWS FOR Jelly's Last Jam

‘jelly’s last jam’ review: a musical paradise, even in purgatory.

The book has unsolvable problems, but then so do most musicals, until they are solved — or bulldozed. Even then, few give you a first act like this one, or a subject — the creation of American music in the furious cauldron of race — as hot. I mean hot as entertainment, of course, but also, even hotter, as history.

‘Jelly’s Last Jam’ Off Broadway Review: How Jazz Was Born, or Was it?

Playing the bejeweled angel, Porter is, well, Porter: flamboyant, loud and often downright obnoxious. In the beginning, he nearly wipes the stage with Christopher, who enters with his back to the audience and doesn’t seem to know that he’s being radically upstaged. Fortunately, there’s genius in that approach to playing Morton, who never seems to care what we think of him. Porter demands our attention, Christopher earns it in a slow-burn performance that ends in Morton’s grand self-immolation.

Watch video footage of Nicholas Christopher, Alaman Diadhiou, and the ensemble of Encores! Jelly's Last Jam performing 'The Whole World’s Waitin’ to Sing Your Song' here!

Get a peek at the New York City Center Encores! production of Jelly’s Last Jam. In the video below, watch as Tiffany Mann and Okieriete Onaodowan as Buddy Bolden perform “Michigan Water”!

Up next in the New York City Center Encores! season is Jelly’s Last Jam. Check out new photos of the cast in action!

Read the reviews for Jelly's Last Jam at New York City Center, starring Billy Porter and more.

In this video, watch highlights of Jelly's Last Jam at New York City Center Encores!.

In this video, watch as the cast of Encores! Jelly's Last Jam meets the press and gives a special sneak peek of 'Jelly's Jam' and 'Play the Music for Me.'

Jelly’s Last Jam runs February 21 through March 3 at New York City Center. The company recently met the press and BroadwayWorld was on hand to chat with them about the upcoming show. Check out photos from the press event here!

Rehearsals are now underway for Encores! next show- Jelly’s Last Jam, led by director Robert O’Hara. Check out a new photo as the cast paused from rehearsals here!

Okieriete Onaodowan (Hamilton) will join the cast of Encores! Jelly’s Last Jam as Buddy Bolden and Alaman Diadhiou will make his New York stage debut as Young Jelly. See the full cast and learn how to purchase tickets!

It's Jelly's first Jam! The 15-piece Encores! Orchestra, led by Guest Music Director Jason Michael Webb are jammin’ in “Jelly’s Jam,” a musical theater orchestration of Jelly Roll Morton’s iconic original jazz music, and Webb provides insight into how the music connects past and present in this video.

NEW YORK CITY CENTER has revealed additional casting for Jelly’s Last Jam the second production of the 30th Encores! series.

Jelly's Last Jam FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Jelly's last jam history, other productions of jelly's last jam.

Recommended For You

Jelly's Last Jam Tickets

Buy jelly’s last jam tickets.

Enjoy this entertaining showcase with Jelly’s Last Jam tickets. The highly acclaimed musical is hitting the stage for a rousing revue you will not want to miss. Adapted from the book by John C. Wolfe, Jelly's Last Jam reimagines the life of the legendary Creole jazz great Jelly Roll Morton. On stage, a stellar cast of performers will sing and dance to a score by lyricist Susan Birkenhead and composer Luther Henderson. The musical, which premiered on Broadway in 1992, comes to life again in this stunning regional production. Jelly's Last Jam gives audiences an inside look at the career and impact of a jazz pioneer. 

Morton, born Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe in New Orleans, La., in 1890, is a legend. He is considered one of the founders of jazz and is credited for bringing the genre to the forefront in the early 1900s. In this live musical portrait, the star shines once again. Past performances have featured acclaimed actors, including Tony Award-winners Billy Porter, Joaquina Kalukango, and many other fine entertainers. Some regional presentations have also featured Mamie Ducan-Gibbs and others from the show’s original Broadway run. Buy Jelly’s Last Jam tickets today and enjoy a sparkling modern production. The musical is staged live at venues such as the New York City Center Mainstage in New York City.

How much are Jelly's Last Jam tickets?

Jelly's Last Jam tickets for a premium orchestra seat have a price range of around $150-$350 per ticket depending on the venue. Stick to your budget with cheap seats in the back of the theater. A balcony seat will typically run $35-$55 each. Due to the size of the theatres on Broadway, ticket prices in New York can sometimes be 50-75% more than a touring performance.

Jelly's Last Jam 2024 Dates & Performance Schedule

Check the Jelly's Last Jam schedule above to find a tour date that is convenient for you. When the performance is running for a week or longer, it usually runs Tuesday through Sunday with Matinées typically available on Saturday and Sunday. Be sure to catch the show at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles , Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, Sarofim Hall at the Hobby Center in Houston or another theatre near you.

When do Jelly's Last Jam tickets go on sale?

Jelly's Last Jam tickets go on sale for a touring production once the new performance dates are announced. Typically, within 24-48 hours of the Jelly's Last Jam tour dates being announced, seats will be available. TicketSmarter makes it easy to get Broadway musical tickets in your hands without waiting in line at the box office window or for a presale code.

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Review: Imperfect, yes, but ‘Jelly’s Last Jam’ is still wildly entertaining in Pasadena revival

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Pasadena Playhouse has become the best place in town to see a musical. The theater is big enough to give a show breathing room but intimate enough to allow an audience proximity.

Most regional theaters of this scale have given up on trying to produce major musical offerings. The orchestra alone would break most budgets, never mind the murderous expense of large casts and elaborate sets.

But Pasadena Playhouse somehow manages to persevere. In recent seasons, it has delivered a fresh take on “Little Shop of Horrors” and served up two glorious revivals in its Sondheim Celebration, “Sunday in the Park With George” and “A Little Night Music.”

On stage now with a 10-piece orchestra is “Jelly’s Last Jam,” the musical about one of jazz’s founding fathers, Jelly Roll Morton. With a book by George C. Wolfe and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead, the show tells Morton’s story through his music. The score by Morton, adapted by Luther Henderson, who composed additional material, confides his spiritual biography.

One of the conceits of the musical is that not only Morton’s personal suffering but the history of his people’s suffering — a history that he kept aloof from — is encoded in the music. “Jelly’s Last Jam” begins at the end, with Morton’s body lying on a coroner’s slab, and works backwards, offering a life in review, a moral autopsy , if you will.

Chimney Man (Cress Williams) is the figure who guides Jelly (John Clarence Stewart) through this postmortem reckoning with his past. He asks Jelly to think of him as the doorman or concierge to his soul as he leads him to confront in death what he evaded in life — the pain he experienced and the pain he caused.

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June 2, 2024

“Jelly’s Last Jam,” which premiered at the Mark Taper Forum in 1991, marked the emergence of Wolfe as one of the mighty creative forces in the American theater. His play “The Colored Museum” had already established him as a playwright of tremendous daring.

In “Jelly’s Last Jam,” Wolfe proved he could be just as innovative with a musical. What set him apart as writer-director was the way he combined electric showmanship with biting political critique.

The musical, which had its Broadway premiere in 1992, catapulted Wolfe into the upper ranks of Broadway directors. But what no one who saw this production will ever forget is the dazzling Tony-winning performance of Gregory Hines in the title role.

Hines was a marvel, not just with his fevered tap dancing and supple singing but with the sensitivity of his characterization. His Jelly had the heartfelt charisma to withstand the brunt of Wolfe’s harsh interpretive scrutiny.

Although ahead of its time in many respects, “Jelly’s Last Jam” hasn’t had a revival on Broadway. The reasons aren’t hard to find. It’s a big show and a costly one. But more consequentially, it still has the feeling of a work-in-progress, a musical oozing with potential but still a few drafts away from its ideal form.

All the more reason, then, to be grateful to Pasadena Playhouse for producing this revival of “Jelly’s Last Jam.” The musical is historically noteworthy even if it falls short of classic status. (An Encores! concert staging was well received earlier this year at New York City Center.) But more to the point, the musical abounds in theatrical riches that are on brilliant display in this production, directed by Kent Gash.

The energy of the staging sweeps you along even when the storytelling gets blurry or, in its final stage, predictable. Stewart’s Jelly is not sentimentalized. He’s the strutting, arrogant, trouble-making peacock everyone says he is.

Jelly is the first to attest to his own musical genius. He claims that he invented jazz, a point that when disputed enrages him. As a primer on his musical achievement, the show relies a lot on hearsay. We enjoy what we hear, but a deeper understanding of the music wars of the time and the rivalries with other jazz trailblazers are treated superficially.

The pain Jelly would rather deny is communicated in everything he can’t say — in what he refuses to acknowledge even to himself. Stewart conveys this repression physically, through a defensive crouch that uncoils when under attack. His bombast and braggadocio betray a subtle flinch. Jelly is only truly free when at the piano, making music in a way no one has ever done before.

Stewart doesn’t charm us through sheer virtuosity in the way Hines was able to do. But he gives passionate embodiment to Jelly’s wounds.

Wolfe positions Jelly as a race traitor, who denies his Black roots but whose music tells the full story of his origins. Born to a New Orleans Creole family, he was raised in a musically sophisticated household, where French opera was revered but the lure of the blues floated temptingly just outside his front door.

The traumatic event of Jelly’s early life was his banishment by his grandmother, Gran Mimi (Karole Foreman), after she discovered he was jamming with musicians at a brothel and doing God only knows what else there. Music led him to culturally cross over, but the conflict within his racial identity was established after Gran Mimi slapped him upside the head and told him “You are not Creole!”

What follows are musical snapshots of an artist, who on the lam from himself, hones a style that will forever change the landscape of modern music. On the road, Jelly pairs up with Jack the Bear (Wilkie Ferguson III), and together they careen through a blur of dodgy nightspots and underworld dens, each requiring a hasty exit after Jelly starts running his mouth.

The staging, which can seem cluttered and breathless in the early going, traipses through these seedy locales with a theatrical swiftness that captures the milieu that bred the syncopated rhythm of the Jazz Age. (Edward E. Haynes Jr.’s scenic design, Rui Rita’s lighting, Samantha C. Jones’ costumes and Dell Howlett’s choreography create a series of fluid tableaux, part motion picture, part nightclub whirl.)

Jelly eventually meets his match, in every sense, in Anita (Jasmine Amy Rogers). She’s a singer who is as confident as he is cocky. The music they make together is sublime. (Rogers bewitches with her singing in a knockout performance.) “Jelly’s Last Jam” is most alive in their tumultuous love story.

What makes the relationship special from a theatrical standpoint isn’t so much Jelly and Anita’s suitability for each other. (Jelly isn’t ready for her.) It’s Anita’s emotional heft. She’s a worthy antagonist for Jelly, who until now has been shadow-boxing with sketchy ghosts. Anita forces him to confront the emptiness he’s been fleeing his entire life.

The second act of “Jelly’s Last Jam” plays like an outline that hasn’t been filled in. The show’s supernatural frame involving Chimney Man feels more and more like a cheat. The epiphanies that occur via this pathway come cheaply.

The most thrilling moments of the first half involve the thunderous tap dancing between Jelly and his younger self. (A soaring Doran Butler imbues Young Jelly with an endearing grace.) But sometimes the production tries to mask the problems of the book with empty theatrical pizzazz. The minstrel-inflected “Dr. Jazz” number that closes the first act is given a little too much Vegas oomph.

“Jelly’s Last Jam” is an imperfect show, but a wildly entertaining one. It’s a significant American musical that needs an overhaul that only the authors could provide. Morton certainly deserves it. There’s a deeper knowledge base of his music since the show was written. (The 1992 Broadway musical helped launch discoveries of his oeuvre.)

Wolfe offers an interpretation of an artist that is bracing in its political boldness yet ultimately seems too narrow. But what a vibrant, muscular musical, and how lucky for us that Pasadena Playhouse has undertaken to remind us of its treasures.

'Jelly's Last Jam'

Where: Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena When: 8 p.m. Tursdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m Saturdays, 2 p.m Sundays. (Check for exceptions.) Ends June 23 Tickets: Start at $44 Contact: (626) 356-7529 or PasadenaPlayhouse.org Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

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Charles McNulty is the theater critic of the Los Angeles Times. He received his doctorate in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism from the Yale School of Drama.

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‘Jelly’s Last Jam’ Review: Pasadena Playhouse Production Brings a Too-Rarely Revived Classic Jazz Musical Back to Rousing Life

By Chris Willman

Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

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It’s been just over one year since the Tonys gave the Pasadena Playhouse an award for regional theater, and that honor looks more justified than ever now that the venue is presenting a much-needed production of “Jelly’s Last Jam.” It feels like they’re re-earning that brass medallion, rather than coasting on it, with a fresh production of writer-director George C. Wolfe ’s early ‘90s hit, a show that that helped changed the course of stage musicals and helped set a course for jazz consciousness on Broadway, yet can barely get a revival to save its life. The Playhouse is doing God’s work here, in the service of a show set in jazz purgatory.

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Through most of the first act, Morton is a more than sympathetic figure. As played by John Clarence Stewart, he’s nearly as ebullient an evangelist for the new artform of jazz as Jon Batiste would be, if he had actually invented the stuff, or claimed to. But he’s torn between worlds — between the high art of his classical training as a well-to-do Creole lad in New Orleans and the low art he discovers eagerly investigating the music of brothels — and his beloved grandmother disowns him for betraying their noble heritage. (Karole Foreman portrays the spectral Gran Mimi, who’s as much horror-movie wraith as prickly matriarch.) Once he’s cut adrift, Jelly Roll finds all the community he needs in the company of his best friend and wingman, Jack the Bear (Wilkie Ferguson III), and the sultry, soulful club owner Anita (Jasmine Amy Rogers). But these two don’t notice that, as Jelly Roll’s reputation rises, he’s getting high on his own supply — of sheer arrogrance — until he pulls some dick moves that send them into each other’s arms.

“Jelly Roll’s Last Jam” is the rare musical that dares to end Act 1 on a deeply sour note, as the ugly side of its hero is exemplified in a production number, “Dr. Jazz,” that has the dancing ensemble wearing disturbing minstrel masks. It’s a risky enough move that you may be left at intermission wondering whether he can redeem himself at all in the second act, knowing what we know about his ultimate end — and knowing that the Chimney Man hasn’t exactly made it sound like Jelly Roll’s later life was filled with bright spots. Indeed, it’s not all sunshine and roses as the later going finds the protagonist making some increasingly poor choices on his way to being down and out in L.A. But some of those choices are thrust upon him by the 1930s version of the entertainment industry. There are some brilliant bits of staging as Jelly Roll encounters the only white characters in the show — played by the Black ensemble using masks or puppetry — who ensure that a Black genius won’t get too uppity. Sometimes, Jelly Roll’s sense of entitlement is aggravating, when he’s being a purist about the new offshoots of jazz that are usurping his particular brand. Sometimes, his outrage at being shut out is entirely justified. It’s rarely easy for any of us to distinguish in real time between actual aggrievements and imagined ones, and that makes it easier to have stock in Wolfe’s anti-hero when Jelly is just being a jerk.

But “Jelly’s Last Jam” is really ultimately an ensemble piece, and the amount of sheer talent on view at any given time is staggering. Director Kent Gash and choreographer Dell Howett let no dull or insufficently staged moments transpire in a show that is always finding life-saving delight in the power of dance, despite the Chimney Man’s best efforts to gently nudge the hero off this mortal coil. Special credit is due to the sensual Greek chorus that is the Hunnies (Naomi C. Walley, Janaya Mahealani Jones and the intriguingly named dance captain, Cyd Charisse Glover-Hill). Watch the way that these sirens set themselves up as props for a pool game the main characters are playing, and you may never think of pool as anything less than deeply sexy again.

Morton is seen as a man who refused to compromise, even to anything so seemingly harmless as bending a little to the new styles of jazz. (It’s probably the only musical you’ll ever see that includes a rousing swing music and dancing number… to exemplify what the hero sees as the end of all that is good and true.) “Jelly’s Last Jam,” meanwhile, is a show that makes the case that you can have it all, from resonant social commentary to the kind of thrilling hoofing that’s completely unbeholden to any deeper meaning. Contemporary shows like “Hadestown” may be pulling off similar stuff, but it’s good to have this one so rousingly back.

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Pearl Jam cancel 2 tour dates due to illness: 'The band has yet to make a full recovery'

The rock band was previously scheduled to play in Berlin but backed out at the last minute.

The show must not go on for Pearl Jam — for three concerts, at least.

On Sunday, the rock band canceled two more European tour dates due to an unspecified illness shortly after canceling another show for the same reason.

"We are sorry to share that the Pearl Jam concerts scheduled for Tuesday, July 2nd and Wednesday, July 3rd in Berlin are cancelled," the band said in a statement shared on social media. "Tickets will be refunded at the point of purchase. Thank you for continued understanding and support, it means the world."

Related: Your guide to 2024's biggest music tours

The photo in the social media post gave fans more information on how the band members were still recovering from undisclosed health issues.

"Despite everyone’s best efforts, the band has yet to make a full recovery," the statement reads. "The impacts of this decision are not lost on us. We feel deeply that so many people spend their time, money and emotional energy to get tickets and then to come see the band, and it is heart-wrenching to have to disappoint you. We also appreciate the many people whose hard work goes into making these shows happen."

The statement continues, "Please trust we never take these decisions lightly and try to do everything possible to show up for you all. We wish a reschedule had been possible for this tour leg and hope to come back soon."

See the band's full statement below:

Related: Eddie Vedder slams Harrison Butker for sexist commencement speech: 'People of quality do not fear equality'

Pearl Jam previously cancelled their Saturday, June 29 show at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the same reason. The newly cancelled dates were scheduled for Tuesday, July 2 and Wednesday, July 3 at Waldbühne in Berlin. The band is supposed to play next on Saturday, July 6 in Barcelona.

The band was recently joined onstage by Bradley Cooper at May's BottleRock Napa Valley festival for a duet of "Maybe It's Time" from 2018's  A Star Is Born , as well as an encore to Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World." Frontman Eddie Vedder introduced Cooper as his "great, great pal" because the pair became close while Cooper made  A Star Is Born , as the actor consulted the legendary rocker on his portrayal of his character, Jackson Maine.

"I went up to Seattle and spent four or five days with him and I asked him 9,000 questions," Cooper  told Yahoo Movies . "And he gave me minor, little things that only musicians know about what to do, just aesthetically and the inner workings."

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly .

Pearl Jam cancel more tour dates due to illness

Pearl Jam say that "despite everyone's best efforts" the band "has yet to make a full recovery", adding they don't take "these decisions lightly" after calling off the gigs in Berlin, just days after cancelling a date at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Arts and entertainment reporter @BethanyMinelle

Tuesday 2 July 2024 09:38, UK

Pearl Jam have cancelled two more tour dates due to illness, after pulling out of a London gig last week.

The rock group had been due to play in Berlin on Tuesday and Wednesday but called it off because "the band has yet failed to make a full recovery".

The type of illness, or which band members have been affected, has not been revealed.

They said tickets would be refunded at point of purchase, adding that while they wished "a reschedule had been possible for this tour leg" they "hope to come back to Berlin soon".

On Friday, they cancelled their Tottenham Hotspur Stadium show scheduled for Saturday night due to illness in the band, saying they had "no other option".

The band said in a statement shared on Instagram: "We are sorry to share that the Pearl Jam concerts scheduled for Tuesday, July 2nd and Wednesday, July 3rd in Berlin are cancelled.

"Despite everyone's best efforts, the band has yet to make a full recovery."

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They went on: "The impacts of this decision are not lost on us. We feel deeply that so many people spend their time, money, and emotional energy to get tickets and then to come see the band and it is heart wrenching to have to disappoint you.

"We also appreciate the many people whose hard work goes into making these shows happen."

"Please trust we never take these decisions lightly and try to do everything possible to show up for you all."

The statement concluded: "Thank you for continued understanding and support, it means the world."

The band, which formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990, is fronted by Eddie Vedder, along with lead guitarist Mike McCready, drummer Matt Cameron, bass guitarist Jeff Ament and rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard.

They are currently touring the world to promote their latest album, Dark Matter.

Support acts include former Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft and Irish indie rockers The Murder Capital.

Their next live show is currently scheduled for 6 July in Barcelona.

The band are set to launch the US leg of their tour on 26 August.

Related Topics

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Pearl Jam Cancel Two More European Shows Due to Illness

"Please trust we never take these decisions lightly and try to do everything possible to show up for you all."

By Jessica Lynch

Jessica Lynch

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Pearl Jam has been forced to cancel two additional shows on their European tour as unspecified band members continue to recover from illness.

The group was slated to perform at Waldbühne in Berlin on July 2 and 3, but these dates have now been scrapped.

The announcement comes just a day after the band had to call off their June 29 show at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the same reason. The next opportunity for Pearl Jam to return to the stage will be on July 6 in Barcelona.

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“Please trust we never take these decisions lightly and try to do everything possible to show up for you all,” it continued.

“We wish a reschedule had been possible for this tour leg and hope to come back soon. Tickets will be refunded at the point of purchase. Thank you for your continued understanding and support. It means the world.”

We are sorry to share that the Pearl Jam concerts scheduled for Tuesday, July 2nd and Wednesday, July 3rd in Berlin are cancelled. Tickets will be refunded at the point of purchase. Thank you for continued understanding and support, it means the world. – Pearl Jam pic.twitter.com/fXIcjizGX8 — Pearl Jam (@PearlJam) June 30, 2024

Although the specific members affected have not been disclosed, frontman Eddie Vedder struggled with vocal issues during the band’s previous show in Manchester on June 25, just the second date of the tour leg.

Tickets for the canceled Berlin shows will be refunded at the point of purchase.

Addressing the audience, Vedder alluded to catching an illness after high-fiving fans at their Dublin show a few days prior.

Pearl Jam is currently on tour supporting their latest album, Dark Matter . Earlier this week, Vedder surprise-released a solo cover of the English Beat’s “Save It for Later” as part of the new season of the FX show The Bear.

On June 30, the band also marked the 24th anniversary of the tragic crowd surge that claimed the lives of nine fans during their performance at Denmark’s Roskilde Festival in 2000.

“We honor and remember the young men who tragically lost their lives on June 30, 2000 and hold their friends and families in our hearts,” they wrote on social media.

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The Improbable, Unstoppable Rise of Goose

Meet the jam band that just might persuade you to love a jam band.

or the sake of brevity, let’s skip the first verse and the chorus. Let’s jump over some ambient noodling and the gradual building of musical tension. Let’s begin, in jam-band parlance, on a peak, a moment of sonic culmination. Let’s begin at Radio City Music Hall on June 25, 2022. Specifically, we’re two hours and 12 minutes into the evening when the house lights come up, a red-haired 57-year-old man with a guitar walks onstage, and all 6,000 people in attendance collectively lose their minds as they realize what they are witnessing.

The redhead is the Phish front man Trey Anastasio. But this isn’t a Phish show. The headliner tonight is Goose, a band of five 30-somethings in the midst of a meteoric rise. This is Goose’s second-straight sold-out show at Radio City; just three years and three days earlier, the band was playing at Kenny’s Westside Pub, in Peoria, Illinois.

In his first song with the band, Anastasio, one of the best guitarists of his or any era, holds back, letting Goose’s guitarist, Rick Mitarotonda, lead complex improvisations. As the pair continue to trade riffs, a grin appears on Anastasio’s face. Typically, a visitor of his stature would play just a couple of songs before taking a bow. But after two, he leans into Mitarotonda to whisper a few words the audience can’t hear. When the huddle breaks, Mitarotonda smiles wryly. “He’s gonna stay,” he tells the ecstatic crowd. They play together for another hour.

If you don’t know much about Phish, Goose, or the jam scene, the significance of Anastasio’s presence might be hard to parse. The Radio City show was a landmark moment for Goose—a signal to anyone with a passing interest in the genre that it was time to take the band seriously.

I will pause here to say that I am keenly aware that even a passing interest in this subject may be more than some readers will be able to muster. I’ve apologized enough for my musical proclivities over the years to know that jam band can be a freighted combination of words. It might bring up memories of patchouli oil and Hacky Sacks, of stoned liberal-arts grads arguing about which 16-minute version of Phish’s “Reba” is superior. Without hearing a note, you may have already made up your mind about Goose.

Then again, maybe not. Recently, I’ve found myself needing to apologize less often for my tastes: After years of stigma, the jam scene is enjoying something like mainstream acceptance. Last summer, Dead & Company—the latest incarnation of the Grateful Dead—sold out shows across the country and, according to The New York Times , made the Dead “a cultural touchstone again.” With John Mayer now installed as lead guitarist, the group has recruited a new generation of fans, many of whom weren’t even born when Jerry Garcia died, in 1995. Dead & Company and Phish are now packing audiences into the Sphere , the towering orb just off the Las Vegas Strip, whose spectacle is made for social-media sharing.

Read: Sphere and loathing in Las Vegas

One reason for this renaissance is the stultifying nature of listening to music in the era of streaming dominance. Platforms such as Spotify seek to identify users’ tastes and then serve up more of the same. Jam bands, in contrast, are unpredictable by definition. In the mid-’60s, the Grateful Dead established an ethos of constant experimentation: No two live shows are ever the same, and, indeed, no performance of a given song is ever repeated. Each show is a feat of improvisation, and part of the appeal is witnessing this high-wire act alongside fellow travelers. Unlike the atomized experience of streaming music through a set of earbuds, following a jam band is a communal adventure. The music, in other words, is a powerful rebuke to the idea that our tastes can be analyzed, quantified, and satisfied by a computer.

Goose has been especially well positioned to benefit from a newfound openness to the jam scene. Whereas the Dead is a band with decades of esoteric lore and a sound forged in the ’60s, Goose is accessible and modern. The band’s influences are rooted in the indie and rock acts its members grew up admiring: the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Radiohead, and, yes, Phish.

Onstage, Goose builds little worlds. “I’m constantly looking to create something that I feel like I could get lost in,” Mitarotonda told me recently. In the middle of a song, he will conjure winding, hypnotic melodies, then weave them together with the notes and rhythms the four other men are playing. The band composes ephemeral songs within songs, bending genres along the way—plodding organ funk may give way to bright, searching major-key bliss rock. A distorted, menacing series of guitar riffs and bass lines may build to gnarly peaks before landing softly and ethereally. Or the band might break into one of its trademark reinterpretations of ’80s pop: Kenny Loggins’s “Danger Zone,” from the Top Gun soundtrack; Eddy Grant’s reggae-fusion hit “Electric Avenue.”

Jerry Garcia’s death tore a hole in the jam-band scene, creating a vacuum no one was ready to fill. Former members of the Grateful Dead played on, as did Phish and bands such as Widespread Panic, but no rightful heir had been named. The result was an immense pressure, especially on Phish and Anastasio, to absorb the audience and legacy of the Dead while preserving their own sound. In championing Goose, Anastasio was perhaps attempting to point a way forward, not just for the band, but for the now-resurgent genre. Dead & Company, too, has collaborated with Goose, offering the group its own imprimatur.

For all their recent success, Phish and Dead & Company are the past and present, not the future, of the scene. It may fall to Goose to be the group that escapes the confines of the old tie-dyed traveling circus, reimagines what a modern jam band can be, and awakens a wider audience to the endless possibilities and pleasures of improvised rock.

G oose officially became a band in 2014. The group slowly assembled its lineup by cobbling together Mitarotonda’s friends from Boston’s Berklee College of Music (founding drummer Ben Atkind) and his hometown of Wilton, Connecticut (the multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach as well as the bassist Trevor Weekz, who looks like the chillest employee at your local ski shop). Anspach started as a Goose fan—and rival band leader—before joining in 2017. He embodies Goose’s nerdy energy: Onstage, he can be found behind an array of keyboards, a guitar slung over his back, bobbing up and down to the music. But Goose didn’t settle fully on its trademark sound until 2020, when it invited a longtime collaborator, the percussionist Jeff Arevalo, to come on full time. Arevalo can complicate a rhythm in a way that pushes a song into new territory.

The early days were a grind. Jam bands prove themselves on the road, and Goose spent multiple years playing 100-plus shows. There’s a word-of-mouth element to the scene: When fans hear the genuine article, the news travels. A bar gig can lead to a small college-town show, which can garner an invite to a festival—and the fan base grows.

Even when Goose was playing the smaller festival circuit, it maintained a prolific online presence, posting concert clips on YouTube, livestreaming almost daily via a subscription service, and making soundboard recordings of shows available, many of them for free, on platforms such as Bandcamp. Much of this was originally Anspach’s doing: He mastered the soundboard audio from shows and dutifully posted it to Bandcamp not long after coming offstage. As it’s grown, Goose has built out a team of videographers and directors who continue to livestream most shows—a concert film released nearly every night the band is on tour. In its own way, the band is updating a tradition started by the Dead, of making the band’s central output—live music—as available as possible.

From the March 2010 issue: Joshua Green on the management secrets of the Grateful Dead

The coronavirus pandemic arrived at a hinge point for the band’s popularity. Live music was essentially canceled—Goose, however, continued to play. It booked a slate of socially distanced shows at drive-in theaters, and streamed “bingo” nights, in which the band picked songs and musical challenges (20-minute jam; rotation jam, where band members swapped instruments) out of a bingo cage.

Goose’s sense of play has been at the heart of its ascent. One Halloween, the band performed an Austin Powers concert, in costume; Mitarotonda delivered Dr. Evil’s Mini-Me rap. Last year, I was in the audience at a concert at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre. The official theme for the evening was “Sleeveless in Seattle”; the entire band was clad in tank tops. Minutes into the performance, the venue’s PA system malfunctioned, flooding the room with gnarly static. When Goose finally went back on, following two unsuccessful attempts to start, the band responded with a 45-minute improvisation—an immediate Jam of the Year contender. “It was like, We don’t know if it’s going to crap out again, so let’s just send it ,” Mitarotonda told me.

T racking Goose’s rise over the past five years, it’s tempting to see a story of linear success, of good vibes only getting better. But it hasn’t always felt that way to the members of the band.

I first met them in 2022, outside Denver, where the band was playing that year’s Goosemas concert, an annual holiday tradition that had started eight years earlier in a Norwalk, Connecticut, basement. Backstage, about two hours before the band would play one of its biggest shows to date, I stumbled upon Mitarotonda alone in the greenroom. We had an interview planned for later, but he seemed eager to talk then and there.

The early years of Goose weren’t always easy for Mitarotonda. He wasn’t sure he could deliver what audiences were coming to expect from him. “I just felt so toppled by the notion of these big crowds and going out there,” he told me. The nerves are understandable—improvisation, even for the most seasoned practitioners, carries genuine risk.

A great jam is an art form, and the most crucial skill is listening—it’s about “locking in on what somebody else is doing, and making them feel like their idea is super valuable,” as Anspach put it to me. Occasionally, in a live show, you’ll hear Anspach whoop and holler during a solo, as if he were still just a fan. When I asked him about these bursts of encouragement, he told me that he does it because, onstage, it’s hard for the other musicians to hear the crowd’s cheers. “But they can hear me,” he said.

The highs are high, but every jam band has to live with the reality that it will sometimes swing and miss. The occasional off night or bad run is not uncommon; even die-hard Dead and Phish fans will dismiss entire years of the bands’ live music. But Mitarotonda’s anxieties were persistent. I brought up a show I’d seen that summer, in Portland, Oregon, where I watched Mitarotonda practically liquefy the strings of his guitar over the course of three hours. He looked at me with fascination. We’d had two completely different experiences that evening, he told me: What I saw as virtuosity, he described as fighting to get the notes out of the guitar.

The inevitable comparisons to Phish and the Dead, while flattering, can also be exhausting. And they can stoke rivalries between the bands’ fan bases. Detractors argue that Goose is an overrated “pop jam band”—some songs do have a pop-inflected sound, especially compared with Phish or the Dead—or that its improvisations tend to fall into same-sounding ruts. Mostly, the band’s critics take issue with the idea that it’s been crowned as the next big thing in the scene, when there are other contenders for that crown. At a recent show, I saw numerous Goose fans wearing shirts bearing the phrase not 100 percent sold on Goose —a jab at holdouts from other camps. As intense are the expectations of the already-won-over fans, who can make contradictory demands. They want to see the band evolve, yet at the same time, there’s already a sense of nostalgia for the scrappy experimentation of the early days.

For Goose, this has meant pressure to keep up a near-constant touring schedule while also perpetually reinventing itself. In the jam-band tradition, the set lists are different each night. Over dinner one evening, I watched Anspach and Mitarotonda concoct a plan for the night’s show and learned that the pair review lists of songs they’ve played in each city, to make sure local crowds get something new every time the band comes through. I watched them throw out songs and then whittle the list down using a shared iPhone Note—to my dismay, “Madhuvan,” a great vehicle for Goose’s darker jams, was nixed, having been played during the band’s summer run in Colorado.

Over time, the demands of the road exact a toll, as the band becomes so focused on performing that it has no time to work toward something new. Mitarotonda refers to touring and performing as creative outputs , and to writing and practicing as creative inputs . There have been times, he said, when the band was putting out much more than it was taking in.

It was at a moment when road life had started to weigh a little heavier on Mitarotonda that Anastasio took an interest in the band. After the Radio City show, he invited Goose to co-headline a fall tour with the Trey Anastasio Band. A childhood friend of Mitarotonda’s told me that during a Phish show in 2009, Mitarotonda, then about 18 years old, turned to him mid-jam, pointed to the stage, and said, I think I want to do that. Thirteen years later, he was on tour with Anastasio.

The collaboration helped Mitarotonda figure out some things as a musician. In their free time backstage, Mitarotonda and Anastasio geeked out on the craft of making live music. In one video the band released on YouTube, Anastasio enthusiastically describes his amp settings. But Anastasio bestowed nontechnical advice too. Minutes after their first show of the tour, he asked Mitarotonda how he thought Goose’s set went. “I told him it was fine and that we eased into the evening,” Mitarotonda recounted. “And Trey was like, That’s interesting. I don’t ease into it. ” The offhand remark was a revelation. “It’s like, Oh, of course you should go out there and just punch the audience in the face with it ,” Mitarotonda said. “I feel like I’ve been both living life and playing guitar so defensively for so long. And now I am thinking about how to go on the offensive.”

Sure enough, when I went back and listened back to the second show on the tour with Anastasio, the difference was clear: a high-intensity opener that set the tone for the evening.

F ew bands can experience an ascent like Goose’s and emerge unscathed. Creative differences led to the departure of Ben Atkind late last year. For fans, the first few weeks of 2024—one of the rare times that the band went off the grid—seemed to signal that the fairy tale was over. But when I spoke with Mitarotonda a few months later, he argued that it was during this quiet period that the band once again found its way: It used the downtime to stock up creatively and practice obsessively so that it could head back on the road with something the members felt good about sharing.

In early February, the band announced Atkind’s replacement, Cotter Ellis, by releasing a video of his final audition—a 32-minute jam. Over the next month, the band introduced Ellis to a legion of concerned fans, culminating in two long YouTube concerts recorded in Mitarotonda’s Connecticut barn. In the videos, the band cycles through classic songs with a new enthusiasm: Weekz’s bass is louder; Arevalo tries his hand at rhythm guitar; Anspach plays the keys so hard that his glasses fly off his face. The cameras linger on Ellis too, who bounces in his seat. The subtext of the videos is clear: Don’t worry, we can still rip.

When I asked Mitarotonda what this iteration of the band would be like, he demurred, arguing that it wasn’t for him to say. Yet it’s clear—both from speaking with Mitarotonda and from observing the band play—that Ellis’s playing style and technical prowess have inspired the band. A few weeks after our conversation, in early April, Goose played its first live shows in its new configuration—a sold-out four-night run at New York’s Capitol Theatre, a storied jam venue. With Ellis, the music is more patient, more mature, but also more energetic than it’s been in years.

The band may be at another hinge point. In many ways, this is what’s appealing about not only Goose but also the entire jam genre. Being a fan links you to the past—to this long, painstakingly documented history of improvisation and evolution—but you’re always focused on what’s coming next. The future may be unpredictable, but one thing is constant: There is always the next show.

Near the end of my last conversation with Mitarotonda, I reminded him about our first meeting and his candid uncertainty about Goose’s rise and his own standing as a front man. Had his outlook changed? “It sounds like you’re asking, ‘Does it feel like you’ve arrived?’ … And it’s like, I don’t feel like I’ve arrived,” he said. “I feel confident in the direction I’m moving in, you know, and that’s maybe all that matters.”