After Midnight (musical)

After Midnight is a Broadway musical that premiered at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in 2013. The revue is based on an earlier 2011 revue, titled Cotton Club Parade, which ran in concert at Encores! in 2011 and 2012.

After Midnight
Opening Night Playbill
MusicVarious Artists
LyricsVarious Artists
BasisThe music of Duke Ellington, Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields, Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler
Productions2011, 2012 Encores!
2013 Broadway (Brooks Atkinson Theater) 2015 Norwegian Escape

Overview

After Midnight is the Broadway production of Cotton Club Parade that premiered Off-Broadway at New York City Center's Encores! concert series in November 2011, starring Amber P. Riley in 2012 as the Special Guest Star and directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle with music direction by Jazz at Lincoln Center artistic director Wynton Marsalis.[1] Cotton Club Parade played a return engagement in November 2012 at New York City Center Encores!.[2] The Cotton Club Parade was conceived by Jack Viertel, artistic director of "Encores!", who said "When we started rehearsals for 'Cotton Club Parade' in 2011, we knew we had something very special in store for audiences. Now that we’ve wrapped up our second run of this show at City Center, I couldn’t be more proud to have the show come to Broadway."[1]

The revue takes place "after midnight" in New York's Harlem. It features jazz pieces by Duke Ellington, Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields and Harold Arlen, framed by the poetry of Langston Hughes. The show features an orchestra of 17 musicians, 25 vocalists, dancers and performers. It is headlined by a rotating list of performers.[3]

Production
The Brooks Atkinson Theatre where After Midnight was Performed

The Broadway production began previews at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on October 18, 2013 and opened on November 3, 2013 with special guest star Fantasia Barrino, who performed through February 9, 2014. The production features Dule Hill as "The Host", Adriane Lenox, Karine Plantadit and Desmond Richardson.[4][5] Direction and choreography is by Warren Carlyle, with Scenic Design by John Lee Beatty, costumes by Isabel Toledo, lighting by Howell Binkley, and sound by Peter Hylenski.

Dancers and vocalists include: Julius "iGlide" Chisolm, Virgil J. Gadson, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Jared Grimes, Everett Bradley, Cedric Neal, T. Oliver Reid, Monroe Kent III, Carmen Ruby Floyd, Rosena M. Hill Jackson, Bryonha Marie Parham, Marija Abney, Phillip Attmore, Christopher Broughton, Taeler Elyse Cyrus, C.K. Edwards, Bahiyah Hibah, Erin Moore, Justin Prescott, Allysa Shorte, Monique Smith, Daniel Watts, Danielle Herbert and David Jennings.[6] The show was produced by Scott Sanders, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Furman, Candy Spelling, Starry Night Entertainment, Hal Newman, Allan S. Gordon and Adam S. Gordon, James L. Nederlander, Robert K. Kraft, Catherine and Fred Adler, Robert Appel, Jeffrey Bolton, Scott M Delman, James Fantaci, Ted Liebowitz, Stephanie P. McClelland, Sandy Block and Carol R. Fineman.

Special guest stars after Fantasia Barrino included k.d. lang[5] (February 11 – March 9), Toni Braxton with Babyface (March 18 – March 30), Vanessa Williams (April 1 – May 11), Barrino (May 13 – June 8)[7] and Patti LaBelle (June 10 – June 29). The show closed on June 29, 2014, after 272 performances and 19 previews; LaBelle was the final guest star.[8] Gladys Knight and Natalie Cole were set to join the cast as special guest stars but the show closed before their set dates.[9]

Upon closing, Broadway Licensing acquired the rights for stock and amateur performance rights.[10]

Songs

Critical reception

Stephen Holden, in his review of the Cotton Club Parade in 2011 for The New York Times wrote: "The revue’s solution to the debatable issue of caricature and at what point a broad performance becomes a demeaning minstrel-show parody is to rein in the extremes. But it is in no way sedate. If the show has no Nell Carter or Ruth Brown, it does have Adriane Lenox, who delivers the Sippie Wallace advice song 'Women Be Wise'... with a knowing tang.... Mr. Carlyle’s clean choreography connects variations of the Charleston with jitterbugging and a little break-dancing to suggest the continuity of styles without insisting on it."[11]

Elysa Gardner in her review for USA Today wrote: "...you get 90 minutes of honest, vital entertainment, delivered with enough breezy wit to mitigate the flashes of pomp."[12]

Linda Winer, in her review for Newsday, noted that the most important part of the revue is the band. She wrote: "When that push for slickness goes into overdrive, the ensemble can feel ragged.... Adriane Lenox is marvelous in such sardonic, been-around revelations as 'Go Back Where You Stayed Last Night.' The dancers, led by former Twyla Tharp star Karine Plantadit, are strong."[13]

Awards and nominations
Year Award Ceremony Category Nominee Result
2014 Tony Award Best Musical Nominated
Best Featured Actress in a Musical Adriane Lenox Nominated
Best Direction of a Musical Warren Carlyle Nominated
Best Choreography Won
Best Costume Design of a Musical Isabel Toledo Nominated
Best Lighting Design of a Musical Howell Binkley Nominated
Best Sound Design of a Musical Peter Hylenski Nominated
Drama Desk Awards Outstanding Musical Revue Won
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Adriane Lenox Nominated
Outstanding Choreography Warren Carlyle Won
Outer Critics Circle Awards Outstanding New Broadway Musical Nominated
Outstanding Director of a Musical Warren Carlyle Nominated
Outstanding Choreographer Won
Outstanding Costume Design Isabel Toledo Nominated
Outstanding Lighting Design Howell Binkley Nominated

See also

References
  1. Gans, Andrew (9 January 2013). "Cotton Club Parade, Seen at New York City Center, Will Transfer to Broadway in the Fall". Playbill. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  2. Gans, Andrew (14 November 2012). "Cotton Club Parade, With Amber Riley, Joshua Henry, Adriane Lenox, Begins Return Encores! Run Nov. 14". Playbill. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  3. "After Midnight broadway". January 29, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  4. Isherwood, Charles. "'After Midnight' On Broadway". New York Times. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  5. Gioia, Michael (11 February 2014). "Grammy Winner K.D. Lang Is New Headliner of Broadway's After Midnight, Beginning Feb. 11". Playbill. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  6. Gioia, Michael (18 October 2013). "Broadway Musical Revue After Midnight, Headlined by Fantasia Barrino, Begins Performances Oct. 18". Playbill. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  7. Gioia, Michael (1 April 2014). "Tony Nominee Vanessa Williams Is New Headliner of Broadway's After Midnight, Beginning April 1". Playbill. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  8. Gioia, Michael (29 June 2014). "Broadway's Cotton Club Closes: After Midnight Plays Final Performance". Playbill. Archived from the original on 19 July 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  9. Cox, Gordon (30 April 2014). "'After Midnight' Rides Tony Momentum with Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight and Natalie Cole". Variety. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  10. "Broadway Licensing". broadwaylicensing.com.
  11. Holden, Stephen (20 November 2011). "A Historic Harlem Hothouse Swings Again (With a Modern Orchestra)". nytimes.com. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  12. Gardner, Elysa (3 November 2013). "Singers, dancers, musicians shine 'After Midnight'". USA Today. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  13. Winer, Linda (1 November 2013). "'After Midnight' review. Hot jazz, no story". Newsday. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
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