Leonard Bernstein's ode to New York, Wonderful Town, is currently running at New York City Center through May 11. To the cast and creative team, it's a love letter to New York City of the 1950s and today.
Said the production's director Zhailon Levingston:&苍产蝉辫;鈥�Wonderful Town actually shows Greenwich Village at a time when it was more diverse and complicated than it is even now. In some way we鈥檙e telling the audience, come back to this Golden Age period of musical theatre with us, but see onstage a community of people as diverse and varied and complicated as you鈥檙e ever gonna find out in the street as you leave the theatre.鈥�
Learn more about Wonderful Town in the video above, as the cast and creative team talk to 半岛体育's Jeffrey Vizca铆no.
Tony winner Anika Noni Rose (Caroline, Or Change) and Aisha Jackson (Frozen) co-star as, respectively, Ruth and Eileen, two sisters who move to Greenwich Village from Ohio to make their NYC dreams come true in the 1930s.
With music by Bernstein, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and a book by Jerome Chodorov and Joseph A. Fields (adapted from their play My Sister Eileen, itself adapted from autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney), the 1953 musical includes such show-tune favorites as "Ohio," "One Hundred Easy Ways," and "Wrong Note Rag." The show was last seen on Broadway in 2003, a revival that also began in City Center's Encores! series in 2000.
Said actor Javier Mu帽oz, who plays Robert Baker, 鈥淣ew York is a magical town no matter what. And I think Wonderful Town is that reminder of, 'Yeah, we get to live here, we get to be here, this place is amazing!'...I鈥檓 born and raised [here], this is in my blood!鈥�
The cast also includes Jimmy Ray Bennett as Officer Lonigan, Etai Benson as Frank Lippencott, Allison Blackwell as Mrs. Wade, DeWitt Fleming Jr. as Speedy Valenti, Jessie Hooker-Bailey as Helen, Mu帽oz as Robert Baker, Fergie Phillippe as Wreck, John Rapson as Chick Clark, and Daniel Torres as Mr. Appopolous.
The ensemble features Jonathan Duvelson, David Foley Jr., Lindsay Roberts Greene, Marc Heitzman, Sarah Michele Lindsey, Kate Louissaint, Alicia Lundgren, Morgan Marcell, Robin Masella, Dario Natarelli, Michael Olaribigbe, Patricia Phillips, Ren茅e Reid, Samantha Siegel, Phumzile Sojola, Nicholas Ward, Jacob Keith Watson, Annaliese Wilbur, and Richard Riaz Yoder. Casting is by The Telsey Office's Bethany Knox.
Levingston's creative team includes choreographer Lorin Latarro, tap choreographer Ayodele Casel, scenic designer Teresa L. Williams, costume designer Linda Cho, lighting designer Ben Stanton, and sound designer Megumi Katayama. Encores! music director Mary-Mitchell Campbell is conducting the Encores! Orchestra.
