A host of Broadway favorites will lead the new musical Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil鈥攂ased on John Berendt鈥檚 1994 non-fiction book鈥攚hen it makes its world premiere this summer at Chicago's Goodman Theatre.
With a book by MacArthur 鈥淕enius鈥� Grantee Taylor Mac and music and
lyrics by Tony winner Jason Robert Brown, performances are scheduled for
June 25鈥揂ugust 4 in the Albert Theatre. As previously reported, Tony winner Rob Ashford will direct the production with choreography
by Tanya Birl.
The cast will feature Tony winner J. Harrison Ghee, who made history as the first non-binary actor to win a Tony Award, as The Lady Chablis; Tony nominee Tom Hewitt as Jim Williams; and Olivier nominee Sierra Boggess as Emma Dawes. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.
The novel, a New York Times best seller, tracks an antiques dealer
through four trials for murdering a male prostitute in Savannah,
Georgia. The story is modeled on the real-life shooting of Daniel Lewis
Hansford.
The work won the 1995 Boeke Prize and was a finalist for the 1995
Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. A film adaptation was released in 1997
starring John Cusack and Kevin Spacey.
The forthcoming musical will also have sets by Tony and Olivier winner Christopher Oram and costumes by Tony nominee Toni-Leslie James. Casting is by Lauren Port and The Telsey Office's Patrick Goodwin.
Director Ashford said in an earlier statement, 鈥淚 am a huge fan of John Berendt鈥檚 terrific
book鈥攁nd of its star, the beautiful city of Savannah! When asked if I鈥檇
be interested in helping tell that story on stage, I pinched myself and
then said 鈥榓bsolutely!鈥� I can鈥檛 imagine anyone bringing these unique and
wonderful characters to life in words and music better than Taylor Mac
and Jason Robert Brown.鈥�
鈥�Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was a seminal book for me as a young queer person, coming out in the late 1980s and early '90s,鈥� added Mac. 鈥淭he eccentricities of Savannah, and how they were celebrated by such a large readership, seemed to say, the things that made me odd and an outcast in the world were actually things I should cherish. Likewise, musical theatre has always had a similar effect on me. Singing our thoughts is such an eccentric way of expressing ourselves鈥攜et so perfectly aligned with my personal liberation and joy. So turning Midnight into a musical, and with such master craftspeople as Jason, Rob, and Tanya is essentially an extension of celebrating the joy and liberation from exposing what鈥檚 hidden.鈥�
鈥淲hen
I am deciding to start a new show, the two most important questions I
ask myself are: 1) Does it sing? and 2) Do I get to work with fun
people? With Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, I knew the answers to both questions immediately,鈥� stated Brown.
鈥淭he book's milieu, so rich with mystery and romance and history, sings
with every sentence, deeply passionate, slyly comic, emotions
threatening to boil over on every page. And to work with Rob Ashford,
whose transformative production of Parade at the Donmar Warehouse
in 2007 reinvigorated not only the show鈥檚 reputation but my creative
process, was a no-brainer. But then add to that the brilliant, joyful,
radically inclusive mind of Taylor Mac, and there was no way I could
resist. Creating this world with these mad geniuses is, in true Savannah
tradition, a grand and great party. I can鈥檛 wait for the world to join
in.鈥�
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