Stage to PageLook Back at Langston Hughes' Broadway Musical Simply HeavenlyThe production, co-written with David Martin, opened on Broadway August 20, 1957.
By
Nathan Skethway
August 20, 2019
Cast
Friedman-Abeles/漏NYPL for the Performing Arts
The 1957 musical Simply Heavenly was based on Langston Hughes' novel Simple Takes a Wife, as well as his other "Simple" stories. After an Off-Broadway run at the 85th Street Playhouse, the musical transferred to the Playhouse Theatre (which was demolished in 1969 to accommodate the expansion of Rockefeller Center) on Broadway in August 1957. The production starred Claudia McNeil, Melvin Stewart, Anna English, Marilyn Berry, John Bouie, Brownie McGhee, and Duke Williams.
The piece stars Obie Award winner Jodie Markell as propagandist filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, whose work in service of the Nazis defined the visual identity of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.
The Broadway alum's golden vocals brought Old Deuteronomy from Cats and the Lion from The Wiz to life, along with Oogie Boogie in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
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