| THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MICKI GRANT (New Federal Theatre at WP Theater, 2162 B'way, 5/31-6/29) | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 09:18 am EDT 05/04/24 | |
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| NEW FEDERAL THEATRE TO PRESENT "THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MICKI GRANT" MAY 31 TO JUNE 29 AT WP THEATER, 2162 BROADWAY. Celebration of the creative life of composer/lyricist/author of "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" and other hits is compiled, adapted and directed by Nora Cole. WHERE AND WHEN: May 31 to June 29, 2024 WP Theater; 2162 Broadway (at 76th St.) NYC 10024 Presented by Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre, Elizabeth Van Dyke, Producing Artistic Director. Thirty performances: previews May 30 to June 5, opens June 6, plays through June 29 on the following schedule: evening shows Tue, Thur, Fri and Sat at 7:00 PM; matinees Wed at 2:00 PM, Sat at 2:00 PM and Sun at 3:00 PM. (Added evening show Wed, June 26 at 7:00; no evening show June 29.) $39.00 gen. admission. $20.00 students/seniors (with discount code nft24). Tuesdays: all tickets $18.00. Buy tickets: www.newfederaltheatre.com, 212 353-1176. Running time: 90 minutes (no intermission) Agent of Micki Grant estate: Penny Luedtke, pennyagent@gmail.com, (212) 765-9564. Reviewers are invited on or after the 7:00 show June 1. Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6mvc9j6vuzsPPPsg7 (includes many historical pictures of Ms. Grant) NEW YORK -- It was twelve years between Micki Grant's door-opening hit pop single, "Pink Shoe Laces" (Crystalette Records, 1959), and when she made history as the first Black woman to write the book, music, and lyrics of a Broadway musical with "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" (1971). From then until her death in 2021, she generated a rich oeuvre of theater writings including music and lyrics for "Your Arms Too Short to Box With God," "So Nice To Be Civilized" and "Working." Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre (NFT), newly relocated to WP Theatre, 2162 Broadway (at 76th St.), will celebrate her legacy with "The World According to Micki Grant," an evening of music, song, poetry and dance, from May 31 to June 29. This biomusical, compiled, adapted and directed by Nora Cole, takes audiences into the personal world of the iconic Ms. Grant through her songs, poems, lyrics, and writings on many subjects. In addition to music from her well-known, award-winning musicals, it samples from her poetry and prose writings, music rarely heard, and unpublished works. The play was commissioned to Nora Cole by New Federal Theatre after Micki Grant's death in 2021. Elizabeth Van Dyke, Producing Artistic Director of NFT, had been given a trove of Micki Grant's unpublished poetry by her nephew, Darryl Walker, and Van Dyke's initial impulse was to create an evening of it. Development spanned six staged readings, during which time Ms. Grant's music increasingly crept in. Ultimately the piece became a verse-and-music project for four actors and two pianists. It will be performed by four actor/singers: three women and one man. The three Mickis (Micki the composer, Micki the poet and Micki the woman) are ageless, vibrant, and full of life and optimism. The man is an accommodating presence and embodies the male characters from her works. Beside her trailblazing musical voice--that was comfortable with calypso, spoken-word, soul, funk, jazz and proto-hip-hop--the show showcases examples of her mischievous wit and clever style, as in this lyric, "Impossible Things," from the musical "Alice" (1978): On an empty stomach when your head is full of air You can fly your imagination any where If your head is on too tightly, simply loosen up the screws And you can believe impossible things You can believe anything you choose…...to believe. And this poem, "I love another man….," which ends with: My true love has a most amazing mind And a man with looks and brains is hard to find, I'd marry him tomorrow without fail If he wasn't in jail it would be perfect Perfectly lovely, it's true, But, since nothings perfect, sir, I'll marry you. The actors are Matelyn Alicia, April Armstrong, Patrice Benn and Shawn Bowers. Musical Director is Tom Spahn. Choreographer is Lakai Worrell. Set designer and Technical Director is Patrice Davidson. Assistant Set Designer is Marlon Campbell. Lighting designer is Victor En Yu Tan. Costume Designer is Ali Turns. Sound Designer is Aalics Bronson. Projections Designer is Michele Baldwin. Properties are by Marlon Campell. Stage Manager is Mary Caitlyn Deffely. Assistant Stage Manager is Fumiko Tanaka. This is New Federal Theatre's first production at its new home, WP Theater, located at 2162 Broadway @ 76th Street. NFT had previously been in residence in the former home of All Stars Project, 543 West 42nd Street, which has moved to new digs nearer to Times Square. ABOUT NORA COLE (ADAPTATION, DIRECTOR) Nora Cole is a veteran performing artist, director, writer and teacher. She knew Micki Grant through Vinette Carroll, having worked with the duo as an actor in "The Ups and Downs of Theophilus Maitland," "I'm Laughing but I Ain't Tickled" (both at Carroll's Urban Arts Corps), and "Your Arms Too Short To Box With God" (Broadway, National and European tours with with Patti Labelle and Al Green). Cole's prolific acting career also includes "Caroline or Change" (Royal National Theatre), "On the Town" (Broadway), "Jelly's Last Jam" (Broadway, opposite Gregory Hines and the National Tour opposite Maurice Hines), and "And God Created Great Whales" (Drama League Award Nominee at the Culture Project). Her NFT appearances include "Sweet Mama Stringbean" by Beth Turner Brown and Woodie King Jr.'s National Black Touring Circuit production of "I Have A Dream" as Coretta Scott King. Her directing credits include "Working, the Musical," "The Black Girl in Search of God," "The Head of Mary" and "Barbara Jordan, I Dared to Be Me." She teaches in NFT's acting workshop. ABOUT MICKI GRANT Born in Chicago in 1929, she was a youthful poet and multi-instrumentalist and found her acting chops in a little theater group in her neighborhood. She had a knack for verse and once said in an interview, "When I was eight or nine years old, I was writing poetry. There are people who were doing things since they were kids. I just liked doing rhymes and poetry." Moving to Los Angeles under the tutelage of her cousin, Jeni LeGon, a Hollywood tap dancer and performer, she was cast in "Fly Blackbird" by James V. Hatch and C. Bernard Jackson. The show moved to New York and so did Micki. She had to re-audition for her principal part, but was only offered the chorus. She took it. She also earned her B.A. degree in English and theater at CUNY's Lehman College, graduating summa cum laude. In 1959, while she was still living in L.A., "Pink Shoelaces" rose to number three on the pop charts. Grant said, "I was writing the craziest thing I could think of just to get attention." It brought her economic stability and an entree to many collaborators for future projects. She consolidated her talents in New York in the early 60's. While cast in Jean Genet's long-running play "The Blacks" (with James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson), she studied acting with Herbert Berghof and Lloyd Richards. She appeared off-Broadway in "Brecht on Brecht," in which she sang "Pirate Jenny," and in "The Gingham Dog" by Lanford Wilson. In 1964, she played Ella Hammer in Howard da Silva's Off-Broadway revival of Marc Blitzstein's "The Cradle Will Rock" opposite Jerry Orbach and Rita Gardner. Beginning in 1966, Grant performed major roles in several soap operas -- "Edge of Night," "Guiding Light," and "All My Children" -- and ultimately became the first Black contract player on a soap opera, playing the lawyer Peggy Nolan on NBC's "Another World." She also began writing musical scores with Vinnette Carroll, with whom she collaborated on "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope," "The Ups and Downs of Theophilis Maitland," "Step Lively, Boy" and "Croesus and the Witch." (Ms. Carroll became the first African-American woman to direct on Broadway with her 1972 musical with Ms. Grant, "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope.") With other collaborators, Ms. Grant contributed music and lyrics to "The Prodigal Sister" (1974),"Your Arms Too Short to Box With God" (1976), "Working" (1978), and "Phillis" (1986). As lyricist alone, she worked on "Eubie" and "It's So Nice to Be Civilized." She wrote English lyrics for "Jacques Brel Blues." In all, her portfolio of acting and writing included 20 theatrical productions overall, five of them on Broadway. She was national chairperson of the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee of AFTRA and worked diligently to increase employment of minorities in television. Nora Cole says, "Micki was always musically inclined and a writer, but acting was actually her focus." She complained that after "Your Arms Too Short to Box With God," people didn't think of her as an actor any more, despite her 1996-7 success in the national and South Africa tours of "Having Our Say" by Emily Mann, the Tony-nominated play about the lives and times of two centenarian sisters. New Federal Theatre, which had presented "The Prodigal Sister" by Micki Grant and J.e. Franklin at Theatre de Lys in 1974, produced "Looking Back," a retrospective revue of Micki's songs, in 1994 at Henry Street Settlement. |
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