Communiqué

BLACK BROADWAY: A PROUD HISTORY, A LIMITLESS FUTURE

 Monday, February 26, 2024 at 9:30 pm

Musical Performances from Stephanie Mills, Corbin Bleu, Norm Lewis, Nikki Renée Daniels, Leah Flynn, Sydney James Harcourt, Amber Iman, Tiffany Mann, John Manzari, Nova Payton and Peppermint

Featuring Members of the Howard University and Morgan State University Choirs with Multiple Guest Conductors and the American Pops Orchestra

BLACK BROADWAY is a concert special that celebrates iconic stage performances made famous by Black artists and features the best of the current generation of Black Broadway stars. Performing classics from The Wiz, The Color Purple, Company, Porgy & Bess, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and more, the cast is joined by multiple guest conductors and a choir of students from HBCUs Howard University and Morgan State University. All are accompanied by the American Pops Orchestra, founded and directed by Parkersburg, WV native and Ohio University alumnus Luke Frazier. Filmed on October 5, 2022, at Howard University’s Cramton Auditorium.

Featured artists include television and Broadway star Corbin Bleu (“Make Them Hear You” from Ragtime); Broadway performer and concert soloist Nikki Renée Daniels (“Being Alive” from Company and “Come Rain Or Come Shine” from St. Louis Woman); and Broadway and TV star Tiffany Mann (“Fools Fall In Love” from Smokey Joe’s Café and “I Got Love” from Purlie). Nova Payton sings “I’m Here” from The Color Purple, a show in which she starred in Washington, D.C., followed by Stephanie Mills — Dorothy in the original Broadway run of The Wiz — with “Home.”

Additional performers include Emmy, Tony and SAG Award nominee Norm Lewis (“I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’” from Porgy and Bess and “Waiting For Life” from Once On This Island); Broadway artist and choreographer John Manzari (“Low Down Blues” from Shuffle Along), and teenage prodigy violinist Leah Flynn (“Summertime” from Porgy and Bess). From Broadway’s Hamilton, Amber Iman, performs “Learn To Love” followed by Grammy winner Sydney James Harcourt with “Stan’ Up An’ Fight” (Carmen Jones). Actress, singer and drag artist Peppermint gives her rendition of the title song from Ain’t Misbehavin,’ and Nova Payton returns to close the concert with the showstopping “And I Am Telling You” from Dreamgirls.

 Additional interview appearances are made by TV star and Tony Award-winning actor, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Broadway veterans E. Clayton Cornelious, Allyson Tucker and Ephraim Sykes.

Guest conductors featured in BLACK BROADWAY are Dr. Eric Conway (Morgan State University), Brittany Chanell Johnson (Howard University), Sean Mayes (Broadway’s Hadestown and Michael Jackson: the Musical) and Dr. Eric Poole (Howard University).