Off-Broadway NewsSmokey Joe’s Café Revival Will Close Off-Broadway, Cast Album and Tour in the WorksThe new production of the Broadway hit opened earlier this summer at Stage 42.
By
Ryan McPhee
October 17, 2018
Dwayne Cooper, Alysha Umphress, Kyle Taylor Parker, Dionne D. Figgins, John Edwards, Nicole Vanessa Ortiz, Jelani Remy, Emma Degerstedt, and Max Sangerman
Joseph Marzullo/WENN
Smokey Joe’s Cafe: The Songs of Leiber & Stoller will end its Off-Broadway run in November. The revival of the Tony-nominated revue, which opened July 22, will play its final performance at Stage 42 November 4. At the time of closing, it will have played 20 previews and 121 regular performances.
Directed and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, the production features Dwayne Cooper, Emma Degerstedt, John Edwards, Dionne D. Figgins, Nicole Vanessa Ortiz, Kyle Taylor Parker, Jelani Remy, Max Sangerman, and Alysha Umphress, as well as Shavey Brown, Antoinette Comer, Dan Domenech, and Bronwyn Tarboton.
While the show will leave the boards this fall, the company will record a cast album (through Time Life Records), and a national tour is expected to launch in 2020. Additional details will be announced at a later date.
The show, conceived by Stephen Helper and Jack Viertel, celebrates the music of songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and features such tunes as "On Broadway," "Jailhouse Rock," "Hound Dog," and "Love Potion #9." It premiered on Broadway in 1995 and earned seven Tony nominations, including Best Musical. Original producers Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, and Tom Viertel are behind the new staging as well.
Smokey Joe’s Café features sets by Beowulf Boritt, costumes by Alejo Vietti, lighting design by Jeff Croiter, sound design by Peter Fitzgerald, musical direction by Matt Oestreicher, original vocal arrangements by Chapman Roberts, and orchestrations by Steve Margoshes and Sonny Paladino (who also serves as music supervisor). Casting is by Tara Rubin Casting.
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Sneak Peek at the New York Return of Smokey Joe’s Café Off-Broadway
Sneak Peek at the New York Return of Smokey Joe’s Café Off-Broadway
The revival will begin performances at Stage 42 beginning July 6.
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Jelani Remy, Dwayne Cooper, Kyle Taylor Parker, and John Edwards
Jelani Remy and Dwayne Cooper
Joshua Bergasse
Kyle Taylor Parker, Jelani Remy, John Edwards, and Dwayne Cooper
Kyle Taylor Parker, Jelani Remy, John Edwards, and Dwayne Cooper
Surrounded by period-accurate, 19th-century holiday decorations lit via candlelight, the 70-minute production is based on Dickens' own script of the classic.
