The Tony-honored hip-hop improv show Freestyle Love Supreme hits the road for an 11-city tour, kicking off January 21 at Geary Theater San Francisco and wrapping up in August in Los Angeles.
Additional tour stops are planned for Seattle, Boston, Portland, Washington, D.C., San Antonio, Charlotte, Detroit, Philadelphia, and San Diego.
Conceived by Anthony Veneziale and created by Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Veneziale, Freestyle Love Supreme features a company of singing, rapping, and beat-boxing comedy artists. Using suggestions from the audience, the troupe creates a new and singular, completely improvised show every performance.
“We’ve had many of our happiest and most fulfilling creative moments working on Freestyle Love Supreme and are excited to see its next chapter unfold on this national tour,” says Kail and Miranda. “It is a show that consistently surprises us: we have no idea what to expect any time we do it—and isn’t that the true beauty of live theatre? We are thrilled to bring Freestyle Love Supreme to audiences across the country!”
The tour company will include Andrew Bancroft a.k.a. Jelly Donut, Jay C. Ellis a.k.a Jellis, Aneesa Folds a.k.a Young Nees, Kaila Mullady a.k.a Kaiser Rözé, Morgan Reilly a.k.a Hummingbird, Chris Sullivan a.k.a Shockwave, and Anthony Veneziale a.k.a Two-Touch.
Like the Broadway iteration, special unannounced guests are planned for select performances during the tour, which may include such Freestyle Love Supreme members as Miranda, Christopher Jackson, Daveed Diggs, James Monroe Iglehart, Wayne Brady, Ashley Pérez Flanagan, Arthur Lewis, Bill Sherman, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Alex Lacamoire.
The production features set design by Beowulf Boritt, costume design by Lisa Zinni, lighting design by Jeff Croiter, and sound design by Nevin Steinberg. General management is provided by Baseline Theatrical. Andy Jones and James Hickey are executive producers.
Freestyle Love Supreme was originally developed and produced in 2004 by Ars Nova and made its Broadway debut in 2019. It is a recipient of a 2020 Special Tony Award and can be seen on the small screen as the subject of the Hulu documentary We Are Freestyle Love Supreme. The recent Broadway engagement completed its run at the Booth Theatre January 2.
