Look Back at the Original Broadway Production of Caroline, or Change | Playbill

Photos Look Back at the Original Broadway Production of Caroline, or Change With the announcement of the London production’s transfer to Broadway, look back at the beloved musical’s 2004 Broadway premiere.
Tonya Pinkins in Caroline, or Change Michael Daniel

As previously announced, after a West End engagement, Chichester Festival Theatre’s acclaimed revival of Caroline, or Change is set to transfer to Broadway. Performances of the Michael Longhurst–directed production will begin March 13, 2020, before an April 7 opening night at Roundabout Theatre Company's Studio 54.

The original Broadway production of Caroline, or Change, opened at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre May 2, 2004, starring Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins in the title role. The production would go on to play 22 previews and 136 performances, closing August 29. Directed by Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe, Caroline, or Change would garner six Tony nominations, including a Best Featured Actress in a Musical win for Anika Noni Rose.

With book and lyrics by the Tony- and Pulitzer-winning Tony Kushner (Angels in America) and music by Tony Award winner Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Fun Home), Caroline, or Change tells the story of a black woman working as a maid for a Jewish family in 1963 Louisiana, where she is allowed to keep the pocket change she finds while doing laundry. This becomes a point of pride and even crisis for Caroline, who cannot cope with greater changes in her life and in the growing Civil Rights movement.

Flip through photos of the production below:

Look Back at the Original Broadway Production of Caroline, or Change

The 2004 production also starred Chuck Cooper as the Dryer/The Bus, Reathel Bean as Grandpa Gellman, Harrison Chad as Noah Gellman, Tracy Nicole Chapman as the Radio, David Costabile as Stuart Gellman, Veanne Cox as Rose Stopnick Gellman, Aisha de Haas as The Moon, Marcus Carl Franklin as Joe Thibodeaux, Marva Hicks as the Radio, Capathia Jenkins as the Washing Machine, Larry Keith as Mr. Stopnick, Ramona Keller as the Radio, Alice Playten as Grandma Gellman, Leon G. Thomas III as Jackie Thibodeaux, and Chandra Wilson as Dotty Moffett.

The production featured direction by George C. Wolfe, choreography by Hope Clarke, scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez, costume design by Paul Tazewell, lighting design by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, and sound design by Jon Weston.

 
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