A world premiere musical stage adaptation that reimagines the hit 1983 Eddie Murphy-Dan Aykroyd comedy Trading Places has cast Freestyle Love Supreme‘s Aneesa Folds in the role that made Murphy a Hollywood superstar, with Bryce Pinkham (Broadway’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) in the Aykroyd spot.
With a book by Reno 911! actor and writer Thomas Lennon, direction by Kenny Leon and music and lyrics by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner (Broadway’s First Date), Trading Places will debut at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre on May 25, running through June 26.
“I am so excited to come home with this world class cast and creative team and a new musical that I know will resonate and be embraced by the Atlanta community,” said Leon in a statement. “With Trading Places, we’re exploring the idea of what would...
With a book by Reno 911! actor and writer Thomas Lennon, direction by Kenny Leon and music and lyrics by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner (Broadway’s First Date), Trading Places will debut at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre on May 25, running through June 26.
“I am so excited to come home with this world class cast and creative team and a new musical that I know will resonate and be embraced by the Atlanta community,” said Leon in a statement. “With Trading Places, we’re exploring the idea of what would...
- 3/23/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Additional performers and presenters have been announced for The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!, the two-hour live concert special airing on CBS and Paramount+ this Sunday following the livestream-only presentation of the 74th Annual Tony Awards.
Joining the special’s roster are Jon Batiste, Stephanie J. Block, Wayne Brady, Tituss Burgess, Darren Criss, Robbie Fairchild, Beanie Feldstein, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jordan Fisher, Santino Fontana, Andrew Garfield, Jared Grimes, Josh Groban, Jennifer Holliday, Nikki M. James, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Ron Cephas Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Norm Lewis, John Lithgow, Lindsay Mendez, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jennifer Nettles, Lynn Nottage, Adam Pascal, Bernadette Peters, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Andrew Rannells, Anthony Rapp, Anika Noni Rose, Lea Salonga, Ali Stroker, Black Thought, Courtney B. Vance, Daniel J. Watts and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The telecast also will feature performances including David Byrne and the cast of American Utopia, John Legend and the cast of Ain’t Too Proud,...
Joining the special’s roster are Jon Batiste, Stephanie J. Block, Wayne Brady, Tituss Burgess, Darren Criss, Robbie Fairchild, Beanie Feldstein, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jordan Fisher, Santino Fontana, Andrew Garfield, Jared Grimes, Josh Groban, Jennifer Holliday, Nikki M. James, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Ron Cephas Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Norm Lewis, John Lithgow, Lindsay Mendez, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jennifer Nettles, Lynn Nottage, Adam Pascal, Bernadette Peters, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Andrew Rannells, Anthony Rapp, Anika Noni Rose, Lea Salonga, Ali Stroker, Black Thought, Courtney B. Vance, Daniel J. Watts and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The telecast also will feature performances including David Byrne and the cast of American Utopia, John Legend and the cast of Ain’t Too Proud,...
- 9/23/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Freestyle Love Supreme, the improvisational rap musical revue co-created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is returning to Broadway’s Booth Theatre for a strictly limited three-month engagement in October, producers announced today.
“If live theater is coming back, so is Fls,” said Miranda, who co-created the show with Thomas Kail and Anthony Veneziale. “Our most important collaborator is the audience, and we can’t wait to get back in the Booth.”
The limited engagement begins Thursday, October 7, and runs through Sunday, January 2, 2022.
“We are thrilled to be back on Broadway and part of this theatrical community we love so much,” said Kail, who directs. “The immediacy of our show, with its content driven by audience suggestion, makes it one of the rare shows that can speak to whatever is happening in the moment.”
The production’s core performers will include Andrew Bancroft Aka Jelly Donut, Tarik Davis Aka Tardis Hardaway, Aneesa Folds Aka Young Nees,...
“If live theater is coming back, so is Fls,” said Miranda, who co-created the show with Thomas Kail and Anthony Veneziale. “Our most important collaborator is the audience, and we can’t wait to get back in the Booth.”
The limited engagement begins Thursday, October 7, and runs through Sunday, January 2, 2022.
“We are thrilled to be back on Broadway and part of this theatrical community we love so much,” said Kail, who directs. “The immediacy of our show, with its content driven by audience suggestion, makes it one of the rare shows that can speak to whatever is happening in the moment.”
The production’s core performers will include Andrew Bancroft Aka Jelly Donut, Tarik Davis Aka Tardis Hardaway, Aneesa Folds Aka Young Nees,...
- 6/16/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Blu DeTiger, the 21-year-old bassist who went viral on TikTok thanks to her skills, breaks down the intricacies of the instrument, gives a beginner’s class on music theory, and helps fledgling bassists pick out the right instrument in this installment of Rolling Stone’s 101 series.
DeTiger, whose debut EP How Did We Get Here? is out today, also discusses her own path toward mastering the bass, from learning simple scales and how to read music before advancing toward the bass-driven genres like jazz and funk.
“Funk music is my thing now,...
DeTiger, whose debut EP How Did We Get Here? is out today, also discusses her own path toward mastering the bass, from learning simple scales and how to read music before advancing toward the bass-driven genres like jazz and funk.
“Funk music is my thing now,...
- 3/5/2021
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Hulu premiered filmmaker Andrew Fried’s We Are Freestyle Love Supreme documentary in July — which chronicles the past 15 years of the upbeat improv hip-hop group — after it originally debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Fried began following Fls with his camera back in 2005, when they were still rapping on New York City sidewalks and playing small clubs and venues. Over the years, the fanbase for the hip-hop collective has grown — as has the stature of founding members, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Christopher Jackson, and director Thomas Kail before Hamiltonmania.
- 8/20/2020
- by Jerry Portwood
- Rollingstone.com
Utkarsh Ambudkar is probably best known as Donald from the Pitch Perfect franchise, the resident smooth-talkin’ beatboxer of the acapella group the Treblemakers. He also appeared in The Mindy Project as Mindy Kaling’s younger brother. His other film and TV credits include the comedy feature Brittany Runs a Marathon, the IFC series Brockmire and he lends his voice to the Disney Junior animated series Mira, Royal Detective. He also appears in a whole slate of films including the rom-com The Broken Hearts Gallery, the comedy action pic Free Guy alongside Ryan Reynolds and Disney’s Godmothered — but did you know that he played Aaron Burr in early workshops for Hamilton?
Even before Hamilton, he was part of the hip-hop improv group Freestyle Love Supreme founded by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail and Anthony Veneziale, the subject of the Hulu documentary We Are Freestyle Love Supreme which hits the streamer July...
Even before Hamilton, he was part of the hip-hop improv group Freestyle Love Supreme founded by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail and Anthony Veneziale, the subject of the Hulu documentary We Are Freestyle Love Supreme which hits the streamer July...
- 7/14/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos and Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Before turning “Hamilton” and “In the Heights” into musical phenomenons, Lin-Manuel Miranda could have been found on stage, spouting off-the-cuff rhymes with his improv group, “Freestyle Love Supreme.”
After performing across the globe, the troupe — founded 15 years ago by Miranda, his frequent collaborator Thomas Kail and emcee Anthony Veneziale — made its Broadway debut last October in a four-month stint at the Booth Theater. It was a rap-filled evening that’s pretty far removed from the Disney musicals and Rodgers and Hammerstein revivals that dominate the Great White Way.
The group’s latest return to the stage also marked the culmination of a project that’s been years in the making: “We Are Freestyle Love Supreme,” a documentary chronicling their evolution from their beginnings at the Drama Bookshop in New York City to the Main Stem. The movie, directed by Andrew Fried, will have its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival.
After performing across the globe, the troupe — founded 15 years ago by Miranda, his frequent collaborator Thomas Kail and emcee Anthony Veneziale — made its Broadway debut last October in a four-month stint at the Booth Theater. It was a rap-filled evening that’s pretty far removed from the Disney musicals and Rodgers and Hammerstein revivals that dominate the Great White Way.
The group’s latest return to the stage also marked the culmination of a project that’s been years in the making: “We Are Freestyle Love Supreme,” a documentary chronicling their evolution from their beginnings at the Drama Bookshop in New York City to the Main Stem. The movie, directed by Andrew Fried, will have its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival.
- 1/23/2020
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
Broadway’s Freestyle Love Supreme, co-created by Hamilton team Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail and Anthony Veneziale, has recouped its investment after 14 weeks, making it one of the first shows of the season to recoup.
The improvisational production, which blends hip-hop and comedy, will play its final Broadway performance on Sunday, January 12 at the Booth Theatre. The show began previews on September 13, 2019 and officially opened on October 2. When it closes, Freestyle Love Supreme will have played 23 previews and 118 regular performances.
Directed by Kail, the production has a core group of performers – Andrew Bancroft, Aneesa Folds, Arthur Lewis, Kaila Mullady, Chris Sullivan, Anthony Veneziale and Utkarsh Ambudkar – that’s often been joined by special guests including Wayne Brady, Daveed Diggs, Ashley Pérez Flanagan, James Monroe Iglehart, Christopher Jackson, Alex Lacamoire, Sarah Kay, Bill Sherman, and Miranda. Surprise appearances have been made by Josh Groban, Jimmy Fallon, Ian McKellan and Helen Mirren.
The...
The improvisational production, which blends hip-hop and comedy, will play its final Broadway performance on Sunday, January 12 at the Booth Theatre. The show began previews on September 13, 2019 and officially opened on October 2. When it closes, Freestyle Love Supreme will have played 23 previews and 118 regular performances.
Directed by Kail, the production has a core group of performers – Andrew Bancroft, Aneesa Folds, Arthur Lewis, Kaila Mullady, Chris Sullivan, Anthony Veneziale and Utkarsh Ambudkar – that’s often been joined by special guests including Wayne Brady, Daveed Diggs, Ashley Pérez Flanagan, James Monroe Iglehart, Christopher Jackson, Alex Lacamoire, Sarah Kay, Bill Sherman, and Miranda. Surprise appearances have been made by Josh Groban, Jimmy Fallon, Ian McKellan and Helen Mirren.
The...
- 1/7/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
The Freestyle Love Supreme I saw on Broadway last week won’t be the Freestyle Love Supreme theatergoers see tonight or tomorrow or any other night in its limited, 16-week run. An energetic, insistently likable mash-up of rap, improvisational comedy, hip hop, R&b crooning and, crucially, audience participation, Fls – in its own shorthand – is both the show and the rotating troupe of performers who have been bringing it to unique life off and on, in various venues, since around 2003, now including the Booth Theatre, where it opens tonight.
If you’ve heard of it – or have seen it, and a significant percentage of the audience at the reviewed performance were repeat and clearly devoted attendees – you most likely associate Fls with its co-creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, a link that strikes me as a for-better-and-worse proposition. But more about that shortly.
For the uninitiated, a description: Performed on any given night...
If you’ve heard of it – or have seen it, and a significant percentage of the audience at the reviewed performance were repeat and clearly devoted attendees – you most likely associate Fls with its co-creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, a link that strikes me as a for-better-and-worse proposition. But more about that shortly.
For the uninitiated, a description: Performed on any given night...
- 10/3/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Freestyle Love Supreme co-creator Anthony Veneziale has a very specific goal in mind as he steps out on stage each night to perform the improv-driven show. “I’m looking for those ‘oxygen deprivation’ moments — where the audience has a gasp of air,” he says. “The more the audience has those, ‘A-ha! moments,’ the more I know this is the direction that we need to go.”
A recent visit to the latest production, which is currently in previews on Broadway (it runs through January 5th, 2020), illustrated just how good he and...
A recent visit to the latest production, which is currently in previews on Broadway (it runs through January 5th, 2020), illustrated just how good he and...
- 9/18/2019
- by Jerry Portwood
- Rollingstone.com
Broadway Sessions recently held its 3rd annual Black History Month celebration. We invited an all star roster of Broadway talent to share songs and stories reflecting the influence, impact and legacy of black artists on Broadway and beyond. Holy Moly This was one of the most incredible nights of music we have enjoyed. Beyond that it was moving, hilarious and profound. Enjoy these highlights from Broadway vets Antoine L Smith, Soarer-Joye Ross, Storm Lever, Brennyn Lark, Judith Franklin, Phoenix Best, Elijah Ahmad Lewis, Tiana Okoye, Michel Demby Cain, Imari Hardon, Avery Smith, Nick Rashad Burroughs, Quentin Earl Darrington, Jennie Harney Fleming, John Edwards, Laurissa 'Lala' Romain, Shonica Gooden and Emme Kemp. We also enjoyed performances from 'Rising Stars' Richard Baskin Jr. and Aneesa Folds. Oh, and maybe just an impromptu pre show performance by Tony-winning legend Faith Prince It was a good night.
- 2/28/2019
- by Ben Cameron
- BroadwayWorld.com
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