COTTON CLUB PARADE
ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR BROADWAY TRANSFER
“A THRILLING 90-MINUTE CELEBRATION
THAT LEFT ME OPEN-MOUTHED WITH WONDER.”
– New York Times
Producers Alan D. Marks, Barbara Marks, Wade Turnbull, Steve Hendel, Ruth Hendel, and Tom Kirdahy are pleased to announce that COTTON CLUB PARADE, the Encores! Special event that played two acclaimed runs at New York City Center, will arrive on Broadway this fall.
COTTON CLUB PARADE celebrates Duke Ellington’s years at the famed Harlem nightclub in the 1920s and ‘30s, when the joint was jumping with shows featuring big band swing and blues music. The vibrant production features singers, dancers, and the world renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars, under the direction of Wynton Marsalis. The score includes songs by the greatest jazz composers of the time, including Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields (“I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and “Digga Digga Doo”), a young Harold Arlen (“Stormy Weather,” “I’ve Got the World on a String,” “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,”), and of course, the legendary Duke Ellington (“Rockin’ in Rhythm,” “Cotton Club Stomp,” “Black and Tan Fantasy,” and “Creole Love Call”).
Theatre, casting, creative team, and ticketing information for COTTON CLUB PARADE on Broadway will be announced in the coming weeks.
Producer Alan D. Marks said, “Audience response to this amazing production has been overwhelming. COTTON CLUB PARADE is a once in a lifetime experience and we look forward to bringing the stellar work of Warren Carlyle, Wynton Marsalis, and our terrific team of collaborators to Broadway.”
Jack Viertel, Artistic Directorof New York City Center Encores! and conceiver of COTTON CLUB PARADE said, “When we started rehearsals for COTTON CLUB PARADE in 2011, we knew we had something very special in store for audiences. Now that we’ve wrapped up our second run of this show at City Center, I couldn’t be more proud to have the show come to Broadway and we all look forward to having audiences fall in love with the show just as I have.”
COTTON CLUB PARADE received rapturous reviews from theatre and music critics when it was jointly presented by Encores! and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Below is a sampling of what critics said about the production:
“PURE JOY
COTTON CLUB PARADE left me open-mouthed with wonder. Warren Carlyle’s choreography is sultry, insinuating, funny, and irresistibly danceable. A corps of excellent tap dancers flow on and off the stage in euphoric numbers. The sound of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra finds syncopation within syncopation in the same way that Michael Jackson’s moonwalk implied uncountable rhythm, a kind of airborne strut or skid borne on a half-skipped beat. Now I really know how hot swing can be.”
– Stephen Holden, New York Times
“EYE-POPPINGLY DELIGHTFUL CHOREOGRAPHY!
“A Broadway-ready production with many claims for the title of ‘show-stopper,’ COTTON CLUB PARADE boasting a spirited selection of classic jazz and swing numbers and Wynton Marsalis’ incomparable 16-member Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars orchestra who make period jazz and blues standards spring to buoyant and joyful new life. Director-choreographer Warren Carlyle delightful routines feature first-rate dancing performed in styles as varied as the music on the program.”
– Thom Geier, Entertainment Weekly
“DAZZLING!
Such a potent dose of theatrical anti-depressant that a prescription should be required. The perfect mixture of songs, instrumentals, and dazzling dance numbers. A dazzling, ninety-minute musical revue celebrating the glory days of the legendary Harlem nightspot.”
– Frank Scheck, New York Post
“A WONDERFUL, STYLISH DANCE PARTY!
A joyous musical revue celebrating Duke Ellington’s years at the famous Harlem nightclub that it’s hard not to imagine hopping onstage, ordering a martini, and settling in for a long evening of laughs and charismatic, heavenly performances.”
– Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press
COTTON CLUB PARADE is conceived by Jack Viertel, with direction and choreography by Warren Carlyle and music direction by Jazz at Lincoln Center Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis.
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