Harlem Rep Extends 2016-17 Season with A RAISIN IN THE SUN, THE WIZARD OF OZ and AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'

By: Jan. 12, 2017
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Harlem Repertory Theatre is extending its 2016-2017 Season with their crowd- pleasing shows: RAISIN IN THE SUN, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'.


AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'

You can make it a date night and come to the HRT for drinks to enjoy their lively and soulful revival of the 1978 TONY award-winning musical AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'. Extended for five performances from February 25th to May 13th.

Let The Harlem Repertory Theatre's crowd pleasing production of AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' transport you back in time to the golden age of jazz, when hotspots like the Cotton Club played host to the music of 1930s Harlem, and where swing music, jazz and stride piano infused the entire country with renewed energy. This Tony Award-winning, song-filled show celebrates the timeless music of Thomas "Fats" Waller, who penned more than 400 songs during his career, many of which have become jazz standards and are still popular today. An energetic ensemble of the HRT's most talented performers showcase Waller's hit songs at their beautiful theatre in Harlem. This swinging and rip-roaring musical revue is performed in a cabaret style with the audiences sitting inches away at cozy tables with candles as a live band plays Waller's brilliant songs that will have you dancing in the aisles!

Unlike the original Broadway production of AIN'T MISBEHAVIN, the HRT's director-choreographer, Keith Lee Grant, has developed a new and bold concept for this production that sets Waller's songs in three distinct and varied environments. The first set of songs is performed as a traditional night club act with the characters singing directly to the audience in a presentational manner. The second set is performed in a living room environment with dramatic story-lines establishing emotional links between the songs and the various characters who perform them. Finally, the last set of songs is staged in a style that was inspired by the popular television variety shows of the 1960s and 1970s in which the actors sing and dance on a stage with minimal set pieces and clearly delineated emotional connections between the actors and the songs that they sing. Mr. Grant believes that staging AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' in this manner allows both the actors and audience to experience these popular songs in new and more emotionally complex lights. They are no longer a series of Waller's hit songs sung by performers in a night club, but rather a series of entertaining, dramatic and insightful musical works that develop with an emotional through-line that transports the songs and the actors' performances to a new level.

AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' is a brilliant showcase of Fats Waller's magnificent talent that includes the hit standards: T'Ain't Nobody's Business, This Joint is Jumpin', Honeysuckle Rose, the title song, and many more.

A RAISIN IN THE SUN

Also extended from January 21st to March 4th is Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking, New York Drama Critics' award-winning drama, A RAISIN IN THE SUN. This American classic play's social impact transcends generations and cultures with universally recognizable themes and characters. A RAISIN IN THE SUN is an iconic piece of African American dramatic literature that moves audiences of all ages with its passion, humor, and humanity. The intimate setting puts you right in the middle of the struggle of the Younger household and their attempts to escape their impoverished existence on the South Side of 1960's Chicago and find a more prosperous life away from the limitations of their segregated Black community. The decision to move to Clybourne Park, an all-White neighborhood, tests the family's core values and fortitude.

A RAISIN IN THE SUN is also directed by three-time Best Director AUDELCO winner and Broadway performer, Keith Lee Grant. With A RAISIN IN THE SUN, Mr. Grant has remained devoutly loyal to Ms. Hansberry's script and the spirit of Lloyd Richards' original 1959 staging on Broadway. That said, the climatic moments of the action become Expressionistic as the realistic set begins to fall apart and the characters move into a world in which their environment, their hopes, and dreams are decimated. Consequently, once the Younger's chance for a new life is destroyed, they are no longer confined to the parameters of the walls that have defined them; they move throughout the entire theatre space in a desperate attempt to salvage and reconstruct their lives and connections to each other.

THE WIZARD OF OZ

In addition to extending AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' and A RAISIN IN THE SUN, The Harlem Repertory Theatre's Jazz-inspired production of THE WIZARD OF OZ, co-produced with the Yip Harburg Foundation will play Saturday afternoons at 3:00PM from February 4th to May 27.


Performances run January 21st through April 8th, 2017 (see detailed schedule below) at Tato Laviera Theatre, 240 East 123rd Street (corner of 2nd Ave and East 123rd Street.), Manhattan.

Performance Schedule:
RAISIN IN THE SUN: Saturdays: January 21st, February 11th, March 4th at 7pm and Tuesday March 14th at 10am.
IN THE HEIGHTS: Saturdays, January 28th, February 18th, March 11th, April 1st at 7pm.
AIN'T MISBEHAVIN': Saturdays, February 25th, March 18th, 25th, April 8th at 7pm.
THE WIZARD OF OZ: Saturdays, February 4th, 18th, March 4th, 18th, April 1st, 8th at 3pm.

* SATURDAYS AT 7:00 PM: January 21st and 28th; February 11th, 18th and 25th; March 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th; April 1st, and 8th, May 13th.

Ticket Prices:
Musicals: $25 general admission; $50 premium; $15 Students & Seniors
Raisin In The Sun $15 General; $30 Premium.
The Wizard of Oz $ 10 General $20 Premium

Purchase:
SMARTTIX, (212) 868-4444, www.smarttix.com or www.eventbrite.com
Group sales: (718) 913-9559 or email kgeneva@harlemrepertorytheatre.org
Single tickets also available. Cash, credit cards and checks accepted.

Running Times:
AIN'T MISBEHAVIN: 2 hours with a 10-minute intermission.
A RAISIN IN THE SUN: 2 hours, 15 minutes with a 10-minute intermission

CRITICS ARE INVITED on or after January 21st.

AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' and RAISIN IN THE SUN are recommended for ages 14 and up.

For more information about HRT and its 2017 season, visit www.harlemrepertorytheatre.org.



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