Chinua B. Payne

On Monday, July 24, 2017, The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation, the organization who for the past 13 years has been dedicated to celebrating Off-Off-Broadway, announced the 2017 nominees at its annual event, The IT Party.

Prospect Theater Company in association with Amas Musical Theatre will present a one-night-only concert presentation of Bridges: A New Musical on Saturday, June 17, 2017 at 8pm at The TimesCenter.

'There was a musical version of Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun?': this has been universal response of friends who knew I reviewing RAISIN. Even Dev Bondarin, the artistic director of APAC (Astoria Performing Arts Center) who directed the current production, only became aware of the show in college, during an historical survey of musical theater. I will leave it to others to speculate why a musical nominated for nine Tony awards--including Best Original Score, Best Choreography, Best Book--and the winner of two statues (best musical and Best Leading Actress) has all but vanished from theatrical memory. But one hopes that Bondarin's production will restore Raisin to its rightful place in the musical theater canon, not because it takes up relevant social and political topics (which it does), but because it's a fine show with compelling music and lyrics by Judd Woldin and Robert Brittan and sharp, elegant by Hansberry's ex-husband and literary executor, Robert Nemiroff and Charlotte Zalztberg. (The cast album also won a Grammy in 1975.)

The award-winning Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC) will present a limited engagement of the critically acclaimed musical Raisin this Spring. Winner of the 1974 Tony Award for Best Musical and based on Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking play, this timeless musical will return to New York City after a 42-year hiatus, May 4 - 27, 2017, at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, 30-44 Crescent St (at 30th Road), Astoria, NY 11102.