SHUFFLE ALONG's Chorus to Receive Equity's 10th Annual ACCA Award
Actors' Equity Association (Equity) today announced that Shuffle Along Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed will receive the tenth annual ACCA Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus. Presented by Equity's Advisory Committee on Chorus Affairs (ACCA) the ACCA Award is the only industry accolade of its kind to honor the distinctive talents and contributions made by the original chorus members of a Broadway musical.
The 24 individual recipients of the 2016 ACCA Award - all of whom were on chorus contracts and part of the Shuffle Along cast on the musical's April 28, 2016 Broadway opening night- are: Phillip Attmore, Alexandria Bradley, Darius de Haas, C.K. Edwards, Afra Hines, Curtis Holland, Jason Holley, Adrienne Howard, Lee Howard, Kendrick Jones, Lisa La Touche, Alicia Lundgren, JC Montgomery, Erin N. Moore, Janelle Neal, Brittany Parks, Arbender Robinson, Karissa Royster, Britton Smith, Zurin Villanueva, Christian Dante White, Joseph Wiggan, Pamela Yasutake, and Richard Riaz Yoder.
In reviewing the chorus of each Broadway musical that opened in the 2015-2016 theatrical season, ACCA considered the chorus requirements made by each production's director, choreographer and musical director; the caliber of technical skill used to execute those requirements; and the unique contributions made by the entire chorus to the overall production. Members of the ACCA, all of whom have worked on a chorus contract, and have seen the ACCA-nominated musicals during the season and cast their vote for the winning chorus.
Past recipients of the ACCA award are the original chorus members of Legally Blonde (2007), In the Heights (2008), West Side Story (2009), Fela! (2010), The Scottsboro Boys (2011), Newsies (2012), Pippin (2013), Beautiful (2014) and An American in Paris (2015).
The award will be presented on Tuesday, June 21 during Equity's National Council meeting.
ABOUT Shuffle Along Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed: Winner of the New York Drama Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards for Best Musical, Shuffle Along received 10 Tony Award nominations including Best Musical. It stars six-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald, Tony Award-winners Brian Stokes Mitchell and Billy Porter, and Tony Award-nominees Brandon Victor Dixon, Joshua Henry, Adrienne Warren, and Brooks Ashmanskas. Presenting the landmark 1921 musical itself while simultaneously depicting the events that catalyzed songwriting team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake and librettists F.E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles to create this ground-breaking work, Shuffle Along has a new book and direction by George C. Wolfe and choreography by Savion Glover-the duo's first collaboration since their 1996 Tony-winning triumph Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk. Shuffle Along is currently playing at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street).
