Transport Group Announces 2019-2020 Season; World Premiere of BROADBEND, ARKANSAS & Beth Malone as MOLLY BROWN

Transport Group has announced its 2019-2020 mainstage season of two productions: Broadbend, Arkansas, a world premiere musical presented in association with The Public Theater, with libretto by Ellen Fitzhugh and Harrison David Rivers, and music and additional lyrics by Ted Shen, directed by Obie Award winner Jack Cummings III and The Unsinkable Molly Brown, a re-worked revival of the classic Meredith Willson score with a new book (based on Richard Morris's original book) and new lyrics by Tony Award nominee Dick Scanlan, Meredith Willson's music adapted by Michael Rafter, directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall. Tony Award nominee Beth Malone is set to star as the title character.

Broadbend, Arkansas will run October 25 - November 23, 2019 at The Duke on 42nd Street at 229 West 42nd Street, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown will run February 7 - March 22, 2020 at Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street. Transport Group season memberships are now on sale on their website: www.transportgroup.org. Casting announcements and single ticket sales will be available at a later date.

Broadbend, Arkansas: In Transport Group's world premiere musical Broadbend, Arkansas, an African-American family grapples with decades of inequality, violence, and suppression in the South. Benny, an orderly at a nursing home, delicately balances his role as a caregiver to an ornery white resident who shares a contentious past with his white boss while at the same time caring for his own family as the fight for equality grips the nation in the midst of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.

Thirty years later, his daughter, Ruby, struggles to understand an incident of police brutality against her 15-year-old son. This unique musical, spanning nearly half a century and three generations, asks us to contemplate the cycle of violence in this country and how we will find hope and create change against the backdrop of hate that plagues America. Libretto by Ellen Fitzhugh & Harrison David Rivers, Music and additional lyrics by Ted Shen. Directed by two-time Obie Award winner Jack Cummings III. Presented in association with The Public Theater.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown: This is not your parents' Molly Brown! Transport Group presents a new production of the classic musical comedy, a can't live with him/can't live without him love story about a woman who rejected the notion that it's a man's world, even when that man was her husband. Vibrant, progressive, and ready to fight for the underdog, this unlikely hero was a champion of women's rights, labor rights, immigration reform, even animal rights.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown follows the story of Margaret "Molly" Brown in her rags-to-riches journey from the silver mines of Colorado to the heights of high society, culminating in a fateful voyage on the Titanic. Transport Group's re-imagined and revised production marks this show's off-Broadway debut, and first production in New York since its Broadway premiere in 1960.

Meredith Willson's (The Music Man) classic score is enhanced with never-before-heard songs from his catalog, along with a completely revised book (based on the original book by Richard Morris) and new lyrics by Tony Award nominee Dick Scanlan (Thoroughly Modern Millie,Renascence). Meredith Willson's music is adapted by Michael Rafter (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Violet). The production will be directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award winner, Kathleen Marshall (Anything Goes, The Pajama Game) and star Tony Award nominee, Beth Malone (Fun Home) as Molly Brown.

Broadbend, Arkansas will run October 25 - November 23, 2019 at The Duke on 42nd Street at 229 West 42nd Street, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown will runFebruary 7 - March 22, 2020 at Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street. Transport Group season memberships are now on sale on their website: www.transportgroup.org or by phone 866-811-4111.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos