VIDEO: St. Mary's School in Nairobi, Kenya Presents Broadway's AMAZING GRACE
Opening in July of 2015 and playing at the Nederlander Theatre through late October, AMAZING GRACE was the first musical to hit Broadway this season.
Based on a true story, Christopher Smith wrote the score, and co-authored the book with Arthur Giron, to tell of John Newton, an English slave trader who, after being enslaved himself, sought salvation and came to write the world's most famous hymn, "Amazing Grace."
In March of this year, AMAZING GRACE was presented by St. Mary's Catholic School in Nairobi, Kenya. Though the Broadway company featured a racially mixed cast of 29, the St. Mary's cast had black actors playing both African and white characters.
"I really don't think it is a story of whites and black or any of that," says Sam Gitau, who played John Newton. "It is a story about a human being."
The video features clips of the production and actors talking about what performing in AMAZING GRACE means to them.
In the musical, the character Yema sings a song that inspires the melody of Newton's hymn. A young actor named Charles played the role at St. Mary's. Here he is singing a bit of "Yema's Song."
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