CAROLINE, OR CHANGE Makes Atlanta Premiere At Jennie T. Anderson Theatre

Cobb PARKS and the Jennie T. Anderson Theatre are presenting the recently closed Broadway hit CAROLINE, OR CHANGE, the fourth concert of their 2022 season. Featuring seventeen Atlanta actors and nine musicians, this marks the debut of CAROLINE, OR CHANGE in Atlanta.

This musical revolves around the life of Caroline Thibodeaux, a Black woman who works as a maid for the Gellman family in Louisiana in 1963. Social change is happening in the world around her and she's, meanwhile, collecting a different kind of change with money left in the pants pockets of the Gellman's son, Noah. Caroline's isolation as she works tirelessly in the basement makes her question her purpose, but also spawns relationships with the objects around her: the washing machine, the dryer, and her most beloved item that connects her to the outside world, the radio.

The show resonates with several members of the creative team and cast. "I think CAROLINE, OR CHANGE is an important piece of theatre because...well, it's the simplest answer to me: it provokes audiences to embrace life and accept the change that comes with it," says the concert's director, Candy McLellan. "I love how this show holds up a mirror to current times and makes us ask the question: how far have we really come? My favorite kind of theatre is theatre that hits you in the gut, makes you think and has you asking yourself questions."

John-Michael D'Haviland is thrilled to return to the Anderson Theatre's concert series to music direct this production. "CAROLINE, OR CHANGE is, for me, in some ways a musical about grief and loss where the music really gets at places in a way that language can not. Jeanine Tesori's score is genius; she integrates different musical forms and idioms - Gospel, Jazz, Klezmer, Classical, Rhythm and Blues and nursery rhymes, to help tell this story. A moving story whose central character is a Black woman, her family and the people around her on of the verge of change."

CAROLINE, OR CHANGE stars Kayce Denise as Caroline Thibodeaux. The cast is filled with Atlanta favorites: Jaymyria Etienne, Benjamin DeWitt Sims, Stephanie Zandra, Roline Delva, Kendra Nicole Johnson, Akeria Gant, Tierney Breedlove, Max Walls, Megan K. Hill, AJ Klopach, Vicki Ellis Gray, George Deavours, Destiny Danielle Freeman, Noah Thigpen, Ian Thigpen, and Jody Woodruff. The band consists of Holt McCarley, J.T. Buter, Aaron Kruziki, Eva Lewis, Simon Needle, Tramaine Jones, Noah Johnson, Caleb Harron, and Imani Quiñones. This concert-staging is directed by Candy McLellan, music directed by John-Michael D'Haviland, assistant directed by Jalise Wilson, production managed by Bobby Johnston, stage managed by Jenna Thiel, assistant stage managed by Megan Nye, costume designed by Dr. L. Nyrobi N. Moss, lighting designed by Michael Carver, and sound designed by Rashaad Pierre.

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