Germano Toussaint to Perform in VERSES AND VOICES at 54 Below

54 Below will present “Songs I Wrote” – a raw, soul-stirring concert from multi-award-winning composer/arranger Germono Toussaint – as part of their “Verses and Voices” concert series on Sunday, February 8 at 9:30 PM. For “Verses and Voices,” which aims to break down institutional and financial barriers for both artists and audiences, all tickets are Pay-What-You-Wish. The show features music direction by Dionne McClain-Freeney, with Mike Veny on drums, Aron Marchak on guitar, and Kenji Tokunaga on bass. 

“Songs I Wrote” features a powerhouse lineup of vocalists and an eclectic mix of musical theater, funk, soul, and house music, this one-hour evening explores identity, survival, and spiritual rebirth through songs drawn from over two decades of work. Toussaint invites the audience on a journey from Milwaukee to NYC, from the church to the club, from silence to truth. The show includes performances by Michael Michelle Lynch (Lincoln Center, Marsha P. Johnson), Crystal Monee Hall (Rent), and Rana Roman, with special guest Harriett D. Foy (Amélie, The American Plan, Mamma Mia!, “P-Valley”). Also featured in the evening are Pernell Walker (Weekend in Taipei), Alexa Grae (Chicago Arts Orchestra, The Savannah Philharmonic), and Kevin Gardner Metropolitan Opera’s Metropolitan Opera’s Porgy and Bess).

Germono Toussaint is a multi-hyphenate composer, arranger, playwright, and producer. He is one of the founding playwrights of the Obie Award-winning The Fire This Time Festival, the Founding Artistic Director of A Mile In My Shoes, Inc., and owner of Brown Liquor Music, LLC.

His plays have been featured in the Not for Broadway Theater Festival, Horse Trade Theater Group, The Drafts Fest, All Out Arts Play Festival, New York Madness, The Fire This Time Festival, National Black Theater’s Keep Soul Alive reading series, and 48 Hours…in Harlem.

Toussaint served as musical arranger for Sistas The Musical, the longest-running African-American Off-Broadway musical in New York City, produced by three-time Tony Awad winner Hilton Battle.

He has over 20 years of experience creating, arranging, and producing music for independent artists, theater productions, and concerts like: Ritual (Stanley Bennett Clay), B-Boy Blues (James Earl Hardy), Bring the Beat Back (Derek McPhatter), Hoodoo Love (Katori Hall), The Lost Boys Live at 54 Below (Dyllón Burnside), “Brand New Day” (J Keys), “Love Overdue” (Arissa), “Out Loud” (Crystal Monee Hall), and Project 1:11 (a collaboration with Harriett D. Foy). His autobiographical album, Brown Liquor & Blessed Oil, was released in 2021 and he is currently developing his second original musical, The Last Gatekeeper, an immersive Black, queer Afro-futurist theater experience. 

Toussaint’s artistic residencies include Rasanblaj Symposium, (2024), CultureHub (2023), Musical Theatre Factory (2023), Obsidian Theater Festival (2022), Hi-Arts (2022), The Tank (2021), The Sheen Center (2019), and Rhymes Over Beats (2019). He was a semifinalist for the 2021 National Playwrights Conference, the 2022 National Music Theater Conference, and a recipient of Broadway producer Ken Davenport’s Dr. Kenny Encouragement Fund Scholarship.