PLAY ON! Cast and Creative Team Set for Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Chicago Shakespeare Theater has announced the cast and creative team for Play On!, which opens the Theater's 40th Anniversary Season. This jazz musical tells Shakespeare's beloved comedy Twelfth Night through the timeless tunes of quintessential American composer Duke Ellington. Play On! was originally conceived by director Sheldon Epps, who returns to the three-time Tony-nominated musical with a newly updated book by Cheryl L. West for the first time in 20 years to stage Shakespeare's story for a new generation. Broadway veterans Hailee Kaleem Wright, Krystal Joy Brown, Alan H Green, James Harkness, and Edred Utomi lead a cast that also features Uria Bennett, Kaylah Janssen, James Earl Jones II, Marquez Linder, Alanna Lovely, Selena Robinson, Dylan C. Smith, Joey Stone, Shelbi Voss, and Danny Dwaine Wells II. The production runs September 11–October 18 in The Yard. Opening is set for 7:00 p.m. on Friday, September 18.

Aspiring songwriter Vy takes the A-Train to Harlem in the swinging 1930s with big dreams of a career in showbiz, only to find that it's a man's world. She disguises herself to reach the inner circle of renowned band leader, The Duke—but plans backfire when she catches the eye of Lady Liv, the star singer of the Cotton Club, and mistaken identities make way for romance. Music is indeed the food of love with big band pizzazz and Ellington's hit songs “It Don't Mean a Thing,” “Don't Get Around Much Anymore,” “I'm Beginning to the See the Light,” and many more.

“Over the last couple of years, Cheryl and I took a deep dive back into the book of the show,” shared Epps. “Our credo in all of this has been to enhance and heighten the celebration of Black Excellence, Black Brilliance, and Black JOY. The Excellence being the celebration of the artists who inspired these characters and the actual cast onstage; the Brilliance is that of Mr. Shakespeare and the Duke of Ellington; and the Joy is consistently the experience of the audience that we hope to achieve with each performance. In simple but very effective ways, we have and will continue to focus on the fact that the show is all about the search for LOVE, and removing the masks that we often wear that keep that hoped-for goal from entering our lives fully.”

“Play On! couldn't be a better production with which to begin our 40th Anniversary Season,” added CST Artistic Director Edward Hall. “It perfectly reimagines Shakespeare's story with the indelible music of Duke Ellington, two geniuses of their craft whose work transcends time to speak directly to us today. This show promises virtuosic performances and infectious joy, and we look forward to sharing it with our audiences this fall.”

Playing the role of Vy is Hailee Kaleem Wright, who recently ended a run as Satine in Broadway's Moulin Rouge!, and whose other Broadway credits include Catherine of Aragon in SIX and the original cast of Paradise Square, including the pre-Broadway run in Chicago. In the role of Lady Liv is Krystal Joy Brown, who played Gussie Carnegie in the Tony Award-winning 2023 revival of Merrily We Roll Along, and whose other Broadway credits include Hamilton, Big Fish, and Motown the Musical. Alan H Green plays Rev, returning to Play On! nearly 30 years after appearing in the original Broadway cast. His other Broadway credits include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, School of Rock, and Sister Act, and he was most recently seen as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm in Marriott Theatre's production of A Little Night Music. James Harkness, who plays Jester, was in the original Broadway cast of Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and The Color Purple, among many other credits. In the role of The Duke is Edred Utomi who recently ended a run as Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton on Broadway, after touring the US with the production for many years.

In the role of Sweets, three-time Jeff Award nominee James Earl Jones II returns to CST after playing Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast and Donkey in Shrek the Musical. His other credits include the national tours of Company, Come From Away, and Porgy and Bess, and recent Chicago credits include Theater of the Mind at Goodman Theatre, and Catch Me If You Can and Titanic at Marriott Theatre. Alanna Lovely plays Miss Mary, with Chicago credits including Big White Fog at Court Theatre and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, The Little Mermaid, Ain't Misbehavin', Guys and Dolls, and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella at Drury Lane Theatre. In the role of CC is Kaylah Janssen, who recently graduated with an MFA in Acting from the Theatre School at DePaul, where she appeared in Ride the Cyclone and The Lieutenant's Dream.

The ensemble features Uria Bennett (Personality: The Lloyd Price Musical at the Studebaker Theatre), Marquez Linder (Mrs. Doubtfire National Tour, Tootsie National Tour), Selena Robinson (Cats at Paramount Theatre), Dylan C. Smith (I Was There When The Blues Was Red Hot with eta Creative Arts), Joey Stone (Mrs. Doubtfire National Tour and Motown the Musical on Broadway and National Tour), Shelbi Voss (The Color Purple at Goodman Theatre, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Paramount Theatre), and Danny Dwaine Wells II (Shrek the Musical at Marriott Theatre, Cabaret at Paramount Theatre).

Director Sheldon Epps spent two decades as Artistic Director of the renowned Pasadena Playhouse for two decades, where he first developed Play On!, and still acts as the company's Artistic Director Emeritus. He currently serves as Senior Artistic Advisor at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Epps has directed numerous plays and musicals at many of the country's major theatres, including the Roundabout, Manhattan Theatre Club, the Guthrie, Playwrights Horizons, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, Ford's Theatre and The Goodman Theatre. He conceived and directed the Broadway productions of both Play On! and Blues In the Night, which both received Tony Award nominations. Blues in the Night also was nominated as Best Musical for the prestigious Olivier Award in London. He co-directed the Tony-nominated production of Baby It's You! Epps has also had a busy career as a television director, helming episodes of shows such as Frasier, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Girlfriends, and many others. His memoir, My Own Directions: A Black Man's Journey in the American Theatre, was published in 2022.

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