Photos & Video: First Look at PERSONALITY: THE LLOYD PRICE MUSICAL in Chicago
The cast features Saint Aubyn, Stanley Wayne Mathis and more.
Personality: The Lloyd Price Musical, the new production celebrating the life, career, and unforgettable songs of Lloyd Price, including “Stagger Lee,” “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” and his trademark song, “Personality,” opened on June 14, 2023 at the beautifully renovated Studebaker Theater in the historic Fine Arts Building (410 South Michigan Avenue).
Tickets for Personality: The Lloyd Price Musical are available at PersonalityMusical.com. Convenient parking is available for $13 with validation from the box office in the Grant Park South Garage, just steps away from the theater.
The cast features Saint Aubyn (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical on Broadway, original cast of Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations) and Stanley Wayne Mathis (Jelly’s Last Jam, The Lion King, Kiss Me, Kate) who created the roles of Lloyd Price and Harold Logan, respectively. The cast also includes Darian Peer (Choir Boy at Yale Rep, Part of the Plan at Tennessee Performing Arts Center) as Young Lloyd Price, Alexandria Reese (Intimate Apparel at Weathervane Theatre and Raisin at Axelrod Performing Arts Center) as Emma Price, Miles Boone as Little Richard/Olisaemeka, Brian Grey as Art Rupe, Donnie Hammond as Rosetta Tharpe/Ma Nora, Donterrio as Dave, Alanna Lovely as Ma Naan, DeMone Seraphin as Mr. Price/Don Robey, Karl Hamilton as Levy, and Uria Bennett, Christian Denzel Bufford, Sabrina Edwards, Marcus Hardy, Josh Houghton, Nissi Shalome, Whitney Wandland and Christopher Henry Young.
Book is by B. Jeffrey Madoff, based on extensive conversations with Price. Personality is directed by Sheldon Epps (the Tony and Olivier-nominated Blues in the Night), choreographed by Edgar Godineaux (Associate Choreographer for Broadway’s Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, Memphis), and musically directed by Shelton Becton (Broadway and HBO’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill with Audra McDonald).
From humble beginnings in his hometown of Kenner, Louisiana, Lloyd Price overcame incredible obstacles on his way to a revolutionary musical career. As a young Black recording artist in the segregated Deep South of the pre-Civil Rights Era, Price’s success was even more remarkable. Armed with determination and a soulful sound, Price skyrocketed to stardom in 1952 when his single “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” hit No. 1 on the R&B charts, making him the first teenager to sell over a million records and to earn a Gold Record. Price became a crossover hit, popular with both Black and white kids, shattering the “race records” barrier. However, the path to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was a winding one: immediately after the success of his first record, he was drafted to fight in the Korean War in 1953. But Price, a master of reinvention, would find his footing time and again. He became the first Black man to open a nightclub below Harlem in New York City, and the first recording artist of any color to create his own record label, generating more hits like “Stagger Lee” and “Personality,” and spreading the New Orleans R&B sound throughout the world.
Photo credit: Liz Lauren
Alexandria Reese
Alexandria Reese and Saint Aubyn
Alexandria Reese, Alanna Lovely, Donnie Hammond, Whitney Wandland
Darian Peer and Donnie Hammond
Darian Peer and Ensemble
DeMone Seraphin, Darian Peer
Donnie Hammond and cast
Donnie Hammond, Alanna Lovely, Whitney Wandland, Nissi Shalome, Alexandria Reese, Uria Bennett.
Ensemble
Miles Boone
Nissi Shalome, Whitney Wandland, Saint Aubyn, Uria Bennett, Alexandria Reese.
Saint Aubyn and cast
Saint Aubyn, Stanley Wayne Mathis
Saint Aubyn, Stanley Wayne Mathis
Uria Bennett, Alanna Lovely, Whitney Wandland, Donnie Hammond, Saint Aubyn
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