Video: In Rehearsals for PAL JOEY with Ephraim Sykes, Aisha Jackson & More

Coming up next month at NEW YORK CITY CENTER is the Annual Gala Presentation Pal Joey. The production opens with a benefit performance on November 1 (through 5), celebrating 80 years at the center or the arts, followed by a gala dinner at the Ziegfeld Ballroom. Funds raised by all seven performances help to ensure the future of City Center’s founding mission: to provide all New Yorkers affordable access to world-class performing arts.

In this revival, reconceived by co-director and choreographer Savion Glover and co-director Tony Goldwyn, Joey Evans (Ephraim Sykes) is a Black jazz singer who refuses to compromise on his craft as he struggles to make it big on the Chicago nightclub circuit. With a new book by Richard LaGravenese and Daniel “Koa” Beaty, the production reimagines Linda English (Aisha Jackson) as a radio chanteuse trying to find her authentic voice, and Vera Simpson (Elizabeth Stanley) as a liberated white socialite following her passions.