I Just Want to Tell Somebody at Theater for the New City

Ronald "Smokey" Stevens earned a place on Broadway thanks to raw talent and his wits, becoming a prominent musical comedy performer in such productions as "Bubbling Brown Sugar," "Inacent Black," "Dreamgirls," his own musical, Rollin on the T.O.B.A.," and tours of "One Mo' Time" and "Ain't Misbehavin." His films include "The Wiz" (as one of the Crows performing with Michael Jackson), "The Cotton Club" and "Times Square." He danced with such greats as tap master Charles "Honi" Coles, Lucille Ball, Cab Calloway and Gregory Hines, to name a few.He has adapted his autobiographical novel, "I Just Want to Tell Somebody: The Autobiography of Ronald Smokey Stevens," into a one-man, two character theater production. It dramatizes his lifelong battle with drugs in which he, at long last, prevailed. "Smokey" plays both himself and his nemesis, a sarcastic doppelganger called "D MAN." The play ushers us through modern moments of theater history that were his triumphs and the journey through drug usage that was nearly his undoing. Stephen Byrd directs.January 6 to 23, 2022Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave (at E. 10th Street)Presented by Theater for the New CityThursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM, Sundays at 3:00 PM$18 gen. Adm., $15 seniors & studentsBox office: www.theaterforthenewcity.net, 212-254-1109