Michael O. Mitchell News

World premiere musical A WONDERFUL WORLD has a wonderful lead in James Monrie Iglehart as Louis Armstrong. Iglehart embodies the acclaimed vocalist and trumpeter completely; he nails Armstrong’s signature raspy voice and vocals and larger-than-life presence, but he’s also a master at embodying the role’s emotions. He’s a joy to watch in every moment he’s onstage, even as Aurin Squire’s book charts both Armstrong’s successes and his more human mistakes. In terms of framework, A WONDERFUL WORLD surprisingly reminded me of Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s SIX. The musical starts and ends with Armstrong’s four wives: Daisy Parker (Khalifa White), Lil Hardin (Jennie Harney Fleming), Alpha Smith (Brennyn Lark), and Lucille Wilson (Ta’rea Campbell). Each of the musical’s four parts is centered around one of Armstrong’s wives. While the musical piqued my interest in Armstrong’s biography as a whole, I think this framework meant the timeline on his route to fame was incredibly condensed. And the musical certainly conveys that Armstrong was quite the philanderer; Squire’s book and Christopher Renshaw’s direction and conception don’t shy away at all from the fact that Armstrong cheated on each of his past wives with the next one.

A Wonderful World, A New Musical about the Life and Loves of Louis Armstrong recently played at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans. See photos from opening night below!

BroadwayWorld sat down with star James Monroe Iglehart while the production played its first pre-Broadway engagement in New Orleans to chat about bringing Louis' story to life, the care that goes into telling stories through musicals, and if he can play a certain instrument.

Watch cast members of A Wonderful World St. James Infirmary in rehearsal!

Watch Watch James Monroe Iglehart sing What A Wonderful World in rehearsals for the new musical A Wonderful World!

The 26-member cast of A Wonderful World, A New Musical about the Life and Loves of Louis Armstrong began rehearsals last week in New York City. Check out photos from rehearsal here!

Full casting has been announced for A Wonderful World, A New Musical about the Life and Loves of Louis Armstrong, which was previously announced to star James Monroe Iglehart.  The production also welcomes multiple Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award nominee Vanessa Williams to the lead producing team.  Find out more about the show, and the cast, here!

A dynamic concert graced the stage of 92NY this past weekend.

Lyrics and Lyricists presents What's Going On?: Songs of Change on March 25, 26 and 27. What's Going On was created and conceived by Warren Adams (Motown: The Musical) and Michael O. Mitchell (MJ: The Musical ) as a theatrical concert exploring the work of Black songwriters and artists whose music is an essential part of the American Songbook and has played an integral role in the country's culture.

We all know that Jessica Vosk is best known for her portrayal of Elphaba in Wicked. It’s how many of us first became familiar with her talents. When the tour came here to the Kennedy Center in 2016, Vosk effectively blew a hole in the roof of the Opera House. Her performance was that good. After touring, she was rightfully chosen to perform the show on Broadway for its fifteenth anniversary.

Today's subject is one of those performers that proves you can reinvent yourself to great success. Many of us locally came to know Jessica Vosk when she blew into the Kennedy Center with the national tour of Wicked in the role of Elphaba. After touring with the show she took Broadway by storm in that same role. What is interesting about Jessica's professional performing carer is that it really didn't start until age 30 as she had been working on Wall Street up until then. Lucky for us, she made that career move.

A Wonderful World, A New Musical about the Life and Loves of Louis Armstrong will premiere in New Orleans and Chicago this fall, with Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart starring as Armstrong. See additional details, and how to purchase tickets!

The latest standings as of Monday, December 19th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Miami Metro Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

It is our sincere hope that this is not the last MISS we will see. The ladies have something here and this 92nd Street Y evening could very well serve as a workshop for something really magical.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 12th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Miami Metro Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 5th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Miami Metro Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The first live standings have been announced for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Miami Metro Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

Lyrics and Lyricists will present MISS: Broadway’s Women Songwriters on December 10, 11 and 12, celebrating Broadway’s long history of women songwriters and their indelible work, in a show conceived, co-written and co-hosted by two-time Tony nominee Kate Baldwin and award-winning composer-lyricist Georgia Stitt.

Actress, activist, and sister to the people, Sis, has partnered with Broadstream to release her brand-new show Living For Sis, premiering November 1 exclusively on the streaming platform.

After announcing this year’s list of Carbonell Award nominations last Friday, the organization quickly realized that clarifications and additions were necessary. This invariably happens with any complicated, first-time process, so the nonprofit organization ordered a recalculation of the scores in all 20 categories.