Zuri Washington News

Harbor Lights is thrilled to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of RENT -- and to launch its own student rush rickets with their production of the show that started it all!

The Harbor Lights Theater Company (Harbor Lights), a professional Equity Theater Company based in Staten Island, led by Founders and Artistic Directors Tamara Jenkins and Jay Montgomery, will stage Rent - 20th Anniversary Celebration! September 18- October 4th at the Snug Harbor Music Hall.  Check out a first released photo of the cast below!

The Harbor Lights Theater Company (http://HLTC.org), a professional Equity Theater Company based in Staten Island, led by Founders and Artistic Directors Tamara Jenkins and Jay Montgomery, will stage Rent - 20th Anniversary Celebration! September 18- October 4th at the Snug Harbor Music Hall.  Check out a sneak peek at the rehearsals below!

'MM-MMM...and that's spelled M-M-M-M-M' says the quirky and charismatic, renegade radio DJ Huey Calhoun as he struggles with his limited literacy to read a beer advertisement on air. The audience might be echoing that 'delicious' sentiment after seeing this touring production of 2010's Tony Award winner for Best Musical, Memphis, currently at DC's Warner Theatre through tonight, May 2.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Philadelphia, Birmingham, Cleveland, Ireland and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include Media Theatre's HELLO DOLLY!, Pittsburgh Public's OTHELLO, and the exciting news about the Cleveland Play House winning a Tony Award, just to name a few.

Zuri Washington is the young star of a musical which tackles many of the issues we're seeing play out on the streets around the nation today. 

The Tony winning musical Memphis the Musical comes to Mayo Performing Arts Center on Friday and Saturday, May 8-9. Tickets are $39-69. This event is sponsored by Crum & Forster.

ired by actual events, Memphis, the Musical is set in the places where rock and roll was born in the 1950s: the seedy nightclubs, radio stations and recording studios of the musically- rich Tennessee city of Memphis. With an original score, it tells the fictional story of DJ Huey Calhoun, a good ole' local boy with a passion for R&B music and Felicia Farrell, an up-and-coming black singer that he meets one fateful night on Beale Street. Despite the objections of their loved ones (Huey's close-minded mama and Felicia's cautious brother, the club owner), they embark on a dangerous affair. As their careers rise, the relationship is challenged by personal ambition and the pressures of an outside world that is just unable to accept their love. Will their love be able to withstand the trials of separation, greed and fame? This hot and bothered Broadway musical is filled with heart, soul and energy to burn! Don't miss this Tony-award winning show when it comes to Concord's Capitol Center for the Arts for one night only tonight, March 12 at 7:30pm.

Portland Ovations heats up this winter with its' presentation of the Tony Award-winning musical Memphis at Merrill Auditorium on Saturday, March 14 for two performances 4pm and 8pm.

The national tour of MEMPHIS features superb choreography and musical direction, as well as top-notch singing, dancing, and acting by the supporting case. However, despite the show's considerable strengths, the lead actors turn in mediocre performances, reducing the touring version's overall appeal.

ired by actual events, Memphis, the Musical is set in the places where rock and roll was born in the 1950s: the seedy nightclubs, radio stations and recording studios of the musically- rich Tennessee city of Memphis. With an original score, it tells the fictional story of DJ Huey Calhoun, a good ole' local boy with a passion for R&B music and Felicia Farrell, an up-and-coming black singer that he meets one fateful night on Beale Street. Despite the objections of their loved ones (Huey's close-minded mama and Felicia's cautious brother, the club owner), they embark on a dangerous affair. As their careers rise, the relationship is challenged by personal ambition and the pressures of an outside world that is just unable to accept their love. Will their love be able to withstand the trials of separation, greed and fame? This hot and bothered Broadway musical is filled with heart, soul and energy to burn! Don't miss this Tony-award winning show when it comes to Concord's Capitol Center for the Arts for one night only Thursday, March 121 at 7:30pm.

Producer Bellanca Smigel Rutter (The Bridges of Madison County, Macbeth) will present an additional industry reading of The Me Nobody Knows in New York City on September 16 and 17, 2014 following a two-week dance lab helmed by director Stafford Arima (Allegiance, Altar Boyz), choreographer Taye Diggs (Rent, "Private Practice"), and musical director Bryan Perri (Wicked). The presentations mark the next step toward a commercial production after a successful exploratory reading this past May 2014.

Despite making it through the initial round of auditions and several rounds of callbacks for BRING IT ON THE MUSICAL, reality didn't set in for Zuri Washington until the end of the audition process. Now she's starring in the national tour.

Like the Broadway production, the national touring production is fun - pure and simple. You can't ask for much more than that.