Photo Flash: Theatreworks Silicon Valley Presents MARIE AND ROSETTA

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley presents the West Coast premiere of the roof-raising musical play Marie and Rosetta. Developed at TheatreWorks' 2015 New Works Festival by Lucille Lortel Award-winner George Brant, Marie and Rosetta shares the saga of a musical legend. From stirring up churchgoers in the morning to rocking the Cotton Club at night, Sister Rosetta Tharpe inspired Elvis, Ray Charles, and more on her way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Growing competition on the 1940s Gospel Circuit finds Rosetta auditioning a new partner with a voice made from heaven. Will they break, blend, or find harmony at last? Directed by Robert Kelley,

Marie and Rosetta will be presented March 6 - 31, 2019 (press opening: March 9) at Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. For tickets ($40-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

Marie and Rosetta was presented at TheatreWorks as a part of its 2015 New Works Festival, and opened Off-Broadway in 2016 at Atlantic Theatre Company to critical acclaim. The musical play won the 2016 Edgerton New Play Award and has since been seen on stages throughout the country. The New York Times said Marie and Rosetta offered "Mighty music-making...It really swings," while Time Out New York said it was "Heavenly...You don't have to be religious to know when you're in the presence of glory."

TheatreWorks has selected two dynamic Bay Area actors to play the titular duo-Michelle E. Jordan as musical icon and 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marissa Rudd as her partner and future gospel legend Marie Knight. Jordan, a TheatreWorks veteran, received a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for her performance in TheatreWorks' Dreamgirls. She has also been seen at TheatreWorks in It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues, Crowns, Go Down Garvey, Hi-Hat Hattie!, Shakin' the Mess Outta Misery, and Ain't Misbehavin'. She also performed in Blues in the Night with Maurice Hines and Freda Payne at the Post Street Theatre and Bricktop at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, and serves as the music director and staff minister of Center for Spiritual Living San Jose. Rudd also returns to TheatreWorks where she was recently seen in the holiday musical Tuck Everlasting, as well as in the New Works Festival. Rudd has also performed at Berkeley Playhouse and in the Ground Floor at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Photo Credit: Kevin Berne