Amazing Grace - 2015 Broadway History , Info & More
Nederlander Theatre (Broadway)
208 W. 41st St. New York, NY 10036
Amazing Grace is a new original musical based on the awe-inspiring true story behind the world's most beloved song. A captivating tale of romance, rebellion and redemption, this radiant production follows one man whose incredible journey ignited a historic wave of change.
John Newton (Tony Award nominee Josh Young), a willful and musically talented young Englishman, faces a future as uncertain as the turning tide. Coming of age as Britain sits atop an international empire of slavery, he finds himself torn between following in the footsteps of his father-a slave trader-or embracing the more compassionate views of his childhood sweetheart (Erin Mackey). Accompanied by his slave, Thomas (Tony Award winner Chuck Cooper), John embarks on a perilous voyage on the high seas. When that journey finds John in his darkest hour, a transformative moment of self-reckoning inspires a blazing anthem of hope that will finally guide him home.
Amazing Grace - 2015 - Broadway Cast
FEATURED REVIEWS FOR Amazing Grace
'Amazing Grace': Theater Review
5 / 10
There's no questioning the sincerity of Amazing Grace... Heartfelt sentiments relating to the nation's shameful history of slavery and racism no doubt contribute to get audience members standing at the conclusion of this musical, as the full ensemble's voices unite in an uplifting rendition of the title song. But that emotional release is a long time coming in a 2½-hour show in which the stories of the secondary black characters are invariably more involving than those of the blandly drawn, white central figures...Young and Mackey both give committed performances, but their singing has no emotional range - he's all one-note intensity while her light soprano is pretty and period-appropriate but short on passion - and their romance is the stuff of trite melodrama...The most affecting moments come from Cooper's Thomas and Michelle's Nanna, both of them figures of great dignity and contained sorrow; and oddly enough, from Hewitt's Captain Newton...
Aisle View: Fall from Grace
6 / 10
Amazing Grace earns a place right alongside the Aimee Semple McPherson musical, Scandalous, and the Shroud of Turin musical, Into the Light; not because of the faith-based subject matter, but due to the overall effect. There is nothing wrong with bringing to Broadway a new musical written by a newcomer; both The Music Man and 1776 came from first-timers, although both were professional musicians with pop song hits to their credit (and both had composed incidental music for Broadway plays). In this case, the program bio of Christopher Smith--'the concept creator, composer, lyricist and co-author of the book'--proudly states that this is his 'first work of professional writing.' While there is indeed a lightning strike on the stage of Nederlander, it comes courtesy of the electrician.
Category
Amazing Grace History
Other Productions of Amazing Grace
| 2014 | Chicago |
World Premiere Production Chicago |
| 2015 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
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