February 04, 2022

Skylight Music Theatre Announces Cast, Creative Team for RAISIN

Skylight Music Theatre Announces Cast, Creative Team for

'Raisin' — Tony Award Winner for Best Musical

April 8-24, 2022 

Milwaukee, Wis. (rev. March 9) (February 22, 2022) — Skylight Music Theatre today announced the cast and creative team for Raisin, running April 8-24, 2022. Raisin is an uplifting musical adaptation of the award-winning play, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. Raisin won the 1974 Tony Award and the 1975 Grammy Award for Best Musical.

Performances will take place in the beautiful Cabot Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway, in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. Skylight is Milwaukee’s professional Equity music theatre company. Skylight Music Theatre has joined other Milwaukee performing arts organizations in lifting Covid-19 safety requirements. As of March 14, proof of vaccination (or a negative Covid test) will no longer be required. As of March 28, masks will be optional.

Set in Chicago in 1951, Raisin follows the struggles of a Chicago family who were the first African Americans to buy a house in the all-white neighborhood of Clybourne Park. Ambition nearly rips the family apart as they travel from jubilation to heartbreak to ultimate triumph while reaching for a piece of the American Dream.

The play A Raisin in the Sun was critically acclaimed when it premiered on Broadway in 1959. Accolades continued when it became a film in 1961 starring Sidney Poitier. More success followed in 1973 when the play was adapted into the Broadway musical Raisin, winning the Tony Award for Best Musical, as well as eight Tony Award nominations, including Best Original Score. The music, combining jazz, gospel and 70s pop, went on to win the Grammy Award for the original cast show album.

 

Creative Team Led by Broadway’s Kenneth L. Roberson

Raisin will be directed and choreographed by veteran director and choreographer Kenneth L. Roberson, making his Skylight debut. On Broadway, Roberson choreographed Avenue Q, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical, and the Elvis Presley musical All Shook Up, among others.

“The people and the story are the real stars of this piece,” said Roberson. “Raisin is driven by the powerful story of A Raisin in the Sun, but the way that music and dance is used and incorporated bring it to a whole new level.”

 

Skylight Premiere

Raisin will mark a premiere for Skylight Music Theatre. Artistic Director Michael Unger selected the show for Skylight’s season, inspired by his own vivid memories of seeing the musical on Broadway when he was younger.

 “I have never forgotten that formative theatre experience,” said Unger. “Certain shows just stick with you because of their phenomenal score and message. It is surprising that this musical is seldom produced, considering it won the Best Musical Tony Award and was nominated for an additional eight, and won a Grammy Award as well. Raisin is as important a story to tell now as when the play was written. We are so proud to bring this powerful and beautiful piece to Skylight.”

Music Director is Christie Chiles Twillie, who music directed Skylight’s productions of Newsies, Five Guys Named Moe, and The Gospel at Colonus, among others.

 

Hansberry’s Best Play of the Year Leads to Award Winning Film and Musical

When A Raisin in the Sun first appeared on Broadway in 1959, Hansberry became the first black woman to have a play produced on Broadway and the youngest American to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play of the Year. In 1961, the film version of A Raisin in the Sun won a special award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a Screen Writer’s Guild Award for Hansberry’s screenplay.

In 1973, Raisin premiered on Broadway and ran for more than two years. It won a Tony Award for Best Musical and for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for actress Virginia Capers, who played Mama Lena Younger. In 1975, Raisin had a record-breaking national tour and won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. 

The New York Times called Raisin, “Pure magic...dazzling…tremendous” and said it “warms the heart and touches the soul with a human dimension that takes the measurement of man.” Broadway World said it is “one of the most passionate pieces of art you will see” and Chicago Tribune said it “packs a dramatic punch.”

Raisin was previously scheduled for performances at Skylight Feb. 11-27, but required a scheduling change after other shows in Skylight’s schedule were postponed due to positive COVID-19 cases among the fully vaccinated company. Current ticketholders have been moved into their corresponding new dates and contacted by the Box Office.

 

Skylight Premiere

RAISIN

April 8-24, 2022

Music by Judd Woldin
Lyrics by Robert Brittan
Book by Robert Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg
Directed and choreographed by Kenneth L. Roberson (Original choreographer Avenue Q and All Shook Up on Broadway)
Based on the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Skylight’s production of Raisin is sponsored by Jan Serr & John Shannon

Recommended for ages 10 and up.

 

RAISIN CREATIVE TEAM

            Director and Choreographer...................................................... Kenneth L. Roberson***

            Music Director............................................................................. Christie Chiles Twillie

            Scenic Designer.......................................................................... Christopher Rhoton**

            Costume Designer............................................................................... Gregory Graham

            Lighting Designer.................................................................................... Steve Tonar

            Sound Designer............................................................................ Megumi Katayama**

           Production Stage Manager.................................................................... Kelly Ruth Cole*

           Associate Choreographer....................................................................... Morgan Williams

*** The Director/Choreographer is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union

** The Scenic and Sound designers are represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829

 

RAISIN CAST (in order of speaking)

            Ruth Younger...................................................................................... Melanie Loren*

            Mrs. Johnson/Althea............................................................................. Raven Dockery

            Walter Lee Younger................................................................................. J. Daughtry*

            Travis Younger..................................................................................... Josiah Jacobs

            Beneatha Younger............................................................................ Camara Stampley

            Lena Younger (Mama)....................................................................... Wydetta Carter*

            Bobo Jones......................................................................................... Shawn Holmes

           Willie Harris.......................................................................................... Marvin Hannah

           Joseph Asagai........................................................................................ Denzel Taylor

           Pastor’s Wife.......................................................................................... Erica Brown

            Karl Lindner......................................................................................... Chase Stoeger

*Appearing through an agreement between Skylight Music Theatre and Actors' Equity Association,

the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

CREATIVE TEAM BIOGRAPHIES

Kenneth L. Roberson*** (Director) is a veteran director and choreographer. Broadway choreography credits include Avenue Q (Tony Award winner for Best Musical), All Shook Up, and Purlie. Off-Broadway choreography credits include: A Boy and His Soul (2011 Lucille Lortel Nomination - outstanding choreography), George C. Wolfe’s Harlem Song, and Oo Bla Dee. He was director/choreographer for Wycliffe Gordon’s Jazz a La Carte, featuring Maurice Hines and Savion Glover and director for Nina Simone: Four Women, Lettin’ the Good Times Roll, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. On TV, his choreography was featured on John Leguizamo’s House of Buggin’ (Fox TV) (Primetime Emmy Nomination), and HBO’s Lackawanna Blues.

Christie Chiles Twillie (Music Director) is a pianist, music director, conductor, vocal coach, sound designer and composer. At Skylight: Forgotten Voices – Unearthing the Roots of American Music, Five Guys Named Moe (2019 Footlights Winner Best Musical Direction), Newsies, and The Gospel at Colonus. Compositional credits include: A Raisin in the Sun (Invictus), America 2.0 (Definition), Harrison River’s We Are Continuous (GEVA), Isaac Gomez’s The Way She Spoke (Milwaukee Chamber Theatre), The Niceties (Forward) and The Mountain Top (American Players). Twillie was a 2019 Rachel Rockwell Fierce Women Behind the Table Award for Music Direction by Porchlight Music Theatre. She earned a BTAA nomination for Best Music Direction (Yellowman) in 2018.

 

CAST BIOGRAPHIES (in cast order of speaking)

Melanie Loren* (Ruth Younger) has portrayed Rhetta in Pump Boys and Dinettes at Porchlight Music Theatre, Squeak in The Color Purple, Chiffon in Little Shop of Horrors at Drury Lane Theatre, Dee-Dee in The First Deep Breath at Victory Gardens Theater and received a Black Theater Alliance Award for Daughter in Shakin’ The Mess Outta Misery at Pegasus Theatre Chicago. Notable film/television credits include Unattainable Sister in Undercover Brother 2 and Chicago Med.

Raven Dockery (Mrs. Johnson/Althea) was last seen as Ronette in Little Shop of Horrors at Skylight Music Theatre. Other performances include: Ismene in The Gospel at Colonus, Lula Buffington in Violet, Velma in Crowns, Asaka in Once on this Island and Dionne in Hair. Dockery received her Bachelors in Fine Arts from UW-Milwaukee and her Masters in Music from Carthage College. She also has performed with Paramount, Milwaukee Rep and First Stage.

J.Daughtry* (Walter Lee Younger) is a graduate of Bethune Cookman University and is a theatrical, gospel and R&B singer and actor on both stage and screen. Broadway credits include: Ain’t Too Proud…, The Color Purple and Beautiful. He has toured with shows such as Cirque du Soleil, Motown the Musical and Miss Saigon. Singing backup for several R&B and Gospel Artists including the Billboard-charting and Grammy-nominated “Anthony Brown and Group TherAPy,” Patti LaBelle, Donald Lawrence, Bobby Jones Gospel and Kirk Franklin.

Josiah Jacobs (Travis Younger) lives in Milwaukee with his family and is a seventh grader at Golda Meir School. Josiah participates in a wide range of activities and is a member of band, drama club, chess club and the basketball team. A recent drama club credit includes Orphie and the Book of Heroes. Other memberships include Milwaukee Tennis Education Foundation (MTEF) and Brother to Sister mentoring group.

Camara Stampley (Beneatha Younger) is a senior BFA Musical Theatre major at Howard University. Recent credits include: Charlayne in the one-woman show Pretty Fire at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, background vocalist with Deborah Cox and the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Tamir in Ghetto Symphony at Theatre Alliance.

Wydetta Carter* (Mama Lena Younger) recent credits include Marge in The Bridges of Madison County, Eleanor in Footloose at the Marriott Theatre, Maria in Porgy and Bess at Court Theatre and Professional Woman in Menopause the Musical at the Goss Opera House. National tour credits include: Effie in Dreamgirls and Miss Jones in How to Succeed in Business. Recent film credits include Judge Baker in “Chicago PD.” Carter hosts YouTube series called Cabaret Beat and teaches SongOgraphy to vocalists.

Shawn Holmes (Bobo Jones) was last seen at Skylight Music Theatre in The Full Monty. Holmes has performed throughout Wisconsin at Florentine Opera, First Stage, Middleton Players Theatre, Black Arts MKE, and Four Seasons Theatre. Favorite roles include: Coalhouse Walker Jr. from Ragtime (winner of best actor in a musical - Broadway World), Sebastian the Crab in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, and Jacob in La Cage aux Folles at Skylight (winner of Best Supporting Actor in a musical - Footlight Awards). 

Marvin Hannah (Willie Harris) was recently seen as Inspector/Narrator in Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s The Composer is Dead. At Skylight: The Messenger in The Gospel at Colonus. Singing experiences include PBS Milwaukee: “Bridging the Gap” collaboration, which won a coveted Emmy award along with performances with a variety of local, national, and international celebrities and artists. Hannah was recently featured in virtual concerts, a short film, hosts of blogs, industrial videos and various theatre readings, during the 2020-21 season.

Denzel Taylor (Joseph Asagai) is an alum of UW - Madison and the First Wave - Hip Hop Arts program. Taylor completed a teaching residency with Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Taylor’s acting credits include Sheep in Charlotte’s Web with Children’s Theater of Madison and Mayor in Romeo and Juliet with Theater Lila. Most recently, Taylor made his Black Arts MKE debut as Jesus in Black Nativity and as a host on 89.7 WUWM Milwaukee's NPR.

Erica Brown (Pastor’s Wife) was last seen on stage as Mary in Black Arts MKE’s production of Black Nativity. Other credits include: Aida in Aida, Effie in Dreamgirls, Lady of the Lake in Spamalot, Belle in Beauty & the Beast, Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors and Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray. When not on stage, she can be found on the radio as an on-air personality for WGLB.

Chase Stoeger (Karl Lindner) was seen in Skylight’s Newsies. Other credits include: Constantine in Day in Hollywood/Night in Ukraine, Purser in Anything Goes, and Ensemble in The Producers, HMS Pinafore, The Mikado, White Christmas and Cabaret. A Milwaukee native, Stoeger has performed with Chamber Theater, Next Act, First Stage, Milwaukee Shakespeare, and Bialystock and Bloom. This past fall, he finished his 15th season with Northern Sky Theater as Bart Dunwood in Naked Radio.

 

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

Raisin runs April 8-24, 2022, in the beautiful Cabot Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway, in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. Skylight is Milwaukee’s professional Equity music theatre company.

BOX OFFICE

To purchase tickets, or to exchange/refund tickets for canceled performances, contact the Broadway Theatre Center Box Office. Call (414) 291-7800, visit 158 N. Broadway, Monday – Saturday, from noon - 6 p.m. or email tickets@skylightmusictheatre.org.

• Please let the Box Office know if accessible seating is needed, or if patrons will have a wheelchair or walker.
• Box Office hours are Mon. – Sat. Noon - 6 p.m. The Box Office window is also open two hours prior to performances.
• Group discounts are available for parties of 10 or more, please contact the Box Office (414) 291-7800 or tickets@skylightmusictheatre.org.
• For ADA needs, please contact the Box Office (414) 291-7800 or tickets@skylightmusictheatre.org.

Skylight offers a risk-free guarantee to exchange, credit, or refund tickets for any canceled performances.

 

SPECIAL EVENTS

Skylight Insights. In-depth discussions with directors and special guests take place one hour before Wednesday and Sunday performances.

 

ASL Performance. Raisin will be interpreted in American Sign Language on Thursday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. To purchase

tickets for this performance, email tickets@skylightmusictheatre.org or call Skylight Music Theatre's Box Office at (414) 291-7800. Mention ASL performance for seating in the appropriate section. Support for ASL performance provided by UPAF Connect.

 

For more information visit www.skylightmusictheatre.org, email info@skylightmusictheatre.org or call the

Box Office at (414) 291-7800.

 

SKYLIGHT BAR & BISTRO

The Skylight Bar & Bistro is open two hours prior to showtime and features a pre-theatre menu by Sabrosa. Conveniently located on the second floor of the Broadway Theatre Center, reservations are available online here or at https://sabrosa.cafe or call 773-485-9975.

 

PARKING

Purchase $5 parking vouchers from the Broadway Theatre Center Box office for use in the Historic Third Ward

parking garage at 212 N. Milwaukee Street (one block east and one block north). Vouchers are valid between 5 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. for evening performances. Matinee vouchers are valid 12-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Not valid for Wednesday matinees. Voucher sales stop 30 minutes before showtime. Advance purchase recommended so that vouchers can be mailed with tickets. No refunds.

Meter parking is available on the street (free after 6 p.m. and on Sundays).

 

HEALTH & SAFETY PROTOCOLS

Skylight Music Theatre has joined other Milwaukee performing arts organizations in lifting Covid-19 safety protocols. As of March 14, Skylight will not require proof of vaccination or negative Covid tests. As of March 28, masks will be optional. For up-to-date information, please visit www.skylightmusictheatre.org/health.

 

ABOUT SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE

Skylight Music Theatre is a proud Cornerstone Member of the United Performing Arts Fund.

Founded in 1959, Skylight is Milwaukee’s professional Equity music theatre company and the largest employer of Wisconsin actors in the state. Skylight produces the full spectrum of music theatre ranging from blockbuster Broadway musicals to reimagined operas, and from exciting world premieres to contemporary off-Broadway hits. Skylight’s mainstage home is the Cabot Theatre in the Broadway Theatre Center, which was built by Skylight in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward in 1992. Considered to be one of Milwaukee’s most beautiful theatres, the Cabot Theatre is based on the design of an 18^th-century French opera house. With just 350 seats it offers audiences great views of the action onstage. Skylight Music Theatre marks its 62nd season in 2021-2022.

 

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• Raisin