George Brant’s Marie and Rosetta to Bow Off-Broadway at Atlantic Theater Company

Ready for some primal rock ‘n’ roll guitar off-Broadway? George Brant’s play with music, Marie and Rosetta, will make its world premiere at the Atlantic Theater Company this fall, as part of its 2016-17 season.

A huge influence on Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Jimi Hendrix, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a legend in her time, bringing fierce guitar-playing and swing to gospel music. Tharpe was the queen of ‘race records’ in the 30’s and 40’s, a woman who played guitar as passionately as Clapton, who performed mornings at churches and evenings at the Cotton Club, who was a big enough star to fill a baseball stadium for her third wedding, but ended up buried in an unmarked grave in Philadelphia. Marie and Rosetta chronicles her first rehearsal with a young protégé, Marie Knight, as they prepare to embark on a tour that would establish them as one of the great duet teams in musical history.

Directed by Atlantic artistic director Neil Pepe, the production’s cast, creative team and dates will be announced later.

Brant’s plays include Grounded, Elephant’s Graveyard, The Mourners’ Bench, Salvage, Three Voyages of the Lobotomobile, Any Other Name, Good on Paper, Dark Room and Grizzly Mama.