Glee's Amber Riley to Make New York Stage Debut in Cotton Club Parade

Amber Riley, who stars as Mercedes Jones on TV's Glee, has signed on for the Encores! return engagement of Cotton Club Parade at New York City Center, joining returning stars Brandon Victor Dixon, Jared Grimes and Adriane Lenox. Directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, the show will be presented for seven performances, November 14-18.

The cast of Cotton Club Parade will also include Alexandria “Brinae Ali” Bradley, Andrew “Dr.Ew” Carter, Kyra Da Costa, Carmen Ruby Floyd, La Tanya Hall, Jeremiah “Supaman” Haynes, Christopher Jackson, Monroe Kent III, Karine Plantadit, T. Oliver Reid and Britton Smith, with Tanya Birl, Christopher Broughton, Wilkie Ferguson, Chanon Judson, Marielys Molina, Erin Moore, Jason Samuels Smith, Monique Smith, Daniel J. Watts and J.L. Williams.

Cotton Club Parade is a Broadway-style revue celebrating Duke Ellington’s years at the famed Harlem nightclub in the 1920s and ‘30s. The show features singers, dancers and variety acts performing songs by composers including Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields (“I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and “Digga Digga Doo”), a young Harold Arlen (“Stormy Weather,” “I’ve Got the World on a String,” “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea”) and Ellington himself (“Rockin’ in Rhythm,” “Cotton Club Stomp,” “Creole Love Call”).

Conceived by Jack Viertel, Cotton Club Parade opened at New York City Center on November 18, 2011, for a six-performance run. The show will again feature music direction by Wynton Marsalis and the talent of Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars under the direction of Daryl Waters.

In addition to her work on Glee, Riley has appeared onstage in Alice in Wonderland, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Into the Woods and Mystery on the Docks with the Los Angeles Opera. She received two NAACP Image Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on Glee as well as two Teen Choice Award nominations for Choice TV: Female Scene Stealer.