Marie and Rosetta, Starring Rebecca Naomi Jones & Kecia Lewis, Will Extend Off-Broadway

Music to our ears! The world premiere of George Brant’s play with music, Marie and Rosetta, will extend off-Broadway through October 16; it had previously been set to shutter on October 2. Directed by Neil Pepe and starring Rebecca Naomi Jones and Kecia Lewis, the production is playing at Atlantic Theater Company's Linda Gross Theater.

A huge influence on Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Jimi Hendrix, Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Lewis) 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 Sister Rosetta’s first rehearsal with a young protégée, Marie Knight (Jones), as they prepare to embark on a tour that would establish them as one of the great duet teams in musical history.

Marie and Rosetta features scenic design by Riccardo Hernández, costume design by Dede Ayite, lighting design by Christopher Akerlind, sound design by Steve Canyon Kennedy and music direction by Jason Michael Webb.