From My Hometown Returns to Gotham Stage
by Broadway Staff • Jun 17, 2004
The musical From My Hometown, which ran at the Kirk Theater in 2003, is coming back to Gotham. The show will begin previews at the Gramercy Theatre which had been operating as a cinema since mid-2002 on July 12 in preparation for a July 22 opening. Kevin R. Free, André Garner and Rodney Hicks, who all appeared in the previous New York mounting, will star.
From My Hometown centers on three strangers who arrive in New York City in 1980 from R&B meccas Detroit, Memphis and Philadelphia with one goal in mind: to headline at the world famous Apollo Theatre. Bonded initially by their wide eyes and empty pockets, they develop a 10-year brotherhood that spans the lows of their initial meeting to the highs of their shared debut on Harlem's brightest stage. The new musical, which contains 24 top-40 classics including "Dock of the Bay," "Land of a Thousand Dances," "Chain Gang," "Working in a Coal Mine" and "Have You Seen Her?" as well as eight original songs by Lee Summers, Ty Stephens and Will Barrow, was conceived by Summers and features a book by Summers, Stephens and Herbert Rawlings Jr.
From My Hometown centers on three strangers who arrive in New York City in 1980 from R&B meccas Detroit, Memphis and Philadelphia with one goal in mind: to headline at the world famous Apollo Theatre. Bonded initially by their wide eyes and empty pockets, they develop a 10-year brotherhood that spans the lows of their initial meeting to the highs of their shared debut on Harlem's brightest stage. The new musical, which contains 24 top-40 classics including "Dock of the Bay," "Land of a Thousand Dances," "Chain Gang," "Working in a Coal Mine" and "Have You Seen Her?" as well as eight original songs by Lee Summers, Ty Stephens and Will Barrow, was conceived by Summers and features a book by Summers, Stephens and Herbert Rawlings Jr.
Directed by Kevin Ramsey and choreographed by Leslie Dockery, the show had its world premiere at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater in 1998 and was presented by Amas Musical Theatre at the Kirk in the summer of 2003.