Freda Payne, Maurice Hines to Star in S.F. Mounting of Blues in the Night

Pop chanteuse Freda Payne "Band of Gold" will join Maurice Hines, Paulette Ivory and Carol Woods in a San Francisco mounting of Sheldon Epps' 1982 musical Blues in the Night. Directed by the Epps, the show will begin performances at the Post Street Theatre on August 7. Opening night is August 15.

Blues in the Night takes place in the late 1930s in a cheap Chicago hotel located at the deserted corner of Wilson and Broadway, where three women and a saloon singer let the music that gets them through their lonely nights wash over a deserving audience before sending them back into their own nights. The original production opened on Broadway on June 2, 1982. Though it ran for only 53 performances, it was nominated for a 1983 Tony for Best Musical.

Music and lyrics for Blues in the Night were written by Andy Razaf, Benny Goodman, Bernard Hanighen, Bessie Smith, Billy Strayhorn, Chick Webb, Duke Ellington, E. A. Swan, Edgar Sampson, George W. Thomas, Gordon Jenkins, Grand Clarke, H. Grey, Harold Arlen, Harry Akst, Harry Revel, Ida Cox, Jimmy Cox, Jimmy Davis, Jimmy Sherman, John LaTouche, Johnny Mercer, Leola Wilson, Mack David, Mack Gordon, Roger "Ram" Ramirez, Ted Fetter, Ted Koehler, Vernon Duke, Wesley Wilson and Willard Robinson.

In addition to recording two million-selling singles, "Band of Gold" and "Bring the Boys Home," Payne has released numerous pop, jazz and R&B albums in her 40-year career, performed in clubs such as Feinstein's at the Regency and the Cinegrill and understudied Leslie Uggams an original star of Blues in the Night in Hallelujah, Baby!.

The San Francisco production of Blues in the Night will be choreographed by Kenneth Lee Roberson, with musical direction by Rahn Coleman. Producers are Eugene P. Stichman, Steven M. Hayes and Arline Cone.