BREAKING NEWS: It’s back in the NEIGHBORHOOD! The long running Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller musical revue Smokey Joe’s Cafe is making it’s way back to the Big Apple…. This time, the NEON LIGHTS will be bright…. Off Broadway this summer!

This beloved show will have an out of town tryout at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine from May 16th, 2018 through June 9th, 2018. From there, it will make it’s way back to NYC playing Off Broadway’s Stage 42 on 42nd Street which is set to begin previews on July 6th, 2018 and open on July 22nd, 2018.

This new production will feature a great creative team including…

producing from the show’s original producers themselves Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, and Tom Viertel

Direction and Choreography by Tony nominee Joshua Bergasse,

scenic design by Tony winner Beowulf Boritt,

costumes designed by Drama Desk nominee Alejo Vietti,

lighting designed by Tony winner Jeff Croiter,

and musical direction by Sonny Paladino.

No word has been made about the casting.

SMOKEY JOE’S CAFE features a cast of 9 performing a selection of some of the greatest rock n’ roll, rhythm and blues songs written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It includes songs like YOUNG BLOOD, RUBY BABY, POSION IVY, ON BROADWAY, SPANISH HARLEM, HEARTBREAK HOTEL, HOUND DOG, LOVE POTION # 9, STAND BY ME, and much more.

Originally directed by Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Joey McKneely, the show originally premiered in 1994 at the Doolittle Theatre in Los Angeles, California before making it’s way to Broadway’s Virginia Theatre (now the August Wilson Theatre) in 1995. The original cast included…

Ken Ard,
Adrian Bailey,
Brenda Braxton,
Victor Trent Cook,
Bj Crosby,
Pattie Darcy Jones,
DeLee Lively-Torti,
Frederick B. Owens,
and Michael Park.

During the Broadway run, notable recordings artists appear joined the company including…

Ben E. King,
Pam Tillis Official Music Page,
Gladys Knight,
Tony Orlando,
Lou Rawls,
Gloria Gaynor.
and Rick Springfield

The original Broadway run of SMOKEY JOE’S CAFE lasted for 2,036 performances becoming the Longest Running Revue Musical in Broadway History. It was nominated 7 Tony Awards in 1995 including Best Musical but lost all of the categories. However, the show’s original cast album went on to win a Grammy Award in 1996 for Best Musical Show Album (now renamed Best Musical Theatre Album). Along with Broadway, the show went on to become a worldwide hit.

In addition, the original production’s Broadway closing in 2000 was filmed for Broadway Worldwide and is available on DVD.

Who is excited about this high energy rock n’roll, blues, and soul musical back in the Big Apple?!!

Smokey Joe?s Caf? Will Return to New York for Summer Off-Broadway Run | Playbill

The production, which reunites the producers of the original Broadway staging, will first play Maine?s Ogunquit Playhouse.

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Author: NYBroadwayTours