 |
K-Pop star Luna
Credit: Jenny Anderson |
The 2021-22 Broadway season is far from over, yet already we are getting announcements of the very busy fall portion of 2022-23. Three productions--
K-POP, The Piano Lesson, and
Camelot--have definite dates and/or theaters, joining the Broadway transfer of
Kimberly Akimbo. K-POP, a musical centering on the titular Korean music genre, will begin previews at the Circle in the Square on Oct. 13 in advance of a Nov. 20 opening. Korean pop star Luna will headline the show which had an award-winning Off-Broadway run at Ars Nova in 2017. In addition to being a music superstar, Luna has appeared in South Korean editions of such musicals as
Legally Blonde, Coyote Ugly, High School Musical, In the Heights, and
Mamma Mia! The 2017 run of K-Pop won three Lortel Awards including Outstanding Musical and was nominated for seven Drama Desk Awards. The original director Teddy Bergman and choreographer Jennifer Weber will return to create an immersive experience, much like their Off-Broadway production, which was conceived by Woodside Collective and Jason Kim who also wrote the book. The lyrics are by Helen Park and Max Vernon. Ma-Yi Theater Company and Woodside Collective also helped produce the original show.
 |
| Samuel L. Jackson |
A revival of August Wilson's
The Piano Lesson starring Samuel L. Jackson, who just won an Honorary Oscar, and directed by his wife Tony nominee LaTanya Richardson Jackson (
A Raisin in the Sun), will begin preview performances at the St. James on Sept. 19 for 16-week limited run. John David Washington (
Black Klansman) and Danielle Brooks (
The Color Purple) will also star. This will be the first Broadway revival of the play which won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize. Samuel L. Jackson originated the role of Boy Willie in the play's 1987 world premiere at Yale Repertory Theater. He will now play Doaker, Boy Willie's uncle. The opening date and further casting are still to be announced. Set in the 1930s,
The Piano Lesson is Wilson's fourth play chronologically in his decade-by-decade series of works on the African-American experience in the 20th century. The original Broadway production starred Charles S. Dutton, S. Epatha Merkerson, Carl Gordon, and Rocky Carroll and ran for 328 performances.
