Theater News

Warren Carlyle, Wynton Marsalis Set for City Center and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Cotton Club Parade

Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis

Warren Carlyle will direct and Grammy Award winner Wynton Marsalis will serve as musical director of Cotton Club Parade, to run November 18-22 at New York City Center. The production will mark the inaugural offering from a newly announced collaborative relationship between City Center and Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC). Additional offerings from the two organizations will be presented biannually.

The show will be a celebration of Duke Ellington’s years at the famed Harlem nightclub the Cotton Club, where annual revues featured big band swing and blues, dancers, singers, comedians, and novelty acts throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Duke Ellington and his orchestra began a four-year residency in 1927 and continued making guest appearances throughout the 1930s.

As in the original revues, the Cotton Club Parade will feature singers, dancers and variety acts, as well as the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under Marsalis’ leadership. Casting will be announced shortly.

On Broadway, Carlyle directed and choreographed the Broadway production of Finian’s Rainbow, which originated at City Center Encores!, as well as A Tale of Two Cities. He also choreographed the Encores! productions of On the Town, Juno, and Stairway to Paradise.

Marsalis is artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Under his leadership, the JALC orchestra has released 14 recordings featuring the orchestra, most recently Victoria Suite.

For more information and tickets, click here.

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Cotton Club Parade

Closed: November 18, 2012