Theater News

David Alan Grier Joins Mambo Kings Cast, Replacing Billy Dee Williams

David Alan Grier
David Alan Grier

David Alan Grier has replaced Billy Dee Williams in the role of nightclub impresario Fernando Perez in the upcoming Broadway musical The Mambo Kings. The show is scheduled to begin previews at the Broadway Theater on July 20, with an official opening set for August 18. As was previously reported, Williams withdrew from the production due to “an aggravated hip condition.”

Grier, last seen on Broadway as Pseudolus in the 1996 Broadway revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, earned a Tony Award nomination for playing baseball legend Jackie Robinson in The First (1981). He starred in his own television sitcom, Dag, and was a member of the cast of In Living Color alongside Jim Carrey and Jennifer Lopez.

The Mambo Kings will have a pre-Broadway engagement at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre, May 24-June 19. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Oscar Hijuelos, the musical has a book by Hijuelos and Arne Glimcher, and a score by Glimcher and Carlos Franzetti. It stars Esai Morales, Jaime Camil, Albita, and Justina Machado.