DeGarmo, Derricks, Moore, Morgan, Reiber Set for Brooklyn Tour

Diana DeGarmo, Cleavant Derricks, Melba Moore, Lee Morgan, and Juile Reiber will headline the national tour of Brooklyn The Musical, which will launch at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 11. The show will be directed by Jeff Calhoun, who helmed the Broadway production.

The seven-week summer tour will also play Hartford, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, and San Jose before concluding on August 13. Dates for the second phase of the tour, to take place in 2007, will be announced shortly.

Brooklyn played on Broadway during the 2004-2005 season. The musical was written by Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson; it features arrangements and orchestrations by John McDaniel. The creative team for both the Broadway production and the tour includes Ray Klausen (set design), Tobin Ost (costume design), Michael Gilliam (lighting design), and Duncan Edwards (sound design).

DeGarmo, who will play the role of Brooklyn, just completed a Broadway run in Hairspray and is well known for having been a finalist on the hugely popular TV show American Idol. Derricks, who will reprise his Broadway role of the Streetsinger, won a Tony Award for his work in Dreamgirls. Moore, who will play Paradice, won a Tony for her performance as Lutiebelle in Purlie and has appeared on Broadway in Les Misérables and Hair. Morgan will once again play Taylor, as he did on Broadway; he was last seen Off-Broadway in Almost Heaven. Reiber, who will play Faith, also appeared in the Broadway production.