Lillias White to Star Off-Broadway in Blind Lemon Blues

Tony Award winner Lillias White will star in the York Theatre Company’s production of Blind Lemon Blues, a new musical featuring more than 60 songs of street musician Blind Lemon Jefferson. The show, co-created by Alan Govenar and Akin Babatunde, will run February 15-25. Babatunde also provides direction and choreography and appears in the show.

The show is set in New York City in 1948 at the last recording session of the legendary singer Leadbelly, a contemporary of Jefferson’s. Prior to its York engagement, it will be featured as part of the Guggenheim Museum’s Works & Process series on February 11-12.

The cast also includes Benita Arterberry, Cavin Yarbrough, Alisa Peoples Yarbrough, Walter Fauntleroy, and guitarist Sam Swank. The creative team features Russell Parkman (sets), Tommy Bourgeois (costumes), Steve Woods (lighting), and Norma Miller (choreographic consultant).

White received the Tony Award, among many other honors, for her role as Sonia in The Life. Her other Broadway credits include Cats, Once on This Island, Dreamgirls, and Chicago. She also received the Obie Award for Romance in Hard Times.