Beth Malone to Star in The Unsinkable Molly Brown

Transport Group has announced its 2019-20 mainstage season. It will feature two productions.

First will be the world premiere of a new musical, Broadbend, Arkansas, presented in association with the Public Theater, with libretto by Ellen Fitzhugh and Harrison David Rivers, and music and additional lyrics by Ted Shen. Jack Cummings III will direct. The musical will run October 25-November 23 at the Duke on 42nd Street.

In Broadbend, Arkansas, according to a press release, "an African-American family grapples with decades of inequality, violence, and suppression in the South. Benny, an orderly at a nursing home, delicately balances his role as a caregiver to an ornery white resident who shares a contentious past with his white boss while at the same time caring for his own family as the fight for equality grips the nation in the midst of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Thirty years later, his daughter, Ruby, struggles to understand an incident of police brutality against her 15-year-old son. This unique musical, spanning nearly half a century and three generations, asks us to contemplate the cycle of violence in this country and how we will find hope and create change against the backdrop of hate that plagues America."

Then the company will present a new production of Meredith Willson's The Unsinkable Molly Brown, starring Beth Malone (Fun Home, Angels in America) as Molly Brown. The revival will feature a new book and lyrics by Dick Scanlan based on Richard Morris's original book, with Willson's music adapted by Michael Rafter. Kathleen Marshall will direct and choreograph. The production will run February 7, 2020-March 22, 2020, at Abrons Arts Center.

Casting for both productions will be announced at a later date.