Cast Announced for Premiere of Slippin' Through the Cracks: The Bobby Rush Musical

The cast and creative team have been announced for the world premiere of Slippin’ Through the Cracks: The Bobby Rush Musical, the new musical based on the life of Grammy Award winner Bobby Rush. The production will run October 20-November 1 at New Stage Theatre in Jackson, Mississippi.

Three actors will play Rush at various stages of his life: Mark Henderson as Older Bobby Rush, Rajeer Alford as Bobby Rush, and Jaden White as Young Bobby Rush.

The cast also includes Joy Brashears Amerson, Grady Champion, Nancy Cheney, Melessie Clark, Jayla Lomax, Nicholas Patrick, Quinton Powell, Chris Roebuck, Vershaune Stamps, and Joe Tomberlin, playing a variety of real-life characters in Rush’s life including Chuck Berry, James Brown, Chess Records founder Leonard Chess, B.B. King, Koko Taylor, Rufus Thomas, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf.

Conceived by Stephen Lloyd Helper, Slippin’ Through the Cracks features a score by Bobby Rush and a book by Rush and Helper. The production is co-directed by Helper and Matthew Johnson Harris, who will also choreograph.

The production also includes set and projection design by Omid Akbari, costume design by Theresa J. Bush and Deonica Davis, lighting design by Anna Dunbar, sound design by Callie Jackson, and music direction and orchestrations by Jeremy Jones.

Slippin’ Through the Cracks follows the life of Rush, from his childhood as a sharecropper sneaking into juke joints, through the segregated, blues scene of Chicago alongside Muddy Waters and B. B. King, to the freedom of the worldwide stage.