Full Cast and Creatives Announced for Gun & Powder
(© Billy Swann)
Paper Mill Playhouse announced the full cast and creative team for the new musical Gun & Powder, with book and lyrics by Angelica Chéri and music by Ross Baum. Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb (Ain’t No Mo’), choreographed by Tiffany Rea-Fisher (Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Twelfth Night), and music-directed by Austin Cook, the production will play April 4-May 5 at Paper Mill Playhouse.
As previously reported, Gun & Powder will feature Liisi LaFontaine (West End Dreamgirls) as Martha Clarke, Ciara Renée (Waitress, The Flash) as Mary Clarke, Jeannette Bayardelle (Girl From the North Country) as Tallulah Clarke, Aaron James McKenzie (A Beautiful Noise) as Elijah, and Hunter Parrish (Spring Awakening, Weeds) as Jesse Whitewater. Joining them is Jisel Soleil Ayon (Hamilton national tour) as the standby for Mary and Martha.
The ensemble will include Rickens Anantua, Reed Campbell, Carrie Compere, Meghan Olivia Corbett, Joann Gilliam, Francesca Granell, Aaron Arnell Harrington, Mary Claire King, Malik Shabazz Kitchen, Rayshun LaMarr, Zonya Love, Tiffany Mann, Tony Perry, Adam Roberts, Hank Santos, Christine Shepard, Katie Thompson, Aurelia Williams, and Jason SweetTooth Williams.
The musical is inspired by the true story of Mary (Renée) and Martha Clarke (LaFontaine), African American twin sisters who take extraordinary measures to settle their mother’s sharecropper debt and save her home. In 1893 Texas, the Clarke sisters—passing as white—embark on a Wild West adventure that examines race, family, and identity.
The production features orchestrations by John Clancy (Kimberly Akimbo), scenic design by Beowulf Boritt (New York, New York), costume design by Emilio Sosa (Ain’t No Mo’), lighting design by Adam Honoré (Purlie Victorious), sound design by Connor Wang (How to Dance in Ohio), wig, hair, and makeup design by J. Jared Janas & Tony Lauro (Sweeney Todd), fight direction by Sordelet, Inc./Rick Sordelet (The Lion King), and intimacy direction by Crista Marie Jackson (Between Riverside and Crazy).
