Sonny’s Blues

The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre presents Sonny’s Blue, a world premiere adapted from the work of James Baldwin with an original musical score composed by Marcus Shelby.
Margo Hall directs.

Two brothers in 1950’s Harlem — the elder a schoolteacher and family man; the younger, Sonny, a jazz pianist with a troubled past — navigate a tense and complicated relationship against the jazzy rhythmic background of city life. Music is present in every moment of Sonny’s Blues — the neighborhood bars, the deserted schoolyards, the gospel singers in the streets of Harlem. Ultimately, Baldwin’s depiction of the terrible, joyful struggle to find the soul of life is a stunning portrayal of a man.