Roundabout Theatre Company will bring a revival of “Caroline, or Change” and “A Soldier’s Play” to Broadway this season.
The production of “Caroline, or Change” will transfer to Broadway from the West End, with Sharon D. Clarke reprising her Olivier Award-winning role as Caroline. The musical, which features a book and lyrics by Tony Kushner (“Angels in America”) and music by Jeanine Tesori (“Fun Home”), will begin performances at Studio 54 on March 13, 2020, with an opening night set for April 7.
This marks the first revival of “Caroline, or Change,” which centers on an African-American maid in 1963 Louisiana, on Broadway. The original Broadway production opened in 2004.
Michael Longhurst, the artistic director of London’s Donmar Warehouse, directs this production, which features choreography by Ann Yee. Set and costume design is by Fly Davis, with lighting design by Jack Knowles and sound design by Paul Arditti.
It transfers to Broadway after a run on the West End, which finished in April 2019. Before the West End, this production had runs at Hampstead Theatre and at the Chichester Festival Theatre.
Earlier in the year, Roundabout will present the first Broadway production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “A Soldier’s Play.” The play, written by Charles Fuller, will star David Alan Grier as Sergeant Vernon C. Waters and Blair Underwood as Captain Richard Davenport.
Directed by Kenny Leon, who recently directed “American Son” on Broadway, the play will begin previews at the American Airlines Theatre on Dec. 27, 2019, with an opening night on Jan. 21.
“A Soldier’s Play,” a drama about the murder of a black sergeant on a Louisiana army base, originally premiered Off-Broadway in 1981 at the Negro Ensemble Company, where it the Pulitzer Prize. It was adapted into a film in 1984, which received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for best film and best screenplay.
Grier joined the Negro Ensemble Company production during the original run and appeared in the film with original company member Denzel Washington. Known for his work on the television show “In Living Color,” he now returns to Broadway after appearing in “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” among others.
Underwood, who made his Broadway debut as Stanley in the 2012 revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” was also a series regular on television show “Quantico” as well as on Netflix projects including “When They See Us” and “Juanita.”
The design team for “A Soldier’s Play” includes set designer Derek McLane, costume designer Dede Ayite, lighting designer Allen Lee Hughes and sound designer Dan Moses Schreier.
