FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

 

 

For more information, contact:

Jenni Benzaquen

Press Director

Geffen Playhouse

(310) 208-6500, ext. 126

jenni@geffenplayhouse.com

 

 

GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE TAPS TONY AWARD WINNER ANN DUQUESNAY AND MONTEGO GLOVER FOR HOT SUMMER MUSICAL

***

Cookin’ At The Cookery: The Music And Times Of Alberta Hunter Kicks-off 15 Months of Theater at the Geffen’s New Interim Home – the Brentwood Theatre

 

June 15-August 1, 2004

 

LOS ANGELES, CA – May 20, 2004 – Geffen Playhouse Producing Director Gilbert Cates proudly announces the casting for this summer’s sizzling musical, Cookin’ at the Cookery: The Music and Times of Alberta Hunter.  Kicking off the first of six Geffen Playhouse productions at the newly refurbished Brentwood Theatre, Cookin’ at the Cookery will star Tony Award-winning actress and singer Ann Duquesnay and celebrated Broadway performer Montego Glover. A dynamite combination of vocal forces, both Duquesnay and Glover have starred in past productions of Cookin’ at the Cookery, joining for the first time in the Geffen Playhouse production this summer. Written, directed and choreographed by multi-talented performer and creator Marion J. Caffey, Cookin’ at the Cookery will feature the musical direction of Grammy Award winning conductor, George Caldwell. Cookin’ at the Cookery begins in previews at the Brentwood Theatre on Tuesday, June 15 and runs through Sunday, August 1, with an official press opening on Wednesday, June 23, 2004.

 

“We’re happy to be able to share the incredible story and music of Alberta Hunter from our new interim home, the charming Brentwood Theatre,” said Cates. “Cookin’ at the Cookery is an irresistibly entertaining trip through the life and music of a legendary performer. I can’t think of a better way to kick-off the summer as we get ready to launch our extraordinary 10-year journey to explore American theater.”

 

Cookin’ at the Cookery, the first musical from Broadway actor and singer Marion J. Caffey, tells the story of Alberta Hunter, the enormously talented blues singer who triumphed over unbeatable odds to achieve success not only as a performer, but also as a nurse. The recipient of numerous accolades, including Drama Desk and Drama League award nominations, Cookin’ at the Cookery takes audiences on a musical journey through Hunter’s life, from her early career in Chicago, to starring roles on Broadway and in Paris and London.  After giving it all up at the age of 60 to start a new career as a nurse, Hunter makes her triumphant comeback in 1977 at Greenwich Village’s The Cookery, where she shares the wild stories of her past, and belts out blues standards such as “When the Saints Go Marching In” and “Sweet Georgia Brown.” 

 

Ann Duquesnay, perhaps best known for her Tony Award-winning performance in Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk, played Alberta Hunter in the New York production of Cookin’ at the Cookery at the Melting Pot Theatre.  Her performance of the legendary jazz singer garnered Duquesnay both Drama Desk and Drama League nominations. Her voice, not unlike Alberta Hunter, has been lauded as fiercely strong and deeply soulful.

 

Montego Glover starred in Cookin’ at the Cookery at the Huntington Theatre in Boston, and at the Canadian Stage and New Yorker Theatre in Toronto. Earlier this year, Glover starred in the world premiere of Memphis, for which she was nominated for the IRNE Award for Best Actress in a Musical. In 2001, Glover made her Broadway debut in the 20th Anniversary production of Dreamgirls.

 

Tickets for Cookin’ at the Cookery are currently on sale and can be purchased online at www.geffenplayhouse.com or by calling the Geffen Playhouse box office at (310) 208-5454. Ticket prices range from $30 to $48. From now until August 2005, all Geffen Playhouse productions will be presented at the historic Brentwood Theatre, located at 11301 Wilshire Boulevard, building 211 on the grounds of the Veterans Administration in Brentwood. The Geffen Playhouse performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; Friday at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.; and Sunday at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m. 

 

Cookin’ at the Cookery Biographies

 

MARION J. CAFFEY (Writer/Director/Choreographer) began his career as a singer and dancer, but is now dedicated to writing and directing. He garnered numerous awards and nominations for Cookin’ at the Cookery, his first writing effort, including New York’s Drama Desk and Drama League awards and four NAACP theater awards. Most recently, Caffey conceived, directed and choreographed Three Mo’ Divas, which had its world premiere at San Diego Repertory Theatre to critical acclaim and standing ovations.  Caffey’s “Mo” concept is a series of concerts celebrating the versatile African-American classically trained voice.  The concerts cross seven musical forms and span 400 years of music including Opera, Broadway, Jazz, Blues, Soul, Spiritual and Gospel.  Caffey’s other concept, authorial, directing or choreographic credits include the 1997 Broadway production of Street Corner Symphony, Bowfire, Blackbirds of Broadway, Chicago, Forever Plaid, Jelly Roll: The Music and the Man, Little Shop of Horror, Tintypes, The All Night Strut, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Purlie Victorious, Ruthless, Lady Day, Spunk and The Colored Museum. Caffey has been produced in more than 25 North American productions including three Canadian productions.

 

ANN DUQUESNAY (Alberta Hunter) has five Broadway productions to her credit: Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk, for which she won the Tony Award and Drama League Award and was a Grammy nominee; It Ain’t Nothin’ But The Blues; Jelly’s Last Jam (Gran Mimi); the revival of The Wiz (Glinda the Good Witch); and Blues in the Night. Duquesnay recently received a Drama Desk nomination and Drama League recognition for her portrayal of Alberta Hunter in New York City’s Melting Pot Theatre production of Cookin’ at the Cookery.  Off-Broadway she received an AUDELCO Award for New York Shakespeare Festival’s Spunk (Blues Speak Woman), which she also performed at the Mark Taper Forum.  Duquesnay’s regional theater credits include Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Ma Rainey); House of Flowers (Madame Fleur) at Denver Center Theatre; Lady Day (Billie Holiday), winner of Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle Award at Theatre on the Square; Porgy & Bess (Maria) at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion; The Outcast (High Priestess of Moab) at Houston Grand Opera; Black Nativity at the Fords Theatre in Washington D.C., and Vatican City. She has toured nationally with the productions of Civil War, Bubbling Brown Sugar, and The Wiz.  Duquesnay’s film credits include The Cotton Club and Marci X.  Her television credits include One Life to Live, Another World and PBS’s Reading Rainbow (voice of Hip Cat). She was the narrator of Aretha Franklin’s autobiography audio book, Aretha From These Roots.        

 

MONTEGO GLOVER (Narrator) starred in Cookin’ at the Cookery at the Huntington Theatre in Boston, and at the Canadian Stage and New Yorker Theatre in Toronto. Earlier this year, Glover starred in the world premiere of Memphis, for which she was nominated for the IRNE Award for Best Actress in a Musical. In 2001, Glover made her Broadway debut in the 20th Anniversary Concert of Dreamgirls. She can be heard on the new cast recording of Dreamgirls, the original cast recording of Festival of the Lion King and Rhythm Of One (both for Disney’s Animal Kingdom). Most recently, Glover participated in the new concept recording of the Pirates Of Penzance, reprising her role as Mabel. Glover’s Off-Broadway credits include The Pirates Of Penzance, for which she received accolades from The New York Times and Variety; Radiant Baby directed by George C. Wolfe at the Public Theatre; Me & Juliet with the York Theatre Company; and Roses Are Brown with Theatre for the New City.  Her regional credits include Ragtime (Sarah); Oklahoma! (Ado Annie); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Charlaine); Jesus Christ Superstar (Mary Magdalene); Into The Woods (Red Riding Hood); Annie (Star To Be); Godspell (principal); and the world premiere of The Conservationist with the Asolo Theatre Company.

 

GEORGE CALDWELL (Lead Pianist/Musical Director) is a veteran of Broadway, having conducted several shows including Black and Blue and Play On!, as well as serving in orchestra pits for such hits as Bring In Da Noise, Bring In Da Funk and The Full Monty.  He has toured through Europe with the productions of Black and Blue (musical director) and Body and Soul (associate conductor). Caldwell served as musical director for the original musical Thunder Knocking on the Door, Golden Boy, and in previous productions of Cookin’ at the Cookery. He has toured the world with many of the best jazz orchestras of modern times, including three years with the Duke Ellington Orchestra under the direction of Frank Foster and Grover Mitchell.  Caldwell received a Grammy Award with the Count Basie organization for the recording The Count Basie Orchestra Live at the Manchestra Craftsman’s Guild.  He has performed with artists and performers as diverse as George Benson, Savion Glover, Lou Rawls, Elvis Costello, Wynton Marsalis, Cab Calloway, Quincy Jones, Gregory Hines, Dizzy Gillespie, and Brenda Lee. His film credits include the music composition and arrangement of the award winning short film Rolling in Dough. Caldwell’s recording credits include multifarious musical styles of the original cast albums for such Broadway shows as Play On!, Body and Soul and Jazzin’ with Tito Puente. His compositions and arrangements are recorded extensively.

 

Just Announced: Geffen Playhouse 2004-2005 Season

 

Subscriptions to the 2004-2005 season are currently on sale and may be purchased online at www.geffenplayhouse.com, at the Geffen’s box office located at the Brentwood Theatre, or by calling the box office at (310) 208-5454. 

 

Take Me Out (September 14-October 24, 2004)

The Geffen season kicks off at the Brentwood Theatre with the 2003 Tony Award winner for Best Play Take Me Out. In this critically acclaimed new play by Richard Greenberg, superstar baseball player Darren Lemming makes the matter-of-fact announcement to the public that he is gay. Take Me Out examines the fall-out from his announcement as it ripples through the team, the media, and across the nation. Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director, Randall Arney, will direct this 2003 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama that explores the many layers of identity, whether personal, professional or sexual, as seen through the eyes of a homosexual baseball player in an irrefutably heterosexual sports world. Lauded by critics and fans worldwide, The New York Times called Take Me Out “an unconditional, all-American epiphany that, in these days of fretful ambivalence, is something to cherish.” The Geffen Playhouse production of the West Coast premiere of Take Me Out begins in previews at the Brentwood Theatre on September 14, 2004 and runs through October 24, with press performances beginning September 22, 2004.

 

Paint Your Wagon (November 23, 2004-January 9, 2005)

Geffen Playhouse Producing Director Gilbert Cates will direct the world premiere adaptation of Lerner & Loewe’s classic musical Paint Your Wagon. American playwright David Rambo will revise this classic American tale set in the midst of the California Gold Rush. The Geffen Playhouse production of Paint Your Wagon is the first revival of the musical and is being presented in association with Christopher Allen, D. Constantine Conte and Larry Spellman. Paint Your Wagon is the story of a grizzled old prospector and his sixteen-year-old daughter who finds gold near their camp. When the word gets out, gold miners descend upon the area and create a boomtown. The Geffen Playhouse production of Paint Your Wagon begins in previews at the Brentwood Theatre on November 23 and runs through January 9, with press performances beginning December 1, 2004.

 

Play 3 TBA (February 1-March 13, 2005)

 

You Can’t Take It With You (April 12-May 22, 2005)

The Geffen Playhouse celebrates the 100th birthday of Moss Hart with a revival of the Pulitzer Prize winning play You Can’t Take It With You. Hart co-wrote this American classic with his partner George S. Kaufman. You Can’t Take It With You has been credited for paving the way for the TV sitcom, featuring what may have been Broadway’s first dysfunctional family. A paean to independence and self-indulgence, the play is centered on an eclectic family of individualists, who amuse with their energetic physical antics and inspire with their wholehearted pursuit of happiness. Directed by Christopher Hart, the son of Moss Hart, the Geffen Playhouse production of You Can’t Take It With You begins in previews at the Brentwood Theatre on April 12, 2005 and runs through May 22, with press performances beginning April 20, 2005.

 

I Am My Own Wife (June 14-July 24, 2005)

Last year, The New York Times praised Doug Wright’s solo show I Am My Own Wife as “the most stirring new work to appear on Broadway this fall.”  The Geffen Playhouse production of this 2004 Pulitzer Prize winner will feature the original acclaimed Broadway actor/director team of Jefferson Mays and Moisés Kaufman. Under the direction of Kaufman, The New York Times lauded Mays’s performance of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a soft-spoken but tenaciously gender-bending biological male, as “thoroughly mesmerizing.” Based on a true story, and inspired by interviews conducted by Wright over several years, I Am My Own Wife was recently nominated for five Drama Desk Awards and is expected to be among the top contenders when Tony Award nominations are announced in May.  The Geffen Playhouse production of I Am My Own Wife begins in previews on June 14, 2005 and runs through July 24, with press performances beginning June 22, 2005.

 

Geffen Playhouse…at the new Brentwood Theatre

 

From June 2004 through September 2005, Geffen Playhouse will be located at the completely refurbished Brentwood Theatre on the grounds of the Veteran’s Administration in Brentwood.  Single ticket prices for Cookin’ at the Cookery range from $30 to $48.  The performance schedule is Tuesdays - Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 4:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.; and Sundays at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m.  For ticket information, please call the Geffen Playhouse box office at (310) 208-5454. For group reservations, please call (661) 250-7424. Visit the Geffen Playhouse website at www.geffenplayhouse.com. 

 

Geffen Playhouse is headed by Producing Director Gilbert Cates, Artistic Director Randall Arney and Managing Director Stephen Eich.

 

#   #   #