Marva Hicks. Photo by Lia Chang
The York Theatre Company, dedicated to the development of new musicals and the preservation of musical gems from the past, celebrates musical revues with the announcement of complete casting for the season opener of the Winter 2016 Musicals in Mufti Series: Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope, a musical entertainment with book, music, and lyrics by Micki Grant, conceived by Vinnette Carroll.
Directed by Leslie Dockery, and with musical direction by William Foster McDaniel, the eight-member cast will feature Marva Hicks (Motown, The Musical), Jelani Alladin (Ragtime), Darilyn Castillo (It Ain’t Nothin But the Blues), Doug Eskew (The Color Purple), Tina Fabrique (Ragtime), Devin L. Roberts (The Lion King), Ruan Ruffin (The Good Wife) and Debra Walton (Storyville).
The limited engagement of Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope will play 10 performances only February 27 – March 6, 2016 at The York Theatre Company at Saint Peter’s (619 Lexington Avenue, entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue). Opening Night performance on Sunday, February 28 at 7:00 p.m. will be followed by a “Can’t Cope with the Oscars Party.”
Micki Grant. Photo by Lia Chang
With five 1972 Tony Award nominations (including Best Musical) and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical the same year, the show also won Micki Grant a Grammy Award for best score-the first female to be so honored. Ms. Grant was also one of the stars of the show, which came to Broadway after successful runs in Washington DC, Detroit, and Philadelphia. The show ran for over two years on Broadway. A dynamic mixture of gospel, jazz, funk, soul, calypso, and soft rock, the show illuminates the African-American experience with vibrant song and dance. Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope was described as “a cultural pulse-taking of the challenges facing the black community in America” and is the first Broadway musical written entirely by a woman and the first Broadway production to be directed by a female African-American. T. E. Kalem, writing in TIME Magazine, said, “all heaven breaks loose on stage. This is the kind of show at which you want to blow kisses.” The New York Times declared, “A hand-clapping, sky reaching, body-swaying musical.”
The performance schedule for Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope is Saturday, February 27 at 2:30 p.m.* & 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, February 28 at 2:30 p.m.* and 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, March 3 and Friday, March 4 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, March 5 at 2:30 p.m.* & 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, March 6 at 2:30 p.m. (*audience discussions follow these matinee performances). Click here to purchase tickets.
The Opening Night performance on Sunday, February 28 at 7:00 p.m. will be followed by a “Can’t Cope with the Oscars Party.”
The York Theatre Company’s acclaimed Musicals in Mufti series of musical theatre gems, performed in a simply-staged, book-in-hand concert format, celebrates its twenty-first historic year with the 102nd and 103rd presentations of shows from the past. Mufti means “in street clothes, without the trappings associated with a full production.”
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Lia Chang is an award-winning filmmaker, a Best Actress nominee, a photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in Examiner.com, Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.
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