Caroline or the change will come back to Broadway

After an engagement in the West End, the acclaimed revival of Chichester Festival Theater Caroline or the change will be transferred to Broadway. The performances of the production directed by Michael Longhurst will begin on March 13, 2020, before the opening night of April 7 at Studio 54 of Roundabout Theater.

Sharon D. Clarke, winner of the Olivier Award, recently seen on the London stage Death of a seller, will resume her performance in the title role of Caroline Thibodeaux, a black woman working as a cleaning lady for a white Jewish family in the Civil Rights Movement.

The musical, featuring a score by Jeanine Tesori, a book and lyrics by Tony Kushner, was premiered at the Public Theater Off-Broadway in 2003 before being transferred to Broadway the following year. The production earned Anika Noni Rose a Tony Award, as well as nominations for star Tonya Pinkins, Tesori and Kushner and director George C. Wolfe.

The staging features an Ann Yee choreography, Fly Davis sets and costumes, Jack Knowles lighting, Paul Arditti's sound designs and a musical supervision by Nigel Lilley. Chris Fenwick is Music Director.

Prior to Caroline or the change, Roundabout will present on Broadway the premiere of Charles Fuller A soldier game. Tony's winner, Kenny Leon, will lead the Pulitzer Prize-winning detective drama alongside David Alan Grier (The Porgy and Bess of the Gerhswins, Race, The First) and Blair Underwood (A streetcar named desire) with Sergeant Vernon C. Waters and Captain Richard Davenport respectively.

Grier returns to the play, inspired by Herman Melville Billy Budd and set in 1944 in Louisiana, the army remains segregated, following its world premiere in 1981 at the Negro Ensemble Company of Off-Broadway alongside Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson. Washington and Grier resumed their performances in the 1984 film adaptation.

The previews will begin December 27th at the American Airlines Theater before the official opening on January 21st. Set designer Derek McLane, costume designer Dede Ayite, light designer Allen Lee Hughes and sound designer Dan Moses Schreier are part of the design team.

The additional cast for the two Broadway bows will be announced at a later date.