JAMAICA!

I was cast in Jamaica at the Prince Theatre here in Philly. Our first week of rehearsal is over and we open with previews May 31.

Jamaica has a pretty interesting origin story. It's by the composers of Wizard of Oz, it's borne out of the Red Scare, it started as a full musical and ended up as a more-or-less cabaret vehicle for Lena Horne, etc. etc. etc. It opened in '57 and ran for two years with very few subsequent revivals. The Prince has been given permission to rework the piece entirely.

We're doing a slow crawl through of a rough staging at the moment - incorporating songs we've learned, loose blocking, etc. Songs are added and/or taken away, new script pages are thrown in - very much like working a new premiere.

I'm loving the trek into Center City each day and I should be getting used to the 10:00am call sometime next week. heh. Rachel Passmore is on staff - worked with her on 42nd Street at the Walnut so it's great to have a familiar face in the crowd.

Prince is home to AMTf (American Music Theatre Festival). I worked with AMTf my freshman year at UArts for a production called Bobos. Yup - it was about sneakers. And gangs.

All in all it's a fun cast so far - 13 in all. And working with Director Ozzie Jones is a fuckin' riot.

More to come...