Paradise Blue

De: Dominique Morisseau

Narrado por: Simone Missick, Andre Holland, Kristolyn Lloyd, Blair Underwood, Keith Randolph Smith

It’s 1949 in Detroit’s Black Bottom neighborhood, and there’s no better place to hear or play jazz than Paradise Club. Blue (Emmy Award winner, Grammy Award winner, and 2020 Tony Award nominee Blair Underwood), club owner and trumpeter, can wail like no other, but as forces outside the club conspire to irreparably change life inside and outside Paradise’s walls, he must decide whether to stay or sell. Beholden to his girlfriend (Grammy Award winner Kristolyn Lloyd) and fellow bandmates (André Holland and Keith Randolph Smith), Blue faces an uncertain future as he reckons with his troubled past. When Silver (Simone Missick), a smooth and mysterious newcomer from Louisiana, steps onto the scene, everyone in Paradise must choose how to survive.

For over six decades, Williamstown Theatre Festival, recipient of the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre and the Commonwealth Award for Achievement, has brought emerging and professional theatre artists together to create a thrilling summer festival of premiere work alongside fresh, new productions of the Western canon, accompanying cultural events including Community Works and Late-Night Cabarets, and readings and workshops of new plays. Under Artistic Director Mandy Greenfield, WTF launched the Andrew Martin-Weber New Play and Musical Commissioning Program, through which theatre artists, including Jocelyn Bioh, Nathan Alan Davis, Halley Feiffer, Justin Levine, Matthew Lopez, Jiehae Park, Benjamin Scheuer, and many others, create new work supported by a year-round play development program. WTF runs unmatched training programs for new generations of theatre talent, and artists and productions shaped at WTF fill theatres in New York, London, and around the country each season.

Williamstown Theatre Festival’s productions of The Bridges of Madison County, The Elephant Man, Fool for Love, Living on Love, and The Visit enjoyed critically acclaimed runs on Broadway, with The Elephant Man and The Visit receiving Tony Award nominations for Best Revival of a Play and Best Revival of a Musical, respectively. WTF's world premiere productions of Cost of Living (winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama), Actually, Paradise Blue, and Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow played acclaimed Off-Broadway runs. In the abbreviated 2019-20 theatrical season, Williamstown Theatre Festival was represented or scheduled to be represented on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally by The Sound Inside and Grand Horizons, both of which received Tony Award nominations for Best Play, The Rose Tattoo, Seared, Selling Kabul, Unknown Soldier, and Lempicka. Visit us at www.wtfestival.org.

Williamstown Theatre Festival would like to thank 321 Theatrical Management, Telsey & Company, and DKC/O&M.

Sound design by: Darron L. West
Original music composition by: Kenny Rampton & Bill Sims Jr.
Assistant Director: Bianca LaVerne Jones
Executive Producer for Audible: Kate Navin
Producer for Audible: Jessica Amato
Executive Producer for Williamstown Theatre Festival: Mandy Greenfield
Producer for Williamstown Theatre Festival: Lucie Ledbetter

Staff for Williamstown Theatre Festival
Antonello Di Benedetto, Director of Audience Engagement
Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director
Henrietta Key, Development Coordinator
Aileen Lambert, Literary Manager
Lucie Ledbetter, Line Producer
Josh Martinez-Nelson, Director of Development & Communications
Amy Russell, Director of Finance
Laura Savia, Associate Artistic Director
Lindsey Turteltaub, Director of Production
Lianna Rada-Hung, Assistant to the Artistic Director

©2020 Dominique Morisseau (P)2020 AO Media LLC

Very entertaining!

I thoroughly enjoyed this production! The actors were fantastic! The story got you caught up in all of the different characters. I can’t decide whether Pumpkin or Silver was my favorite, but they were both wonderful! I highly recommend it to everyone!

love

I LOVED this piece. The actor's voices were captivating. I stayed totally entralled the entire time.

Hardcore American Reality

an excellent story told by an impressive crew about the jazz culture in Detroit in the 40s. mostly enjoyed the discussion of the producers at the end especially the systematic destruction of a white mayor to the African-American jazz community and businesses in Detroit. we can learn from these mistakes to prevent things like this from ever happening again, hopefully.

Great Voice Acting!

The acting drew me immediately and what a powerful story to share. I totally recommend this if you're looking for a short with strong impact.

A great play so wonderfully brought to life .

great characters, history ,art and culture. the actors and music were superb And painted vibrant emotions that gave a theatre like experience.

BRAVO BRAVO

Loved it but lost me the very last second. Outstanding had me from the beginning to the end.

supreme!!!!!!!!

That was exquisite. I loved each actors intention and passion for this play. I wish I could see this on stage. Bravo.

amazing

I loved it so much I have to see the play now. it was that amazing I came in thinking it was just a jazz podcast or Playlist. whe. I came out I was just amazed at the storytelling.

Excellent!

I don’t usually write reviews but I just have to express my awe of the actors in telling this story of one of the many black communities sold “out from under” for a highway or a mall. The acting was so real that I could hear & feel the pain that each person had in their souls, especially Blair Underwood!

Simply Beautiful

This play was beautifully presented. From the music to the poetry. I was transported to the 1940s and I did not want to leave!