Opening Night Pics Of "Blues for an Alabama Sky"

(L) Director Phylicia Rashad and
the cast of "Blues for an Alabama Sky"

The revival of Pearl Cleage’s rich and beautiful work “Blues for an Alabama Sky” opened Wednesday, April 13, 2022, at Center Theatre Group / Mark Taper Forum and continues through May 8. Directed by Center Theatre Group’s Associate Artist and Tony Award-winning actor Phylicia Rashad, this production features Joe Holt, Nija Okoro, Dennis Pearson, Greg Alverez Reid, and Kim Steele. Opening night was star-studded with Debbie Allen and Norm Nixon, Raven Symone and Miranda Pearman-Maday, Chante Adams, Cedric Sanders, Anna Maria Horsford, Kiki Shepard, Dawnn Lewis, Angelica Ross, Folake Olowofoykeo, Vivian Nixon and more that attended.

Dawnn Lewis

Raven Symone

Anna Maria Horsford

The setting is 1930s Harlem. Angel is a free-spirited Cotton Club singer who's out of luck but never out of dreams. Guy is a costume designer waiting for Josephine Baker to invite him to join her in Paris. Delia, a young activist, is trying to give the women of Harlem a choice about their future. Sam, a prominent physician, is either delivering babies or out at the club letting the good times roll. And Leland, who recently arrived in Harlem from Alabama, is haunted by the wide-open skies and lost love he left behind. The lives and dreams of these men and women converge with passion and politics as the art and celebration of the Harlem Renaissance give way to the harsh realities of the Great Depression.

Norm Nixon and Debbie Allen

Tickets for “Blues for an Alabama Sky” are currently on sale at Center Theatre Group / Mark Taper Forum and start at $30. They are available through CenterTheatreGroup.org, Audience Services at (213) 628-2772, or in person at the Center Theatre Group Box Office (at the Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue in Downtown L.A. 90012). Performances run Tuesday through Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2:30 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m. Call for exceptions.