New Musical MARIAN Holds Residency at The University of Michigan This Month

The University Of Michigan Department of Musical Theatre will be hosting a two week writer’s residency this November for the creative team of MARIAN, a new musical about the renowned opera singer and activist, Marian Anderson. 

The show’s synopsis as described by its creators: 

It’s 1939 — and much like today — economic turmoil, racial tension, and political division consume America. When world-famous, Black contralto, MARIAN ANDERSON, is denied a stage in Washington, D.C. — an international Civil Rights controversy explodes. Offered a chance to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before an unprecedented, racially-integrated audience, Marian is catapulted into a personal crisis the night before she gives the performance of a lifetime. 

The show is conceived by Elkin Antoniou G, Chelsea Marie Davis and Caleen Sinnette Jennings and features music by Davis and Victoria Theodore, lyrics by Davis and Emily Ruth Hazel, book by Jennings and Antoniou, with arrangements and music supervision by Theodore. MARIAN is produced by Liquid Theatre Collective and Executive Producer,  Randy Donaldson (SCOTTSBORO BOYS). Other commercial producers are Amy Gewirtz (THE BAND’S VISIT, COME FROM AWAY) , Alexa Fleur and Claire Wilkes.

Creator Elkin Antoniou G, speaking on behalf of the creative team says about the residency: “The opportunity to have a residency at University of Michigan, truly embodies the legacy of Marian Anderson — we are both exercising and elevating our art form, while also giving back to the next generation of artists. We couldn’t be more grateful and excited to all grow together.” 

The residency is a partnership between The University Of Michigan Musical Theatre Department and Liquid Theatre Collective, which holds the exclusive musical stage rights to the Marian Anderson Archival Estate. The residency is supported in part by the Carole Caplan Lonner Visiting Artists Fund and a grant from the U-M Arts Initiative. 

U-M New Works Director Lynne Shankel (PERPETUAL SUNSHINE & THE GHOST GIRLS, WHITE GIRL IN DANGER, ALLEGIANCE) hopes this writer’s residency is the first of many: “It’s so important that our students are exposed to the process of working on new pieces of musical theatre— it’s what they will spend an incredible amount of time doing in their careers if their paths take them to New York. Our students are also amazing actor/activists. MARIAN speaks to that activism and is at the heart of the kind of stories they want to hear and want to tell as part of the future of musical theatre."

Biographies

Tamara Tunie (director) had the honor and pleasure of directing FEELIN’ GOOD!, Tony Award winner LaChanze’S autobiographical, one-woman show.  She produced and directed the feature film SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER, directed and co-wrote the world premiere of JAZZLAND at The Harlem School of the Arts, and is directing the new musical DOROTHY DANDRIDGE, about the life of the legendary Hollywood movie star. Also, under Ms. Tunie’s direction, LOVE AND SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT, a new musical set in the sultry south, is currently in development. 

Elkin Antoniou g (co-conceiver) has found herself working on film sets, in theaters, and for humanitarian causes all over the world. She began her career as a professional ballet dancer and musical theatre performer. Favorite credits include: The Phantom of the Opera, (First National Company), Fame: The Musical (West Coast premiere), Gypsy (with Bette Midler), LA Chamber Ballet (soloist), and Tales of Hoffman (LA Opera).   

Caleen Sinnette Jennings (book) was commissioned by the Kennedy Center to write a stage adaptation of Walter Dean Myers’ novel, Darius & Twig was produced at Kennedy Center and went on a three-month national tour in 2018. Her play, Queens Girl in the World, did an extended run at Theatre J. and Mosaic Theatre commissioned her to write Queens Girl in Africa for the Women’s Voices Theatre Festival in 2018. The two plays ran in repertory in May 2019 at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore.

Chelsea Marie Davis (co-lyrics, co-music) is a multi-genre songwriter & jazz vocalist. She studied Music and Psychology at Chapman University, where she earned a Bachelor's in Music Therapy. She is an Artist-in-Residence with the Johnny Mercer Foundation and the All the Arts for All the Kids Foundation, where she teaches lyric writing & composition to youth. She has co-written more than 500 songs with children.  

Victoria Theodore (co-music) is a pianist singer-songwriter, composer, music director, producer and teacher. She is the keyboardist (AKA Gigawatts) for Freestyle Love Supreme, created the piano arrangement for the National Anthem for the 2020 NFL Kickoff Game, co-arranged / orchestrated “America the Beautiful” for Super Bowl LIII, was Beyoncé’s pianist for Kobe Bryant’s Memorial and was Music Director for Playbill’s Women in Theatre: A Centennial Celebration and SUMMER: THE Donna Summer MUSICAL at La Jolla Playhouse and on Broadway.

Emily Ruth Hazel (co-lyrics) is a cross-pollinating poet, writer, and lyricist who engages a diverse audience by creating poetry infused with music and music infused with poetry. In 2014, she was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship to develop a full-length poetry book manuscript during a residency at The Hambidge Center. A graduate of Oberlin College’s Creative Writing Program, she was twice awarded national Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prizes and has written more than twenty commissioned works.

Commercial producers are Randy Donaldson (Scottsboro Boys) and Amy Gewirtz (The Band’s Visit, Come From Away).