Photos: In Rehearsals for AFTER MIDNIGHT at Paper Mill Playhouse

Paper Mill Playhouse will soon present After Midnight, co-directed by Dominique Kelley (PMP: The Great Gatsby; Denver Center: Oklahoma!) and Paper Mill Playhouse’s Associate Artistic Director Jen Bender (PMP: Honeymoon in Vegas; Broadway: The Lion King) and choreographed by Kelley. The production will play January 31 – February 25, 2024 at Paper Mill Playhouse (22 Brookside Drive). Opening night is Sunday, February 4.
 
Conceived by Jack Viertel (former Artistic Director of City Center Encores!), this Jazz Age rhythm and dance extravaganza is an electrifying musical revue that transports you to the Cotton Club of the Harlem Renaissance, an unparalleled time in New York City when jazz and swing were king. After Midnight intertwines the poetry of Langston Hughes with songs from big-band legends Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Harold Arlen, Dorothy Fields, and more. The exhilarating score features such hits as “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love,” “Stormy Weather,” “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing).”
 
After Midnight will star Angela Birchett (PMP & Broadway: The Color Purple), Sasha Hutchings (Broadway: Hamilton, My Fair Lady), Joshua Lamar (Lyric Opera: West Side Story; HBO Max: “Legendary”), James T. Lane (Broadway: Chicago, The Scottsboro Boys), Stanley Martin (Broadway: Disney’s Aladdin; International Tour: West Side Story), Aramie Payton (Broadway: MJ: The Musical; National Tour: Dreamgirls), Destinee Rea (PMP: Disney’s Hercules; Broadway: Tina: The Tina Turner Musical), Awa Sal Secka (Signature Theatre: Ragtime, Gun & Powder), Liv Symone (Broadway: Disney’s Aladdin; Starz: “Power Book III: Raising Kanan”), Harris Matthew Turner (Broadway: MJ: The Musical, Disney’s Frozen), Jasmine Pearl Villaroel (Centre Theater: Tuck Everlasting; Fulton Theatre: Grease), and Anthony Wayne (Broadway: Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Once on This Island).
 
The production features music direction by Sean Mayes (Broadway: MJ: The Musical, Hadestown), scenic and lighting design by Adam Honoré (Broadway: Purlie Victorious, Ain’t No Mo’), costume design by Azalea Fairley (Broadway: Hamilton, A Strange Loop), sound design by Sadah Espii Proctor (Broadway: Trouble in Mind; Off-Broadway: Daphne), and hair and wig design by Alfreda Howard (Netflix: “Mystery Science Theatre 3000;” Off-Broadway: Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie). Casting is by Tara Rubin Casting. RL Campbell is the Production Stage Manager.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski