Search - Duke Ellington :: Play On!: A New Musical (1997 Original Broadway Cast)

The spiritual successor to Broadway's 1981 Duke Ellington tribute, Sophisticated Ladies, 1997's Play On! differs from the earlier show's song-dance-revue format by presenting an actual story, in this case Shakespeare's Twelfth Night transported to Harlem. And while Sophisticated Ladies's pedigree included the composer's son, Mercer, directing the music and his daughter, Mercedes, in the cast, Play On! benefited from the same Mercedes contributing the choreography and making available her father's vast catalog. The result is a powerhouse combination of a strong cast (including Cheryl Freeman, Carl Anderson, Lawrence Hamilton, and Tonya Pinkins), master arranger Luther Henderson, and 19 great Ellington songs, among them "Take the 'A' Train," "Mood Indigo," "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," and "It Don't Mean a Thing." --David Horiuchi