Celebrate Black theater, Black music, Black culture, Black history, and Black voices.
The 40th Anniversary production of Mama, I Want To Sing! will play El Museo’s El Teatro (formerly the Heckscher Theater) (1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street) for a special Black History Month limited engagement, it was announced today by Vy Higginsen, founder and executive director and producer of The Mama Foundation for the Arts. Performances begin February 23 and run through March 12. The musical opens on Sunday, February 26.
This is a homecoming for the musical, having played the Heckscher Theater in 1983. Tickets can now be purchased by visiting www.MamaFoundation.org.
In 1983, Vy Higginsen, alongside husband Ken Wydro co-wrote, produced, and directed Mama, I Want to Sing!, a musical based on the life of Vy’s sister, Doris Troy, and her dream of becoming a singer. Doris made her mark on African-American music as a soul and R&B singer-songwriter throughout the 60’s and 70’s. Vy and Doris’s father was a Pentecostal minister, and Doris began her musical journey singing in the choir at his church. Despite her parents’ disapproval, Doris competed in and won amateur night at the Apollo Theater, jumpstarting her career.
Doris went on to sign with the Apple Label alongside The Beatles and George Harrison, becoming the first African American woman to sign with the label. She later created hit songs such as “Just One Look,” which reached No. 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1963, and “Whatcha Gonna Do About It,” which peaked at No. 37 on the UK Singles Chart in 1964. Throughout her career, she also contributed back-up vocals for artists and bands like The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Solomon Burke, and more. Doris’s talents and accomplishments earned her the title of “Mama Soul.”
The original musical ran for eight years with 2,800 performances at the Heckscher Theater, off-Broadway in East Harlem and another 1,000 performances throughout the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, and Japan. Mama, I Want to Sing! returned to Harlem in 2011 at The Dempsey Theatre and has become the longest running Black off-Broadway musical in the history of the American theater.
Mama, I Want to Sing! has also had two sequels, Sing, Mama II, which follows the courtship, marriage, and birth of the first child of superstar Doris Winter and her husband, Rev. Julian Simmons and Mama III: Born to Sing!, which played at the Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden before moving to the Union Square Theater, and is the finale to the trilogy. Born To Sing reveals the behind–the-scenes activities of Doris Winter’s international tour along with her 15-year-old daughter. 20th Century Fox produced the film adaption starring Ciara, Lynn Whitfield, Patti LaBelle, Ben Vereen, Billy Zane, Hill Harper and Ahmaya Knoelle Higginson.
The return of Mama, I Want to Sing! serves not only as a celebration of the musical’s past success, but also as an opportunity for new talent to grace the stage and make history.
The cast of Mama, I Want to Sing! includes: Letrice Arlene Cherry-Stardivaat as Mama, Dawn Joyner and Leah Stewart, sharing the role of Sister Carrie, Richard Hartley and Lamont O’Neal, sharing the role of Rev. Winter, and Carlton Ellen as The Mister of Music. Young actresses Asa Sulton, Elise Silver, and Faith Cochrane alternate in the lead role of Doris Winter, having won the role in a casting call.
The award-winning on-stage choir, recently featured on America’s Got Talent, is made up of: Jaron K. Fields, Barry Manderson, Deana Cowan, Asia Desheilds, Lateria Powell, Khyra Cunningham, Melonie B. Smith, Jonique Edwards, Hannah Asencio, Gloria Anderson, Shaterrica Hyder, Sanaa Lee, Domonique Dawkins, Neil Watt, Kaiya Stevens, Kamal Morales, Cherise Gissentanner, and Turner Messer. This is the programs graduate choir from Mama Foundation for the Arts.
Written by Vy Higginsen and Ken Wydro, and directed by Ahmaya Knoelle Higginson, the creative team also includes musical direction by Kevin McCoy and Greg Kelly, and costume design by Theda Dennis.
Through the years, Mama, I Want to Sing! has featured Chaka Khan, Cece Winans, Shirley Ceasar, Stephanie Mills, Regina Bell, Cissy Houston, Denise Williams, Tisha Campbell, Ramona Keller, Stacy Francis, Mica Paris, and the current star of & Juliet Lorna Courtney.
Critics have praised Mama! I Want to Sing! The New York Times raved, “The blend of gospel standards, spiritual uplift and broad family melodrama proves hard to resist. The vocals are impeccable throughout!” and The London Evening Standard cheered, “The most amazing vocal sounds…hot and electric.” The Amsterdam News said, “It is marvelous to realize the creativity of African American people. It is especially marvelous when our creativity is used to showcase our history and our contributions to society,” and during its original run, Time Magazine named Mama! I Want to Sing “one of the 10 best plays of 1984.”
Inspired by the international success of Mama, I Want to Sing!, Vy founded Mama Foundation for the Arts to create a space where young people, ages 7 – 19, and communities could find liberation through music, and to re-establish Harlem as a pillar of Black artistic excellence. Today, Mama Foundation is the home of free music programs and award-winning performance groups, including Sing Harlem, Mama Music Matters, and Wednesday Sings for adults.
“40 years ago, when we wrote and produced Mama, I Want to Sing!, we knew that my sister Doris Troy had a fascinating story, but we never could have imagined how it would affect audiences in New York, around the country, and internationally,” said Vy Higginsen. “At the Mama Foundation, we have made it our mission to educate the next generation of Black artists, and we feel that Black history month is the perfect time to celebrate this enduring classic on its milestone Anniversary.”
The performance schedule is: February 23 at 7:30PM, February 24 at 7:30PM, February 25 at 4:00PM and 7:30PM, February 26 at 4:00PM (Opening Night), March 1 at 7:30PM (ASL interpreted performance), March 2 at 7:30PM, March 3 at 7:30PM, March 4 at 4:00PM, and 7:30PM, March 5 at 4:00PM, March 8 at 7:30PM, March 9 at 7:30PM, March 10 at 7:30PM, March 11 at 4:00PM and 7:30PM, and March 12 at 4:00PM.
There will also be student matinees on: March 2 at 10:00AM and March 9 at 10:00AM.
Tickets, ranging from $45-80, can now be purchased by visiting www.MamaFoundation.org. To purchase tickets for groups of 10 or more, please call our box office at 212-280-1045, from Monday to Friday between 11am to 5pm.
