When new-to-acting singer Mitchell Brunings performs the title role in the world premiere of the musical "Marley" at Center Stage next month, he will be surrounded by a large ensemble of seasoned actors whose resumes include many a Broadway, Off Broadway and TV/film credit.
The new work, written and directed by Center Stage artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah, deals with famed Jamaican musician Bob Marley during his self-imposed exile in London in the late 1970s after an assassination attempt. Marley's music will be used throughout.
Count on a lot of interest in this show, which will have its first preview performance on May 7 (a day later than originally scheduled). That interest will be not be confined to Baltimore. With a lot of New York-based actors in the cast and out-of-town investors, "Marley" already has the feel of a musical with traveling legs.
Here's a rundown of the some of the roles and the actors portraying them:
As Rita Marley: Saycon Sengbloh, (Broadway: "Motown," "Fela!," "Hair," "The Color Purple," "Wicked," "Aida").
As Stevie Wonder: Mykal Kilgore (Broadway: "Motown," "Hair." National Tour: "The Book of Mormon").
As Judy Mowatt: Crystal Joy (Broadway: "Motown," and "Hair." National Tour and Regional: "Legally Blonde," "Memphis," "The Wiz," "Dreamgirls").
As producer and filmmaker Don Letts: Ano Okera (National Tour: "Rent." Regional: "Dreamgirls," "West Side Story").
As Marley's dance captain and as Diane Jobson: Khetanya Henderson (Regional: Cirque du Soleil's "The Beatles/Love Show" in Las Vegas, "Hairspray," "A Chorus Line," "Legally Blonde." Film: "Hairspray," "Enchanted").
As Peter Tosh from the Wailers: Michael Luwoye (Regional: "Tick, tick … BOOM!," "Hairspray," "Guys and Dolls").
As artist and Marleys friend Neville Garrick: Jaime Lincoln Smith (Broadway: "Holler If Ya Hear Me." Off-Broadway: "Ruined," "Seed" and "Birthright." Center Stage: "Gleam.")
As backing singer Marcia Griffiths: Susan Kelechi Watson (Broadway: "A Naked Girl on the Appian Way." TV: "Louie," "The Following" and "The Blacklist").
As Island Records founder Chris Blackwell: John Patrick Hayden (Broadway: "Tartuffe." Regional: "Born Yesterday," "Death of a Salesman," "Other Desert Cities").
As Jamaica Labour Party enforcer Tek Life: Luke Forbes (Off-Broadway: "The Merchant of Venice" with Al Pacino).
As Marley's manager, Don Taylor: Don Guillory (Broadway: "Romeo and Juliet," "Stick Fly").
Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley: Howard W. Overshown (Broadway: "Julius Caesar." Off-Broadway: "Richard III," "Blue." Center Stage: "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead").
As People's National Party enforcer Tony Welsh: David Heron (Off-Broadway: "Coriolanus: The African Warrior," "Antony and Cleopatra").
As Jamaica Labour Party enforcer Claudie Massop: John-Andrew Morrison (Off-Broadway: "The Tooth of Crime," "The Blacks," "Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death").
As Marley friend Malakai: Shayne Powell (Off-Broadway: "The Black That I Am").
The ensemble is filled out with more than a dozen additional actors, including several from the Baltimore area.
In addition to Kwei-Armah, the creative team includes Jason Webb (music director), Germaul Barnes (choreographer), Neil Patel (scenic designer), Esosa (costume designer) and Michelle Habeck (lighting designer).