Crossroads announces new season

Read it here first cuz I I only got it at 11 p.m. last night--the press release for the new season at Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick follows.

Highlights include an autobiographical musical writtenand performed by Melba Moore and a new doo-wop musical (!) Sounds very promising. Read on ...

CROSSROADS THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES 2007-2008 SEASON

New Brunswick, NJ Crossroads Theatre Company of New Brunswick, NJ, has announced three plays, including a world premiere, for the 2007-2008 season followed by the Genesis Festival of New Voices.

The opening play is Melba Moore: Sweet Songs of the Soul which is an autobiographical musical production written and performed by Melba Moore. The audience follows Moore's life with its trials and tribulations along with her many successes revealed through dialogue and a heady mix of jazz, gospel, and Broadway melodies. This petite woman with a with a four octave range holds nothing back as she shares her personal story with the audience. Melba Moore began her Broadway career in the ground breaking musical Hair in 1969 where she originated the role of Dionne. She went on to the role of Lutiebelle, the innocent southern domestic who falls in love with a fast-talking preacher, in the long running musical Purlie, the role which launched her successful television and recording career. Her show-stopping performance in Purlie won Melba the Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress In A Musical, making her the first African-American actress to do so. Melba was born in New York and studied piano and voice at the High School for Performing Arts and went on to receive a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from Montclair State College in New Jersey. Melba Moore: Sweet Songs of the Soul can be seen on the Crossroads' stage September 28 through October 7.

In November, Crossroads presents Daniel Beaty's highly acclaimed Emergence-See! This explosive new play begins on a clear blue day with the supernatural emergence of a slave ship in front of the Statue of Liberty sending New York into a whirlwind of emotion and exploration. Daniel Beaty's solo tour de force features slam poetry, multi-character transformation, and song. New York Magazine praised Beaty and Emergence-See! stating that his play "revealed him to be a dynamic and forceful performer, as well as an intelligent and provocative new writer--on both counts, the strongest debut of the year." Beaty portrays numerous characters including an 11- year-old boy from the projects, a scientist, a business executive and homeless man--throughout which the audience is treated to a poetry slam already in progress. Beaty is the recipient of the 2007 Obie Award for Excellence in Off-Broadway Theater for this production along with a 2007 Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination for a Solo Performance. Previously Beaty was seen on HBO's Russel Simmons Presents Def Poetry and as a guest artist on NBC's Showtime at the Apollo. Daniel was the 2004 Grand Slam Champion at the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe and has performed with artists including Jill Scott, MC Lyte, Mos Def, Deepak Chopra and Phylicia Rashad. Emergence-See! and Daniel Beaty will be at Crossroads November 28 through December 9.

Doo-wop comes to the Crossroads stage in March with the world premiere musical Great Googley Moo which had been a part of the 2007 Genesis Festival . Written by Michael Thomas Murray, Great Googley Moo is a lively celebration of the early 1950's roots of doo-wop, the group singing style that dominated youth pop music into the mid-1960's. The inspiration for this musical play comes from Murray's friendship with Jimmy Guilford who was an original member of the 1940's swing group the Inkspots. Guilford went on to a long career as a doo-wop and soul singer with pop groups including the Dominos and Orioles. Great Googley Moo is the fictionalized story of those R & B artists who opened the doors for every rock star to follow but who, at the time, did not receive the recognition, credit, or compensation they deserved. The play also depicts the internal dynamics of a racially integrated vocal group who experience the racial bigotry prevalent in the music industry of the day. Great Googley Moo is a toe-tapping hit parade of highly entertaining renditions of songs like Sincerely, Sixty Minute Man, and Lovers Never Say Goodby that become a powerful message using street-corner harmony as a metaphor for creating peaceable relations in the world.

The Genesis Festival of New Voices will take place May 1-4. The Genesis Festival began more that a decade ago as the brainchild of Artistic Director Ricardo Khan and then New Play Development Director Sydne Mahone as a means of giving voice to young writers and new, cutting edge forms of theatre in a nurturing and creative environment. Among plays that have found their way from Genesis to the world's stages are Sheila's Day, George C. Wolfe's Spunk, Anna Deveare Smith's Dream and original works by Ntozoke Shange, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis.

For Tickets call 800-766-6048. Single tickets are $40-$55 with discounts for subscribers, students and groups. For further information call the customer service line at 732-545-8100 or visit www.CrossroadsNB.com.