WHERE: The Axelrod Performing Arts Center is located at 100 Grant Avenue, Deal Park, just five minutes from downtown Asbury Park, with plenty of free parking.
TICKETS: available at 732-531-9106 or www.axelrodartscenter.com. Save up to 48% off the price of a premium ticket and eliminate box office fees by purchasing SHOW PASSES for 6 or 10 tickets that can be used for any show and never expire.
The musical Raisin transforms Lorraine Hansberry’s
seminal Black American story A Raisin in the Sun into a
soulful, inspiring musical that tells the story of a proud Black family’s quest
for a better life. Well received in 1974, Raisin won the Tony Award for Best
Musical and ran three years on Broadway. The Axelrod’s revival is being is
presented with the approval of the Hansberry Estate in association with
production consultant Phylicia Rashad, who won the 2004 Tony Award for
Best Actress in a Play for A Raisin in the Sun, and director
Evelyn Collins (Denzel Washington Schools of the Arts). Performances will
run February 24 to March 12, 2023.
“As a part of NJ’s Black History Month observations, the Axelrod PAC is excited to be presenting the musical Raisin, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023,” Axelrod Artistic Director Andrew DePrisco said. “We are thrilled to be working with TV and theater legend Phylicia Rashad and director Evelyn Collins to bring this historic revival to life.”
Broadway veteran and Tony nominee Hunter Foster returns to
the Axelrod this season, after his highly acclaimed production of The
Bridges of Madison County, to direct another new musical: The
Prom. With six Tony nominations, The Prom was the
critic’s darling and received rave reviews. It tells the story of four
eccentric Broadway veterans who are in desperate need of a new stage. When they
hear that trouble is brewing around a small-town prom because a student wants
to bring her girlfriend as her date, they put a spotlight on the issue – and
themselves. The Jersey Shore’s first professional production of The Prom
will run from May 5-21, 2023.
Sunday in the Park with George, coming in
November 2023, will be the first musical in the Axelrod’s Sondheim Centennial
Project, curated by Artistic Director Andrew DePrisco. Each year the Axelrod
PAC will present one Sondheim musical until Stephen Sondheim’s 100th birthday
anniversary in 2030, along with concerts and showcases of living composers to
honor Sondheim’s commitment to new voices and the future of musical theater.
“As a passionate Sondheim lover, I’m curating this new project to
honor the late great Stephen Sondheim, whose influence on the Broadway theater
is incalculable,” says DePrisco. “From West Side Story and Gypsy
to Company and Into the Woods, Sondheim’s scores represent the
cutting edge of musical theater. Many theater lovers are just starting to
explore Sondheim’s music—or to give it a second chance. We’re hoping to become
the place for Sondheim in New Jersey, and this new production of Sunday
will be truly exceptional.”
The Axelrod’s new production of Sunday in the Park with
George will be directed and choreographed by Eamon Foley, whose
strikingly new concept revolves around the use of color, light and movement.
With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Lapine,
Sunday in the Park with George originally starred Bernadette
Peters and Mandy Patinkin and was nominated for 10 Tony Awards, including
Best Musical. Performances will run November 3-19, 2023.
