The Delaware Theatre Company wraps up its current season later this month with a world premiere.
Stompin’ at the Savoy has been rehearsing in New York for about three weeks in advance of its Wilmington premiere. Many in the cast have Broadway credits.
Written by Delaware native Phaedra Michelle Scott and set against the backdrop of the Harlem Renaissance and the deadly Harlem riot of 1935, the musical tells the true story of Norma Miller, a girl who wants to dance at the famed Savoy Ballroom as racial tensions come to a boil in Harlem.
“On a micro level, she's just trying to get in, trying to be seen trying to live her dream," says Mimi Warnick, the Artistic Director of the Delaware Theatre Company. "But on a macro level, what does that mean when the community is going through it?”
The Savoy was a key landmark in Jazz Age Harlem and the only high-profile venue in the US where white and Black patrons shared the dance floor. Miller achieved her dream, and went on to a long career in show business, dying in 2019 at the age of 99.
Mimi Warnick says the performance will bring world-class talent to the stage in Wilmington.
“It'll be fully staged," she says. "The majority of the cast is either on Broadway currently and they're taking a pause or a leave, or they have plenty of Broadway credits, so it's going to be really, really awesome to have all that talent down here.”
Warnick adds the world premiere of the show is likely to attract a lot of interest from outside the state, as theatre investors look for new shows to support.
“And they're looking to our audience for a green light and for emotion and reaction - if it's worth investing,” she says.
The show opens in previews on April 16 with its opening night on April 19.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
