Casting Announcement: Caroline, or Change
iPhoto caption: Cast of Caroline, or Change. Headshots provided by performers.
The cast has been announced for Caroline, or Change with book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tony Kushner and music by Pulitzer Prize finalist Jeanine Tesori, co-produced by The Musical Stage Company and Obsidian Theatre.
Caroline, or Change is a story about a Black maid who earns thirty dollars a week working for a Jewish family in 1963 Louisiana. As a single mother of four, her salary is simply not enough to support her family. A small act of racial condescension creates a moral dilemma for Caroline when her employer suggests that she keep the change she found while doing the laundry. The dilemma that Caroline faces reflects broader socio-economic tensions beyond the domestic sphere.
Set during the turbulent time of the Civil Rights Movement and the Kennedy assassination, Kushner and Tesori use fiction and fact to tell a story about ordinary people facing extraordinary change. With a musical score that blends blues, soul, gospel, classical, and traditional Jewish melodies, Caroline, or Change is a timely story of change for our socially-conscious world.
While Caroline, or Change has already been staged, the 2020 production will reunite many of the same members from the 2012 production. This production will debut multiple Juno Award-Winner and “Canada’s Queen of R&B” Jully Black as Caroline—the role that many acknowledge as one of the most powerful female roles in the musical theatre canon. Joining the cast is renowned Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman who will be playing The Moon.
The production also features Damien Atkins (Angels in America, Soulpepper), Oliver Dennis (Resident Artist at Soulpepper Theatre), Keisha T. Fraser (The Colour Purple, Neptune Theatre), Deborah Hay (A Doll’s House Part 2, MTC/Mirvish), Alanna Hibbert (Parade, The Musical Stage Company), Linda Kash (co-founder of performing arts school PAPA), Stewart Adam McKensy (The Little Mermaid, Buddy—The Buddy Holly Story, The Globe Theatre), Sam Rosenthal (Murdoch Mysteries, CBC), Vanessa Sears (Passing Strange, Musical Stage Co and Obsidian Theatre), Camille Eanga-Selenge (The Book of Mormon, Broadway), and Samantha Walkes (Smokey Joe’s Café, Molson Canadian Studio).
This production of Caroline, or Change is directed by Robert McQueen with Reza Jacobs as music director, Michael Gianfrancesco as set designer, Alex Amini as costume designer, Kimberly Purtell as lighting designer, and Peter McBoyle as sound designer.
Caroline, or Change runs from January 31, 2020 to February 16, 2020, coinciding with Black History Month. For tickets and more information, click here.
The cast of Caroline, or Change answer the question:
What’s one thing you would change today?
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Mariam Ahmed
Mariam is Associate Editor at Intermission. Mariam earned her Honours BA in English literature from York University and recently completed a Graduate Certificate program from Centennial College in Book and Magazine Publishing. When she's not busy reading books and plays, she takes pictures of books for her "Bookstagram", watches as many movies and shows as she can, and is a self-proclaimed Chocoholic.
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