Black Broadway: The Early Years

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Song List

“Oh, What a Beautiful City” (Vocalist: Stacey Sherrell) (African American Spiritual, Arrangement by Edward Boatner) Movement 1 Allegro Non Troppo

“Lord, How Come Me Here?” (Vocalist: Sailor Mayberry) 2. Lento (African American Spiritual)

“Ride on, King Jesus” (Vocalist: Stacey Sherrell) (Arranged by Hall Johnson) 3. Molto Vivace (African American Spiritual)

“Gospel Train” (Vocalist: Sailor Mayberry) 4. Vivace Ma Non Troppo (African American Spiritual)

Intermission 

Will Marion Cook: “In Dahomey" Overture (1902) (Arranged by James Lamb)

James Reese Europe: "Castle House Rag" (1914)

Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle: “I’m Just Wild About Harry” from Shuffle Along (1921) (Vocalist: Sailor Mayberry)

Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle: "Love Will Find A Way” from Shuffle Along (1921) (Vocalist: Stacey Sherrell)

Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle: “Shuffle Along" Overture (1921)

Cast

Creative Team

Meet the Company

Tali Makell

Conductor

“Tali Makell has a crystal-clear baton technique and a passionate, yet completely controlled commitment to music.” (From “A Fine New Conductor Emerges” - NY Daily News, by Bill Zakariasen, on the occasion of Mr. Makell’s Lincoln Center debut) Tali Makell is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, who has resided in Brooklyn, NY, for almost five decades. He studied at Peabody Conservatory (Prep Division), Oberlin Conservatory (B.A. Voice M.M. and Orchestral Conducting) and continued his Conducting Studies in New York with Maestros Laszlo Halasz and Semyon Vekshtein. Mr. Makell was the Principal Conductor for the NYCHA Symphony Orchestra from 1981 to 1995, Music Director for the Henry Street Opera Ensemble 1982-1985, an affiliate of the Exxon Conducting Program, and Associate Conductor with the Brooklyn Philharmonic 1987. From 1997-2002, Mr. Makell was the Summer Opera Theater Music Director at Brooklyn Music School. In the early 1990s, he co-founded The Nietzsche Music Project (NMP), Inc., originally dedicated to performing and recording Friedrich Nietzsche's music. Three NMP events were held at the symposia of the International Nietzsche Colloquium in Sils Maria, Switzerland (1994, 1997, 2000), along with various appearances in NY (Goethe Haus 1994), Baltimore (Goucher College 1994), and Atlanta (Emory University 2003). In 2003, he produced additional recordings of Nietzsche’s music. In 2008, Mr. Makell founded the Chamber Philharmonic of New York (CPNY), an off-shoot of NMP dedicated to performing music by NY composers, both native and foreign-born. The first project was a lecture/concert (2009) on Antonin Dvorak, The National Conservatory school's founding director (1892-1895), who supported and mentored Black, Indigenous, and female composers and new American music development. CPNY’s second concert event was a celebration of the contributions of Gustav Mahler to the musical life of early 20th-century New York on the centenary of his death (2011). His “Das Lied von der Erde” in the Schoenberg-Riehn version for chamber orchestra was the principal work of that concert held at the Church of the Heavenly Rest in Manhattan. Mr. Makell served as Guest Conductor of the Harlem Chamber Players from 2012-2015. His tenure was highlighted by a 2014 performance of Mozart's Requiem at Harlem’s historic Convent Baptist Church. Following his time with the Harlem Chamber Players, he resumed extensive research and planning for the next series of 12 concerts and educational lecture demonstrations for NMP/CPNY. He recently wrote notable texts on Nietzsche’s contribution to classical music and cultural theory. Mr. Makell took a hiatus from CPNY’s performances, lectures and concerts to focus on researching the next project, “Black Broadway: The Early Years. " This exploration of how Dvorak’s National Conservatory shaped early Broadway music, especially contributions by Black composers who shaped composers in Broadway’s Golden Years and today—the concert and lecture demonstration series debuts in New York City in 2024.

Michael Dinwiddie

Guest Speaker

Michael Dinwiddie is a creative entrepreneur whose projects span film, theatre and music. In Hollywood, he worked as a staff writer on the ABC-Lorimar TV hit series Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper and was an inaugural Fellow at Touchstone Pictures in the Walt Disney Writers Program. A professor of dramatic writing at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, Michael has also served as playwright-in-residence at Michigan State University, Florida A&M University, St. Louis University, and La Universidad de Palermo in Buenos Aires, among others. For over a decade, he taught playwriting in Woodie King, Jr.’s New Federal Theatre Workshop. Michael’s produced plays include The Beautiful LaSalles, Mood Ellington, A Guest of Honor, Masque, Dacha, Original Rags, Liferoses, Northern Lights ’66, Cotton Club Rhapsody, and Hannibal of the Alps. His awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting, the Hal Youngblood in Playwriting from the Furay Theatre Festival, the 2023 NYU Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award, and the Spirit Award for Institution Building from Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre. He is a contributing editor to Black Masks Magazine, and he has published articles and lectured on the Harlem Renaissance, ragtime music, African American theatre, and spoken word/rap/popular culture. In 2022, the Black Liberated Art Center (BLAC Inc.) established the Michael Dinwiddie Playwright Award for promising dramatists. Michael is the editor of On Holy Ground: An Anthology of Plays and Monologues from the National Black Theatre Festival, which was published by the Theatre Communications Group in 2022.  He has served on the boards of the Classical Theatre of Harlem, the New Federal Theatre, the Duke Ellington Center for the Arts, the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, NewFest LGBTQ+ Film and Media, and the Black Gotham Experience. He is the president of the August Wilson Society and a long-time consultant to the Black Theatre Network (BTN). Michael’s current project as curator is Black Joy: African American Musicals, which is slated to open in September 2025 at the New York Library for the Performing Arts.

Stacey Sherrell

Guest Vocalist (Soprano)

Stacey is a proud native of South Carolina and a distinguished graduate of both the renowned Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities and the prestigious Juilliard School. At Juilliard, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama and was honored with the Michel and Suria Saint-Denis Prize for her exceptional leadership and artistic achievements. Stacey is a dedicated member of SAG-AFTRA and the Actor’s Equity Association, showcasing her talent on both stage and screen. Currently, she leads the Education and Community Engagement Department for The Classical Theatre of Harlem. She is also the founder and owner of "Setting Your Stage," a premier acting and performance coaching company that empowers aspiring artists to reach their full potential. She is excited to share her talents and joy through Black Broadway: The Early Years! www.staceysherrellstudios.com

Sailor Raine Mayberry

Guest Vocalist (Mezzo)

Sailor Raine Mayberry is a passionate musical theater enthusiast originally from Austin, Texas. With professional training from the New York Film Academy, Sailor has honed her skills in performance and storytelling. She is best known as a worship leader across Texas, where her vibrant energy and heartfelt connections resonate deeply with audiences. Sailor continues to explore new creative avenues while inspiring others through her love of music and theater.

Chrissy Fong

Flute

Setsuko Otake

Oboe

Narek Arutyunian

Clarinet

Yuki Higashi

Bassoon

Joshua Butcher

Bassoon

Clyde Daley

Trumpet

Jahi Alexander

Trombone

Ethan Lucas

Drummer

Chala Yancy

1st Violin (Concert Master)

Gloria Lee

1st Violin

Savion Washington

1st Violin

Anna Majcherczyk

1st Violin

Luis E. Casal Rodriguez

2nd Violin

Elizabeth Mandic-Nowac

2nd Violin

Funda Cizmecioglu

2nd Violin

Julia Birnbaum

2nd Violin

Carol Gimbel

Viola

Aundrey Mitchell

Viola

Tia Allen

Viola

Theo Zimmerman

Cello

Halie Morris

Cello

Garo Yellin

Cello

Anthony F. Morris

Double Bass

Thomas Coote

Pianist

Tali Makell

Music Director & Executive Director of Nietzsche Music Project

“Tali Makell has a crystal-clear baton technique and a passionate, yet completely controlled commitment to music.” (From “A Fine New Conductor Emerges” - NY Daily News, by Bill Zakariasen, on the occasion of Mr. Makell’s Lincoln Center debut) Tali Makell is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, who has resided in Brooklyn, NY, for almost five decades. He studied at Peabody Conservatory (Prep Division), Oberlin Conservatory (B.A. Voice M.M. and Orchestral Conducting) and continued his Conducting Studies in New York with Maestros Laszlo Halasz and Semyon Vekshtein. Mr. Makell was the Principal Conductor for the NYCHA Symphony Orchestra from 1981 to 1995, Music Director for the Henry Street Opera Ensemble 1982-1985, an affiliate of the Exxon Conducting Program, and Associate Conductor with the Brooklyn Philharmonic 1987. From 1997-2002, Mr. Makell was the Summer Opera Theater Music Director at Brooklyn Music School. In the early 1990s, he co-founded The Nietzsche Music Project (NMP), Inc., originally dedicated to performing and recording Friedrich Nietzsche's music. Three NMP events were held at the symposia of the International Nietzsche Colloquium in Sils Maria, Switzerland (1994, 1997, 2000), along with various appearances in NY (Goethe Haus 1994), Baltimore (Goucher College 1994), and Atlanta (Emory University 2003). In 2003, he produced additional recordings of Nietzsche’s music. In 2008, Mr. Makell founded the Chamber Philharmonic of New York (CPNY), an off-shoot of NMP dedicated to performing music by NY composers, both native and foreign-born. The first project was a lecture/concert (2009) on Antonin Dvorak, The National Conservatory school's founding director (1892-1895), who supported and mentored Black, Indigenous, and female composers and new American music development. CPNY’s second concert event was a celebration of the contributions of Gustav Mahler to the musical life of early 20th-century New York on the centenary of his death (2011). His “Das Lied von der Erde” in the Schoenberg-Riehn version for chamber orchestra was the principal work of that concert held at the Church of the Heavenly Rest in Manhattan. Mr. Makell served as Guest Conductor of the Harlem Chamber Players from 2012-2015. His tenure was highlighted by a 2014 performance of Mozart's Requiem at Harlem’s historic Convent Baptist Church. Following his time with the Harlem Chamber Players, he resumed extensive research and planning for the next series of 12 concerts and educational lecture demonstrations for NMP/CPNY. He recently wrote notable texts on Nietzsche’s contribution to classical music and cultural theory. Mr. Makell took a hiatus from CPNY’s performances, lectures and concerts to focus on researching the next project, “Black Broadway: The Early Years. " This exploration of how Dvorak’s National Conservatory shaped early Broadway music, especially contributions by Black composers who shaped composers in Broadway’s Golden Years and today—the concert and lecture demonstration series debuts in New York City in 2024.

Cindy Sibilsky / INJOY Entertainment

Producer

Cindy Sibilsky is an international producer, writer, marketing director, publicist and artist relations manager based in NYC. She focuses on meaningful global cultural exchange and has two decades of experience working on Broadway and Off-Broadway, on US and international tours, and with organizations such as La MaMa ETC, The Rubin Museum of Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), HAU, New York Live Arts and National Sawdust. In 2011, Sibilsky formed INJOY Entertainment LLC, a theatrical production company specializing in producing, touring, artist/show management, marketing/advertising/PR, consultancy and multimedia needs for performing and visual arts. INJOY has a diverse and constantly growing roster of clients, companies and shows, including theatre, musicals, dance, cirque, Drag, cabaret, concerts, curated art shows, public art, and immersive performances. Highlights include producing and managing multiple shows and festivals in Brooklyn, Off-Broadway, Broadway, Edinburgh Fringe, and for US and international tours. She is also a prolific writer and reviewer with hundreds of published works about arts, culture, and travel that can be seen in many publications, including internationally, and have been translated into Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese. In 2019, she was guest editor, curator, and lead writer for American Theatre Magazine’s special edition on Japanese contemporary theatre. Sibilsky is the Founding Producer of the New York Arab Festival (NYAF, founded in 2022 to honor Arab American Heritage Month), an annual multi-genre, multi-venue celebration of Arab and Arab American artists from all artistic disciplines presented with multiple partners in venues across all boroughs of NYC and powered by Wizara and HaRaKa Platform. Her other work with Wizara and HaRaKa Platform includes a bespoke theatrical walking tour inspired by the Incense Road, “Of Myrrh and Silver,” and Living in Color Art Walks, both in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, and MENA/Live Ideas festival at New York Live Arts. She produces, tours, represents or works with Compagnia de' Colombari (USA/Italy), Hari Krishnan (USA/International), DRUMSTRUCK (South Africa), Constanza Macras' DorkyPark (Berlin), Flying Bach (Berlin), Circus Abyssinia (Ethiopia), Cirque-tacular (USA), Eryc Taylor Dance (USA), Nietzsche Music Project, (USA), Music in the Barns (USA/Canada), Oriana Peron (USA) and others. Sibilsky is also a member of APAP, ISPA, StageOne London, and The Fringe Society and is the Conferences Initiatives Leader for CIPA (Creative and Independent Producers Alliance).

Anthony F. Morris

Music Contractor

Anthony Morris was the principal auxiliary and toured internationally with The New York Philharmonic from 1999 to 2006 under the batons of Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel. He has also played on shows such as Beauty and the Beast and Phantom of the Opera. Mr. Morris has been subbing with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 2008. When not playing with NJSO, Mr. Morris plays with many orchestras in the tri-state area, including the Harlem Chamber Players, Spectrum Symphony, and musical lectures with Musica de Camera, to name a few. As for teaching, he is the Professor of Classical Double Bass Performance at Brooklyn College, a teaching artist at Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts in NJ and the Head Teaching Artist at InterSchool Orchestras of New York. He holds a BMA from the Manhattan School of Music and an MMA from the Juilliard School of Music.

Stephen Blauweiss

Filmmaker

Stephen Blauweiss is a native of Manhattan and a Kingston resident since 1999. A graphic designer and independent filmmaker, his 40-plus years of experience in both mediums encompass all aspects, from concept through final production, including photography. Blauweiss designed Special Sections for the New York Times from 1995 to 2002; other clients included PBS, CBS TV, and top magazines and advertising agencies. He also taught graphic arts for over 25 years, with a decade at the Pratt Institute and the Fashion Institute of Technology. Blauweiss produces films on various subjects, from art and education to social and environmental issues. He has produced over 100 short films, three features, and several music videos and received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Arts Mid-Hudson. More than 20 of his short films on artists aired on PBS and have been screened in museums as part of exhibitions and festivals across the U.S., Europe, and Canada. Blauweiss co-produced and co-directed the documentary Lost Rondout: A Story of Urban Removal, which screened throughout the Hudson Valley, Albany, and New York City and won various awards. Blauweiss also produces theatrical events and museum-quality exhibitions on local history, architecture, and the arts.

Shin Kurokawa

Technical Engineer & Media Director

Shin Kurokawa specializes in multimedia production, engineering, audio, music, video, and photography. Shin began working on anime, music and film projects professionally in the late 1980s while studying science, math and computer programming at school. He became one of the first people to bring anime to the US. Having picked up an extensive knowledge of, as well as developing, analog and digital sound and imaging technologies has allowed him to wear many hats as a producer, post-production specialist and director on various creative endeavors. Some of the projects include Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, Oh My Goddess!, Bubblegum Crisis, Lupin III, Urusei Yatsura, Vampire Princess Miyu, Lone Wolf and Cub, and Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, as well as several VFX and restoration projects for TV, film and archives. Shin has also created dozens of video effects plugins for Autodesk, Adobe and Apple software. In addition, Shin is a musician and songwriter who has studied music since childhood. After years of playing in bands and theatre, as well as creating writing demos and jingles, he has collaborated with artists such as the J-Pop hitmakers fripSide to create hit singles and theme songs for anime and video game titles, including several songs he is the sole lyricist for, "More Than You Know" and "Turn Night Into Day." He is the local manager for fripSide and other Japanese artists and performers when they visit the stateside. For INJOY Entertainment, Shin serves as the chief media and engineering officer for all matters related to audio, music, video, and photography.

Photos

Multimedia

Nietzsche Music Project and Chamber Philharmonia of New York, in Association with INJOY Entertainment, proudly present the world premiere of BLACK BROADWAY: THE EARLY YEARS at Roulette (509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn) on Sunday, October 27 at 7pm (doors open at 6pm).

BLACK BROADWAY: THE EARLY YEARS is a concert and multimedia exploration of the National Conservatory of Music of America's influences on early Broadway music under the leadership of Antonin Dvořák (director from 1892-1895). The performance pays special tribute to contributions by Black composers (Will Marion Cook, James Reese Europe, Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake) whose work influenced Broadway’s Golden Years through today. 

In BLACK BROADWAY: THE EARLY YEARS, a 24-piece orchestra and guest vocalists Stacey Sherrell and Sailor Mayberry will perform Dvořák's American String Quartet intermixed with African American Spirituals, which inspired early Black Broadway composers, Dvořák, and multiple styles such as Gospel and Ragtime. Conductor and Music Director Tali Makell will present a multimedia video introducing the first act, focusing on Dvořák and the National Conservatory. Scholar and author Michael Dinwiddie will introduce the second act, focusing on early Black Broadway and featuring music by Will Marion Cook, James Reese Europe, Sissle & Blake.

The National Conservatory of Music of America (founded in 1885 by socialite Jeannette Thurber) was a racially and gender-integrated organization that trained prominent American composers and their teachers. Dvořák's belief that contributions from Black or Indigenous Americans and immigrants were essential to new American music shifted interest in musical innovations toward New York City. This was echoed in the music of early Broadway through to contemporary times. Several National Conservatory students produced all-Black musicals on Broadway and became mentors for Duke Ellington and other greats. One professor taught Aaron Copland and George Gershwin. Founder Jeannette Thurber championed women and people of color, supported inclusivity toward disabled people and offered full scholarships. She advocated for federal funding of the arts, which was common in Europe but unheard of in the United States at the time. 

Through amplifying and honoring these significant historical figures who contributed to New York’s music and culture of yesteryear, many of whom are lesser-known to modern audiences,  BLACK BROADWAY: THE EARLY YEARS aims to showcase shared links and influences from past New Yorkers to spark inspiration and foster connections between today’s New York creatives.

Black Broadway: The Early Years and Nietzsche Music Project Inc. programs are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the generous support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC), The Buckhorn Association of Brooklyn, and our donors—special thanks to Leatrice Gochberg and Nietzche Music Project's supportive board.

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