Coeducational College Preparatory Day School serving Grades 5-12
Arts
Past Performances

Smokey Joe's Cafe

Seabury Hall Performing Arts
presents
 
SMOKEY JOE’S CAFÉ
The Songs of Leiber and Stoller
 
Words and Music by
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Original Concept by
Stephen Helper and Jack Viertel
 
Director/Choreographer: David Ward
Vocal Director: Molly Schad 
Band Director: Phillip Proctor
Costume Design: Andre Morissette & Vanessa Cerrito
Set and Light Design: Ava Notarangelo & Todd Van Amburgh
Sound Design: Peter Della Croce
Video: Filippo Lippi
 
Friday and Saturday February 26th and 27th, 2021 @ 7pm
A’ali’ikūhonua Creative Arts Center
Makawao, HI
 
Performed with permission from R&H Theatricals and Concord Theatricals

Smokey Joe’s Café showcases over 30 pop, rock, and rhythm and blues songs written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. One of the most important songwriting teams of the 1950s and 60s, Leiber & Stoller helped give birth to Rock & Roll with hits like Spanish Harlem, Jailhouse Rock, Stand By Me, Fools Fall in Love, Yakety Yak, and Love Potion # 9. 

The cast of 26 includes11 principle performers: Jordan Akana, Marina Carosso, Jadyn Gurley, Josh O’Connor, Stefani Peterson, Sophie Preiser, Noah Reisenauer, Kristian L. Roque, Preston Summit, Max Tramontin, and Leela Waterford. 

“In a turbulent year when so much has been taken away from students, we are grateful to be able to give them this opportunity to shine,” says Director and Choreographer David Ward.  

“Our amazing cast have been working for the past five months on this show. It has been so great to see the growth of these young performing artists, singing and dancing, while learning about the history of music for this golden age.”

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were like the rap artists of the early '50s, pushing buttons, inviting scorn and testing the limits, as rock and roll roared into being from its roots as blues and rhythm and blues. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Their hits have been recorded by everybody from Peggy Lee to the Drifters, Elvis Presley to John Lennon.

The original Broadway Cast recording won a Grammy award in 1997 for best Musical Theater Album. Smokey Joe’s opened on Broadway in 1995 and ran for over 2,000 performances, making it the longest-running musical revue in Broadway history.

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