Cedric Neal will take to the stage as Martin Luther King Jr in the first performance of Martin Smith’s King in 30 years at the Hackney Empire next month.
Co-produced by the Hackney Empire and the London Musical Theatre Orchestra which returns to the venue following its successful presentation of Jerry Herman’s Mack & Mabel, the two concert performances will be on Saturday 30 June and Sunday 1 July.
Fifty years after the assassination of the civil rights leader, Neal (Motown The Musical, Chess) will play the title role alongside Sharon D. Clarke (Caroline or Change, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) as King’s mother Alberta, and Debbie Kurup (The Bodyguard, Girl From the North Country) as his wife Coretta.
Directed by Susie McKenna, with the London Musical Theatre Orchestra conducted by its founder Freddie Tapner and the Hackney Empire’s Community Choir, the concert performances will feature new orchestrations by Simon Nathan.
Commenting on the shows, LMTO’s founder and musical director Tapner said: “It is a great privilege to be partnering with Hackney Empire on this project. Now feels like just the right time to be presenting this astonishingly powerful work, and with brand new orchestrations by Simon Nathan, I cannot wait to hear Martin Smith’s score come to life again for the first time in 30 years.”
Written by one of the West End’s most popular and gifted leading men, Martin Smith’s King was originally performed as a semi-staged concert at the Prince Edward Theatre four years after Martin Smith had died at the age of just 37.
Angela Thomas
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