After Midnight: Dulé Hill to play The Host

Emmy Award-nominated actor Dulé Hill will return to the Great White Way to star in the Broadway premiere of After Midnight - a new production of Cotton Club Parade - opening at Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre on 03 Nov 2013, following previews from 18 Oct 2013.

This will mark Hill's first appearance in a musical since 'Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk.' In ​After Midnight Hill will serve as "The Host" of the Cotton Club Parade, leading the audience through the Harlem Renaissance using the words of Langston Hughes.

Hill last appeared on Broadway as 'Spoon (Kent) LeVay' in Lydia R. Diamond's 'Stick Fly.' He is known to TV audiences for his role as "Burton 'Gus' Guster" in the TV series "Psych", and for his Primetime Emmy Award-nominated role as presidential aide, "Charlie Young" in the television drama "The West Wing."

Hill joins the previously announced Fantasia Barrino, who will star in the show from 18 Oct 2013 though to 09 Feb 2014.

​After Midnight, is conceived by Jack Viertel, with direction and choreography by Warren Carlyle and music direction by Jazz at Lincoln Center Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis.

​After Midnight celebrates Duke Ellington's years at the famed Harlem nightclub in the 1920s and '30s, when the joint was jumping with shows featuring big band swing and blues music.

The production features singers, dancers, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars, under the direction of Wynton Marsalis. The score includes songs by jazz composers of the time, including Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields ("I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "Digga Digga Doo"), a young Harold Arlen ("Stormy Weather," "I've Got the World on a String," "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,"), and the legendary Duke Ellington ("Rockin' in Rhythm," "Cotton Club Stomp," "Black and Tan Fantasy," and "Creole Love Call").

The timeless tunes set against a narrative of Langston Hughes poetry will provide a backdrop for an array of performances by 25 vocalists and dancers, including special guest stars.

The creative team will include costumes by Isabel and Ruben Toledo, sets by John Lee Beatty, lighting by Howell Binkley and sound by Peter Hylenski.

Further casting, scheduling anf ticket information will be announced shortly.

Encores! Special event production of the jazz musical Cotton Club Parade (now named ​After Midnight) played two runs at New York City Center in 2011 and 2012.

​After Midnight is produced by Scott Sanders Productions, and Wynton Marsalis, in association with Marks-Moore-Turnbull Group; Stephen and Ruth Hendel; and Tom Kirdahy.

Dulé Hill