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Presented in partnership with London's Young Vic, the world premiere of Mandela, a new musical inspired by the life of anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, ran through February 4, 2023. Directed by Schele Williams, with music and lyrics by Greg Dean Borowsky and Shaun Borowsky and a book by Laiona Michelle, Mandela, is infused with the rhythms of South Africa as it tells the extraordinary story of a man who changed the course of modern history.
Front Row joined the producing team of first Broadway revival of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning The Piano Lesson directed by Tony Award® nominee LaTanya Richardson Jackson. The limited run starred Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Brooks, and John David Washington. The production ran through January 29, 2023.
When the lights were bright again on Broadway and London's West End after an unprecented 18-month global pandemic-induced shutdown, Front Row joined the producing team of Get Up, Stand Up: The Bob Marley Musical, which lit up London's West End eight times a week at The Lyric Theatre until January 8, 2023. By multi award-winning team of writer Lee Hall and director Clint Dyer, the story of the legend with his platinum-selling music light up the stage. And on Broadway Front Row joined, Almost Famous, the hilarious and heartfelt celebration of community, family, fandom and the power of music until January 8, 2023.
Front Row broke new ground with the enhancement of The Public Theater Fall 2015 New York premiere of Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed and subsequent transfer of the powerful Pulitzer Prize finalist to Broadway. The triumphant run of Eclipsed on Broadway was the first to be helmed by a female playwright, director and featuring an all-female ensemble led by Academy Award® Winner Lupita N'yongo. Acclaim for the play was resounding - 6 Tony Award nominations including Best Play, 4 Outer Critics Circle nominations, 2 Drama Desk Award nominations and 2 Drama League Award nominations. Front Row launched the "10,000 Girls Campaign" for 16-24 year-old girls from the Tri-State area, who would not otherwise have the opportunity to experience a Broadway show, with tickets to see Eclipsed. The production transferred to the Curran Theater in San Francisco for a March 2017 run.
Byrd and Jones-Harvey partnered with Cirque du Soleil Theatricals in 2016 to produce Paramour, the first Cirque du Soleil musical on Broadway. This tale of love versus art transported audiences to Golden Age Hollywood with the depth-defying spectacle of Cirque du Soleil. Paramour is set to be mounted in Hamburg, Germany next!
In 2017, Front Row co-produced Iceman Cometh on Broadway directed by George C. Wolfe and starring Denzel Washington. The production celebrated eight Tony Award nominations including Best Revival of a Play. Front Row also co-produced, Smokey Joe’s Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller, the Grammy® Award-winning and Tony Award®-nominated smash that made history as Broadway’s longest-running musical revue, at Stage 42 in Summer 2018.
In 2008, Byrd and Jones-Harvey mounted the first African American Broadway production of the Tennessee Williams’ classic Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Their first Broadway venture became the biggest grossing play on Broadway that season. Based on the rousing success of the Broadway run, they were invited to bring Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to London. The West End transfer won the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award.
The duo followed up on Broadway with a multiracial adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, A Streetcar Named Desire. The successful run garnered rave reviews and a Tony nomination. They joined the producing team of Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful, which enjoyed a successful run on Broadway in 2013. The critically-acclaimed production starred celebrated actress Cicely Tyson, who won a Tony Award, Outer Critic’s Circle Award and Drama Desk award for her heart-stirring performance in the play. They also co-produced Romeo and Juliet, directed by five-time Tony Award nominee David Leveaux. International film star Orlando Bloom made his Broadway debut alongside Tony Award nominee Condola Rashad, as the star-crossed lovers in Shakespeare's timeless love story.
Honors
2022 Tony Award Nomination for Best Musical, MJ The Musical
2019 AUDELCO Pioneer Award
2019 Broadway Global Producers of the Year
2019 Tony Award Nomination for Best Musical, Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations
2019 Keepers of the Flame Award, Arts & Letters Committee, Delta Sigma Theta's Westchester Alumnae Chapter
2019 Cafe Mocha Radio Salute Her Broadway Producer Award, Alia Jones-Harvey
2018 Take Wing and Soar Spirit of Excellence Award
2018 Tony Award Nomination for Best Revival of a Play, The Iceman Cometh
2017 National Black Theatre Festival Special Recognition
2016 Theater Communications Group Honorees
2016 viBe Theater Experience Leadership Award, Alia Jones-Harvey
2016 NY National Alumni Association Spelman College Honoree, Alia Jones-Harvey
2016 Tony Award Nomination for Best Play, Eclipsed
2016 Outer Critics Circle Nominations, Eclipsed
2016 Drama League Award Nomination for Outstanding Production of a Play, Eclipsed
2015 Black Star News Excellence Award Honorees
2014 Harold Washington Cultural Center Broadway in Bronzeville Arts Achievement Award, Alia Jones-Harvey
2014 Council of Urban Professionals Catalyst Award, Alia Jones-Harvey
2014 Carnegie Hall Black Stars of the Great White Way Honoree, Stephen C. Byrd
2014 Atlanta Black Theater Festival Trailblazer Award, Alia Jones-Harvey
2014 The Riant Theatre Pioneer of the Arts Award Honorees
2013 Tony Award Nomination for Best Revival of a Play, The Trip to Bountiful
2013 Drama Desk Award Nomination for Best Revival of a Play, The Trip to Bountiful
2012 NAACP Theatre Awards Trailblazer Awards, Stephen C. Byrd and Alia Jones
2012 Actors’ Equity Association Extraordinary Excellence in Diversity Award, A Streetcar Named Desire
2012 What’s the 411 Networks Salute to Black Broadway Vanguard Award, Alia Jones
2011 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Award Best Play Revival, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
2010 Olivier Award for Best Revival of a Play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
2008 National Urban Technology Center Visionary Award, Stephen C. Byrd
f2008 Broadway.com Audience Choice Award for Best Revival of a Play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
