Producers Isabel Kallman, Laura Mayes, Craig Kallman and Kurt Deutsch are shepherding a new musical based on the life of José Xtravaganza, an icon of the NYC ballroom scene. Tony Award nominee Stevie Walker-Webb is serving as director of the musical, titled “Xtravaganza,” which will receive an invited workshop presentation in association with Baltimore Center Stage at a date to be announced.
With a book by R. Eric Thomas and a score by Khiyon Hursey, “Xtravaganza” is set against the backdrop of New York City’s underground ballroom scene of the 1980s and 1990s, fusing musical theater with voguing battles, dance, music and storytelling. The musical is told through the eyes of José, one of the only living Ballroom pioneers.
Rounding out the musical’s creative team is Kyle Abraham as choreographer, Tony winner Bill Sherman as music supervisor, Patrick B. Phillips as music director/conductor and Matthew Campfield and Daniel Klein as music producers.
The workshop cast will include Jackson Kanawha Perry, Samora la Perdida, Angel Lozada, Amuri Nabeel, Luis Herrera, Amara Gisele Xtravaganza, Sis Thee Doll, Nesziah Dennis, Cedric Leiba Jr., Kya Azeen Thomas, Maximo Xtravaganza, Ernest Allen, Bryce Farris, Michael Samarie George, Darius “Zenith” Case, Justin Thomas Rivers, Dava Huesca, Isabella Xtravaganza, Caleb Bermejo and Kevin JZ Prodigy. Several members of the workshop company come from the Ball community.
Walker-Webb earned a Tony nomination as director of Jordan E. Cooper’s play “Ain’t No Mo’”; Walker-Webb recently directed Cooper’s “Oh Happy Day!” Off-Broadway.
Prior plays by Thomas include “The Folks at Home, “Backing Track,” “Crying on Television,” “Humble Yourself!” and “Safe Space.”
Hursey served as music assistant on the Off-Broadway and Broadway stagings of “Hamilton,” the American Repertory Theater production of “Witness Uganda” and its Off-Broadway update, “Invisible Thread.” Hursey is a recipient of the ASCAP Foundation’s Irving Burgie Scholarship and Bart Howard Songwriting Scholarship.
Abraham founded his own dance company, A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham, in 2006 and has produced many original works for the company such as “The Radio Show,” “Absent Matter,” “Pavement,” “Dearest Home” and “Drive.”
Sherman won a Tony Award (with Alex Lacamoire) for the orchestrations of “In the Heights”; Sherman was also Tony-nominated (with Dominic Fallacaro) for the orchestrations of Broadway’s currently running musical “& Juliet.”
Bespoke Theatricals is serving as general manager of “Xtravaganza.”
