*Bubbling Brown Sugar opened on this date in 1976. This Black musical revue opened on Broadway at the ANTA Playhouse.
This stage performance was written by Loften Mitchell based on a concept by Rosetta LeNoire and featured the music of numerous Black artists who were popular during the Harlem Renaissance. The revue included Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, and Fats Waller. Original music, including the title theme song "Bubbling Brown Sugar," was composed by pianist Emme Kemp, a protégé of Blake. It was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical.
Robert M. Cooper directed and produced Broadway and tour productions. The show was set in a Harlem nightclub of the 1920s-1940s. Bubbling Brown Sugar originally played at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, opening on February 15, 1975, and running for 12 performances. It closed on December 31, 1977, after 766 performances.
