M I C H A E L A L L E N H A R R I S O N
Watch This Important Video: "Why You Want See Soul Harmony"
Harrison-Berg Presents
Soul Harmony
The Story of Deborah Chessler, Sonny Til and the Orioles.
A New Musical
(Performances June 20 – July 1, 2018. Rehearsals begin in West Chester on May 31, 2018)
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Starring Monica Rodrigues As Deborah Chessler
De’Sean Dooley As Sonny Til (his Grandfather!)
The Orioles:
Jesse Smith As George Nelson
Kyle McLemore As Tommy Gaither
Michael Barnes As Alex Sharp
Rakeem Lawrence As Johnny Reed
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Lisa Dennet As Irene Chessler
Stacie Pickney Calkins As Ella Fitzgerald and Ruth Brown
Deborah Charleston As Faye Adams
Morgan MacConnell As Helen Stern
Ali Hackett As Willie Bryant
Joel Katz As Jerry Blaine and Ray Carroll
AND Charlie Horner As Charlie Horner
Directed and Choreographed By Terence Kelley
Created By Michael Allen Harrison and Alan Berg
Visual Design By Paul Fardig
Costumes By Karla Shapiro Green
Set Design By Eli Green
Graphics By Terence Knoles
Stage Management By Rafael Schneider
Classic R&B Songs By Deborah Chessler
Story By Alan Berg, Michael Allen Harrison,
Deborah Chessler and De’Sean Dooley.
Music By Michael Allen Harrison
Book and Lyrics By Alan Berg
Lyrics When You Allow A Someone By Michael Allen Harrison
Additional Lyrics By Janet Mouser
Soul Harmony: The Story of Deborah Chessler
Sonny TIl and the Orioles
© 2018 Alan Berg and Michael Allen Harrison.
Classic R&B Songs By Deborah Chessler
First production performed with Stumptown Stages in Portland, Oregon in April 2015
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2015 PAMTA
AWARD WINNER
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B E S T S C O R E
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B E S T N E W M U S I CAL
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B E S T O R C H E S T R A T I O N S
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B E S T S O NG
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B O O K & L Y R I C S B Y
A L A N B E R G / J A N E T M O U S E R
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M U S I C & L Y R I C S B Y
M I C H A E L A L L E N H A R R I S O N
"Soul Harmony” is an original musical about the music that gave birth to rhythm and blues. In the late 1940s, an unlikely partnership between a young Jewish woman named Deborah Chessler and a dynamic black male vocal group called Sonny Til and The Orioles gave birth to a new genre of music that would ignite a generation. “Soul Harmony” reveals their rise to music nobility and the role they and their music played in challenging segregation in the American South. The Apollo Theater had a significant role in their story.
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The Orioles Crying in The Chapel soared up the charts in 1953 becoming an unforgettable #1 hit and just one piece to an unforgettable story. Their history making hit It’s Too Soon to Know written by Deborah Chessler started the whole adventure.
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Deborah, Sonny and The Orioles, Tommy Gaither, Johnny Reed, Alex Sharp and George Nelson were ahead of their time. They were trailblazers of modern music and of a larger movement that confronted a divided country. Soul Harmony not only chronicles The Orioles rise to music nobility, but reveals the role they and their music played in challenging segregation and Jim Crow, and ultimately in bringing people together all across America.
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The role of Sonny Til is played by DeSean Dooley.
DeSean is Sonny's Grandson and carries his grandfathers vocal DNA.
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We premiered this show with Stumptown Stages in Portland, Oregon in April 2015 to sold out shows and won 4 Musical Theater Awards for our efforts.
Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael Allen Harrison, Alan Berg and Janet Mouser.
Staring Monica Rodrigues as Deborah Chessler,
And PAMTA Award winner
De’Sean Dooley as his Grandfather Sonny Til.
Featuring Julianne Johnson-Weiss
Directed and Choreography by Terence Kelley
Musical Direction, Conducted and Piano
By Michael Allen Harrison.
P H O T O S B Y P A U L F A R D I G & J E N O L S E N
P R E S S:
