The acclaimed production of Cotton Club Parade, which originally ran at New York City Center in November 2011, and then returned last fall due to strong response, is now on Broadway, and with a new name: After Midnight. 

Fantasia Barrino stars in the show – her first Broadway appearance since starring in the musical, The Color Purple, a couple of years ago.

Dulé Hill co-stars (as “The Host” of the evening) in a cast of some 25 singers and dancers and a roster of Special Guest Star headliners, conceived by Jack Viertel and presented under the auspices of City Center’s Tony Award-winning Encores! series.

After Midnight is being directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, with music direction by Jazz at Lincoln Center Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis.

The show is described as a Broadway-style revue that recreates 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. As in the original revues, After Midnight will feature singers, dancers and variety acts, with songs by the greatest jazz composers of the time, including Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, a young Harold Arlen, and of course, Duke Ellington himself.

It opened at City Center on November 18, 2011 for a limited, six-performance run and received unanimous rave reviews. It was hailed as “90 minutes of pure joy” by The Daily News and named Best Jazz Moment of 2011 by The Wall Street Journal. The New York Times said it “made period jazz come to life with a focused intensity and rhythmic savvy that left me open-mouthed with wonder.“

After Midnight marks the Broadway debut of fashion designer Isabel Toledo, who is known for creating Michelle Obama’s first inauguration day dress. She’s handling costumes.

The $6 million After Midnight started previews at the Brooks Atkinson Theater on October 18, with opening night, last night, November 3. 

Tickets are on sale HERE.

Watch the rip-roaring first look preview below: