ON KENTUCKY AVENUE, a stage musical based loosely on fact and mostly fiction about the people and performers who took the stage and filled the tables at the majestic Club Harlem “on Kentucky Avenue” in the north section of Atlantic City from the 1930s until the late 1980s, will be given a full staged reading on Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 8 PM at the Westminster Performing Arts Center in Bloomfield, NJ, as part of the Center’s Black History Month activities.
Created by Jeree (Palmer) Wade and written by singer/actor/composer Adam Wade, both of whom performed at the real Club Harlem – Adam in the ‘50s and ‘60’s and Jeree in the late ‘70’s -- ON KENTUCKY AVENUE features special material by Jeree Wade and Ty Stephens and music by Frank Owens, Ty Stephens, Wilbur Bascomb and Branice McKenzie and Adam Wade.
The fictional story transports playgoers back in time to the late 1960’s when Club Harlem was the Mecca of entertainment and excitement in Atlantic City. It is a time when musical tastes are changing, a new group of musical performers are emerging and the owners are seeking additional money to revamp the production values and content of the show. The action takes place on one night and on one street, Kentucky Avenue – where many dreams are fulfilled and others are shattered…. where gorgeous leggy showgirls and talented black musicians and performers from all parts of the universe come together seeking fame, success, happiness, love and adventure, and sometimes find heartache and sorrow instead. Club Harlem is the supreme nightclub where the legendary and the up and coming mingle with the wealthy and down and outers, the privileged and the under-privileged, the famous and the infamous.
Although the story in ON KENTUCKY AVENUE is not real, it is based on experiences of Adam and Jeree Wade who performed there during different eras – 30 years apart -- and were witnesses to much of the backstage intrigues that took place nightly. As such, even though the characters in the musical – both the good, the bad and ugly – are fictional, there is an element of truth to each of them. The story revolves around fictional club owner Larry Steele’s smart and often dangerous liaisons with his beautiful showgirls and his dealings with shady mobsters as he tries to find investors who will provide the funds he believes are necessary to help Club Harlem maintain its relevance.
Tickets are $20 for seniors and $15 for Students and may be reserved by calling 973-748-9008, ext. 279, or by visiting www.onkentuckyavenue.com.
The producers and creators hope to develop this project for the Broadway stage and this full dramatic reading at the Westminster Arts Center is the first major step in that direction. The producers are Step Forward Entertainment Group, Ltd. and Robert R. Blume who has Executive Produced New York’s Annual Drama Desk Awards since 1999. Songbirds Unlimited Productions comprises the creator and writers.
The full staged reading of ON KENTUCKY AVENUE is presented by Westminster Performing Arts Center, Bloomfield, New Jersey, in association with Songbirds Unlimited Productions and Eightonal Coalition, Inc, a 501c3 Not-For-Profit.
