Broadway alums Jay Armstrong Johnson, Jonathan Burke, Jelani Remy, and Adam Roberts, along with Roberto Araujo, have joined the cast of Anjou: The Musical Horror Tale, sharing the role of Henry of Anjou. The stars join a previously announced cast that includes Javier Muñoz, Eden Espinosa, and Shereen Pimentel in the streaming benefit performance.
The event streams on Playbill and YouTube January 29 at 8 PM ET, and will be available to watch through February 2. While free to enjoy, donations are encouraged to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Anjou is a modern Mexican opera with music by Guillermo Mendez M. and lyrics by Mendez and Guadalupe Sandoval, in a new English translation by Javier Vilalta.
Performed in the style of a Broadway concept album, actors will split roles throughout the performance. The cast includes Espinosa (Wicked), Bianca Marroquín (In The Heights), Julia Murney (Wicked), and Kristie Dale Sanders (Oklahoma!) as Catherine de’ Medici; Caroline Bowman (Wicked), Pimentel (West Side Story), and Eva Tavares (The Phantom of the Opera national tour) as Margot de Valois; Muñoz (Hamilton) as Charles IX; Austin Colby (Jersey Boys) as Arthur; and Nathan Cockroft, Kevin Curtis (Moulin Rouge!), Gabriel Hyman (Hamilton national tour), and Michael Perrie Jr. (Million Dollar Quartet national tour) as Spirit/Mignon. Marroquín also serves as the Narrator.
As Charles IX is crowned as the new monarch, the Catholic church puts pressure on Queen Catherine de’ Medici to eradicate Protestantism in France. The treacherous queen has a plan of her own: to remain in power through her beloved and overly-conceited son, Henry of Anjou, and to plan her daughter’s wedding with a Protestant knight, while executing one of the bloodiest events in history. Fusing Renaissance-inspired melodies, modern orchestrations, and Latinx-influenced tunes, Anjou turns this tragic moment in history into a exploration of kindness and acceptance against today’s backdrop of injustice.
The streaming production is directed and edited by Araujo with Grammy and Emmy winner John McDaniel (Annie Get Your Gun, The Rosie O’Donnell Show) as music director. Araujo and Vilalta produce.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 and other critical illnesses across the United States.
