Key Takeaways
- Tony winner Adrienne Warren will play Delilah in John Legend’s first stage musical, Imitation of Life, an adaptation of Fannie Hurst’s novel about race, motherhood, and identity.
- Lynn Nottage wrote the musical, Whitney White will direct, and the six-week Off-Broadway run begins previews November 21 at The Shed’s Griffin Theater before opening December 3.
- Warren called developing Delilah “a highlight of my career,” while Legend praised her “heart, humanity and radiance” and said audiences will hear her voice in the first musical he has composed.
Adrienne Warren is bringing her powerhouse voice to John Legend’s first musical. The Tony Award winner will star as Delilah in the world premiere of Imitation of Life, an Off-Broadway adaptation of Fannie Hurst’s novel about race, motherhood and the devastating cost of denying part of oneself.
According to Deadline, the six-week limited engagement begins previews November 21 at The Griffin Theater at The Shed, with opening night on December 3. Warren joins a formidable creative team that includes two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and director Whitney White, a two-time Tony nominee. White replaces previously announced director Liesl Tommy, who remains involved as a producer.
“It is truly an honor to join this incredible team in bringing Imitation of Life to the stage,” Warren said in a statement. “Over the years, developing the role of Delilah has become a highlight of my career. She is a character I have grown to love deeply, and I cannot wait to share her with audiences.”
First published in 1933, Hurst’s novel follows two single mothers—one Black and one white—and their daughters as they attempt to build a life together during the 1920s and ’30s. Delilah, a Black housekeeper, watches her relationship with her daughter fracture when the younger woman decides to pass as white. Louise Beavers originated the role in the 1934 film adaptation, while Juanita Moore played a renamed version of the character, Annie, in Douglas Sirk’s acclaimed 1959 remake.
The material places Warren at the emotional center of a story wrestling with race, identity, ambition, belonging, and the compromises women make to survive. She previously won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.
“I’m thrilled to know that Adrienne Warren will bring Delilah to life,” Legend said. “Adrienne is an incredibly gifted performer who brings heart, humanity and radiance to every character she plays.”
He added, “I’m so excited that the world will hear her magnificent voice on the first musical that I’ve composed.”
The production extends a particularly ambitious run for Legend. The EGOT winner recently signed on to portray Harry Belafonte in The Road Home, Bill Condon’s film about South African jazz icon Hugh Masekela and the political battle surrounding apartheid, the international cultural boycott, and Paul Simon’s Graceland.
Legend described Belafonte, whom he personally knew, as a “friend, mentor and collaborator in the struggle for justice” who “lived a monumental, revolutionary life.”
