New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The musical "1776" kickstarts its national tour in Philadelphia, PA, on Thursday, February 16th at Forrest Theater in Center City. For the show's co-director and choreographer, Jeffrey Page, Philadelphia is a second home. The University of the Arts graduate has forged a career as an artist, activist, choreographer, scholar, performer, and pedagogue.
The first ever African American to earn the Marcus
Institute Opera Directing Fellowship from The Juilliard School, Page gained an MFA in Theatre Directing from Columbia University to ignite his new career. In 2021, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Muhlenberg College.
As a choreographer first, Mr. Page won an MTV VMA for his work with Beyoncé; working on "The Formation World Tour," her historic Coachella Valley
Music and Arts Festival performance, and two of her HBO specials. Also, the associate creative director for Mariah Carey's "Sweet, Sweet Fantasy European Tour,", and a featured choreographer on Fox Television's "So You Think You Can Dance." Currently, Page is creative director for singer-songwriter Jazmine Sullivan, most recently working on the 2020 BET Soul
Train Music Awards.
Through music, hip-hop, jazz, blues, and gospel, Page brings to life classical works of theatre, opera, concert dance, musicals and plays which may have seemed irrelevant or out of reach to many. And he uses this same method with his directorial projects. This unique lens allows him to view film, concept building, and scriptwriting from a fresh perspective. This can be seen in his works, "Ain't Misbehavin'," "Choir Boy," and "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill."
Never one to settle on his laurels, he serves as a lecturer in Theatre, Dance, and Media at Harvard University, Marcus
Institute of Vocal Arts at The Juilliard School, and Mannes Opera Division of The New School.
Musical, 1776, comes to Philadelphia with a cast that reflects many races, genders, and ethnicities. You may never think about our country the same way again. What will it take to get two dozen powerfully passionate, exceedingly complicated, and all-too-human individuals to settle their differences, whilst holding the very future of a nation in their hands.
To find out more information about Jeffrey Page and his transition into directing please visit www.jeffreylpage.com.
To learn more about 1776 visit https://www.broadwayinbound.com/shows/1776-philadelphia-pa.
