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Five Guys Named Moe

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Five Guys Named Moe

Five Guys Named Moe is a musical with a book by Clarke Peters and lyrics and music by Louis Jordan and others. The musical is based on an earlier musical short of the same name by Louis Jordan from 1943. It had its UK debut at the Cottesloe Theatre at the National Theatre followed by a short run at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, before moving to the West End for over four years in, and finally premiering on Broadway in 1992. It was revived in 2010 at Edinburgh Festival, starring Peters himself, and returned later in 2010 to the theatre in which it originally premiered. The musical won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment.

Nomax, whose girlfriend has left him and who is without money, finds Big Moe, Four-Eyed Moe, Eat Moe, No Moe, and Little Moe emerging from his 1930s-style radio to comfort him. They sing the hit songs of songwriter and saxophonist Louis Jordan, whose new slant on jazz paved the way for rock and roll in the 1950s.

The musical was originally presented at the Cottesloe Theatre. Cameron Mackintosh opened it on 14 December 1990 at London's West End Lyric Theatre. The original Stratford East cast of Kenny Andrews, Paul J. Medford, Peter Alex Newton, Omar F. Okai, and Dig Wayne, were joined by Clinton Derricks-Carroll replacing Clarke Peters, all transferred with the production where it ran until 4 March 1995. It re-opened at the Albery Theatre on 25 May 1995 where it was recorded for commercial DVD with the following cast: Tee Jaye Jenkins, Trent Kendall, Monroe Kent III (Nomax), Jason Pennycooke, Richard D. Sharp and Feruma Williams. The production ran with this cast until 13 January 1996.

There was also a successful UK tour that opened in September 1995 that once again had Charles Augins as Director, this time joined by Steve Hill as Musical Director. The tour cast included Jon Clairmont as Nomax, Parrish Collier as Four-Eyed Moe, Robert Grose as No Moe, Paul Hazel as Eat Moe, Horace Oliver as Little Moe and Walter Herron Reynolds III as Big Moe.

The Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Charles Augins, opened on 8 April 1992 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, where it ran for 445 performances and 19 previews. The cast included Jerry Dixon, Doug Eskew, Milton Craig Nealy, Kevin Ramsey, Jeffrey D. Sams, and Glenn Turner.

The "Moe" band was: Reginald Royal, piano; Luico Hopper, bass; Brian Kirk, drums; Reggie Pittman, trumpet & flugelhorn; Gregory Charles Royal, trombone; and Mark Gross, saxophone and clarinet.

Original cast recordings from both the London and Broadway productions were released.

In 1993, the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson in Los Angeles kicked off the first U.S. National tour. Doug Eskew and Milton Craig Nealy continued the roles they played on Broadway: Big Moe and Four-Eyed Moe, respectively. Keith Tyrone, Jeffrey Polk and Kevyn Bracket, joined the cast as No Moe, Little Moe and Eat Moe. The production opened on 15 July 1993 at the James A. Doolittle Theatre on the campus of UCLA. The subsequent tour included stops in Toronto at the Royal Alexandra Theatre (Sept 29-Nov 6, 1993)[need more tour stop info] Cincinnati, OH at the Taft Theatre (18–23 January 1994).

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