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Ain't Misbehavin'

The Fats Waller Musical Show Jan 23 - Mar 10, 2019

Step into Harlem for a swinging, dancing celebration of big band and the songs of Thomas “Fats” Waller. This sultry Tony Award®-winning musical tribute features all of Waller’s beloved tunes including “The Joint is Jumpin’,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Handful of Keys” and more.

A cast of Signature favorites including Nova Y. Payton (Jelly’s Last Jam), Kevin McAllister (Titanic) and Iyona Blake (Titanic) strut the stage while Jelly’s Last Jam’s Mark G. Meadows tickles the ivories.

“The show radiates contagious good cheer and an irresistible combination of funkiness and class.” – The New York Times

Conceived by Richard Maltby, Jr. & Murray Horwitz
Created & Originally Directed by Richard Maltby, Jr.
Original Choreography & Musical Staging by Arthur Faria
Musical Adaptations, Orchestrations & Arrangements by Luther Henderson
Vocal & Musical Concepts by Jeffrey Gutcheon
Musical Arrangements by Jeffrey Gutcheon & William Elliott
Directed by Joe Calarco
#SigMisbehavin
#SigMisbehavin

Performance Information

  • Run Time

    Run time approximately 2 hours including one 15 minute intermission.

  • Content Warnings

    Contains a gunshot, theatrical haze, and smoking (herbal).

Specialty Nights

Discussion Nights

February 6 & 12, 2019

Pride Night

February 8, 2019

Open Captioning

February 10, 2019 at 2PM

Cast Members

Iyona Blake

Iyona Blake

SIGNATURE: Ain't Misbehavin' (Armelia McQueen), Scottsboro Boys (The Lady understudy), Titanic (Caroline Neville), Jelly’s Last Jam (Gran Mimi). OFF-BROADWAY: June Havoc Theater & Terrace Theater/Kennedy Center: Soul on Fire the Musical (Gabriel/Eva Mae). DC AREA: Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (Lady Day), The Mistress Cycle (Lulu White), The Wizard of Oz (Glinda), Blues in the Night (The Lady), Caroline, or Change (Caroline Thibodeaux), Once on This Island (Asaka), Shout! The Mod Musical (Green Girl), Thunder Knocking on the Door (Good Sister);Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Armelia McQueen), Black Nativity (As Cast). AWARDS: 2017 Helen Hayes Award Winner for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical, BroadwayWorld’s Washington, DC Award Winner for Best Actress in a Musical for a Small Professional Theater. www.iyonablake.com

Kevin McAllister

Kevin McAllister

SIGNATURE: Blackbeard, Grand Hotel, Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Helen Hayes nomination), A Little Night Music, Titanic, SCKBSTRD, Brother Russia, The Break, Show Boat, Sweeney Todd. BROADWAY: Caroline, or Change; Come from Away. DC AREA: Round House Theatre: Next to Normal; Washington National Opera: Lost In The Stars; Ford’s Theatre: The Wiz, Ragtime (Helen Hayes winner, Best Actor in a Musical), 110 In The Shade, Freedom’s Song, …Spelling Bee, Violet (Helen Hayes nomination), Our Town, Parade (Helen Hayes nomination), The Civil War; Arena Stage: Five Guys Named Moe; Olney: The World Goes Round, Annie (Helen Hayes nomination), Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella; Kennedy Center: 2013 Gala, James and the Giant Peach, The Phantom Tollbooth; CenterStage: Expanding the Cycle Series; Toby’s: Rent, Dreamgirls, Ragtime (Helen Hayes winner, Best Actor in a Musical); Teatro 101: Brooklyn, Side Show, The Wild Party; Artistic Director, ArtsCentric, Inc. REGIONAL: Sacramento Music Circus: Ragtime. AWARDS: 2016 and 2018 Helen Hayes Award, Best Lead Actor in A Musical; Broadway World’s Performer of The Decade (2020).

Solomon Parker III

Solomon Parker III

SIGNATURE: The Color Purple (Helen Hayes for Outstanding Supporting Performer in a Musical - Hayes), RENT, After Midnight, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Grand Hotel, Billy Elliot, Jesus Christ Superstar. Regional: Portland Center Stage: Hair; Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival: In the Heights. DC AREA: Olney Theater: Kinky Boots; Ford’s Theatre: The Wiz, Grace the Musical, A Christmas Carol; Keegan Theatre: Legally Blonde; Toby's Dinner Theatre: Kinky Boots, Dreamgirls, Hairspray; Monumental Theatre Co: Pippin, Sunday Funday, Montgomery, Bashful; EDUCATION: Montgomery College. @thesolomonexperience

Nova Y. Payton

Nova Y. Payton

SIGNATURE: The Color Purple, We Shall Someday, After Midnight, Assassins, Blackbeard, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Jelly's Last Jam, La Cage aux Folles, Diner, Defying Gravity: Making of a SuperNOVA, Dreamgirls, The Best Little Whorehouse..., Xanadu, Hairspray. TOUR: 3 Mo’ Divas, Smokey Joe’s Café. DC AREA: Round House: Caroline, or Change; Shakespeare Theatre: The Amen Corner, Kiss Me, Kate; Ford's Theatre: Grace the Musical, Ragtime, Freedom’s Song; Olney Theatre: Godspell; Arena Stage: Newsies, Smokey Joe's Café; Kennedy Center: How To Succeed.... REGIONAL: ZACH Theatre: Into the Woods; The 5th: Man of La Mancha, A Night with Janis Joplin; Milwaukee Rep: Dreamgirls.

Korinn Walfall

Korinn Walfall

SIGNATURE: Jesus Christ Superstar; Gun & Powder (reading), U.G.L.Y. (reading). NATIONAL TOUR: Amazing Grace the Broadway Musical. DC AREA: Round House Theatre: Caroline, or Change (Helen Hayes nomination for Best Supporting Actress); Ford’s Theatre: Hope Dies Last (reading). EDUCATION: University of Maryland-College Park, Theatre, Creative and Performing Arts Scholar.

Creative Team

Joe Calarco

Directed by

Director: SIGNATURE: Heisenberg, The Scottsboro Boys, John, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Flick, The Gulf, Cake Off, Gypsy, Shakespeare’s R&J, God of Carnage, Walter Cronkite is Dead. (writer/director), Assassins, Urinetown, Side Show, Nijinsky’s Last Dance, Nest, Elegies, The Boy Detective Fails, writer of 13 Signature in the Schools plays. OFF-BROADWAY: A Christmas Carol, In Transit, R&J, Sarah Plain and Tall, The Burnt Part Boys, Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky, Boy, in the absence of spring (writer/director), The Memory Show, Bury the Dead. NEW YORK: Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Primary Stages. REGIONAL: The Old Globe, ACT, Barrington Stage Company, Philadelphia Theater Company. DC AREA: The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Round House Theatre. AWARDS: 4 Helen Hayes, 2 Barrymore Awards, the Lucille Lortel Award, 2 time Drama Desk nominee. UPCOMING: Barrington Stage Company: Into The Woods.

Mark G. Meadows

Mark G. Meadows

Music Direction by

he/him SIGNATURE: Director of Signature Cabarets; Music Direction: The Color Purple, RENT, After Midnight, Spunk, Ain’t Misbehavin’; Jelly’s Last Jam. Apollo Productions: ELLA, An American Miracle. Kennedy Center: Acoustic Rooster REGIONAL: Oregon Shakespeare Theatre: Once on this Island. Denver Center for the Performing Arts: Choir Boy, Wildfire. LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE: Associate Music Direction: The Outsiders.  ALBUMS: Be the Change, To the People, Somethin’ Good, A Child is Born. CONCERTS: Jazz at the Lincoln Center, DC Jazz Festival, Blues Alley, The Kennedy Center, Smalls Jazz, The Strathmore. INTERNATIONAL: Haiti, Russia, The Congo, Qatar, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Canada, The Caribbean. APPEARED WITH: Cynthia Erivo, Usher, Bobby McFerrin, Kendrick Lamar, Kamasi Washington, Nicholas Payton, Kurt Elling, Ledisi. AWARDS: 2020 DC Wammies Jazz Artist of the Year, Washington City Paper’s Artist & Composer of the Year. TEACHING: American University, Shenandoah University: Jazz Instructor; Duke Ellington School of the Arts: The Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. MarkGMeadows.com @MarkGMeadows

DeWitt Fleming Jr.

Assistant Choreographer

SIGNATURE: Jelly’s Last Jam (Crowd, Assistant Choreography), The Scottsboro Boys (Ozie Powell, Ruby Bates, Assistant Choreography). CHOREOGRAPHY: An Evening with Phyllis Hyman, Dorothy the Musical. OFF-BROADWAY: Cotton Club Parade, Cirque Du Soliel’s Banana Shpeel, Pearl, Dutchman, Orphan Train. REGIONAL: Alliance Theater: Sophisticated Ladies. TOURS: Riverdance. TV/FILM: Boardwalk Empire (Season 4 Choreography), Smash, How to Be Single, Limitless. DANCE: Soloist with Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Marvin Hamlisch, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. EDUCATION: Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Marymount Manhattan College. Proud Capezio Athlete. www.dewittflemingjr.com

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Press Reviews

Hot and smoky and funny and sexy

DC Metro Theater Arts

The five performers tear the house down

BroadwayWorld

A high-wattage Fats Waller power surge

DC Theatre Scene

Musical revues don’t get much better than this

MD Theatre Guide

A vivacious cast weaves a seductive spell

MetroWeekly

The production sings, swings and fills the heart with joy

The Washington Informer

The pure energy of this show will seduce you

The Zebra

Step Into the Cotton Club with Ain't Misbehavin

Explore articles to immerse yourself in 1930s Harlem and Signature’s production of Ain’t Misbehavin’.

Signature Theatre

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