From the Cotton Club to Carnegie Hall
A Classic Soulful Christmas

Cotton Club
The setting begin in the early 1940s in New York City night club called the Cotton Club located in the Harlem neighborhood on 142ns Street and Lenox Avenue from the period of 1936 to 1940s in the midtown theatre district.

The club was a whites-only establishment even though it featured many of the most popular black entertainers of the era, including musicians Cab Calloway, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Fats Waller, vocalists Adelaide Hall,[;;2];;[;;3];; Ethel Waters, Avon Long, the Dandridge Sisters, the Will Vodery Choir, Berry Brothers, Nina Mae McKinney, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, and dancers Bill Robinson, The Nicholas Brothers, Stepin Fetchit, and Earl Snakehips Tucker.

Carnegie Hall
The 1940s found Duke Ellington making his debut at Carnegie Hall and a steady stream of African American performers has followed since then. Billie Holiday, Harry Belafonte, Ike & Time Turner, Nina Simone, Shirley Bassey all made live recordings of their performances there at Carnegie Hall.

Cast….

Stanley Daniels, Joseph Coleman, Jasmine Elliott ,  Marcus Elliott , Chardae ElliottShawnte Gaston, Angela Gordon, Malia Guy, Ilandia Johnson, Ronell Lewis,

Jerrell Lewis, Angela Martin, Maya Mitchell, Asha Muhammad, Jada Muhammad,  Marissa Robinson, Cynthia Russell, Deborah Paule  Scheri Alan-Simmons,

Edward Strickling, Troy Thomas Jr and Landon Turner

Written, Produced and Directed by Trina Bledsoe-Dingle & Georgetta Smith

Featuring the Grove Factor Band