Holler If Ya Hear Me (musical)

***Holler If Ya Hear Me*** is a 2014 non-biographical jukebox musical with book by Todd Kreidler and direction by Kenny Leon. It is based around the music of 2Pac and titled after the rapper's single of the same name. The Broadway playbill displays a rose that grew from concrete. The musical premiered on Broadway on June 19, 2014, at the Palace Theater, with a run time of two hours and twenty minutes. It closed on July 20, 2014, after six consecutive weeks. The response was mixed by critic reviews and a low audience turnout, where the $8 million production only raked in $175,000 a week. *The New York Times* declared it to be "one of the worst-selling musicals of recent years".

The show examines inner-city life with poverty, gang violence, gun control, and systemic oppression. The main character, John, has been released from prison and tries to lead a straight-edge life. After one of his friend's brother gets murdered by members of a rival gang, the decision to return to his former life or reject it weighs heavy on him.

In 2017, the musical was revived for an Atlanta HBCU tour with the True Colors Theater Company production. This version contained minor adjustments from the original. Lead producer Eric Gold stated, "People have commented to me that it was one moment too soon, and that opening on Broadway was just too ambitious. Not opening originally in Atlanta is one of my biggest regrets."

## Synopsis

> 'Holler If Ya Hear Me', the world inside Tupac Shakur's music and lyrics, blazes to life in a non-biographical story about friendship, family, revenge, change and hope. Inner city lives struggle for peace against the daily challenges they face in this entertaining and original musical. Through the poetry of one of the 20th century's most influential and culturally prominent voices, we are given a window into realities of the streets still relevant today.
>
>

Set in a inner-city neighborhood in a midwestern city, recently released prisoner John—who served six years in prison—attempts to change his life around for the better. He discovers that his best friend, Vertus, is in a relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Corinne. He gets work at a auto salvage company, which Vertus' brother, Benny, works at. Griffy, a white man who runs the place, plans to expand business in California with Benny. Followed by this, Benny is killed by members of a rival gang, resulting in friends Anthony and Darius seeking vengeance. Corinne and Mrs. Weston both urge the men to turn away from drugs and violence.

## Crew

* Eric L. Gold, Chunsoo Shin, Jessica Green, Marcy Kaplan Gold, Anita Waxman, Afeni Shakur – producer
* Todd Kriedler – book
* Tupac Shakur – lyrics
* Kenny Leon – director
* Edward Pierce – scenic design
* David Gallo – concepts
* Reggie Ray – costume design
* Mike Baldassari – lighting design
* John Shivers, David Patridge – sound design
* Daryl Waters – music supervision, orchestrations, arrangements
* Zane Mark – music director
	+ Paul Masse – associate conductor
	+ Zane Mark, Paul Masse – keyboard
	+ Steve Bargonetti – guitar
	+ Carl Carter – bass guitar
	+ Damon DueWhite – drums
	+ Dan Weiner – percussion
	+ Barry Danielian – trumpet 1, flugelhorn
	+ Scott Wendholt – trumpet 2, flugelhorn
	+ Scott Kreitzer – saxophone, flute
	+ Charles Gordon – trombone
* John Monaco – music coordinator
* Zachary Borovay – projection design
* Greg Bazemore – hair and wigs design
* Rick Sordelet – fight direction
* Wayne Cilento – musical staging, choreography
* Jared Grimes – associate choreographer
* Ryan Davis – dance captain
* Mel Charlot – assistant dance captain
* Beverly Jenkins – production stage manager
	+ Mark Dobrow – stage manager
	+ Johnny Milani – assistant stage manager
* Caparelliotis Casting – casting
* Kamilah Forbes – associate director
* Richard Martini – executive producer, general manager
* Ioana Alfonso – senior associate choreographer
* Theatersmith Associates – production management
* Boneau Bryan-Brown – press

## Musical numbers

Act 1
* "My Block" — John, Company
* "Dopefiend's Diner" — Vertus, My Block Chorus
* "Life Goes On" — Anthony, Darius, Nunn, Lemar, Reggie, My Block Chorus
* "I Get Around/Keep Ya Head Up" — Darius, Reggie, Lemar, Corinne, Kamilah, My Block Chorus
* "I Ain't Mad at Cha" — Vertus, John, My Block Women
* "Please Wake Me When I'm Free/The Rose That Grew from Concrete" — Corinne, Kamilah
* "Me Against the World" — John, Corinne
* "Whatz Next" — Vertus, Darius, Anthony, Corinne, My Block Chorus
* "Dear Mama" — Vertus, My Block Chorus
* "Holler If Ya Hear Me" — John, Anthony, Darius, My Block Chorus

Act 2
* "My Block (Reprise)" — Anthony, Darius
* "Changes" — John, Griffy, Vertus, Anthony, My Block Chorus
* "Resist the Temptation/Dear Mama (Reprise)" — Vertus, Mrs. Weston
* "Hail Mary" — John, Darius, Anthony, Young Souljas
* "Unconditional Love" — John, Corinne
* "I Ain't Mad at Cha (Reprise)" — John, Street Preacher
* "If I Die 2Nite" — Anthony, Darius, Reggie, Lemar, Young Souljas
* "Only God Can Judge Me" — Anthony
* "Thugz Mansion" — John, Vertus, Griffy
* "California Love" — Reggie, Lemar, Young Souljas, My Block Women
* "Ghetto Gospel" — Company

## Background

### Development

There have been two different stories of how the production came to be. According to *The New York Times*, it was in the making since 2001, where playwright August Wilson and then-assistant Todd Kreidler met up at the Cafe Edison. Wilson wanted Kreidler to listen to 2Pac's music and fully absorbed it, buying him a copy of 2Pac's album *Me Against the World*. When Wilson passed away in 2005, director Kenny Leon collaborated closely with Kreidler to "keep August Wilson alive". Later in 2010, Kreidler was ready to write the script after purchasing 2Pac's full discography and two of the rapper's writings, which resulted in a musical that incorporated twenty-one of Shakur's songs, as well as two poems that turned into songs. Alternatively, *Vibe* reported that Eric Gold had the idea to bring 2Pac to Broadway "for 14 years" and enlisted Kreidler to write it. Kreidler explained that he "built the characters based on the lyrics that they sang."

Leon stated to *Entertainment Weekly*, "I've been talking with Afeni Shakur....she was building a memorial and arts center for Tupac in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and she reached out to me and wanted my consultation because I was a theater lover and a theater artist. We got to know each other a little, and we started talking about the idea of a Broadway musical centered around her son. I said at the time that if you did something like that, it should not be autobiographical, because Tupac was much bigger than himself. So we started thinking about it and talking about it in a very abstract way." When Gold acquired the rights for a Broadway production, he turned to Leon as the director.

In 2013, it was first announced by *The Wall Street Journal* of the upcoming Broadway production, which at the time was workshopped three times. Leon explained to them, "Some people look at hip-hop and they think they hate everything black or they think they hate everything that uses profanity, or they think it's about gun violence. When you look at the lyrics of his music, he was always talking about universal things like honor, betrayal, family." While it was ready to be performed, they needed an available theater.

### Casting

Regarding the casting process, Leon explained that they narrowed it down to 25 people, accumulating a cast of newcomers and veterans alike. Chadwick Boseman was originally considered for the role of John, but was unable due to schedule conflicts at the time. Leon recalled, "A week before I started rehearsal, Saul Williams walked in the room. He had been in Europe for three years, and I didn't know very much about him, but I did see him in a play in Atlanta many many years ago. I asked him to do the opening song, and he said those words in a way that hadn't ever been said before. It was perfect." Tonya Pinkins, who appeared in the film *Above the Rim* alongside Shakur, joined the production. In April 2014, the cast was publicly unveiled.

### Broadway (2014)

Previews began on Broadway at the Palace Theater on May 26, 2014, with an official opening on June 19. *Entertainment Weekly* exclusively premiered three songs from the musical on May 28, 2014. It was reported by *ABC News* that Madonna attended a preview on June 16, 2014, which would've coincided with the rapper's 43rd birthday. The production closed on July 20, 2014, due to financial difficulties and low audience turnout, after 17 preview shows and 38 performances. Gold announced, "We are so proud to be a part of this ground breaking production. The cast, musicians, production and creative teams gave more than just their professional excellence but contributed their passion as well... My hope is that a production of this caliber, powerful in its story telling, filled with great performances and exciting contemporary dance and music, will eventually receive the recognition it deserves. It saddens me that due to the financial burdens of Broadway, I was unable to sustain this production longer in order to give it time to bloom on Broadway. Tupac's urgent socially important insights and the audiences' nightly rousing standing ovations deserve to be experienced by the world." A cast album of this musical was recorded but never released.

Saul Williams commented about the response, "The idea of having a play that centers around, How do you stop the cycles of gun violence in our community? It's weird to hear someone feel like the story is generic when it's the front page of every fucking paper to date. And when you look at the reviews and compare them to everything from *Do the Right Thing* to *Menace II Society*, it's always the same fucking review. There's actually a generic response when I don't think critics realize they're playing into the hands of something that runs deeper than how this made you feel. I am speaking to that American race psyche; that thing that Harry Belafonte said to me after he saw the play, which is, 'You took an Afrocentric-themed play and placed it on a Eurocentric stage. The problems you'll face are larger than you think.'" He continued, "In the email he sent me a few days ago, Eric said, 'Look, you've done every fucking outlet and have had every type of review and all the media behind us in particular ways and I don't get it. Basically, I'm starting to think that there's some deeper sociological reasoning behind this.' And that's where I am. I think it's something deeper. There is no disconnect between this and Iggy Azalea, an Australian girl rapping with a southern accent, being Number One on the charts. It's all related to where we are right now as a culture and within the culture of the arts."

### Atlanta (2017)

In 2017, it was announced of returning with slight alterations to the original. Leon said that it would premiere in Atlanta with the True Colors Theater Company. He also recalled what Harry Belafonte said to him, "'You put on display a form of Afrocentrism on a Eurocentric platform. That within itself is a success.' It changed my whole perspective after that." Kreidler added, "Artistically, I look at Broadway as the tryout, and I am excited to get back into this story again. People are going to see the story through a different lens because of Ferguson and Black Lives Matter." The production premiered on September 15, 2017, and concluded on October 8, 2017, with a 19-person cast.

## Critical reception

The musical met with mixed reviews, where *Broadway World* reported a 55.3% rating based on 15 critic reviews. It has been proposed that the leading issue was not finding the right audience. Amy Linden from *Billboard* called it a "tiring two-plus hours," "poorly executed" musical full of clichés and an unclear plot. They concluded, "It's exciting to hear Shakur's lyrics brought to life by this cast on this big of a stage—which makes it even more unfortunate that "Holler If Ya Hear Me" has so little to say." Marilyn Stasio of *Variety* wrote, "Despite its soaring performances, this musical treatment of the works of Tupac Shakur places its searing source material in service of a generic gangland saga." She praised the music though criticized the story, where "Todd Kreidler's book isn't the story we want to hear." *Time*'s Richard Zoglin called it "a bold effort to open up Broadway to a new musical idiom, without diluting it or reducing it to a cartoon. The show hollers, and you simply have to listen." *Huffpost* wrote, "The high-energy, deeply felt but ultimately overwrought production opened Thursday in a blaze of N-words at the Palace Theatre, proving both that rap deserves its moment to shine on a Broadway stage and that some 20 Shakur songs can somehow survive the transformation—barely." *The Hollywood Reporter* wrote it off as "quickly dispelled by the deflating experience of this well-intentioned but toothless Broadway rap musical." *Rolling Stone* conceded, "While this staging won't shine any new insight into 2Pac's songs, it's a loving tribute that captures what they mean—how systemic racism gives way to anger, how change doesn't easy—and does ambitious work in the process."*The Guardian* labelled it as "a profoundly un-engaging story," while *Vulture* described the songs as a "hit-or-miss," and found issues with monotony. *USA Today* praised, "Though there are sobering twists—and contrived ones—the overall effect is uplifting. By celebrating its subject's creativity rather than exploiting his legend, *Holler* sets a fundamentally positive example for a problematic form."

David Cote of *Time Out* said, "While there have been rap-rich musicals (*In the Heights*), the fusion of hip-hop and razzle-dazzle has been tricky at best, tacky at worst. The latest attempt is *Holler if Ya Hear Me*, a ghetto-not-so-fabulous repurposing of songs by Tupac Shakur (1971–96) for a ramshackle morality tale about revenge and second chances." Writing for *The New York Times*, Charles Isherwood remarked, "Unfortunately, much else about this ambitious show, which opened on Thursday at the Palace Theater, feels heartfelt but heavy-handed, as it punches home its message with a relentlessness that may soon leave you numb to the tragic story it's trying to tell." When the production closed, he maintained, "In truth, the problem with "Holler" wasn't really the music at all, but the ham-handed, sentimentalized story line concocted to underpin it. [...] In the end, it wasn't the concept but the quality that was the problem with "Holler."" *NBC New York* wrote in their review, "the two-dozen songs lushly presented in the $8 million production directed by Kenny Leon (who just nabbed a Tony for "A Raisin in the Sun") are threaded together by a fictional story so tired, and so often told, that you can't help but walk away feeling that an opportunity has been missed." *Revolt* was more positive, writing, "Whether plainspoken, rapped, sung, the songs of Pac serve as the nucleus to *Holler if Ya Hear Me*. [...] [T]he play is an interpretive piece that winds up displaying the power of Pac's words and vision, and showcases why his material resonated with people of many creeds, cultures, and colors around the world. [...] In the end, this staging is a touching tribute that doesn't offer any new insight into the words of 'Pac, but it celebrates his illuminating presence to generations."

## References

1. ↑ Healy, Patrick (July 14, 2014). "'Holler if Ya Hear Me' to Close on Sunday". *The New York Times*.
2. ↑ Smith, Kelundra (August 31, 2017). "A Tupac Musical Gets a Second Chance". *The New York Times*.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Isherwood, Charles (June 19, 2014). "To Be Young, Besieged and Black". *The New York Times*.
4. ↑ Caramanica, Jon (June 4, 2014). "A Tupac for Everyone". *The New York Times*.
5. ↑ Ali, Rahsheeda (May 9, 2014). "'Holler If Ya Hear Me': Three Things To Know As Tupac's Music Heads To Broadway". *VH1*.
6. ↑ Augustin, Camille (June 19, 2014). "Q&A: Todd Kreidler Talks Writing Script For Tupac Play 'Holler If Ya Hear Me'". *Vibe*.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Anderson, Kyle (May 21, 2014). "Tupac musical director Kenny Leon on the 10 year journey to 'Holler If Ya Hear Me'". *Entertainment Weekly*.
8. ↑ Chai, Barbara (September 4, 2013). "Tupac Shakur on Broadway? It's in the Works". *The Wall Street Journal*.
9. ↑ Fleming Jr., Mike (September 2, 2020). "Backers Ponder What to Do with Chadwick Boseman's Filmed Workshop Performance in Tupac Shakur Musical 'Holler If Ya Hear Me' – Watch". *Deadline*.
10. ↑ Anderson, Kyle (May 28, 2014). "'Holler If Ya Hear Me': Hear three songs from the Tupac musical -- EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE". *Entertainment Weekly*. Archived from the original on July 17, 2014.
11. ↑ Fekadu, Mesfin (June 17, 2014). "Madonna Attends Preview of Tupac B'way Musical". *ABC News*. Archived from the original on June 25, 2014.
12. ↑ "Holler If Ya Hear Me". *Playbill*.
13. ↑ Diaz, Evelyn (July 15, 2014). "Tupac Musical Holler If Ya Hear Me Ends Broadway Run". *BET*.
14. ↑ Newman, Jason (July 21, 2014). "Saul Williams: Why Broadway's Tupac Musical Closed Early". *Rolling Stone*.
15. ↑ Leight, Elias (September 5, 2017). "Tupac Shakur Musical 'Holler if Ya Hear Me' Returns in Atlanta". *Rolling Stone*.
16. ↑ "Tupac Musical 'Holler If Ya Hear Me' Finds a New Home on Stage in Atlanta". *Blavity*. August 31, 2017.
17. ↑ Linden, Amy (June 27, 2014). "'Holler If Ya Hear Me' Review: Tupac Musical Is a 'Tiring Two-Plus Hours'". *Billboard*.
18. ↑ Stasio, Marilyn (June 19, 2014). "Broadway Review: 'Holler If Ya Hear Me' With Songs by Tupac Shakur". *Variety*.
19. ↑ Zoglin, Richard (June 20, 2014). "REVIEW: Holler If Ya Hear Me: Tupac Shakur on Broadway". *Time*.
20. ↑ "Tupac Shakur Musical, 'Holler If Ya Hear Me,' Tests Limits Of Rap". *Huffpost*. June 20, 2014.
21. ↑ Rooney, David (June 19, 2014). "'Holler If Ya Hear Me': Theater Review". *The Hollywood Reporter*.
22. ↑ Weingarten, Christopher (June 9, 2014). "Hip-Hop's First Jukebox Musical Debuts: Tupac's 'Holler If Ya Hear Me'". *Rolling Stone*.
23. ↑ Soloski, Alexis (June 20, 2014). "Holler if Ya Hear Me review – all eyez on the exit". *The Guardian*.
24. ↑ Green, Jesse (June 19, 2014). "Theater Review: Flashes of Brilliance, Hamstrung by Cliché, in the Tupac Musical *Holler If Ya Hear Me*". *Vulture*.
25. ↑ Gardner, Elysa (June 19, 2014). "Tupac Shakur's spirit rises in Broadway's 'Holler'". *USA Today*.
26. ↑ Cote, David (June 19, 2014). "Holler If Ya Hear Me". *Time Out*.
27. ↑ Isherwood, Charles (July 15, 2014). "Doomed by Quality, but Not Concept". *The New York Times*.
28. ↑ Kahn, Robert (June 18, 2014). "Review: Tupac's Gangsta Rap Comes to Broadway in "Holler If Ya Hear Me"". *NBC New York*.
29. ↑ Bristout, Ralph (2014). "A Rose That Grew from Broadway: New 2Pac-Inspired Musical Is a Hit". *Revolt*. Archived from the original on July 1, 2014.