Lamb’s Players Theatre has opened its production of “Cotton Patch Gospel” at its resident theatre inside Coronado’s iconic Spreckels Building on Orange Avenue.
The musical is adapted from Clarence Jordan’s book setting the Gospels of Matthew & John in the American South. Actor Tom Key first performed it as a one man show in 1979. It had a successful Off-Broadway run in 1981 with added music and lyrics by Harry Chapin. LAMB’S produced the musical in 1988, 1991 & 2003, with Deborah Gilmour Smyth directing. 2023 seemed a good time to bring it around again.
Jordan was a farmer and a scholar of Greek. In the 1940s he founded an interracial Christian community, Koinonia Farms, in Americus, Georgia. Habitat For Humanity grew out of that community.
“Cotton Patch Gospel” runs through August 20 Sept. 3
Wed 2 & 7 / Thu & Fri 7 / Sat 2 & 7 / Sun 2
Lamb’s Players Theatre
1142 Orange Avenue, Coronado
Cast: Bryan Barbarin, Michael Louis Cusimano, Earnest Sauceda
Band: Shawn Rohlf, Greg Campbell, Oliver Shirley, Brandon Wallace
Adapted from the book The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John by Clarence Jordan
Music & lyrics by Harry Chapin
book by Tom Key and Russell Treyz
directed and choreographed by Deborah Gilmour Smyth
Musical Direction Shawn Rohlf
Assistant Choreography Earnest Sauceda
Producer Robert Smyth
Tickets range from $28 to $82, depending on the day of the week and the theatre’s seating section.
Discounts are available for seniors (66+) and Veterans. Half-price tickets are available for Active Duty Military, Youth (ages 5 – 17), and Young Adults (18 – 34) that join the theatre’s free <35 Club.
