Tony Award nominee L. Morgan Lee to star in A COMPLICATED WOMAN at Goodspeed

L Morgan Lee is very very talented. Y'know what'd be awesome? Jordan E. Cooper in a musical.

I am super excited to add this show to my trip to see Gatsby at A.R.T. Very excited to see this. Klea was so good as Dolly at Goodspeed so I’m sure she’ll be great. There are $20 seats in row O.

I liked A Complicated Woman a lot more than I had anticipated. Perhaps that is partly because I was expecting the creators to infuse some of the music from the TV stars that played in Kenley’s Summer Stock shows. That was not the case at all. The show tells John/Jean Kenley’s story through original songs in a golden age style musical.

Nora Brigid Monahan and L Morgan Lee have beautiful voices and I thought they were very good. Several songs stood out including Making a Home with You, Afterglow, Where You Belong. There are 3 musicians (keyboard, bass, reed)listed in the playbill yet it sounds like conductor Debra Barsha is leading a much larger orchestra. Recommended.

bigbelterbaby said: "I only recently discovered who John Kenley was and thought wow! What a fascinating person. Someone should do a show about them and BAM! Here it is! Wishing the best to the cast and creative team!


.."

I'll second this -- and there's a very interesting interview on Playbill with the director, Jeff Calhoun, who became Kenley's friend later in life and was entrusted to tell their story. And quite a story it is -- the whole notion of "star (or stunt, in some cases) casting" was established and popularized by Kenly.

Edited: Here's the Playbill story

Updated On: 5/26/24 at 11:10 PM

ErmengardeStopSniveling said:

I fear certain corners of The Internet will take issue with a nonbinary actor playing an intersex character.”

The internet would be just be stupid then. Being intersex is a spectrum and can present as any number of things which, considering the transgender movement wants to steer away from talk of anatomy, would be countering their own argument and also be extremely invasive. I feel like a non-binary performer is PERFECT if anything.

I saw the production and I found myself quite moved and definitely thought it was worth the trip. Nora Brigid Monaghan is HILARIOUS and heartbreaking, but I was so excited to see L. Morgan take on a fully developed romantic/dramatic character arc as I know she has stated before that she has wanted a role like this and, considering the story she tells is of a woman of trans experience, I’m elated for her