An Earth-Shaking Musical Celebration
“God don’t want the Devil to have all the good music right?”
Witness the collision of gospel and rock as DFW favorite Denise Lee embodies the incomparable “Godmother of Rock ‘N’ Roll,” legendary Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The play chronicles Tharpe’s first rehearsal with protégée Marie Knight in 1947, setting the stage for a historic tour that would establish them as one of the most significant music duos of the 20th century.
Despite their influence on Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and more, Knight and Tharpe go largely uncredited for their contributions to rock and roll. George Brant’s play aims to correct historical oversights by providing a stage for Marie and Rosetta to share their story through powerful performances. Don’t miss the chance to witness the birth of a musical legacy that transcends time with an unforgettable night of toe-tapping, head-bopping-and soul-lifting entertainment.
From Denise Lee
Cast & Creatives
Denise Lee
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Denise Lee is an award-winning actress, singer, and down-to-earth diva! Her powerful voice, warm and friendly demeanor, and her sassy and sensual performance style has charmed theater, nightclub and television audiences for more than two decades.
Lee is based in Dallas but the world is her home. She has an impressively diverse local following at R&B and jazz venues and at area theaters, such as the Dallas Theater Center, AT&T Performing Arts Center, Bass Hall, WaterTower Theatre, Casa Manana and the Sammons Center for the Arts. Her musical magic has delighted international crowds at clubs in Shanghai, Beijing, Switzerland and France.
When left to her own devices, Lee performs cabaret style, combining all of her favorite things—singing, acting and bantering with her fans. For the last six years she has focused on bringing cabaret-style performances to the forefront of Dallas entertainment. Her company, Denise Lee Onstage, produces a one of a kind Cabaret Series at Fair Park in Dallas that features the premiere talent in the area. Her talents are also on full display in her one-woman shows, “Denise Lee Sings the Divas of American Music,” and “Too Old, Too Fat, Too Black – Songs I’ll Never Sing On Broadway” for which she won a Broadway World Award for ‘Best Cabaret Performer’. She is the recipient of the Sammons Center for the Arts Cabaret Artist of the Year, multiple DFW Theater Critics and Dallas Voice Awards.
Lee’s other musical and theater performances include ‘The Sunshine Boys’ – with Dick & Jerry Van Dyke; ‘Crowns’ – Directed by playwrite Regina Taylor, ‘The Wiz’, ‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill’, ‘Doubt’, ‘Avenue Q’ and ‘Intimate Apparel’.
Her television and film acting credits include roles in ‘Mad Money’, with Diane Keaton, ‘Cowgirls & Angels’, with James Cromwell, ‘Dallas’, ‘Memphis Beat’ , ‘Good Guys’ and ‘The Lying Game’ as well as numerous commercials and corporate industrials.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Denise Lee
Denise Lee is an award-winning actress, singer, and down-to-earth diva! Her powerful voice, warm and friendly demeanor, and her sassy and sensual performance style has charmed theater, nightclub and television audiences for more than two decades.
Lee is based in Dallas but the world is her home. She has an impressively diverse local following at R&B and jazz venues and at area theaters, such as the Dallas Theater Center, AT&T Performing Arts Center, Bass Hall, WaterTower Theatre, Casa Manana and the Sammons Center for the Arts. Her musical magic has delighted international crowds at clubs in Shanghai, Beijing, Switzerland and France.
When left to her own devices, Lee performs cabaret style, combining all of her favorite things—singing, acting and bantering with her fans. For the last six years she has focused on bringing cabaret-style performances to the forefront of Dallas entertainment. Her company, Denise Lee Onstage, produces a one of a kind Cabaret Series at Fair Park in Dallas that features the premiere talent in the area. Her talents are also on full display in her one-woman shows, “Denise Lee Sings the Divas of American Music,” and “Too Old, Too Fat, Too Black – Songs I’ll Never Sing On Broadway” for which she won a Broadway World Award for ‘Best Cabaret Performer’. She is the recipient of the Sammons Center for the Arts Cabaret Artist of the Year, multiple DFW Theater Critics and Dallas Voice Awards.
Lee’s other musical and theater performances include ‘The Sunshine Boys’ – with Dick & Jerry Van Dyke; ‘Crowns’ – Directed by playwrite Regina Taylor, ‘The Wiz’, ‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill’, ‘Doubt’, ‘Avenue Q’ and ‘Intimate Apparel’.
Her television and film acting credits include roles in ‘Mad Money’, with Diane Keaton, ‘Cowgirls & Angels’, with James Cromwell, ‘Dallas’, ‘Memphis Beat’ , ‘Good Guys’ and ‘The Lying Game’ as well as numerous commercials and corporate industrials.
George Brant
Playwright
George Brant’s plays include Grounded, Marie and Rosetta, Into the Breeches!, Elephant’s Graveyard, The Prince of Providence, Tender Age, The Land of Oz, Dark Room, Grizzly Mama, Good on Paper, The Mourners’ Bench, Salvage, Three Voyages of the Lobotomobile, Any Other Name, Defiant, Miracle: A Tragedy, Ashes, NOK, The Lonesome Hoboes, All Talk, One Hand Clapping, The Royal Historian of Oz, Lovely Letters, Three Men in a Boat, Borglum! The Mount Rushmore Musical, Tights on a Wire and Night of the Mime.
Brant’s work has been produced internationally by such companies as the Public Theater, The Atlantic Theater Company, Trinity Repertory Company, Cleveland Play House, The Alley Theatre, Studio Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory, City Theatre, Gate Theatre of London, Page 73, Traverse Theatre, Dobama Theatre, and the Disney Channel, among others.
His plays have been generously developed by the Metropolitan Opera, The Playwrights’ Center, Asolo Rep, McCarter Theatre Center, New Harmony Project, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, WordBRIDGE Playwright’s Lab, InterAct Theatre, Theatre @ Boston Court, Playwright and Director Center of Moscow, Florida Studio Theatre, Contemporary Drama Festival of Hungary, the Hangar Theatre, and Equity Library Theatre, among others.
His scripts have been awarded a Lucille Lortel Award, an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, a Scotsman Fringe First Award, an Off-West End Theatre Award for Best Production, an NNPN Rolling World Premiere, the Smith Prize, the Keene Prize for Literature, a Theatre Netto Festival Prize, a Creative Workforce Fellowship, the David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center and three Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards. He has received writing fellowships from the James A. Michener Center for Writers, the McCarter Theatre Sallie B. Goodman Artist’s Retreat, the MacDowell Colony, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, the Hermitage Artists’ Retreat and the Blue Mountain Center as well as commissions from the Metropolitan Opera, Trinity Repertory Company, Dobama Theatre and Theatre 4, and Cleveland Play House .
George received his MFA in Writing from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. He is published by Samuel French, Oberon Books, Fisher Verlage and Smith & Kraus.
Playwright
George Brant
George Brant’s plays include Grounded, Marie and Rosetta, Into the Breeches!, Elephant’s Graveyard, The Prince of Providence, Tender Age, The Land of Oz, Dark Room, Grizzly Mama, Good on Paper, The Mourners’ Bench, Salvage, Three Voyages of the Lobotomobile, Any Other Name, Defiant, Miracle: A Tragedy, Ashes, NOK, The Lonesome Hoboes, All Talk, One Hand Clapping, The Royal Historian of Oz, Lovely Letters, Three Men in a Boat, Borglum! The Mount Rushmore Musical, Tights on a Wire and Night of the Mime.
Brant’s work has been produced internationally by such companies as the Public Theater, The Atlantic Theater Company, Trinity Repertory Company, Cleveland Play House, The Alley Theatre, Studio Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory, City Theatre, Gate Theatre of London, Page 73, Traverse Theatre, Dobama Theatre, and the Disney Channel, among others.
His plays have been generously developed by the Metropolitan Opera, The Playwrights’ Center, Asolo Rep, McCarter Theatre Center, New Harmony Project, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, WordBRIDGE Playwright’s Lab, InterAct Theatre, Theatre @ Boston Court, Playwright and Director Center of Moscow, Florida Studio Theatre, Contemporary Drama Festival of Hungary, the Hangar Theatre, and Equity Library Theatre, among others.
His scripts have been awarded a Lucille Lortel Award, an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, a Scotsman Fringe First Award, an Off-West End Theatre Award for Best Production, an NNPN Rolling World Premiere, the Smith Prize, the Keene Prize for Literature, a Theatre Netto Festival Prize, a Creative Workforce Fellowship, the David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center and three Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards. He has received writing fellowships from the James A. Michener Center for Writers, the McCarter Theatre Sallie B. Goodman Artist’s Retreat, the MacDowell Colony, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, the Hermitage Artists’ Retreat and the Blue Mountain Center as well as commissions from the Metropolitan Opera, Trinity Repertory Company, Dobama Theatre and Theatre 4, and Cleveland Play House .
George received his MFA in Writing from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. He is published by Samuel French, Oberon Books, Fisher Verlage and Smith & Kraus.