Lincoln Center Theater has finished assembling the cast for The Whoopi Monologues, adding Kecia Lewis, Dominique Fishback and Danielle Pinnock to previously announced stars Kerry Washington and Kara Young. The Off-Broadway production begins July 7 at the company’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, with opening night set for July 13.
For viewers looking up Whoopi Goldberg now, the reason is simple: this is the first full cast announcement for a re-creation of her 1984 Broadway debut solo show, and it has now been locked in just ahead of the start date. Whitney White is directing the production, which will revisit the work that made Goldberg a Broadway name long before the current company began shaping it for a new audience.
The show’s history explains why the production is drawing attention. Goldberg won Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards in 1985 for the piece, and the performance was filmed for HBO, where it later brought her a Grammy as well. She returned to the work on Broadway in 2004 under the title Whoopi, and the following year picked up a Tony nomination in the short-lived Best Special Theatrical Event category. This revival is built on that same solo material, but the new staging has been expanded into a multi-performer event, with five newly announced cast members joining the two stars already named.
That is the part that will matter most once the lights go up: a work created as a one-woman show is being reimagined as an ensemble production, and Lincoln Center Theater is not yet spelling out how the performers will divide the material. What is clear is that the company now has its full team in place, including casting by The Telsey Office, scenic design by Studio Bent’s Adam Rigg and Anton Volovsek, costume design by Qween Jean, lighting design by Cha See, sound design by Fan Zhang, video design by Hana S. Kim, hair and wig design by Nikiya Mathis, and stage management by Tiffany N. Robinson.
The next fixed point is July 7, when The Whoopi Monologues is scheduled to begin in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. By opening night on July 13, the question will no longer be who is in the production, but how Lincoln Center Theater has turned Goldberg’s singular solo piece into something made to be shared.
