Join us on April 19th for a special YouTube Premiere of Such Sweet Thunder – A Shakespearean Jazz Holiday Celebration, hosted by Mercedes Ellington and Tony Waag.

This production marked the world premiere of a fully staged, electrifying realization of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s 1957 jazz suite Such Sweet Thunder, earning three standing ovations for its seamless fusion of jazz, dance, and Shakespearean drama. Bold and imaginative, the work brings Shakespeare’s timeless characters into vivid dialogue with Ellington and Strayhorn’s lush, expressive score.

At the heart of the performance is the Duke Ellington Center Big Band, under the direction of musical director and pianist Eli Yamin, delivering a masterful and deeply expressive performance.

The script was written by Miles Purinton, who also appeared as Puck, weaving Shakespeare’s text seamlessly through the music and shaping a theatrical through-line that brought clarity, wit, and dramatic sweep to the evening.

The cast features Karen Callaway Williams (Lady Macbeth), DeWitt Fleming Jr. (Macbeth), Marion Cowings (Othello), AC Lincoln (Prince Hal), Mark Mindek (Caesar), Antoinette Montague (Sister Kate), Max Pollak (Hamlet), Miles Purinton (Puck), and Luce Burrell (Lute Player). The Precision Dancers—Karyn Tomczak, Mary Lilygren-Kane, Stephanie Bishop, and Vanessa Gutierrez-McMahan—appear as the Witches, while ballroom couples Ema Nohalova & Michael Choi, Jennifer Murmylo & Rafal Pustelny, Akemi Kinukawa & Ray Davis, and Danai Avloniti & Milos Jadzic add lyrical elegance and dramatic sweep.

We invite you to experience this landmark world premiere—an unforgettable celebration of jazz, dance, and Shakespeare where music swings, poetry soars, and the stage comes alive.

Photograph by Kyle Martin