The music producer and the TV writer will create an upcoming stage musical about the Juneteenth holiday.
- June 20, 2018
AceShowbiz - Superstar Pharrell Williams is teaming up with TV writer and producer Kenya Barris to create an upcoming stage musical about the Juneteenth holiday.
The production will centre on the annual date, honoring the last day of slavery in the U.S. on 19 June, 1865, when U.S. military officials forced Texas landowners to free the last of their slaves.
According to Variety, Barris will pen the show's script with Peter Saji, his co-writer on hit TV comedy Black-ish.
Williams is slated to compose the score, and will work on the comedy play for his production company I Am Other, with his partner Mimi Valdes.
While the details of the plot are being kept under wraps, the musical will focus on two African-American families, one from the modern day and the other living during the Civil War.
"For us, this project isn't about numbers; it's about humanity," Barris said in a statement. "Slavery is America's recessive gene and it's time we all dealt with it and what better way to have an audience swallow this dose of medicine than with amazing music and raw, honest, jaw-dropping comedy?"
