Dave Malloy breaks many of the rules that have accrued around American musical theater, and Ms. Chavkin has been making enormously inventive, and often wildly experimental, work for years.
The New York Times
“We are all in the belly of the whale…”
From the creative team behind A.R.T.’s 2015 production of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 comes an epic musical adaptation of Herman Melville’s iconic American novel. As the egomaniacal Captain Ahab drives his crew across the seas in pursuit of the great white whale, Melville’s nineteenth-century vision of America collides head-on with the present.
This production contains extended heavy strobe lights, weapons, blood, depictions of violence against humans and whales, strong language, and haze and fog.
Donor Concierge for Moby-Dick
There is an extremely limited amount of tickets available for donors at the Patron ($1,000+) level, and house seats available for donors at the Partner ($5,000+) level via our Donor Concierge benefit. To become a member or upgrade your membership and get access to the few remaining tickets and house seats, please contact Donor Services at 617.496.2000 x 8858.
TodayTix Lottery
Enter the TodayTix daily lottery for your chance to win $20 tickets to performances of Moby-Dick! Entries will open the day before selected performances, with winners announced that same day. Enter through the TodayTix app or website; one entry allowed per person per performance.
Music, Lyrics, Book, and Orchestrations by Dave Malloy
Based on Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Music Direction and Supervision by Or Matias
Choreography by Chanel DaSilva
Developed with and Directed by Rachel Chavkin
Notable dates
Opening Night: 12/11
ASL Interpreted: 1/5 at 1PM & 1/8 at 7:30PM
Audio Described: 1/10 at 7:30PM & 1/11 at 1PM
Open Captioned: 1/9 at 7:30PM & 1/11 at 1PM
Production Sponsors
Alison and Bob Murchison
Production Support through the Incubator Fund
Allison Johnson
Donation Drives
Through January 12
Loeb Drama Center
The A.R.T. invites audience members as well as other local individuals to celebrate the spirit of the holidays by participating in donation drives benefiting Rise Up For Homes and Border Angels. Rise Up For Homes is a New Bedford non-profit that builds community awareness as well as raises funds to meet the complex needs of homeless individuals and families. Border Angels is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization that advocates for human rights, humane immigration reform, and social justice, with a special focus on issues related to the US–Mexican border.
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Excerpts from Moby-Dick
July 26 & 27, 2019
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History in association with the American Repertory Theater presented a live musical theater event: staged excerpts from Moby-Dick under the whale in the Museum’s Milstein Hall of Ocean Life.
The American Museum of Natural History in association with the American Repertory Theater presented a live musical theater event: staged excerpts from Moby-Dick under the whale in the Museum’s Milstein Hall of Ocean Life.
Credits
Creative Team
Cast
Fedallah
Eric Berryman
Fedallah
Eric Berryman
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick, pool (no water). Off-Broadway: The B-Side: Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons, A Record Album Interpretation (Drama Desk Nomination), St. Ann’s Warehouse/The Wooster Group; Toni Stone, Roundabout Theatre Company; Steel Hammer, The Bacchae, Glory of the World, BAM; pool (no water), Barrow Street Theatre. Regional: The Amen Corner, Guthrie Theater; I Wish You Love, Penumbra Theatre/The Kennedy Center/Hartford Stage; Fly, Ford’s Theatre; Red, Topdog/Underdog, Noises Off, A Raisin in the Sun, Everyman Theatre (Company Member). Film/TV: Motherless Brooklyn; Marriage Story, “Bonding,” Barry, Netflix; Empathy, Inc.; After Louie. Education: Carnegie Mellon University.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Sailor 2/The Carpenter
Kim Blanck
Sailor 2/The Carpenter
Kim Blanck
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick. Off-Broadway: Octet, Signature, Original Cast Recording; Alice by Heart, MCC Theater, Original Cast Recording; Twelfth Night, Public Works/Shakespeare in the Park; Folk Wandering, Pipeline Theatre Company. Regional: Twelfth Night, Alley Theatre; Chasing the Song, La Jolla Playhouse; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tantrum Theater. Workshops: Public Theater, Second Stage, Center Theatre Group, Atlantic Theater Company, Ars Nova, New York Theatre Workshop. Web: “Basic Witch.” Education/Training: BFA, NYU Tisch; MFA, Acting, UC San Diego.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Starbuck
Starr Busby
Starbuck
Starr Busby
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick. Off-Broadway: Octet (Paula), Signature; Where Love Lies Fallow (Nia 1), The Shed; Apollo Cafe Live: Soul Cypher; #BlackGirlMagic Show (Composer/Performer), JACK; Mikrokosmos, Sterischer Herbst (Graz), Nottingham Contemporary; The Girl with the Incredible Feeling, Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi. An experimental artist, Starr plays solo shows and fronts Brooklyn-based experimental soul band People’s Champs. Music: supporting work with artists including Gorillaz, Esperanza Spalding, X Ambassadors, Alice Smith. She is looking forward to continuing the development of (pray) with nicHi Douglas and Jerome Ellis at Ars Nova. Their music is available via all streaming services and Bandcamp.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Ishmael
Manik Choksi
Ishmael
Manik Choksi
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Dolokhov). Broadway: Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. Off-Broadway: Indian Ink, Roundabout; Bunty Berman Presents (Lortel Nomination), New Group; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Ars Nova; God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, Encores!; King Tot, D Deb Debbie Deborah, Clubbed Thumb; Huck & Holden, Cherry Lane. Film/TV: “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”; “New Amsterdam”; “Good Fight”; “Mindhunter”; “Elementary”; “Happyish”; “One Life To Live” (Vimal Patel), Home, Passing Season. Composer: Those Lost Boys (workshop), The Ramayan (workshop), Ars Nova; Food Odyssey, 3LD; Education: The Juilliard School.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Queequeg
Andrew Cristi
Queequeg
Andrew Cristi
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick. Broadway: Pasek & Paul’s A Christmas Story! Off-Broadway: Miss You Like Hell, Public Theater; Big River, The Golden Apple, Encores! City Center; Freckleface Strawberry, New World Stages; American Morning, Prospect Theater Company. Workshops/Readings: The Visitor, Public Theater; Heading East, La Jolla Playhouse. Regional: Paper Mill Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Berkshire Theatre Group, and more. TV: “Manhattan Love Story,” ABC; Disney/ABC Talent Showcase. Education/Training: BFA, NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Sailor 1/The Blacksmith
Ashkon Davaran
Sailor 1/The Blacksmith
Ashkon Davaran
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick. Ashkon is an Iranian-American actor and musician from the San Francisco Bay Area. Off-Broadway: Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Balaga); One Thousand Nights and One Day (world premiere). Regional: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (title role), San Francisco Playhouse; Beardo (title role). Workshops: We Live in Cairo (Amir), NYTW; Concerts: Joe Iconis Christmas Extravaganza, 54 Below; Junk, Joe’s Pub. As a musician, Ashkon has released albums/
Actors’ Equity Association member
Swing/Male Understudy
Ellis C. Dawson III
Swing/Male Understudy
Ellis C. Dawson III
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick. National Tour: Aladdin (Genie/&8203;Babkak Standby). Regional: In The Heights, Theatre Under The Stars; Next to Normal, Beck Center for Performing Arts. Workshops: Wait Wait Don’t Kill Me. Education: BM, Music Theatre, Baldwin Wallace University.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Flask
Anna Ishida
Flask
Anna Ishida
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick, Beowulf—A Thousand Years of Baggage. Off-Broadway: Henry VI: Parts 1 & 2 (Drama Desk nomination). New York: Trigger, Leviathan Lab. Regional: Macbeth, California Shakespeare Theater; It Can’t Happen Here, Berkeley Rep; The Importance of Being Earnest, Aurora Theatre; Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, A.C.T.; Water by the Spoonful, TheatreWorks. Workshops: Lucky Ones; Revenge Song; Moby-Dick. Film: I Am a Ghost; Bitter Melon. Education: BA, English Literature, Mills College.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Tashtego
Matt Kizer
Tashtego
Matt Kizer
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick. Regional: Cashed Out (Buddy Paul), San Francisco Playhouse; The River Bride (Señor Costa), Alter Theater; El Paso Blue (Hefe), Eugene O’Neill Foundation; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Reuben), Grease (Vince Fontaine), Damn Yankees (Smokey), AMTSJ; A Funny Thing… Forum (Miles Gloriosus), West Side Story (Action), Mountain Play. Concerts: Excerpts from Moby-Dick In Concert Under the Whale, American Museum of Natural History/
Actors’ Equity Association member
Daggoo/Ishmael (u/s)
J.D. Mollison
Daggoo/Ishmael (u/s)
J.D. Mollison
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick. Broadway: Les Misérables. Off-Broadway: Octet, Iphigenia 2.0, Signature; X: Or, Betty Shabazz v. The Nation, The Acting Company; Venice, Public Theater; The Box, The Foundry; A Civil War Christmas, NYTW; Greater Angels, EPbB; Monstrosity, 13P. Regional: black odyssey, Cal Shakes; The Winter’s Tale, Public Works-Dallas Theater Center; Jelly’s Last Jam (Suzi Bass winner), Alliance Theatre. TV: “Shameless,” “Madam Secretary,” “Law & Order: SVU”, “Shades of Blue,” “Hawthorne,” “Numb3rs.” Training: Carnegie Mellon University.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Ahab
Tom Nelis
Ahab
Tom Nelis
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick, The Tempest, The Blue Flower, bobrauschenbergamerica. Broadway: Indecent, The Visit, Enron, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, Aida, Girl From The North Country (upcoming). International: Laurie Anderson’s Songs and Stories from Moby Dick; Richard Foreman’s Pearls for Pigs; Tadashi Suzuki’s Dionysus; The Merchant of Venice, RSC, TFANA. Thirty years of Off-Broadway and Regional productions. Founding member, SITI Company. Honors: Eliot Norton Award (Prospero, The Tempest), OBIE Award (Marshal McLuhan, The Medium). Education/Training: MFA, UC San Diego.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Swing/Female Understudy
Ashley Pérez Flanagan
Swing/Female Understudy
Ashley Pérez Flanagan
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812; Prometheus Bound. Broadway: Freestyle Love Supreme; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (u/s Sonya, Princess Mary). Off-Broadway: Freestyle Love Supreme, Ars Nova; In The Green, LCT3; The Lucky Ones, Ars Nova; Hadestown, NYTW; Orpheus and Eurydice Are…In Love, Ars Nova; In Love With Jobim, York Theatre. Regional: Evita, West Side Story, The Sound of Music. Select workshops: The Connector, Cowboy Bob, NYSF; The Seeker, Public Theater; No Good Things Dwell In The Flesh, WP Theater. Concerts: Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Joe’s Pub, 54 Below. Film: The Kitchen. Ashley is a member of the indie folk hop trio @moondrunkband.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Pip
Morgan Siobhan Green
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick. Broadway: Be More Chill, Lyceum Theatre. Off-Broadway: Folk Wandering, ARTNYC; Sweetee, Signature; Missed Connections, New Ohio. Regional: Between The Lines, Kansas City Rep. Education/Training: BS, Bradley University; MA, Long Island University. Thanks to Rachel, Dave, Stewart/Whitley, and the entire cast, crew, and fam at A.R.T., MSA, and 44 West Entertainment. Mom, Dad, and Manny it’s lit.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Father Mapple/Captain of the Albatross/Captain Boomer of the Bachelor/Captain Gardiner of the Rachel
Dawn L. Troupe
Father Mapple/Captain of the Albatross/Captain Boomer of the Bachelor/Captain Gardiner of the Rachel
Dawn L. Troupe
A.R.T: Moby Dick (Father Mapple/Captain of the Albatross/Captain Boomer/Captain Gardiner). Off-Broadway: Brothers ParaNormal (Delia), Anne of Green Gables (Mrs. Lynde), Year of The Monkey (Igloo), As Much As I Can (Patrice). Regional: black odyssey (Alsendra/Carib’dis/Diana Ross, BATCC nominee), Sister Act (Delores Van Cartier, BATCC nominee), Death of a Salesman (Linda Loman), Spunk (Blues Speak Woman), Aida (Aida), Ragtime (Sarah), Memphis (Emsemble), Color Purple (Shug Avery), Big River (Maid), Once On This Island (Mama Euralie), Caroline or Change (Radio 2). Workshops: Memphis, Little Princess, Funkentine Rapture, The Giver, Rebel Genius, Anne of Green Gables, Moby-Dick.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Stubb
Kalyn West
Stubb
Kalyn West
A.R.T.: Moby-Dick. Broadway: The Prom (Shelby/Alyssa; u/s Emma/Alyssa). Off-Broadway: Gigantic (Marlie). New York: Nikola Tesla Drops The Beat (Kat Johnson), ATF; The Demise (Natalie), NYMF. PopStar (Katie), Alchemy Theatre Productions. Regional: Hunchback of Notre Dame (Esmeralda), In The Heights (Vanessa), Fulton Theatre; Prince of Egypt (Ensemble), TheatreWorks; RENT (Mimi), Casa Mañana; Back Home Again (Aggie), Lesher Center; The Music Man (Zaneeta), Flatrock Playhouse; ASS (by Ellen Simon, Ana), Pioneer Theatre Company. Film/TV: “Blue Bloods” (Season 6, Rachel), CBS; Imitation Girl (Gabby), Ilium Pictures. The Talent House Agency.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Assistant Stage Manager
Erin McCoy
Assistant Stage Manager
Erin McCoy
A.R.T.: Moby Dick. Broadway: Bernhardt/Hamlet, Hamilton. Off-Broadway: Ain’t No Mo, #BARS, Tiny Beautiful Things, Dry Powder, Buzzer, Fidelis; Public Theater Under the Radar Festival; Twelfth Night, Public Works; The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, Public Theater Shakespeare in the Park. Sugar In Our Wounds, MTC. Regional: The Folks at Home, Shakespeare in Love, Jazz, Baltimore Center Stage; Invisible Thread, Second Stage Theater; Appropriate, Westport County Playhouse; A View From the Bridge, Center Theatre Group. Other: Max Roach 100, The Joyce Theatre; Rooted, Fall for Dance ’22, New York City Center. Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic, The Joyce Theater; Spoleto Festival. Lincoln Center Directing Labs, Lincoln Center Theater; PLAY ON! Festival; Classic Stage Company/OSF. Education: Otterbein University.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Band
Additional Staff
CASTING
STEWART/WHITLEY
Duncan Stewart, CSA; Benton Whitley, CSA; Joey Montenarello, CSA; Sam Yabrow; Luke Schaffer
Additional Sound Equipment provided by PRG
Additional Lighting Equipment provided by Christie Lites
Additional Puppets constructed by Honey Goodenough
Moby-Dick rehearsed at the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet.
Special Thanks
ArtsEmerson and the staff at the Cutler Majestic Theater, the American Museum of Natural History, Amy Brakeman, Save That Stuff, Green Mattress Recycling, Hilton’s Tent City,
Jonathan Perry & Siobhan Brown
Dave Malloy would like to thank:
Rick Burkhardt, Blake DeLong, Alec Duffy, Jerome Ellis, Oskar Eustis, Paul Ketchum, Lin-Manuel Miranda, James Harrison Monaco, Madeline Oldham, Azudi Onyejekwe, Nathaniel Philbrick, and Margaret Toth for all their insights and conversation; Mandy Hackett and Jesse Alick and everyone at the Public Theater, Shanta Thake and everyone at Joe’s Pub, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Eleanor Wallace and the Baryshnikov Arts Center, The MacDowell Colony, The Hermitage Artist Retreat, The Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals, The Sundance Institute Theater Program/Ucross Foundation, Emily Simoness and Space on Ryder Farm, The Vineyard Arts Project, and Ann and Graham Gund for all their developmental support; Alonso Teruel and everyone at the American Museum of Natural History who made our Under the Whale concert such a sublime experience; Kym McNair, Addys Castillo, Joe Barndt, and The People’s Institute for Survival & Beyond’s Undoing Racism Workshop; and all the people who were involved in the show’s many workshops and other stepping stones along its 6-year journey, including Isaac Alter, Brent Arnold, Brittain Ashford, El Beh, Gelsey Bell, Eliza Bent, Alon Bisk, Catherine Brookman, Eisa Davis, Emily DeCola, Ty Defoe, Lea DeLaria, Angel Desai, Daveed Diggs, Clifton Duncan, Lulu Fall, Safiya Fredericks, Eddie Gesford, Maria Goyanes, The Squeezers of Great Comet, Samantha Greene, Ryan Haddad, Curtis Hasselbring, Paul Jones, Karl Josef Co, David Patrick Kelly, Amy Rebecca King & The Joe’s Pub Tambourine Chorus, Jo Lampert, Kristine Haruna Lee, Amy Lizardo, Zonya Love, Alex Lydon, Ken Marks, Hiroyuki Matsura, April Matthis, Grace McLean, Jamie Mohamdein, John Murchison, Shoba Narayan, Tanis Paranteau, Paul Pinto, Alex Rodriguez, Jermaine Rowe, Christina Sajous, Pamela Salling, Heathcliff Saunders, Adrienne Shamszad, Rona Siddiqui, Pearl Sun, Karen Szpaller, Annie Tippe, Mariand Torres, Pinky Weitzman, Tobias Wong, Clive Worsley, Davren Wright, Katrina Yaukey, and Rasha Zamamiri.