Manhattan Theatre Club (Nicki Hunter, Artistic Director and Chris Jennings, Executive Director) is pleased to announce that Tony and Grammy Award nominee Micaela Diamond (pictured bottom left) (Broadway: Parade, The Cher Show; Television: “Grotesquerie”) and Will Pullen (pictured bottom right) (Broadway: To Kill a Mockingbird, Sweat; Film: The Unforgivable) have joined the cast of the company’s new Broadway production of Clifford Odets’ landmark 1935 American drama, Awake and Sing!
Directed by Tyne Rafaeli (Off-Broadway: Data, The Coast Starlight, Epiphany), Awake and Sing! will begin preview performances on Tuesday, December 15, 2026, with opening night on Thursday, January 7, 2027, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
Awake and Sing! is produced in association with Tony and Olivier Award winners Brian and Dayna Lee (Broadway: Giant, Moulin Rouge!, Angels in America), and Tony and Olivier Award winners Nicole and Stephanie Kramer (Broadway: Giant, Sunset Boulevard, Leopoldstadt).
It’s the 1930s, and the Bronx is a furnace. New ideas clash with the old amidst the poverty and shattered promises of the Great Depression. And three generations of the Berger family, trapped inside their cramped tenement, struggle to hold different visions of an American dream. Directed by Tyne Rafaeli, this classic battle between hope and disillusionment returns to Broadway, speaking thrillingly to the present.
Diamond will play Hennie Berger, and Pullen will play Ralph Berger. They join the previously announced Tony Award winner Danny Burstein (Broadway: Moulin Rouge!, Marjorie Prime, Fiddler on the Roof) as Uncle Morty; Tony and Emmy Award nominee Jessica Hecht (Eureka Day, Summer, 1976 at MTC) as Bessie Bergert; and Tony Award nominee Jeremy Shamos (Broadway: Clybourne Park, The Assembled Parties at MTC; TV: “Only Murders in the Building”) as Myron Berger. Additional casting will be announced later.
Awake and Sing! originally premiered on Broadway in 1935, produced by the legendary Group Theatre, and helped establish Clifford Odets as a major voice in American theatre.
MTC’s production features scenic and costume design by three-time Tony Award winner David Zinn, lighting design by three-time Tony Award nominee Isabella Byrd, and original music and sound design by five-time Tony Award nominee Daniel Kluger. The Dialect and Vocal Coach is Kate Wilson. Casting is by Caparelliotis Casting and Kelly Gillespie. The Production Stage Manager is Jennifer Rae Moore.
Already announced for MTC’s 2026-27 season are the Broadway premiere of School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play by Tony Award nominee Jocelyn Bioh, featuring Lucia Aremu, Denée Benton, Patina Miller, Erin Morton, Nia Otchere-Sarfo, Jordan Rice, Jasmine Amy Rogers, and Heather Alicia Simms, and directed by Tony Award nominee Whitney White, which will start performances on September 8, 2026 and open September 28, 2026 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre; the world premiere of Montauk by Tony Award nominee David Hare, starring Laura Linney, directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan, which will open in Spring 2027 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre; and the American premiere of The Unbelievers by Tony Award nominee Nick Payne, starring Lauren Ambrose and Tom Riley, directed by Tony Award nominee Knud Adams, which will begin performances on October 10, 2026 at NY City Center Stage I. Additional productions for MTC’s 2026-27 season will be announced at a later date.
Images courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club
