Broadway is seeing trees of green and red roses too. The story of American icon Louis Armstrong is being told onstage in A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical. The production is led by Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart.
Louis Armstrong’s innovative musicianship and incredible charisma as trumpeter and vocalist would lead him from the early days of jazz in his native New Orleans to five decades of international stardom. A Wonderful World tells the story of Armstrong’s blazing musical career from the perspective of his four wives, who each had a unique impact on his life. It features beloved songs he recorded and made popular, including “What a Wonderful World” and “When You’re Smiling,” among many other favorites.
Louis Armstrong (1901–1971), widely known by his nicknames "Satchmo," "Satch," and "Pops," was a legendary American trumpeter and singer. A towering figure in the world of jazz, Armstrong's career stretched over five decades, encompassing multiple pivotal periods in jazz history. He earned numerous honors, including a Grammy Award in 1965 for Hello, Dolly! and a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972. Armstrong’s influence extended beyond jazz, impacting various musical genres and earning him inductions into prestigious institutions such as the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
The musical's premiere was presented by Miami New Drama in 2021 at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach, Florida. It later played in New Orleans at the Saenger Theatre and in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in 2023.
If you love bio musicals, American history, and jazz music, this is the musical for you.
Though a team led by Branford Marsalis and Daryl Waters has written hot arrangements and rich orchestrations for a nine-person band, including the great Alphonso Horne on lead trumpet, the program of 30 or so songs and samples cannot do deep justice to a man who spent 50 years at the converging middle of American music. Nor can a script that flips too quickly from one momentous change to another, as if it too were a jukebox. When a marriage descends from elation to desolation in a mere five minutes, no matter how sincerely Iglehart plays it, it’s as if there were no marriage at all.
A Wonderful World, the biographical jukebox musical about the legendary jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong, is named for Armstrong’s signature song “What A Wonderful World.” But a more apt title might be “The Four Wives of Louis Armstrong” because each of the four actors portraying Armstrong’s wives come close to stealing the show. It’s not that James Monroe Iglehart isn’t terrific in the lead role. He most certainly is…but each time the women step up to sing, they knock it out of the park. Iglehart’s role as the gravelly voiced, grinning jazz great is comparatively understated and so, impressive as he is, it’s the women who consistently dominate the spotlight every time they’re on. That’s not a criticism, just an observation, and it gives the show that much more talent to applaud. And talent is on overload in this enjoyable production.
2020 | Regional (US) |
Colony Theatre World Premiere Regional (US) |
2024 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
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