"Caroline is a breakthrough--a story so grounded in the ordinary
details of life that it almost seems to have discovered a new genre."
-Richard Zoglin, Time
"Acute, smart and witty: a telling snapshot focusing with sharp clarity
on characters captured at a fraught turning point in history--a
culture's and a family's." -Charles Isherwood, Variety
"Thrilling. You've never seen anything quite like Caroline, or Change
and likely won't again anytime soon. There's never a moment that the
part-pop, part-opera, part-musical-theater score Jeanine Tesori has
conjured up doesn't ideally match Tony Kushner's meticulously chosen
words with clarion precision." -Matthew Murray, talkinbroadway.com
"A monumental achievement in American musical theater. Joyful, wholly
successful, immensely moving, told with abundant wit and generosity of
heart." -John Helipern, New York Observer
Louisiana, 1963: A nation reeling from the burgeoning Civil Rights
Movement and the Kennedy assassination. Caroline, a black maid, and
Noah, the son of the Jewish family she works for, struggle to find an
identity for their friendship after Noah's stepmother, unable to give
Caroline a raise, tells Caroline that she may keep the money Noah leaves
in his pockets. Through their intimate story, this beautiful musical
portrays the changing rhythms of a nation. Tony Kushner and composer
Jeanine Tesori have created a story that addresses contemporary
questions of culture, community, race and class through the lens and
musical pulse of the 1960s.
Tony Kushner's plays include Angels in America; Hydriotaphia, or
the Death of Dr. Brown; The Illusion, adapted from the play by Pierre
Cornelle; Slavs!; A Bright Room Called Day; Homebody/Kabul;
Caroline, or Change, a musical with composer Jeanine Tesori; and The
Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to
the Scriptures. He wrote the screenplays for Mike Nichols's film of
Angels in America and for Steven Spielberg's Munich and Lincoln.
His books include The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to the Present;
Brundibar, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak; and Wrestling with
Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian
Conflict, co-edited with Alisa Solomon.
Among many honors, Kushner is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, two
Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, an Olivier
Award, an Emmy Award, two Oscar nominations, and the Steinberg
Distinguished Playwright Award. He is a member of the American Academy
of Arts and Letters. In 2012, he was awarded a National Medal of Arts by
President Barack Obama. He lives in Manhattan with his husband, Mark
Harris.
Jeanine Tesori composed the scores for Tony Award-winning musicals
Thoroughly Modern Millie and Shrek the Musical as well as Violet
and Caroline, or Change. She is the recipient of multiple Drama Desk
and Obie Awards, and her film composition credits include Nights in
Rodanthe, Winds of Change, Show Business, and Wrestling With
Angels.
