*Sharon Catherine Brown is bringing the long-lasting character of Allie to life within the LA premiere of the Broadway musical “The Pocket book” on the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, opening January 6, 2026.
Brown performs Allie as a grown lady fighting dementia, showcasing her spectacular performing vary.
The musical, an adaptation of the long-lasting 2004 movie starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, James Garner and Gena Rowlands, tells the story of Allie and Noah’s timeless love, spanning many years and continents. The film, set in Forties South Carolina, is a love story learn from an aged man’s (Garner) pocket book by a lady with Alzheimer’s (Rowlands).
The play, directed by Michael Greif, who helmed each the unique Broadway hit ‘Lease’ and the West Coast manufacturing, which additionally starred Brown, is a profoundly shifting portrait of the enduring energy of affection, with music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson.
Allie and Noah are two individuals from completely different worlds who share a lifetime of affection regardless of the forces that threaten to drag them aside.
The film featured white actors within the roles. The present theatrical manufacturing has colorless casting. Brown, who’s Black, is taking part in reverse a white actor within the function of Noah, which, she says, ‘doesn’t make a distinction.’
“It’s such a layered query with a layered reply,” stated Brown, the mom of 1 son. “I didn’t know what Black Allie and white Noah have been going to be. What I’m feeling is that love is, in reality, prevalent, and it’s stronger and extra widespread than what we’re presently seeing on the information.”
Allie and Noah are every performed within the manufacturing by three actors: Kyle Mangold as youthful Noah, Ken Wulf Clark as center Noah, Beau Gravitte as older Noah, and Chloë Cheers as youthful Allie, Alysha Deslorieux as center Allie, and Brown because the older Allie.
Brown’s portrayal of Allie is a poignant exploration of affection, loss, and reminiscence.
Taking part in Allie, a grown lady battling dementia, is a task Brown is tackling with emotional depth. She declined to disclose how she developed the character.
“Course of is one thing I solely have with actors I’m working with and administrators,” Brown stated. “I don’t need the viewers to know something however what they see. That is essentially the most difficult function I’ve ever had. It additionally carries essentially the most accountability.”
Brown’s vibrant persona and spectacular vary as an actress draw audiences in, and what’s attention-grabbing is that she hadn’t seen the film model of “The Pocket book” earlier than taking up the function of the older Allie.
“I noticed the film after I noticed the present,” she stated. “I cried so arduous once we all went collectively to see The Pocket book. It was very emotional. What I cherished in regards to the film is Gena Rowlands as Gloria. I targeted on that. I noticed the film for the primary time final yr. I favored it. In my view, that is controversial, however I’m going to say it. James Marsden ought to have been Noah, and Ryan Gosling ought to have been Lon. No shade to both of them. Marsden’s model of Lon made it arduous for me to not see the roles flipped.”
“The Pocket book is a deeply shifting portrait of the enduring energy of affection,” the present’s description says, and Sharon’s efficiency is certain to deliver this poignant story to life.’
Brown’s expertise taking part in advanced characters is clear in her nuanced efficiency. She’s not simply taking part in a personality with dementia; she’s bringing depth and humanity to the function.
“Taking part in the function of Allie isn’t simple,” stated Brown. “However that’s what makes it attention-grabbing. In relation to deciding what roles I’m going to take, it must be greater than me and harder than me. It has to scare me a little bit bit. You wish to attain for it. You must work. It’s in regards to the peeling of the layers. I’ve to search out it. Cease utilizing shade and age as an impediment. Simply let me get in and show myself. My mother and father taught me – ‘You go to the theater full and depart empty – so the viewers is full.’ Once I depart the theater at evening, I’m spent.”
Brown is a classically skilled actress with a ardour for her craft, having been surrounded by theater her complete life. She’s a Broadway Child, following within the footsteps of her mother and father, Johnny (‘Good Occasions’) and June Brown, each former Broadway performers. Sadly, Johnny Brown handed away on March 2, 2022.
“My mother and father are the best love story I’ve ever recognized,” Brown stated. “They have been collectively for over 65 years. I owe every thing I’m to them.”
With a profession spanning over three many years, Brown has amassed a formidable record of credit, together with “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Caroline, or Change,” and “Dreamgirls.”
Nevertheless it’s not simply stage productions that Brown has dominated. Her tv and film credit embody “Generations,” “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge,” and “Sister Act 2: Again within the Behavior.” Clearly, Brown, who has been in present enterprise for 55 years, is not any stranger to the highlight. She’s been performing since she was three, doing child modeling.
“I didn’t have a say on this,” Brown stated. “I got here out of the womb performing. My mom stated after I got here out, I unfold my fingers like jazz fingers. I’ve a cherished pedigree. I’m a double Broadway legacy child. I really feel at residence on stage. I really like being on stage as a result of it appears like an enormous blessing. Performing fills my soul and coronary heart with pleasure.”
That is Brown’s fourth time acting at The Pantages! She was in Joseph and the Superb Technicolor Dreamcoat (The Narrator), Dreamgirls (Effie), Jekyll & Hyde (Lucy), and now The Pocket book (older Allie).
Planted deeply in present enterprise roots, Brown stated she doesn’t have an idea of what she would do if she weren’t within the arts.
“I’d like to be a panda wrangler,” she stated. “I don’t have to consider what I’d have been. I’m so blessed. I’m an actress. These are the very best roles. My roles get juicier and juicier. I’m so grateful. At all times blessed and all the time booked.”
“The Pocket book is finally a celebration of life, love, and the facility of reminiscence,” stated producers Kevin McCollum and Kurt Deutsch. “Audiences first fell in love with this timeless story as a novel, then as an iconic movie, and now they will expertise it anew as a shifting musical occasion. With multi-platinum artist Ingrid Michaelson’s unforgettable rating and Tony Award-nominated Bekah Brunstetter’s fantastically crafted e-book, The Pocket book involves life on stage in a method that can resonate deeply with audiences throughout North America.”
The Pocket book is directed by Michael Greif (Pricey Evan Hansen, Subsequent to Regular, RENT) and Schele Williams (The Wiz, Aida). It options music and lyrics by multi-platinum singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, e-book by Bekah Brunstetter (NBC’s “This Is Us”), and choreography by Katie Spelman.
The manufacturing will play at The Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles from January 6-25, 2026, and at Segerstrom Middle for the Arts in Costa Mesa from January 27-February 8, 2026.
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