Shout Sister Shout!

BOOK TICKETS HERE

SHOUT SISTER SHOUT! celebrates the extraordinary and courageous life of Sister Rosetta Tharpe based on the biography by Gayle Wald, SHOUT, SISTER, SHOUT! The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

The story of this virtuoso performer who influenced scores of popular musicians, from Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and, Little Richard to Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards and Eric Clapton, offers both insight and education to the authentic roots of rock & roll.

Described as the ‘original sister act’ by Stage and Cinema, the production follows Sister Rosetta through her career and celebrates her ability to rise above the societal expectations of the time with her fierce musical talent. This is a powerful story exploring many themes that are as important today as they were then. She was an original pioneer of the women’s movement for racial and sexual equality against a backdrop of great popular, gospel, R&B and, the emerging rock and roll soundtrack.

Her biographer, Gayle Wald, said Tharpe “didn’t just play the guitar, she owned it… turning wood and metal into something alive yet completely under her control”.

SHOUT! has a spirited, authentic, and emotionally charged script from award-winning writer Cheryl L. West and will be directed by critically acclaimed Kenneth Roberson.

Rolling Stone Magazine said about her 2018 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame “no artist has been more overdue for recognition than Sister Rosetta Tharpe. A queer black woman from Arkansas who shredded on electric guitar, belted praises both to God and secular pleasures, and broke the color line touring with white singers, she was gospel's first superstar, and she most assuredly rocked.”

Her biographer Gayle Wald said Tharpe “didn’t just play the guitar, she owned it… turning wood and metal onto something alive yet completely under her control”

SHOUT SISTER SHOUT! debuted in July 2017 at the Pasadena Playhouse to record-breaking attendance. The show underwent a page one restructuring and was produced at Seattle Repertory Theater to rave reviews. Theater Hollywood Reporter said “In her time, Tharpe was lauded for guitar work equal to that of any man. In fact, she could outplay most of them. It’s no surprise she was a victim of sexism and racism, and her final resting place nearly forgotten. While Shout Sister Shout! serves as a necessary theatrical testament to an American treasure, it's also a rollicking celebration of her joyous spirit"

Creative Team & COMPANY

A collaboration of artists whose work has been honored by the NAACP and the Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards.

History: SISTER ROSETTA THARPE

Long before "women in rock" became a media catchphrase, African American guitar virtuoso Rosetta Tharpe proved in spectacular fashion that women could rock. Born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas in 1915, Tharpe was gospel's first superstar and the preeminent crossover figure of its golden age (1945–1965).
 
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a trailblazing performer who influenced scores of popular musicians, from Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Little Richard to Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, and Etta James. Tharpe was raised in the Pentecostal Church, steeped in the gospel tradition, but she produced music that crossed boundaries, defied classification, and disregarded the social and cultural norms of the age; incorporating elements of gospel, blues, jazz, popular ballads, folk, country, rhythm and blues, and rock-and-roll. Tharpe went electric early on, captivating both white and black audiences in the North and South in the U.S. and Internationally, with her charisma and skill. People who saw her perform claimed she made that guitar talk. Ambitious, flamboyant, and relentlessly public, Tharpe even staged her own wedding as a gospel concert in a stadium holding 20,000 people! 

A forgotten musical heavyweight whose long career helped define gospel, r&b, and rock music, a performer who resisted categorization at many levels-as a gospel musician, and an African American female, Tharpe demands that we rethink our most basic notions of music history and American culture. Her story forever alters our understanding of both women in rock and U.S. popular music.

A New York Times Book Review: Editor's Pick

Shout, Sister, Shout! tells the story of "Sister" Rosetta Tharpe, a vocalist and guitarist of the Sanctified Church and one of the most remarkable-yet largely forgotten-musicians of the twentieth century. Beginning in the 1930s, she commenced a colorful career as gospel's original crossover artist, its first national superstar, and the most thrilling and celebrated guitarist of the music's Golden Age.

Drawing on interviews with more than 100 people who knew Rosetta Tharpe, Shout, Sister, Shout! narrates her unlikely rise to fame: from traveling evangelist on the revival circuit to star attraction at the Cotton Club, from gospel celebrity in the 1940s to idol of the European blues revival in the 1960s.

An iconoclastic and electrifying performer, Rosetta Tharpe influenced scores of musicians, from Little Richard and Ruth Brown to Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Isaac Hayes. Her story illustrates the centrality of the Pentecostal church-especially its "underneath-it-all" women-to "rock and roll" sound and style