“Explodes with energy ... masterfully channeled into two rousing acts … The book is solid
throughout … and Thomas Tierney (music) and John Forster (lyrics) have
given ‘The Dream Team’ a lively, tuneful and meaningful score.”
Henry E. Josten, The Shoreline Times
The Dream Team
Book by Richard Wesley, Music by Thomas Tierney, Lyrics by John Forster
Two Acts • 12 Men • 3 Women (plus extras)
This musical is set in the 1940’s just after WWII, on the eve of baseball’s integration. It’s the story of two brothers, Luke and Cal Davenport, a star pitcher-catcher team in the Negro Leagues. When Jackie Robinson is tapped for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Luke and Cal get caught up in the dream of playing in the Majors. When younger brother Cal is offered a contract for a major league team and accepts, Luke who is too old to be considered, counters with the idea of starting the first all-black major league team – The Dream Team. The musical climaxes with an exhibition game between Cal’s integrated Triple-A club and Luke’s all-star Dream Team - with brother facing brother in a tense final play. Along the way, we meet Luke’s long-suffering girlfriend Ruth, Cal’s loyal wife Willa, the ambitious black manager Abe Green, major league scouts, and the flamboyant ballplayers.
The musical at Goodspeed Opera originally featured the actors S. Epatha Merkerson, James McDaniel, Larry Riley, Reginald VelJohnson and Stanley Wayne Mathis. These actors went on to starring careers in TV, film and Broadway.
Songs, press, photos and more at THE DREAM TEAM website
Meet the creators of The Dream Team below!
“Hits, Few Errors in ’Dream Team’ ... With a major league cast, a jazzy score, a book of great potential and some extraordinary staging, this show ought to run until World Series time. The musical hits its climax in Dan Siretta’s thrillingly staged battle between the brothers … This last blast by composer Thomas Tierney and lyricist John Forster ‘The Wonderful Game,’… adds up to as strongly theatrical a finale as any in recent memory.”
Malcolm L. Johnson, The Hartford Courant
Richard Wesley - Writer
Richard Wesley was most recently the librettist for The Central Park Five, an opera composed by Anthony Davis, a 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner for Music and was the screenwriter for the films, Uptown Saturday Night and Let’s Do It Again. He authored the 1978 Broadway drama, The Mighty Gents. His memoir, It’s Always Loud in the Balcony, was published in 2019 by Applause Books. He is an Associate Professor in the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Mr. Wesley is married to novelist Valerie Wilson Wesley.
Thomas Tierney - Composer
Composed ELEANOR - An American Love Story at Ford’s Theatre and many other U.S. theaters - and NARNIA (London and New York) based on “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (over 1000 productions worldwide). Other musicals: The Year of Living Dangerously (54 Below in NYC), Jungle Queen Debutante, Off-Broadway’s Pets!, Tommy Tune’s one-man Ichabod, Diamond and the North Wind and Zack Hill and the Rocket Blaster Man Adventure. Also: AT&T’s theme song for Disney’s EPCOT Center, NBC’s Unicorn Tales, and 6 musicals for TheaterWorks/USA. Tom has performed his own music at New York’s Lincoln Center and at the White House.
John Forster - Lyricist
Singer/songwriter, playwright & humorist, John is a 4-time Grammy nominee whose musicals have played on Broadway and Off, throughout the world and even in space (where his song “This Pretty Planet” was used as the astronaut wake-up on John Glenn’s last mission). His songs have been recorded by Faith Hill, Rosanne Cash, Christine Lavin and many others. NPR’s “Morning Edition” has featured many of his wicked comedy songs. His music-comedy albums include “Entering Marion,” Helium” and “Broadsides.” John’s live act at the piano is a one-man comic tour de force. For more info visit: www.johnforster.com