From left, playwright and librettist Candrice Jones, director Jade King Carroll, co-book writer and original author Kwame Alexander and musician and lyricist Christopher Jackson are developing a musical adaptation of The Crossover, Alexander’s critically acclaimed novel.
FAITH SIEGEL
COPY EDITOR
Chautauqua Theater Company’s very first musical commission, The Crossover, is inspired by Kwame Alexander’s novel of the same name. The fictional children’s book, uniquely written in verse, follows a season in the life of middle-school basketball phenom Josh Bell.
Bell’s story is being adapted into song by an award-winning team of creatives: Alexander, the author of the novel and co-lyricist for the musical; Thomas Kail, the production’s creative consultant; Jade King Carroll, the producing artistic director of Chautauqua Theater Company and director of the musical; Candrice Jones, the musical’s playwright and libretto writer; and Christopher Jackson, the musical’s composer and lyricist.
When Alexander, Carroll, Jones and Jackson gather at 10:45 a.m. today in the Amphitheater, audiences can expect to hear a conversation about creative process, collaboration and what it means to be generative artists; they might even hear performances of a few pieces from The Crossover musical.
“We know that theater brings people together in community. Musicals bring people together in often a larger community than theater, than straight plays. And basketball brings people together in an even larger community than just musicals or theater … [The Crossover has] the confluence of all those three community events,” Carroll said.
Reflecting the musical’s merging of multiple communal events, the team behind the work-in-progress emphasized their collaborative process. After CTC commissioned the musical, the five creatives got together in January 2024 for a “creative vibe check,” Carroll said.
Alexander said he was never worried whether the team had the right talent; rather, he wanted to be sure the creative team could create a familial environment.
“We genuinely have an appreciation, and a love, and an encouragement and a support for each other as artists and as people. And I think once you do that, anything’s possible, because you’ve got the talent,” Alexander said.
As a novel, The Crossover provides a form unusually primed for musical adaptation, as it is already composed of a collection of poems.
“It was a natural transition to begin to think of The Crossover as a play, or as a musical, because its foundation is performance,” Alexander said.
The rhythm and music already inherent in the book’s verses have helped Jones as she has written the musical’s libretto; every previous play she’s written begins with a poem, so the process of writing the book for the musical felt familiar.
“This comes very natural to me, because I don’t feel like I’m adapting my process. There could not have been a better book for me to adapt onto the stage because it is poetry, and I feel like poetry is my first writing language,” Jones said.
Beyond the book as a roadmap, though, the team has been able to expand on ideas that will elevate the story as it transcends paper. Alexander discussed how he hopes the musical will not only adapt the novel, but enrich it.
“The music will enhance and increase the emotional engagement that the audience has with it — I know it has for me. Candrice will make the story jump off the page and put it on the stage,” Alexander said.
Jones’ libretto will work in tandem with Jackson’s hip-hop score, and the two have already shared moments of creative synchronicity, Jones said.
“I like it when I talk to Chris and he’s created something, and I’ve created something, and somehow we’ve created things that fit together like a puzzle — like we’re thinking about the same thing,” Jones said.
The Crossover will be Jackson’s first foray into composing the score for a stage musical, which he called “daunting,” but he noted the importance of sharing in the creation and distribution of art.
“As opposed to a novel that comes from the mind and the imagination of one pen, this is the collection of four people that are putting their heads together to try to land on ideas that are true to the telling of the story and the experience of the characters,” Jackson said.
The Crossover’s creative team, Carroll said, aims to hold a workshop in 2028 and a production in 2029. Beyond these estimations, the panelists do not know where the musical will go, but they know they want the world to see it.
“The whole point is to make something that you can share with the world and hopefully inspire someone else to have another idea. We all try to make something that can be successful, but the success in it, as I see it, isn’t found in a box office number or a statue or award or recognition — more in just being able to make something,” Jackson said.
After sharing their process and progress this morning, the team hopes Chautauquans leave with curiosity and generosity regarding the musical’s future.
“What do I see next? I think with the collaboration and the involvement of Chautauquans, what I see is quite simple,” Alexander said. “It’s one word, two syllables: Broadway. Mic drop.”
