Midnight

Midnight is a new, sung-through musical written, directed and choreographed by Todrick Hall. The official site calls it a folktale. Set in the American South in the 19th century, it follows twelve characters, half of them Black and half white, whose fates become tangled through love, loss, prejudice and hope. The story turns on a single idea: imagine learning that the life you were handed was really meant for another person.

The show is an original work, not based on a book, film or earlier play. It plays a limited engagement at the Daryl Roth Theatre on Union Square. Previews began on September 25, 2026, the official opening was on October 15, 2026, and the run is scheduled to end on November 8, 2026.

At the center is Rail, a young Black man enslaved since he was sold away as a child, who now labors on a plantation. He does not dare to dream of owning a home, but he carries one private wish. When he falls in love with Lily Rose, a spirited young Black woman, he finally makes that wish, and it changes his life.

Around him, other lives start to cross. Scarlet, the young woman who owns Rail, loses her heart to Richard, a rich man from a nearby estate, at a ball thrown by her family. Richard chooses Rail to work at his side, with a crew of Black and white laborers, on the house he plans to live in. Over time the bond between the two men grows from friendship into respect and then into love, the kind their world forbids and punishes. As the stories collide, the lines that separate the characters begin to blur.

Hall has kept most plot details quiet, and audiences at the London tryouts largely chose not to give the story away. The show's central idea, in its own words, is that people can't pick the roles they are born into, only how they play them.

Hall wrote the book, music and lyrics. Almost everything is sung: characters rarely speak, and when they do, music keeps playing underneath, so the evening feels close to an opera. Hall points to Les Misérables, Rent and Hamilton as models for that form, and says he wanted the new piece to share qualities of shows he loves, such as Cinderella by Rodgers and Hammerstein, The Color Purple, Hairspray, Wicked and Aida.

The score jumps between styles: gospel and R&B, pop and rock, folk, operatic writing and the sound of modern Broadway. Some songs sound like modern pop, while others are traditional enough to pass for Rodgers and Hammerstein, and there is even a dance-pop number. "Pretty Eyes," sung to Rail by the woman he loves, draws on Hall's own childhood, when church ladies used to comment on his eyes. Other numbers include "Midnight," "More Than a House," "Forever," "Dear Mama," "Two Brothers," "Black Excellence," "Lily's Lullaby," "Night on Fire" and "After Midnight."

This is a big show for an Off-Broadway house. Hall speaks of a massive set and 140 costumes, and the official cast page lists 12 principals, 8 ensemble members and 9 swings. The scale of the physical production, new for this theater, was one reason the start of previews moved.

As of October 2026, Hall himself plays Rail. Richard is Jeremy Beloate, Lily Rose is Charlotte Odusanya and Scarlet is Kennedy Caughell. The rest of the principals are Ayana George (Ethel), Autumn Hurlbert (Charlotte), Kolbi Jordan (Happy), Bella Coppola (Violet), Sidney DuPont (Squeak), Jimmy Brewer (Harry), Dwayne Clark (Horace) and Ciarán McCarthy (Sylvester). Beloate, a finalist on The Voice, George and Odusanya played the same roles in London. DuPont is a Tony nominee for Paradise Square. Coppola, seen on Broadway in SIX, stepped in as Violet before previews after Sarah Lynn Marion withdrew because of an injury.

Hall started writing Midnight during the pandemic, when Black Lives Matter protests filled the news and he himself was in an interracial relationship. He set out to follow racism and homophobia back to their roots in the 19th century. He announced the musical on his YouTube channel in fall 2025.

Closed-door readings took place in both New York and London in 2025. After that, the show met its first paying audience at Sadler's Wells East in London, in seven workshop performances from November 11 to 15, 2025. A second London run followed there from February 20 to March 8, 2026. The New York production, announced in June 2026, was first set to begin previews on September 12 and open on September 27. The first preview slipped to September 17, and then the first week was canceled, so previews began on September 25 and opening night moved to October 15. Hall said that sticking to the original dates would have meant asking audiences to sign waivers.