March 24, 2026: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler

While watching Brian Stokes Mitchell in concert last week at the 92nd Street Y, it made me think on the sort of career this singularly marvelous actor-singer has had. Long a Broadway favorite since his triumph as Coalhouse Walker Jr. in the original cast of Ragtime (1998), his first time on the boards had come a decade earlier in a quick flop titled Mail (1988). He got a Theatre World Award for that one as a “promising newcomer” and what came between that and finally hitting it big with Ragtime was a starring role in a revival of the Gershwin’s Oh, Kay! (1990), which only lasted a mere 40 more performances than Mail’s 37. He had the great opportunity to take over for Gregory Hines in his Tony Award winning performance in Jelly’s Last Jam (1993), but it closed in four months. With much better results, he replaced Anthony Crivello in his Tony winning performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1994) for a longer run and can be heard on a second cast recording—a rarity—alongside Howard McGillin and Vanessa Williams. He has starred in revivals of Kiss Me, Kate (a Tony Award for Best Actor in Musical in 2000) and Man of La Mancha (2002). But after Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010) and Shuffle Along (2016), he has technically not been back on Broadway in ten years. Yes, he’s done the City Center Encores! series in some great roles (Do Re Mi, Carnival, Kismet, The Bandwagon, and Love Life), but for extremely short runs and only one of them in the last ten years. It is concertizing that has kept him going as well as staying in the spotlight; keeping his rich, impressive baritone in good shape. But that’s not the same as being in a show in a theatre between 41st and 66th Streets, where all the Tony nominated plays and musicals are exclusively performed, and doing eight a week. It’s a crying shame as, judging from his 90-minute set last week, he is as fit and vigorous as he was back when he started (he’s sixty-eight now). Yes, most actors—even ones with Stokes’s enviable credits—must deal with the great and glorious crapshoot that makes up a career in the theatre. It puts Stokes in the good company of distinguished examples such as Peter Gallagher (11 years away from musical theatre), or Douglas Sills (9 years).

Getting his stage training in San Diego, his first break came not in the theatre, but on television. As Brian Mitchell (Stokes, his mother’s maiden name, was chosen later as a means of distinguishing himself from another Brian Mitchell), he co-starred in CBS’s Trapper John, M.D. for 151 episodes. Freed from 7 years of indentured servitude, Stokes then made the appropriate forays into musical theatre which took many by surprise since the power of his singing voice is so undeniable. Thirty-five years ago, he got cast in two musicals at the same time. Having to make a choice, he went with the Broadway revival of Oh, Kay! and, in so doing, missed out on the chance to play Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera (a story he told to the capacity crowd at 92NY last week). Oh, Kay! may have flopped and put him on the unemployment line for a time, but it turned out to be the right decision as it’s where he met his wife, actress Allison Tucker.

Dashing, good-natured, and a real giver, Stokes recently ended a nineteen-year term as Chairman of the Board of the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly the Actors Fund), a true labor of love. If there’s an event that needs a name to sell a few tickets, or a song to be performed followed by a spontaneous speech, he’s always there to help. Few can forget his serenading his fellow Upper West Siders from his open window during the height of our Covid with his a capella, nightly rendition of “The Impossible Dream” (living four blocks away, this was a personal highlight of those dark days). It should also be noted that he did contact an early and severe case of Covid. Thankfully, he made a full recovery with no damage to his voice.

In concert, Stokes is also a giver. He has that same quality that Jonathan Groff displays as Bobby Darin in Just in Time. Neither of these men make it about themselves. Stokes, as well as Groff, are completely there for their audiences and it’s something not always the case with a number of performers whose narcissism sometimes can’t help but be on display. At 92NY, singing songs that meant things to him that he willingly wanted to share, was a thing of beauty. Celebrating his 50th year as a show business professional, Stokes did the songs people came to hear like “Wheels of a Dream,” “I Am I, Don Quixote” and even accompanied himself on a melodica for “What a Wonderful World.” His encore, “The Impossible Dream” did not disappoint. In fact, it was quite moving.

His rendition of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse’s “Feeling Good” was miraculous. A version of Stephen Sondheim’s “Not Getting Married Today,” in which he played all three of the songs soloists, was hilarious in addition to being well-sung, as was a sincere duet of Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner’s “How to Handle a Woman” from Camelot with his uber-talented accompanist and musical director for the evening, Tedd Firth. A moment about Tedd Firth . . . is there a better pianist of the American Musical Theatre songbook? I think not. Usually the guy of choice for the indefatigable cabaret artist Marilyn Maye, as well as the great songstress Melissa Ericco, you can currently hear the sort of wizardry he performs on a new album with Errico titled, “I Can Dream, Can’t I?”, after the fabled 1937 standard by composer Sammy Fain and lyricist Irving Kahal. The title tune is done to a fare-thee-well on the recording. So, so beautiful.

Though there is only one upcoming concert date next week in Dallas, Texas, check out where Stokes may be playing in the future. To see and hear this lovely gentleman is to fall in love a little. That is, if the women to the left, right, and dead center ahead of me last week are any indication. Lots of audible sighing and fanning with the programs, let me tell you. Also, don’t forget that he recurs with some frequency on HBO’s The Gilded Age as the husband of series regular, Audra McDonald (his former co-star in Ragtime and Shuffle Along). Get your Stokes where you can get him!

Ron Fassler is the author of The Show Goes On: Broadway Hirings, Firings and Replacements. For news and “Theatre Yesterday and Today”columns when they break, please subscribe.