ABC/Bob D’Amico(LOS ANGELES) — Pharrell Williams and black-ish creator Kenya Barris are developing a stage musical based on the Juneteenth African-American holiday, which celebrates the final day of slavery in the U.S.: June 19, 1865.
“I dream about projects like this,” Pharrell said, according to Deadline.com. “Juneteenth will change culture and change history. We couldn’t sign up fast enough.
Barris will write the dialogue with Peter Saji, with whom he’s worked on black-ish. Pharrell will compose and produce the music.
“The acknowledgement and celebration of Juneteenth as an American and possibly international holiday is something that I would put in the life goals column for me,” Barris said. “For Peter and me to be able to team up with Pharrell on such an important project like this is something that neither of us in a billion years would have thought possible.”
Last year, a black-ish episode titled “Juneteenth” imagined the Johnson family celebrating the holiday in 1865.
“For us, this project isn’t about numbers; it’s about humanity,” Barris added. “Slavery is America’s recessive gene and it’s time we all dealt with it and what better way to have an audience swallow this dose of medicine than with amazing music and raw, honest, jaw-dropping comedy?”
Pharrell and Barris haven’t yet revealed when they plan to debut the musical.
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