Lead Producer: From My Hometown
Before Broadway veteran Lee Summers (original Broadway company of Dreamgirls) returned to academia to earn an MFA from NYU/Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, he had already made his New York producing debut in 2003. Mentored—and partially funded—by the late Gerald Schoenfeld, Chairman of the Shubert Organization (whose name now adorns the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway), Summers conceived, co-wrote, co-composed, and lead-produced the Off-Broadway musical From My Hometown. The experience taught him countless lessons through the failures and discoveries of a first-time creator-producer, lessons he later shared in a class he taught at Tisch. Today he continues to apply these insights to his work as a creator of new theatrical works, performer, and producer. From My Hometown is now part of the catalog of classic and contemporary musicals licensed through Concord Theatricals.
Other producing credits include more than a decade of the Just A Piano concert series, presenting over 200 performances featuring national artists including Tony Award winner Melba Moore, Tony Award nominee Maurice Hines, Grammy Award winner Caron Wheeler, Grammy Award winner Ryan Shaw, Tony Award winner LaChanze, Tony Award winner Adriane Lenox, and Tony Award winner Kecia Lewis.
Summers also produced Grammy nominee Freda Payne at 54 Below in 2024, including an Ella Fitzgerald tribute concert starring Payne. He co-produced a concert presentation of The Funkentine Rapture at 54 Below starring James Monroe Iglehart and Tony Award winner Lillias White, along with numerous developmental readings and backers’ presentations of new works. He has also self-produced his Bistro Award–winning one-person show, Winds of Change.
“Beginning at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, this paean to a more melodic time in popular music is a double dip into nostalgia. …A story of hope, struggle, friendship…ultimate triumph…”
– New York Times (2004)
“Three incredibly talented young men, are on stage for 90 minutes delivering the most tantalizing music and dancing from the past and present. The setting is the Big Apple, mostly in and around the Apollo Theater. The band is as good as it gets…”
–Liz Smith
“A high energy, low maintenance roof raiser. The feel-good pocket musical features three dynamite performers. This sassy, soulful show must not be allowed to skip town at the end of its all-too-brief run.”
-Variety
(From My Hometown)…captures the spirit of Hitsville USA…
From My Hometown packs in more than 30 songs, including a tribute to the many “Three Man Groups” who paved the way for the breakthrough R&B, soul, funk and Motown acts.
An Energetic and Effervescing Summer Sensation – the high octane musical FROM MY HOMETOWN.
It’s a show that takes you to a musical time past, and the cast succeeds. It’s fun, fast-paced and well-sung.
They’re throwing a party at the American Heartland Theatre. Every night. It’s called From My Hometown…
FROM MY HOMETOWN is a success in virtually every department, largely because its creators have kept things streamlined and simple.
Exuberant and so full of life! (The creators) deserve high praise for knowing what it takes to get an audience on a musical high.
A marvelous trip down R&B memory lane … A great time at the theatre. There are too many fabulous songs to list them all; you have to go see it and experience the show!
FROM MY HOMETOWN hustles faster than any show in New York … The appeal of the show is the chance to hear your favorite tunes sung just the way they sound on the radio. Make no mistake, together, the trio could bring down the house.
You’d have to be stone cold dead not to find yourself tapping your feet and ‘putting your hands together’ during the R&B numbers. HOMETOWN is a fun, rousing evening.
Scads of sweet music and a charismatic cast elevate FROM MY HOMETOWN … A selection of great old songs.
FROM MY HOMETOWN is similar to Billy Joel and Twyla Tharp’s Moving Out – except in this terrific show, the dancers and singers are the same people.
A high energy, low maintenance roof raiser. The feel-good pocket musical features three dynamite performers. This sassy, soulful show must not be allowed to skip town at the end of its all-too-brief run.
Beginning at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, this paean to a more melodic time in popular music is a double dip into nostalgia. …A story of hope, struggle, friendship…ultimate triumph…
…Three incredibly talented young men, are on stage for 90 minutes delivering the most tantalizing music and dancing from the past and present. The setting is the Big Apple, mostly in and around the Apollo Theater. The band is as good as it gets…
