From the first lyric, “Before the clock strikes midnight, I’ll tell you folks a folktale that ain’t quite black and white,” Todrick Hall’s new musical transports audiences to another time and place. His passion project spans gospel, pop, R&B, rock, folk, opera, and contemporary musical theater. Using a thrilling role-reversal theatrical convention, Midnight challenges us to ask: what if the life we were born into belonged to someone else?
Set in the Civil War-era South, Midnight is a story of love, conflict, and finding humanity in one another. The lives of 12 people—six Black and six white—intertwine and confront the world they inherited, the assumptions they carry, and how they see others.
Hall plays Rail, an enslaved man who falls for Richard (Jeremy Beloate), the privileged neighbor who secretly teaches him to write. Rail has a pregnant sweetheart (Charlotte Odusanya), and Richard has a fiancée (Kennedy Caughell), but the men share a deeper tie: Rail’s mother raised Richard. As Act I ends, Rail wishes the roles were reversed, and at midnight, all 12 characters trade places.
The clock keeps ticking
For Hall, the journey to Midnight began six years ago. “Frustrated by the state of the world and a level of division I had never experienced in my lifetime, I sat down to write the show I wanted to see,” Hall said in a statement.
Hall wears multiple hats as writer-composer, director, choreographer, and star, crafting a packed score with 35 musical numbers. The set centers on a giant clock that chimes each hour as it counts down to midnight, when Rail and Richard meet each night. Nearly sung-through, the show holds your attention through big musical numbers and heavy subject matter.
The voices are powerful, and by the end, theatergoers will wonder whether they could live someone else’s life. Although the show is set in the 1800s and centers on racism and homophobia, both remain sources of contention today. The music will keep you in your seat, but the message, especially so close to a monumental midterm election, will challenge your heart and mind.
Is ‘Midnight’ worth seeing?
Todrick Hall’s Midnight wears its message in every lyric, and with voices this powerful carrying it, a few hours in someone else’s shoes is time well spent.
- Daryl Roth Theatre, 101 E. 15th Street, New York City
- Notable performers: Todrick Hall, Jeremy Beloit, and Sidney DuPont
- Running time: Approximately 2 hours 45 minutes, with one intermission
- Performances through November 8, 2026
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