Midnight (musical)

Midnight - An Original Musical
Music	Todrick Hall
Lyrics	Todrick Hall
Premiere	2025, November 11: London

Midnight is a sung-through musical by Todrick Hall, who wrote the music and lyrics for the show. Hall was also the director and choreographer and starred in the workshop of the show as the main character, Rail in its 2025 workshop in London.

Synopsis

In America's South during the nineteenth century, the audience is introduced to the story of Rail, a young Black man, who was sold as a slave as a young boy. Rail falls in love with bubbly Lily Rose, a young Black woman. Rail's owner, young Scarlet, falls in love with Richard, a wealthy neighbour, at a ball she and her family organise. Richard chooses Rail to work alongside him and a group of Black and white workers on his future house, and a bond starts between the two men. The friendship grows into mutual respect, and ultimately into a forbidden and dangerous love that challenges everyone's stories.

When Rail is brutally attacked, all characters are forced to confront their differences and what divides them, while the show invites the audiences to look at the story through other people's eyes. The final message is that we cannot choose the roles we are given in life, but we can choose how we play them.

Productions

The show had two closed-doors performances in New York and London, before running for a paying audience as a fully staged workshop at the Sadler's Wells East in London from 11 to 15 November 2025. A second fully staged and updated workshop session was announced in January 2026. This ran at the Sadler's Wells East again from 20 February until 8 March. Cast for the new workshop was announced in January 2026, with many performers reprising their roles, including Rachel Tucker as Charlotte, and Marisha Wallace playing Happy and George Maguire, Sylvester. The musical style of the show blends gospel, blues and pop, with nods to the classic musicals.

In June 2026 it was announced that Midnight would make its Off Broadway premiere in September at the Daryl Roth Theatre. The show is set to run until November 2026. Full cast was revealed on 4 August 2026, with Hall leading the cast as Rail, Jeremy Beloate reprising his role as Richard, Ayana George as Ethel and Charlotte Odusanya returning as Lily Rose.

Musical Numbers

First fully staged London Workshop (October 2025)

Act 1:

• "(Prologue) Midnight"
• "Mine (Beautiful)"
• "No Time Soon (Change Ain't Coming)"
• "Somebody"
• "Two Brothers (One Ball)"
• "Pretty Eyes"
• "Impressed"
• "The Dancing One"
• "Never Known Nobody"
• "On a Night Like Tonight"
• "White People"
• "Uh-Oh"
• "Ready or Not"
• "More Than a House"
• "Forever"
• "I Love You"
• "Nothing Like This"
• "Surprise"
• "Letters"
• "Twelve"

Act 2:

• "Oom Doom Dadda"
• "Black Excellence"
• "Tonight, In White"
• "On a Night Like Tonight (Reprise)"
• "Great Adventure"
• "Forget I Ever Loved You"
• "Lilly's Lullaby"
• "Fix It"
• "A Rose"
• "Home"
• "Midnight Train"
• "Who Knew?"
• "A Sin"
• "Are You a Bride?"
• "A Thousand Years"
• "Eleven O'Clock"
• "Time"
• "After Midnight"

Second fully staged London Workshop (February-March 2026)

Act 1:

• "Prologue"
• "Midnight"
• "Somebody"
• "Pretty Eyes"
• "Impressed"
• "The Dancing One"
• "Dear Mama"
• "Two Brothers"
• "White People"
• "Uh-Oh"
• "Ready or Not"
• "More Than a House"
• "Forever"
• "I Love You"
• "Nothing Like This"
• "Surprise"
• "Letters"
• "Twelve"

Act 2:

• "Oom Doom Dadda"
• "Black Excellence"
• "Midnightmares"
• "Dangerous"
• "Great Adventure"
• "Forget I Ever Loved You"
• "You"
• "Lily's Lullaby"
• "A Rose"
• "Home"
• "Midnight Train"
• "Who Knew?"
• "Night On Fire"
• "Nightfall" (Later changed to "A Thousand Years")
• "Eleven O'Clock"
• "Time"
• "After Midnight"

Cast and characters

Character	Sadler's Wells East workshop		Off Broadway
	November 2025	Feb-Mar 2026	Sept-Nov 2026
Rail	Todrick Hall
Richard	Jeremy Beloate
Lily Rose	Charlotte Odusanya	Rachel Webb	Charlotte Odusanya
Scarlet	Ailsa Davidson	Maia Gough	Kennedy Caughell
Charlotte	Rachel Tucker		Autumn Hurlbert
Ethel	Ayana George
Violet	Charlotte Jaconelli		Sarah Lynn Marion
Happy	Georgina Onuorah	Marisha Wallace	Kolbi Jordan
Harry	Barney Wilkinson	Isaac J Lewis	Jimmy Brewer
Clyde	Ashlee Irish	-
Billy	Watkins Smith Jr.	-
Squeak	-	Ahmed Hamad	Sidney DuPont
Horace	-	Nick Rashad Burroughs	Dwayne Clark
Sylvester	Craig Armstrong	George Maguire	Ciaran McCarthy

External links

• Midnight, a New Original Musical - Sadler's Wells East
• Midnight, official website