Broadway theater renamed in honor of James Earl Jones

By MARK KENNEDY
AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The newly restored Cort Theatre on Broadway has been renamed after James Earl Jones, becoming the second theater on the Great White Way named after a Black artist. During Monday’s ceremony included Norm Lewis singing “Go the Distance,” Brian Stokes Mitchell singing “Make Them Hear You” and words from Mayor Eric Adams and Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya Richardson Jackson. The 91-year-old Jones did not attend. The renaming comes after a wide Broadway coalition of theater owners, producers, union leaders, creators and casting directors hammered out a series of reforms and commitments in 2021 for the theater industry to ensure equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility.