Free reservations open at 10 a.m. today, November 5, for two 50th-anniversary concerts of Your Arms Too Short to Box With God, which the York Theatre presents with PAC NYC on Thursday, December 10, at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
The performances are at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. in the library’s Bruno Walter Auditorium. There is no charge, but a reservation is required, and the York points bookers to yorktheatre.org. The 1 p.m. performance is followed by a talkback, and the concert runs about two hours.
Marchánt Davis directs, as part of his 2026 Micki Grant Artist Residency at the York, with Jermaine L. Hill as music director. Davis has been here before: he directed an earlier workshop production of the piece at the Mercury Store.
The company is Nick Rashad Burroughs, Aisha Jackson, Maiesha McQueen, Jade Milan, Jay Copeland, Evan Tyrone Martin, Benjamin H. Moore, Cristina Raè and Cyniah Elise. Burroughs’s credits include Tina: The Tina Turner Musical and Goddess; Jackson’s include The Great Gatsby and Wonderful Town at Encores!. Taylor J. Williams designs the sound, and Bess Glorioso is production stage manager.
Vinnette Carroll wrote the book, with music and lyrics by Alex Bradford and additional music and lyrics by Micki Grant. The show tells the Gospel of Matthew, from the parables through the Passion to the resurrection, as a service in a Black church, its company cast as preachers and congregation.
The original Broadway production opened in December 1976 and played 429 performances before closing in January 1978. It returned in 1980 with Jennifer Holliday, and again in 1982 with Al Green and Patti LaBelle. Its title borrows a line of sermon from James Weldon Johnson’s novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.
The York, which develops new musicals and revives older ones, is currently producing at the Theatre at St. Jean’s on East 76th Street.
