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Colman Domingo, Oprah Winfrey, and Tyler James Williams team up for an audio play

The audio adaptation of Domingo’s dark comedy ‘Wild with Happy’ comes to Audible on June 13.

Colman Domingo poses for a portrait during the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 10, 2023, in Toronto. (Photo by Joel C Ryan / Invision / AP, File)
Colman Domingo poses for a portrait during the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 10, 2023, in Toronto. (Photo by Joel C Ryan / Invision / AP, File)Read moreJoel C Ryan / Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP

West Philly-raised actor, director, and playwright Colman Domingo has set his sights on a new art form: an audio play. The audio adaptation of his dark comedy Wild with Happy, starring Domingo, Oprah Winfrey, Abbott Elementary star Tyler James Williams, Tony Award winner Alex Newell, and Tony Award nominee Sharon Washington, will arrive on Audible on June 13, according to People.

Domingo’s play premiered at New York’s Public Theater in 2012, where he played Gil, a struggling actor, and Washington played Aunt Glo, a role she will reprise in this adaptation. The story follows Gil, a Black gay actor who returns home to Philadelphia after his mother dies, to handle her burial, to comical and chaotic results. Domingo will direct and star in the audio adaptation.

Winfrey, whom Domingo worked with on the 2023 remake of The Color Purple, will play Gil’s mother Adelaide and Newell — who made history last year as the first nonbinary actor to win the Tony for best featured actor in a musical — will play Gil’s best friend Mo. Williams will play the funeral director, who becomes Gil’s lover.

Domingo called the cast a “dream come true” in a statement to People. “Wild with Happy is about everything that is absurd yet comical about life and death. These themes are perfect to explore in the intimacy of audio, and I’m thrilled to be adapting my play for this medium with the visionary team at Audible,” said the Emmy winner, who appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Issue in February.

“[Domingo’s] deeply personal play will leave you laughing and maybe even shedding a few tears, all while savoring his beautiful words that are perfectly suited for the audio listening experience,” Winfrey told People. “I’m delighted that listeners can immerse themselves in this gift from such a versatile and inspiring artist as Colman.”

With a suave and distinctive voice, Domingo is well-suited for an audio play. He even earned praise for his talent in phone call scenes in the acclaimed teen drama Euphoria, where he played Ali, the sponsor to Zendaya’s struggling Rue.

Over the last five years, Domingo has appeared in a number of buzzy projects, from Rustin to Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom to Sing Sing. Most recently, Domingo was in West Philly filming his upcoming Netflix series The Madness, in which he plays a media pundit trying to clear his name after discovering a murder in the Poconos. His future roles include Nat King Cole and Joe Jackson.