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Deaf West Theatre and New York Stage & Film have revealed the cast for development and concert-style presentations of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Whistle Down the Wind, directed by recent Tony Award-winner Bill Rauch.
Thirty years on from its world premiere, as part of New York Stage & Film’s 2026 Summer Season, this reimagining stays true to the original musical as set in America’s Deep South in the late fifties, while further exploring the world as seen through the eyes of children, both deaf and hearing.
Following ten days of creative exploration and rehearsals with the cast and creative team, Whistle Down the Wind will be performed on Friday, July 31 at 7PM; Saturday, August 1 at 8PM; and Sunday, August 2 at 1PM at The Bardavon in downtown Poughkeepsie, New York, marking the conclusion of New York Stage & Film’s season.
The newly announced cast members include Savannah Dahan (first deaf “Kidz Bop” performer) as “Swallow,” three-time Tony Award nominee Marc Kudisch (9 to 5: The Musical) as “Boone,” Elena Shaddow (The Light in the Piazza) as “Ghost of Swallow’s Mother,” Noah Buchholz (Deaf West’s Sense & Sensibility) as “The Man,” John McGinty (Children of a Lesser God) as “Preacher,” Adi Dougherty as “Brat,” Alston Robbins as “Poor Baby,” Jared R. Dixon (Hamilton) as “Ghost of Prison Guard,” Rayly Aquino (The Man I Love) as “Edward,” Anthony Norman (Dear Evan Hansen) as “Amos,” Adam Rawlings (Sondheim on Sondheim at Cain Park) as “Sheriff,” Kate Connors (107 Minutes in Heaven) as “Earl,” Mya Rena Hunter (Les Miserable National Tour) as “Candy,” and Adult Ensemble member Marina Jansen (How to Dance in Ohio). The Youth Ensemble, all discovered through an open casting call earlier this year, includes Romy Kurs, Taylor-Brinae Lane, Josué Martinez (Deaf West’s American Idiot), Titilayo Odupolu, Dylan Theon Patterson, Emjay Roa, Alona Robbins, and Pax Stein.
The 22-member company comprises a combination of deaf, CODA (Child of Deaf Adult[s]), SODA (Sibling of Deaf Adult[s]), and hearing actors. Rauch is also a SODA (Sibling of a Deaf Adult) and arrives to this project with a perspective driven by personal experience.
The creative team includes music director Jared Stein (Deaf West’s Spring Awakening, American Idiot, Rent); ASL choreographer Rosa Lee Timm; associate ASL choreographers Joey Antonio and Jeremy Lee Stone; lighting designer Annie Wiegand, the only deaf professional lighting designer in the United States (Deaf West’s Elephant Shoes); sound designer Owen Meadows; and visual access engineer Chelsea Zalikowski.
Whistle Down the Wind revolves around the time and place where the word teenager was invented. Swallow, struggling to come to terms with the death of her mother, discovers a mysterious stranger whom she believes is Jesus. In a town where a miracle is long overdue, the children fight to protect him from an adult world determined to find an escaped convict hiding in their midst. As fantasy and reality collide, Swallow is torn between the two and begins to discover who she is and where she is going.
