Finally, the long-awaited world premiere of a musical focusing on Gabriel and the slave rebellion he almost pulled off in Richmond 222 years ago is set to go at the Firehouse Theatre next week.

Postponed twice in the past 20 months, “Gabriel — The Musical “is scheduled to open Thursday, Sept. 8, in the cozy confines of the former fire station at 1609 W. Broad St.

Veteran actor Jerold Solomon, who helped write the lyrics, will play the title role in the production that is scheduled for a three-week run through Sunday, Oct. 2.

Mr. Solomon of Chesterfield County teamed with a cousin, actor/director Foster Solomon of Goochland County, and writer/ composer Ron Klipp to create the words, with Mr. Klipp writing the music for what the trio describes as a “true story of freedom.”

Their purpose: To raise awareness of Virginia’s Spartacus, the ancient Roman who led a wide-ranging uprising against slavery.

Along with Mr. Solomon, the cast includes Alvan Bolling II, Lyndsey Brown, Mikaela Craft, Keydron Dunn, J. Ron Fleming Jr., PJ Freebourn, Sydnee Graves and Mark Persinger.

Foster Solomon is directing, Billy Dye is the music director for a six-piece ensemble, Leslie Owens-Harrington is the choreographer, Dasia Gregg is the scenic designer, Ann Bialdowski is the costume designer and Todd Labelle is the lighting designer.

The musical is set in 1800 when the 24-year-old enslaved Gabriel, then hired out as a blacksmith by his owner Thomas Prosser, began organizing the rebellion with the goal of seizing the State Capitol in Richmond and proclaiming freedom for others in bondage while giving workers of all kind greater authority in political affairs.

Ultimately undone by a heavy rains and betrayal, the charismatic and well-read leader began organizing the uprising during a volatile period when religious fervor was sweeping the Old Dominion and Black rebels in Haiti were fighting a successful war for freedom against France, which also had outlawed slavery.

His action came in a city where leading white men had been at the forefront of pushing independence from Great Britain with speeches promoting freedom from tyranny and oppression.

They include Patrick Henry, whose rallying cry, “Give me liberty or give me death,” was well known even among the enslaved, and Thomas Jefferson, a slaveholder who had written that “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence and who had proposed abolition of slavery in the General Assembly near the end of the Revolutionary War.

Gabriel said before his death that the rebellion’s flag would have featured the words “Death or Liberty.”

The uprising set for Aug. 30 came undone when massive storms hit the area, wiping out roads and bridges, destroying lines of communication and preventing supporters from setting diversionary fires that were a key element of the plan.

Forced to postpone, Gabriel did not gain a second chance after two enslaved men revealed the plan, leading then-Gov. James Monroe to call out the militia to capture the ringleaders. Gabriel escaped for three weeks but was betrayed by two crew members when he took a boat to Norfolk.

Captured, he was tried and hanged with 25 other members, with others sold off or returned to their owners. One member of his conspiracy, a boatmen named Sancho, tried and failed to resurrect the uprising in the 1802 Easter plot. Also betrayed, he and four others were hanged.

Historian Douglas R. Egerton, wrote in his authoritative “Gabriel’s Rebellion: Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802” that most of Gabriel’s “contemporaries, white as well as black, believed that his plan stood a good chance of succeeding.

“Had it done so,” Dr. Egerton continued, “it might have changed not only the course of American race relations but also the course of American political history.”

Tickets are $38 for general admission and $25 for students, the theater noted. The theater also will require patrons to be fully vaccinated and to wear masks.

Further details: (804) 355-2001 or firehousetheatre.org/Gabriel.