This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, May 22
Group Rep‘s A Time to Kill, adapted by Rupert Holmes, directed by Tom Lazarus, featuring Patrick Anthony, Reed Michael Campbell, Dominic Ryan Gabriel, Jennifer C. Holmes, Hudson Long, Michael C.Mahon, Adam Mattson, Rosney Mauger, Sherrick O’Quinn, Anica Petrovic, James, Lawrence Powell, Steve Rozic, Mark Stancato, Neil Thompson, Sandra Tucker,Troy Whitaker and Steve Young, opens at North Hollywood’s Lonny Chapman Theatre.
Saturday, May 23
Pure Glitter reading (free with a suggested donation), by Douglas Lyons, directed by Emerson Collins, featuring Sachin Bhatt, Barrett Foa, Adrián Javier, Rory O’Malley Jean ES Powell, and Chris Renfro, at 7:30 PM at LA’s LGBT Center.
Sunday, May 24
Beaches, by Iris Rainer Dart, Thom Thomas & Mike Stoller, directed by Lonny Price & Matt Cowart, featuring Jessica Vosk (Cee Cee Bloom) and Kelli Barrett (Bertie White), with Samantha Schwartz (Little Cee Cee), Zeya Grace (Little Bertie), Bailey Ryon (Teen Cee Cee), Emma Ogea Teen Bertie), Ben Jacoby (Michael Barron), and Brent Thiessen (John Perry), closes at Broadway’s Majestic Theatre after 28 previews and 38 regular performances.
Ulster American, by David Ireland, directed by Ciarán O’Reilly, featuring Matthew Broderick, Geraldine Hughes, and Max Baker, closes at Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep.
What We Did Before Our Moth Days, by Wallace Shawn, directed by André Gregory, featuring Hope Davis, Maria Dizzia, John Early, and Josh Hamilton. closes at Off-Broadway’s Greenwich House Theatre.
The Sound of Music, directed by Jack O’Brien, featuring Cayliegh Capaldi (Maria Rainer), Kevn Early (Captain Georg von Trapp), Christine Noll (Mother Abbess), Nichalos rodriguez (Max Ketweiler), Kate Loprest (Elsa Schraeder),Ian Coursey (Rolf Gruber), John Adinson (Franz), John Adkison (Franz), Jennifer Maleke (Frau Schmidt), Corey Breenan (Admiral von Schreiber), Daniel Sullivan (Herr Zeller), Jennifer Malene (Frau Schmidt),Corey Goreenan (Admiral von Schreiber), Torben Mularski (Friedrich), Skylar Mattews (Louisa), Reece Boyle (Kurt), Haddie Mac (Brigitta), Berekley Waulk (Marta), Everly Beeson (Gretl), and Meredith Lustig (Sister Sophia), with Sydney K. Borchers, Alli Echelmeyer, Dylan Bradford, and Blaire Eilene Baker, closes at LA’s Pantages Theatre.
**********************
Winners have been announced for the 70th annual Drama Desk Awards:
Thomas Schumacher, former President of Walt Disney Theatrical Productions, received the Harold S. Prince Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire, received the William Wolf Award for for their valuable contributions and lifetime of work in the New York theater.
**********************
Heated rivalry: he Unauthorized Musical Parody, by Dylan Marcaurele, continues through Sept. 7 at The Club (530 West 27th St. 6th floor), directed by Alan Kliffer.
Jay Armstrong Johnson (Ilya Rozanov) and Jimin Moon (Shane Hollander), with Ryann Redmond, Cherry torres, and Ryan Duncan.
The musical follows starry-eyed “golden boy” Shane Hollander on a chaotic journey from power center to power bottom, tracing his years-long, secret romantic rivalry with Russian hockey star Ilya Rozanov.
**********************
The world premiere of Jonah Weiland’s Coffee Date will run June 7 -26 at the Broadwater Main Stage, directed by Julia Christgau.
Jonah Weiland (Henry), Lenka Janischova Shockley (Tizzy), Stephanie Chloé Hepner (Laura), and Spencer Weitzelt (Roger).
Set over four days in the same East Los Angeles coffee shop, theplay is a naughty, warm-hearted comedy about four people, each of them mid-chapter, trying to figure out who they are, what they want and whether they’re actually ready for what they say they’re looking for. Sharp, sexy and surprisingly tender,the play is a romcom about the absurdity of dating in midlife; the apps, the baggage, the bad dates, the unexpected connections, and the terrifying, wonderful moment when you decide to try anyway.
**********************
Ask. Tell., by Barbara Lindsay, directed by Bernadette Armstrong, will begin June 3 here.
Anne Cooper (Debra) and Larry Coleman (Jace).
When an older woman comes to a hospital to collect her injured grandson, she meets a young man who turns out to be the grandson’s boyfriend. As they wait for news, the two of them grapple with the generational differences between them.
**********************
2026 Broadway Alliance Award Winners have been announced.
Click here for the complete list of winners.
**********************
A free production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream will run July 22 -Aug. 9 at Boston’s Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, directed by Steven Maler.
Nick Cearley (Puck/Philostrate), De’Lon Grant (Theseus/Oberon),Nora Eschenheimer (Hippolyta/Titania), Paul Melendy (Bottom), Karen MacDonald (Quince), Annika Burley (Helena), Meghan Carey (Hermia), Jaime José Hernández (Lysander), Jack Greenberg (Demetrius), Michael Broadhurst (Flute), Brooks Reeves (Egeus/Starveling), Patrick Curran (Snout), Alex Leondedis (Snug), and fairies played by Nicolas Bolton, Dani Grace Nissen, Alexandra White, Evan Danyliw, and Bella Grace Harris.
**********************
Brian Henson’s Puppet Up! (an improv and sketch comedy show) will run July 31 – Aug. 9 at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre.
A large rotating cast, which which has not yet been posted.
Based on suggestions from the audience, Patrick and his team of expert puppeteers create a hilarious two-shows-in-one: the improvised puppet action projected live on screens above the stage, with the puppeteers racing around below in full view of the audience. The show also features recreations of classic pieces originally created by Jim and Jane Henson, and Frank Oz, that haven’t been seen by live audiences in decades.
**********************
The Drama Desk Awards, beginning for the 2027 ceremony, will move to Off-Broadway’s The Shed.
**********************
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical will run May 19-31 at Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars, directed by Dan Knechtges.
Kyra Kennedy(Carole King), Dylan S. Wallach (Gerry Goffin), Teresa Zimmermann (Cynthia Weil), Barrett Riggins (Barry Mann), Mark Ivy(Don Kirschner), and Holland Vavra (Genie Klein), with Abigail Bensman, Ben Chavez, Lizzie Cooper, John Ryan Del Bosque, Evin Johnson, Anyssa McDonald, Gloria Prince, Sarah Sachi, Braden Tanner, Raven Troup, Kristopher Ward, LaBraska Washington, Kaleb Womack, Miles Marmolejo, Cary Michelle Miller, Tobias Rytting, Destiny Webb, Alexia Alla, Luke Duckett, Finley Franco, Ruby Jefferies, Riley Johnson, Daniel Karash, Julian Lammey, Belyn McNamara, Ryan Schmehil, Nathan Bryant and Kaavya Rajarathnam.
**********************
Punish Me, by Michael Dukakis will run June 7-14-& 21 at Hollywood’s Hudson Backstage Theatre, directed by Monique Sorgen.
Brianna Bell, Jaiden Blessing, Tina D’Marco, Michael Dukakis, Jose Eduardo Moreno, and Anuradha Senevi.
After falling for a seductive photographer, a screenwriter must outsmart his partner’s escalating narcissism before a web of manipulation costs him his career and his right to stay in the country.