This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, April 1
ELTON UNDRESSED: Todd Alsup Sings Elton John, directed by Rob Ruggiero, opens at TheaterWorks Hartford.
Pippin concert presentations, directed by Eleanor Holdridge, featuring Christopher Michael Richardson, Eymard Cabling, Kevin McAllister, Matthew August, Kelli Blackwell, Nick Lehan, Robert Mintz, MK Sagastume, Shawna Walker, Julia Wilson, Michael Wood, and Kenneth Derby, opens at MD’s Olney Theatre.
NEWSical The Musical, by Rick Crom, directed by Mark Waldrop, featuring Kristen Alderson, Michael West, Taylor Crousore, and Carly Sakolove, opens at Las Vegas’ Majestic Repertory Theatre.
Classic Couples Counseling, by Lloyd J. Schwartz, directed by Nick McDow Musleh, featuring Rick Simone-Friedland, Deanna Gandy, Cecil Jennings, Amelia Vargas, Robert Christophe, Mary Elisabeth Somers, Joe Nassi, Barbara Mallory, Bill Sehres, Anne Leyden, Ashley Taylor, and Constance Mellors, opens at LA’s Theatre West.
L.A. Now and Then, with all new songs written by L.A. based composers and writers, directed by Bruce Kimmel, featuring Bita Arefnia, Lottle Arnold, Lisa Dyson, Harrison Fahn, Liz Grannis, Tim Hearl, Harun Kajino, Marcel Licera, Danika Masi, Hisato, Masuyama, Alariza, Nevarez, Alec Reusch, Jeffrey Rockwell, Margaret Staedler, and Tamir Yardenne, opens at North Hollywood’s Group Rep.
Lincoln Center Theater‘s The Skin of Our Teeth, by Thornton Wilder, with additional material by Branden Jacob Jenkins, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, featuring James Vincent Meredith (Mr. Antrobus), Roslyn Ruff (Mrs. Antrobus), Paige Gilbert (Gladys Antrobus), Julian Robertson (Henry Antrobus), Gabby Beans (Sabina), and Priscilla Lopez (Fortune Teller), with Eunice Bae, Terry Bell, Ritisha Chakraborty, William DeMeritt, Jeremy Gallardo, Avery Glymph, Donnetta Livinia Grays, Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, Maya Loren Jackson, Anaseini Katoa, Cameron Keitt, Megan Lomax, Kathiamarice Lopez, Lindsay Rico, Julian Rozzell Jr., Julyana Soelistyo, Phillip Taratula, Beau Thom, Alphonso Walker Jr., Adrienne Wells, and Sarin Monae West, begins previews at Broadway’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre.
for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, by Ntozake Shange, directed & choreographed by Camille A. Brown, featuring Amara Granderson (Lady in Orange), Tendayi Kuumba (Lady in Brown), Kenita R. Miller (Lady in Red), Okwui Okpolwasili (Lady in Green), Stacy Sargeant (Lady in Blue), Alexandrea Wailes (Lady in Purple), and D. Woods (Lady in Yellow), begins previews at Broadway’s Booth Theatre.
The King and I, directed by Alan Paul, featuring Betsy Morgan (Anna Leonowens), Adam Jacobs (The King of Siam), Christine Bunuan (Lady Thiang), Paulina Yeung (Tuptim), Ethan LePhong (Lun Tha), Braden Crothers (Louis Leonowens), Nolan Maddox (Louis alternate), Matthew Uzarraga (Prince Chulalongkorn), Karmann Bajuyo (The Kralahome), and Victor Holstein (Captain Orton/Sir Edward Ramsey), with Kristine Bendul, Chih-Jou Cheng, Mai Claypool, Hannah Fernandes, Albert Hsueh, Kenway Hon Wai K. Kua, Kevin Kulp, Anthony Christopher Milfelt, Nich O’Neil, Yuki Ozeki, Aurora Penepacker, Richel Mari Ruiz, Garrett Shin, Marissa Swanner, Avana Strutz, Michiko Takemasa, AvelynChoi, Dante Garcia, Enzo Garcia, Elle Laroco, Vin Laroco, Rika Nishikawa, and Alender Salazar, begins previews at London’s Drury Lane Theatre.
Carole J. Bufford: Vintage Pop! concert, at 8 PM PT at Palm Springs’ The Purple Room.
“Andy Mientus Sings ‘Joni Mitchell’s Ladies of the Canyon’” film, directed by directed by Michael Arden, with special guests, Nikki M. James, Krista Pioppi, and Cathy Ang concludes streaming at PA’s Bucks County Playhouse.
Saturday, April 2
The Minutes, by Tracy Letts, directed by Anna D. Shapiro, featuring Tracy Letts, Blair Brown, Jessie Mueller, Ian Barford, K. Todd Freeman, Austin Pendelton, and Noah Reid (replacing Armie Hammer), with Cliff Chamberlin, Danny McCarthy, Sally Murphy, and Jeff Still, resumes previews at Broadway’s Studio 54.
York Theatre‘s Penelope, or How the Odyssey Was Really Written, world premiere by Peter Kellogg, Stephen Weiner& Emily Maltby, directed by Emily Maltby, featuring Philippe Arroyo (Telemachus), Leah Hocking (Eurycleia), Cooper Howell (Antinous), Ben Jacoby (Odysseus), David Lamarr (Mileter), Jacob Alexander Simon (Bassanio), Britney Nicole Simpson (Penelope), George Slotin (Haius), Sean Thompson (Barius), and Maria Wirries (Daphne), resumes previews at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Jean’s.
A Bronx Tale presentation, written & performed by Chazz Palminteri, at 8 PM PT at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Concert Hall.
Carole J. Bufford: Vintage Pop! concert, at 8 PM PT at San Diego’s Martini’s.
Steve Tyrell in Concert at 8 PM PT at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre.
The Collaboration, by Anthony McCarten, directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah, featuring Paul Bettany (Andy Warhol) and Jeremy Pope (Jean-Michel Basquiat), with Sofia Barclay, and Alex Newman, closes at London’s Young Vic.
This Space Between Us, world premiere by Peter Gil-Sheridan, directed by Jonathan Silverstein, featuring Glynis Bell, Alex Chester, Joyce Cohen, Ryan Garbayo, Tommy Heleringer, and Anthony Ruiz, closes at Off-Broadway’s Keen Company.
Sunday, April 3
Paradise Square, by Christina Anderson, Marcus Gardley, Craig Lucas, Nathan Tysen, Masi Asare & Larry Kirwan, directed by Moisés Kaufman, featuring Joaquina Kalukango (Nelly O’Brien), Matt Bogart (Willy O’Brien), John Dossett (Frederick Tiggens), Sidney Dupont (Washington Henry), A.J. Shiveley (Owen Duignan) Kevin Dennis (Mike Quinlan), Nathaniel Stampley (Reverend Samuel Jacob Lewis), Chilina Kennedy (Annie Lewis), Gabrielle McClinton (Angelina Baker), Jacob Fishel (Milton Moore), Kevin Dennis (‘Lucky’ Mike Quinlan), with Hailee Kaleem Wright, with Kennedy Caughell, Colin Cunliffe, Chloe Davis, Josh Davis, Bernard Dotson, Jamal Christopher Douglas, Sam Edgerly, Jacobi Hall, Sean Jenness, Ben Michael, Jay McKenzie, Kayla Pecchioni, Eilis Quinn, Lee Siegel, Erica Spyres, Lael Van Keuren, Alan Wiggins, Kristen Beth Williams, Rashidra Scott, and Yasmeen Sulieman, opens at Broadway’s Barrymore Theatre.
The Wanderer, by Charles Messina, directed by Kenneth Ferrone, featuring Mike Wartella (Dion), Christy Altomare (Susan), Joey McIntyre (Johnny), Kingsley Leggs (Willie Green), Jasmine Rogers (Melody Green), Jeffrey Schecter (Bob Schwartz), Johnny Tammaro (Pat DiMucci), and Joli Tribuzio (Francis DiMucci), with Joe Barbara, Mackenzi Bell, Stephen Cerf, Jordan Dobson, Josh Dunn, Billy Finn, Natalie Gallo, Miguel Jarquin-Moreland, Will Jewett, Michal Kolaczkowski, Jess LeProtto, Janyé McAlpine, Katie Pohlman, Sydney Sky, and Gabi Stapula, opens at NJ’s Papermill Playhouse.
Bonnie Milligan in concert with Seth Rudetsky, livestreams at 8 PM ET here.
Lana Gordon concludes her run as Persephone in Hadestown at Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theatre.
what you are now, world premiere by Sam Chanse, directed by Steve Cosson, featuring Sonnie Brown, Curran Connor, Emma Kikue, Robert Lee Lend, and Pisay Pao, closes at Off-Broadway’s Ensemble Studio Theatre.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, adapted & directed by Mary Zimmerman, featuring Adeoye, Christina Clark, Christopher Donahue, Kasey Foster, Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel, John Gregorio, Anthony Irons, and Wai Yim, with Chloe Baldwin, Sean Blake, Jack DeCesare, Lawrence Grimm, Andrea San Miguel, and Will Wilhelm, closes at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.
Dream Hou$e, by Eliana Pipes, directed by Laurie Woolery, featuring Darilyn Castillo, Renata Eastlick, Marianne McClellan, Katie Gonzalez, Shelby Woolridge, Kenneth C. Lewis, Gabrielle Stephenson, and Blake Lowe, closes at CT’s Long Wharf Theatre.
Pippin concert presentation, directed by Eleanor Holdridge, featuring Christopher Michael Richardson, Eymard Cabling, Kevin McAllister, Matthew August, Kelli Blackwell, Nick Lehan, Robert Mintz, MK Sagastume, Shawna Walker, Julia Wilson, Michael Wood, and Kenneth Derby, closes at MD’s Olney Theatre.
The Band’s Visit national tour, directed by David Cromer, featuring Sasson Gabay (Tewfiq), Janet Dacal (Dina), Joe Joseph (Haled), Clay Singer (Itzik), Yoni Avi Battat (Camal), Coby Getzug (Papi), Joshua Grosso (Telephone Guy), Kendal Hartse (Iris), David Studwell (Avrum), Billy Cohen (Zelger), Layan Elwazani (Julia), Marc Ginsburg (Sammy), Ariel Reich (Anna), and James Rana (Simon), with Ali Louis, Bourzgui, Ramin Doostdar, Loren Lester, Dana Saleh Omar, Nick Sacks, and Hannah Shankman, closes at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center.
The Gin Game, directed by Jenny Sullivan, featuring JoBeth Williams and Joe Spano, closes at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre.
Personality: The Lloyd Price Musical, world premiere by B. Jeffrey Madoff & Lloyd Price, directed by Sheldon Epps, featuring Saint Aubyn (Lloyd Price), Miles Boone (Little Richard), Donnie Hamond (Sister Rosetta), Stanley Wayne Mathis (Logan), Deseree Murphy (Ezra), Desireé Murphy (Emma), and Nathaniel Washington (Young Lloyd Price), with Michael Covel, Ben Dibble, Robert H. Fowler, KyShawn Lane, Todd Lawson, Lizzie Mason, Charlotte McKinley, Iykechi McCoy, Alyssa Ramsey, and Dony Wright, closes at Malvern, PA’s People’s Light.
Bay Street Theater‘s The Grift site-specific theater experience, conceived, written & directed by Tom Salamon, concludes in Long Island’s Sag Harbor Village.
Fountain Of You, by Tasha Gordon-Solmon & Faye Chiao, directed & choreographed by Chloe Treat, featuring Kate Rockwell (Kristen), Maya Days (Angelica), Chris Collins-Pisano (Man), Caitlin Ort (Esthette), Maria Sylvia Norris (Esthette), and Allie Re (Esthette), with Taylor Drumwright, closes at Virginia’s Zeider’s American Dream Theater.
**********************
Reviews for To Kill a Mockingbird at London’s Gielgud Theatre:
Guardian (Arifa Akbar): …Aaron Sorkin finds effective ways in his confident adaptation, drawing out the lawyer’s moral inconsistencies without undermining his goodness completely… Rafe Spall’s quietly dignified Atticus… Sorkin rejigs the narrative smoothly, weaving together the children’s world and the legal drama. The direction from Bartlett Sher is just as smooth… Spall does not have the graceful self-containment of Gregory Peck’s screen version but is more impassioned and dynamic in the courtroom scenes… Sorkin rejigs the narrative smoothly, weaving together the children’s world and the legal drama. The direction from Bartlett Sher is just as smooth…
Evening Standard (Nick Curtis): All rise for a magnificent Mockingbird. Sheer emotion and moral force make this Broadway adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel about race, community and family a powerfully uplifting theatrical event… Rafe Spall brings a wry charm and vitality to the role of the upright lawyer defending a black man against a false rape charge in depression-era Alabama. The lightness with which he wears his authority makes his explosions of anger more shocking and effective… David Moorst…as the wonderfully gawky young out-of-towner, Dill… My only quibble is with a slight lack of subtlety across the board…
Time Out (Andrzej Lukowski): …Aaron Sorkin’s smash Broadway stage version of To Kill a Mockingbird makes a fair few tweaks to Harper Lee’s 1960 literary masterpiece… Most predictably, there’s the ‘West Wing’ mastermind’s trademark sparkling dialogue… By far Sorkin’s most significant intervention via Bartlett Sher’s production is to pointedly reimagine the play’s white lawyer hero Atticus Finch… with his chipmunk Alabama twang, Spall simply *sounds* less like a wise statesman than Peck ever did. And his behaviour is different: he’s thinner-skinned and more erratic
**********************
Jason Kim, Helen Park & Max Vernon’s KPOP will begin previews Oct. 13 and open Nov. 20 at Circle in the Square, directed by Teddy Bergman, with choreography Jennifer Weber, and music direction by Sujin Kim-Ramsey.
Luna, and more TBA.
The story of global superstars putting everything on the line for a special one-night only concert, when one singer’s inner struggle threatens to dismantle one of the biggest labels in the industry.
**********************
Chicago’s Goodman Theatre has announced its 2022-23 season:
Clyde’s (Sept. 10 – Oct. 9), by Lynn Nottage, directed by Kate Whoriskey.
Swing State (Oct. 7 – Nov. 13), by Rebecca Gilman, directed by Robert Falls. It’s hard to know who your friends are in a world where politics are more polarized than ever.
A Christmas Carol (Nov. 19 – Dec. 31), adapted by Tom Creamer and directed by Jessica Thebus.
New Stages Festival (Dec. 1-18), offering developmental productions and staged readings.
the ripple, the wave that carried me home (Jan. 3 – Feb. 12, 2023), by Christina Anderson, directed by Miranda Haymon. A family responds to injustice and a daughter reckons with her political inheritance.
Toni Stone (Jan. 28 – Feb. 26, 2023), by Lydia R. Diamond, directed by Ron OJ Parson.
Layalina (Mar. 3 – Apr. 2), by Martin Yousif Zabari, directed by Sivan Battat. A surprising new play about how families fall apart – and find each other again – amidst turbulent global and social change.
The Cherry Orchard (Apr.1-30), directed by Robert Falls.
Antonio’s Song / I Was Dreaming of a Son (Apr. 28 – May 28), by Dael Orlandersmigh & Antonio Edwards Suarez, directed by Mark Clements. A poetic journey of a dancer/artis/father questioning the balance of his passions – art, culture, family.
The Who’s Tommy (June 13 – July 23), directed by Des McAnuff.
**********************
Mona Mansour’s The Vagrant Trilogy, which begins previews Apr. 8 and opens Apr. 25 at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater, has been extended through May 15. The production is directed by Mark Wing-Davey.
Bassam Abdelfattah, Tala Ashe, Caitlin Nasema Cassidy, Ramsey Faragallah, Osh Ghanimah, Nadine Malouf, Rudy Roushdi, and Hadi Tabbal.
A single epic story told in three parts. In 1967, Adham, a Palestinian Wordsworth scholar, goes to London with his new wife to deliver a lecture. When war breaks out at home, he must decide in an instant what to do – a choice that will affect the rest of his life. The two parts that follow explore alternate realities based on that decision.
**********************
Chicago will run June 13-19 at the St. Louis Muny, directed & choreographed by Denis Jones, with music direction by Charlie Alterman.
Sarah Bowden (Roxie Hart), J. Harrison Ghee (Velma Kelly), Emily Skinner (Matron “Mama” Morton), James T. Lane (Billy Flynn), Adam Heller (Amos Hart), Ali Ewoldt (Mary Sunshine), and more TBA.
**********************
Chicago’s Porchlight Music Theatre has announced its 2022-23 season:
Rent (Oct. 29 – Nov. 27)
Cabaret (Jan. 14 – Feb. 12, 2023)
Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (May 6 – June 1), by Joe DiPietro, Val Vigoda & Brendan Milburn.
Porchlight Revisits staged readings: The Apple Tree (Dec. 7-8) …. I Am a Camera (Feb. 8, 2023) …. Two by Two (May 24-25, 2023)
New Faces Sings Broadway 1951 (Fall 2022), featuring songs from Guys and Dolls, The King & I, Paint Your Wagon, Call Me Madam, and more.
New Faces Sing Broadway 1984 (Winter 2023), featuring songs from La Cage Aux Folles, Sunday in the Park with George, Baby, The Rink, and more.
**********************
Ellen Fitzhugh & Michael John LaChiusa’s Los Otros will run Aug. 24 – Oct. 8 (opening Aug. 31) at A.R.T/New York Theatres (link TBA), directed by Noah Himmelstein, with music direction by J. Oconor Navarro.
Carolee Carmello and Javier Muñoz.
Through a series of beautiful and intimate moments, two Californians explore significant moments in their lives, discovering they are linked in unexpected ways.