This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, April 14
The 39 Steps, adapted by Patrick Barlow, directed by directed by Meredith McDonough, featuring Henry Walter Greenbert (Clown), Nate Miller (Clown), Marco Alberto Robinson (Richard Hannay), and Amelia Pedlow (Annabella/Pamela/Margaret), with Annie Barbour and Seth Dhonau, opens at the Denver Center CPA.
Faith Prince & Jason Graae in concert, opens at San Francisco’s Feinstein’s at the Nikko.
Scintilla, by Alessandro Camon, directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky, featuring Taylor Gilbert (Marianne), Kris Fros (Michael), Krishna Smitha (Nora), David Gianopolis (Stanley), and Carlos Lacamara (Roberto), opens at North Hollywood’s Road on Magnolia.
Group Rep‘s The Laramie Project, by Moises Kaufman & Leigh Fondakowski, directed by Kathleen Delaney, featuring Landon Beatty, Paul Cady, Roslyn Cohn, Julie Davis, Marc Antonio Pritchett, Jackie Shearn, Margaret Rose Staedler, Cathey Diane Tomlin, Amelia Vargas, and Kay Vermeil, opens at North Hollywood’s Lonny Chapman Theater.
An American in Paris, directed & choreographed by Jeffry Denman, featuring Sareen Tchekmedyian (Lise), Luke Hawkins (Jerry), Louis Pardo (Adam), Michael Bullard (Henri), Leslie Stevens (Madame Baurel), Rebecca Ann Johnson (Milo Davenport), and many more, previews at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill, featuring Chauncy Thoms (Duke Theseus/King Operon), Yvonne Perry (Hippolyta/Queen Titania), Kyle Barvin (Puack), Kevin McGuire (Peter Quince), Oliver Wadsworth (Bottom), and David Girard (Egeus/Snug), Ethan Botwick (Lysander), Ellen Cribbs (Helena), Raya Malcolm (Hermia), Tamil Perisamy (Demetrius), John Romeo (Robin Starveling), Jovan Davis (Flute), Gabrielle Bazinet Douglas (Fairy), Josh DeMarco (Fairy), and Taylor Hoffman (Kafen Snout/Fairy), begins previews at Albany’s Capital Rep.
Kate Baldwin & Aaron Lazar: All for You concert closes at NYC’s 54 Below.
Saturday, April 15
An American in Paris, directed & choreographed by Jeffry Denman, featuring Sareen Tchekmedyian (Lise), Luke Hawkins (Jerry), Louis Pardo (Adam), Michael Bullard (Henri), Leslie Stevens (Madame Baurel), Rebecca Ann Johnson (Milo Davenport), and many more, opens at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West.
Center Theatre Group‘s 2023 Light Up Los Angeles Gala, featuring Deborah Cox, Carmen Cusack, Rachel Bloom, Peppermint, Cheyenne Jackson, Julia Lester, George Salazar, Culture Clash, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Stink Mikita, Joey & Faith Soloway, and Kristina Wong, at 6 PM at LA’s Mark Taper Forum.
According to the Chorus, by Arlene Hutton, directed by Chris Goutman, featuring Karen Ziemba (Audrey), Sofia Ayral-Hutton (Nicki), Dana Brooke (KJ), Joy Donze (Linda), Tabatha Gayle (Monica), Judy Hiller (Brenda), Brandon Jones (Peter), Ricki Lynée (Joyce), Kelly McCarty (Stacie), Kleo Mitrokostas (Jessica), Iraisa Ann Reilly (Mallory), and Will Sarratt (Van), with Kim Yancey Moore, Krista Grevas, and Olivia the Dog, closes at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theatres.
A Chorus Line, directed by Blake Robison, featuring Shiloh Goodin (Cassie), Drew Lachey (Zach), Courtney Arango (Diana Morales), Diego Guevara (Paul), Rei Akazawa-Smith (Lois), Evan Autio (Larry), Maria Briggs (Maggie Winslow), Claire Camp (Judy), Erin Chupinsky (Sheila Bryant), Maurice Dawkins (Mike), Nicolas de la Vega (Butch), Jonathan Duvelson (Richie), Derek Ege (Mark), Joseph Fierberg (Gregory), Francesca Granell (Bebe), Diego Guevara (Paul), Musa Hitomi (Connie), Cameron Holzman (Don), Jalen Michael Jones (Frank), Jacob Major (Al), Zoë Maloney (Vicki), Matthew Marvin (Roy), Alexa Racioppi (Val), Matthew Ranaudo (Bobby), and Antonia Raye (Kristine), Sammy Schechter (Tom), with jenna Bienvenue, Haley Haskin, and Christopher Wells, closes at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.
Faith Prince & Jason Graae in concert, closes at San Francisco’s Feinstein’s at the Nikko.
Sunday, April 16
John Forster in Concert: Too Clever by 20%, opens at NYC’s Don’t Tell Mama (also Apr. 27 & May 1).
At Last, It’s Summer Gala Concert presentation, by Clive Richard Davis, directed by Ian Talbot, featuring Louise Dearman (Lady Serina), Rob Houchen (Count Orilov), Kelly Mathieson (Lady Alice Stansick), Joanna Riding (Countess Orilov), Gary Wilmot (Mr. Wellbeloved), Gerard Carey (Benny), Steve Fortune (Sir Garfield), Shannon Rewcroft (Francesca), Alan Titchmarsh (Narrator), Katherine Kingsley (Lady Sykes), Mark Wynter (Lord Stanwick), Jac Yarrow (Archie), and Cedric Neal (Gerald), with Samantha Bingley, Isabel Canning, Samara Casteallo, Lauren Chia, Julie Cloke, Jordan Cunningham, Philip Day, Nell Martin, Ellie Mitchell, Kody Mortimer, Matt Overfield, Angelo Paragoso, Oliver Ramsdale, Anthony Reed, Chloe Taylor, and Samuel Wilson-Freeman, at 7:30 PM at the London Palladium.
Alexander Silber in concert, at 7:30 PM at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club.
Kritzerland’s A Personal Tribute to the Late and Great Stephen Sondheim concert, directed by Bruce Kimmel, featuring Marissa Margolis, Kerry O’Malley, Trisha Rapier, Keri Safran, Kevin Spirtas, and Robert Yacko, at 8 PM at Hollywood’s Gardenia Restaurant. 
323-467-7444 or 818-383-6832.
The Wife of Willesden, by Zadie Smith, directed by Indhu Rubasingham, featuring Clare Perkins ( Alvita), Marcus Adolphy (Winston/Mandela/Black Jesus), George Eggay (Pastor/Eldridge), Andrew Frame (Ian/Socrates/Bartosz), Troy Glasgow (Darren/Young Maroon), Claudia Grant (Polly/Sophie), Nikita Johal (Asma/Kelly), Scott Miller (Ryan/Colin), Jessica Murrain (Author/Zaire/Queen Nanny), and Ellen Thomas (Aunty P/Old Wife), with Sophie Cartman, closes at Brooklyn’s BAM.
Endgame, by Samuel Becket, directed by Ciarán O’Reilly, featuring Bill Irwin, John Douglas Thompson, Joseph Grifasi, and Patrice Johnson, closes at Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep.
Dark of the Moon, world premiere by Jonathan Prince, Lindy Robbins, Dave Bassett & Steve Robson, directed by James O’Neil, featuring Ava Delaney (Barbara Allen), Jake David Smith (John), Jennifer Leigh Warren (Conjur Woman), Timothy Warmen (Conjur Man), Lesli Margherita (Raven), Juliette Redden (Arwen), Dylan Goike (Devin), Terri Bibb (Gemma Allen), Joseph Fuqua (Thomas Allen), CJ Cruz (Floyd), Anna Demaria (Ella), and Jane Macfie (Patricia Bergen), closes at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre.
King Lear, directed by Simon Godwin, featuring Patrick Page (King Lear), Shirine Babb (Kent), Terrance Fleming (Burgundy), Jake Lowewenthal (Albany), Raven Lorraine (Ursula), Michael Milligan (Fool), Todd Scofield (Oswald), Craig Wallace (Glouster), Yao Dogbe (Corwall), Rosa Gilmore (Goneril), Matthew J. Harris (Edgar), Stephanie Jean Lane (Reagan), Julian Elijah Martinez (Edmund), Hunter Ringsmith (France), and Lily Santiago (Cordelia), with Ryan Neely, Bekah Zornosa, Robyn Cohen, Gil Mitchell, Jackson Knight Pierce, Rachel Sanderson, and James Whalen, closes at DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Menstruation: A Period Piece, by Miranda Rose Hall & Tova Katz, directed by Katie Lindsay, featuring Kaci Hamilton, Audra Isadora, Kate Lý Johnston, Jane Hae Kim, Jo Lampert, Bibi Mama, and Marnina Schon, closes at LA’s LGBT Center.
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Reviews for Camelot at Broadway’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre:
NY Times (Jesse Green): About 30 minutes into its 90-minute first act, the Lincoln Center Theater revival of Camelot finally wakes up, as if from a pleasant drowse. That’s when Jordan Donica, as Lancelot…tears into the boastful “C’est Moi” like a lion ripping huge bites of dramatic flesh with his teeth. And then, apparently sated, the show…goes back to sleep for another spell, as if this were Brigadoon. If only it were! [Brigadoon] has what you might call a post-operetta problem. Neither content to be agreeable piffle nor ready to be Sondheimesque psychodrama, it aims for a middle path, welding Arthur’s romantic life with a free-spirited queen to his rethinking of governance with a recalcitrant gentry. Both fail, as does the show, in a way that Brigadoon, the team’s 1947 hit, aiming lower, does not… Lacking songs to support them, Sorkin’s historical enhancements fall flat.
NY Daily News (Chris Jones): A chilly Lincoln Center Camelot, shorn of love, sex, and belief… has more the nihilistic ambiance of “Game of Thrones” than an East Wing filled with art. It’s the chilliest Camelot you ever did see and it embodies so many of the current neuroses surrounding the revival of classic American musicals… begs the question: Why are you reviving Camelot if not just to cash in on an audience expecting something completely different? … gorgeous songs like “If Ever I Would Leave You” and “I Loved You Once in Silence” are there, and technically well sung with the underpinning of Lincoln Center’s typically fine orchestra, but they are shorn of belief because the production keeps running scared of love…
New York Theatre Guide (Joe Dziemianowicz): …Bartlett Sher’s gray and forbidding revival of the classic show could definitely use a bit more shine. It’s dark a lot in this Camelot… the production is stately and beautifully sung, yet it’s seldom exciting or joyful. That’s a long sit for, essentially, a relatively straightforward story… Lerner and Loewe’s songs tend to be light…Here, the songs and the production are a bit of a mismatch… the new book by Aaron Sorkin…is a mixed bag… Sorkin has stripped the plot of magic and supernatural references… But the book also stupefies… In the end, the songs, the 30-piece orchestra, and the principals are bright spots…
Theatermania (David Gordon): …Sorkin’s new book, directed with customary grace and propulsion by Bartlett Sher, is a page-one rewrite of Alan Jay Lerner’s original… He keeps the core ideas and score (with lyrics by Frederick Loewe) intact, but populates this time-bending England with human beings struggling to build a democratic future, rather than a kingdom imbued by magical intervention… If you do happen to enjoy Sorkin’s brand of fast, impassioned, quippy repartee, that B-word will never once cross your mind… surprisingly engaging… Sorkin and Sher are heavily invested in this central storyline, filling a tried-and-true will they/won’t they/of course they will plot with a surprising amount of gravity.
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The world premiere of Craig Lucas & Adam Guettel’s Days of Wine and Roses will run May 5 – July 9 (opening June 5) at Atlantic Theater Company, directed by Michael Greif, with choreography by Sergio Trujillo & Karla Puno Garcia.
Kelli O’Hara, Brian d’Arcy James, Steven Booth, Sharon Catherine Brown, Bill English, Nicole Ferguson, Olivia Hernandez, Byron Jennings, David Jennings, Ted Koch, Ella Dane Morgan, Scarlett Unger, and Kelcey Watson.
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Jeff Harnar & Alex Rybeck: Our 40th Anniversary Show will take place Tues. June 13 at 7 PM at NYC’s 54 Below, directed by Sara Louise Lazarus.
The trio will draw from their critically acclaimed shows such as The 1959 Broadway Songbook, … Carried Away: Jeff Harnar sings Comden and Green … Because of You: Fifties Gold … and Sammy Cahn All the Way.
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A private NYC reading of Marco Penette, Julia Mattison & Noel Carey’s Death Becomes Her (based on the 1992 film), will take place this week in NYC, directed & choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, with music direction by Ted Arthur.
Megan Hilty (Madeline Ashton), Jennifer Simard (Helen Sharp), Christopher Sieber (Ernest Menville), Nicole Scherzinger (Viola Van Horn), and Kevin Smith Kirkwood (Zander Medley), with Marissa Rosen, Nikki Kimbrough Ellyn Marie Marsh, Abigail Stephenson, Evan Harrington, Josh Lamon, Austin Ku, and Mike Millan.
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DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company‘s King Lear, directed by Simon Godwin, and starring Patrick Page, is now available to stream on demand through Apr. 16.
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Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” film will open May 26 at movie theaters everywhere.
Halle Bailey (Ariel), Jonah Hauer-King (Prince Eric), Melissa McCarthy (Ursula), Javier Bardem (King. Triton), Jude Akuwudike (Grimsby), Lorena Andrea (Perla), Kajsa Mohammar (Karina), Daveed Diggs (Sebastian), Jacob Tremblay (Flounder), and Awkwafina (Scuttle).
Video: Sneak peek
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Evita will run May 17 – July 16 at Cambridge’s A.R.T., directed by Sammi Cannold, with choreography by Emily Maltby, and music direction by Mona Seyed-Bolorforosh.
Shereen Pimentel (Eva Perón), Gabriel Burrafato (Magaldi), Omar Lopez-Cepero (Che), Caesar Samayoa (Perón), and Naomi Rose (Mistress), with Martín Almiron, Julian Alvarez, Adrienne Balducci, Leah Barsky, bianca Bulgarelli, Camila Cardona (Melody Celatti, Estaben Domenichini, rebecca Eichenberger, Sean Ewim, Nicole Fernandez-Coffaro, David Michael Garry, Eddie Gutierrez, Eric Anthony Lopez, Jonatan Lujan, Caleb Marshall-villarreal, Ilda Mason, Jeremiah Valentino Porter, Leonay Shepherd, Maria Cristina Posada Slye, Sky Vaux Fuller, Marissa Barragán, Mathew Bautista, Isabella Lopez, Miguel Angel Vasquez, and Jeniysys Oliver-Joseph.
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Jillian Leff’s Missed Opportunities will run Apr. 21 – May 14 at North Hollywood’s Loft Ensemble, directed by Ignacio Navarro & Madylin Sweeten Durrie.
Bridget Avildsen, Macedonia Bullington, Kathleen Guevara, Silas Jean-Rox, Sydney Jenkins, Benjamin Marshall, Sean Mazur, and Nate Thurman.
In a hilariously modern twist on the traditional rom-com, friends, roommates, and lovers blur lines as a young woman concocts a misguided plan to get closer to the DFF’s roommate, but ends up getting closer to herself.
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Lainie Kazan: Inside Hollywood Stories will take place Wed. Apr. 26 at 7 PM at Palm Springs’ Oscars.
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The world premiere of Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s shadow/land will run Apr. 20 – May 21 (opening May 4) at The Public Theater, directed by Candis C. Jones.
Joniece Abbott-Pratt (Ruth), Lizan Mitchell (Magalee), and Christine Shepard (Grand Marshal), with Lynette R. Freeman, Perri Garrney, and Joy-Marie Thompson.
As Hurricane Katrina begins her ruin, tensions between duty and desire surface, a levee is brought to its knees, and Ruth must wrestle with all that she’s ready to let go.
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New York TheatreWorkshop‘s 2023 Gala will take place Mon. May 1 at 6 PM at NYC’s Capitale, directed by Kevin Cahoon, with music direction by Will van Dyke, and hosted by Tituss Burgess.
Doug Wright
Christine Ebersole, Brandon Victor Dixon, Sean Hayes, Rachel Dratch, Trey Anastasio, Lea DeLaria, Tamika Lawrence, Heidi Schreck, Scott Frankel, Sherz Aletaha, Corey Mach, Brian Sears, and Jeff Romley.