GRACE NOTES: Friday, April 3, 2026

 

This Weekend’s Highlights:

 

Friday Apr. 3

 

  Twisted, by Chris DiGiovanni, directed by Marc Antonio Pritchett, featuring Crystal Yvonne Jackson, Isaiah Frazilus, and  Monty Renfrow, opens at LA’s Theatre West.

 

  The 2026 Play LA New Works Festival, free event, (beginning at 3 PM) at LA’s  Greenway Court Theatre.

 

  The Pushover, by John Patrick Shanley, directed by Kirk Gostkowski, featuring Rebecca De Mornay (Evelyn), Di D Zhu (Pearl), Christina Toth (Soochie), and Christopher Sutton (The Rapist), begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Chain Theatre.

 

  The Man Who Would Be King, written & directed by Salisbury, featuring Terrence Archie, Shanel Bailey, Josh Candield, Coleman Cummings, Rita Harvey, Vici Lewis, Trevor Martin, Wesley Slade, and Katie Thompson, closes at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Lukes.

 

Saturday, Apr. 4

 

  Ensemble Theatre Company‘s A Night with Janis Joplin, by Randy Johnson, directed by Mary Bridget Davies & Brian McDonald, featuring Sadé Ayodele, Jenna Gillespie Byrd, Melissa Musique, and Sha’leah Nikol, opens at Santa Barbara’s New Vic.

 

Sunday, Apr. 5

 

  Cold War Choir Practice, by Ro Reddick, directed by Knud Adams, featuring Alana Raquel Bowers, Will Cobbs, Crystal Finn, Andy Lucien, Lizan Mitchell, Suzzy Roche, Nina Ross and Ellen Winter, closes at Off-Broadway’s MCC Theatre.

 

  About Time, by  Maltby & Shire, directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, featuring Allyson Kaye Daniel, Darius de Haas, Daniel Jenkins, Eddie Korbich, Sally Wilfert, and Lynne Wintersteller, with Ethan Paulini and Nicole Powel, closes at Off Broadway’s Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater.

 

  Paulo Szot in concert closes at NYC’s 54 Below.

 

  Inherit the Wind, directed by Ryan Guzzo Purcell, featuring Alex De Bard, Billy Eugene Jones, Rebecca Madeira, Ethan Miller, Natalya Lynette Rathnam, Todd Scofield, Holly Twyford, and James Whalen. with Jordan Friend, Alyssa Keegan, Alina Collins Maldonado, Dakin Matthews, Noah Plomgren, and Tristan Turner, closes at DC’s Arena Stage.

 

  Here Lies Love, byDavid Byrne & Fatboy Slim, directed by Snehal Desai, featuring Arielle Jacobs (Imelda Marcos), Jose Llana (Ferdinadnd Marcos), Conrad Ricamora (Ninoy Aquino), Lea Salonga (Aquino’s Mother), and more, closes at LA’s Mark Taper Forum.

 

  York Theatre‘s Monte Cristo, by Peter Kellogg & Stephen Weiner, directed by Peter Flynn, featuring Sierra Boggess, Adam Jacobs, James Mudy, Norm Lewis, Stephanie Jae Park, Danny Rutigliano, Eliseo Roman, Daniel Yearwood, and Karen Ziemba, closes at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Jeans.

 

  The Maltese Falcon, by Matthew Salazar-Thompson, directed by Todd Nielsen, featuring Richard Baird, Regina Fernandez, Louis Lortorto, Allison Scagliotti, Daniel A. Stevens, and Scott Paulson, closes at CA’s North Coast Rep.

 

  The Price, by Arthur Miller, directed by Elina de Santo, featuring Dana Dewes (Esther Franz), Richard Fancy (Gregory Solomon), Jason Huber (aWalter Franz), and Scott Jackson (Victor Franz) , closes at LA’s Pacific Resident Theatre.

 

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Millennials Are Killing Musicals, world premiere by Nico Juber, will run Apr. 30 – May 17 (opening May 2) at Burbank’s Colony theatre, directed by Kristin Hanggi.

 

  Emma Hunton, John Krause, Diana Huey, Jennifer Leigh Warren, Michael Thomas Grant, with Aynsley Burrico, Mitchell Gerrard, an Lana McKissack.

 

   With a contemporary pop-rock score, this entirely original musical comedy offers a fierce, funny look at identity in the age of social media. Brenda, a single millennial mom, just wants to do better “adulting” (like the seemingly perfect Jake’s mom at her daughter’s school), when her younger #influencer sister Katrina shows up eight months pregnant and totally unprepared for motherhood. The three women work to shed the Greek Chorus of social media filters on their lives to achieve their dreams.

 

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  The world premiere of Martyna Majok & Aimee Mann’s  Girl, Interrupted will run May 13 – June 21 (opening June 4) at the Public Theatre (link TBA), directed by Jo Bonney.

 

   Leela Bassuk, Ta’Rea Campbell, Gabi Campo, Juliana Canfield, Eileen Doan, Mano Felciano, King Princess, Gunnar Manchester, Mia Pak, Katherine Reis, Anna Roman, Sally Shaw, Emily Skinner, Rachel Stern, and Lauren Jeanne Thomas.

 

  When Susanna admits herself to a psychiatric hospital, following a 15-minute session with a doctor she’d never met, she forms unexpected bonds with the young women inside as they search for connection and a way forward. Raw and unapologetic, this new play with music reveals that the people who witness our darkest moments are often those who truly see us.

 

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   A concert production of Follies will run Apr. 25-27 at Chicago’s Porchlight Theatre, directed by Michael Weber.

 

  Michelle Duffy (Phyllis Rogers Stone) Angela Ingersoll (Sally Durant Plummer), Anthony Rapp (Benjamin Stone), Stephen Wallem (Buddy Plummer, and more TBA.

 

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  Eugène Ionesco’s Exit the King will run May 3 – 31 at Pasadena’s A Noise Within, directed by Michael Michetti.

 

  Nedri Lubatti (King Berenger), Joy DeMille (The King’s 1st Wife), and Erika Soto (the King’s 2nd wife), with Lynn Robert Berg, Ralph Cole Jr. and KT Vogt.

 

  It’s King Berenger’s last day on Earth, but he refuses to accept it. A wildly funny and deeply human meditation on mortality.

 

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  Amas Musical Theatre will present a benefit concert celebrating theThe 50th anniversary of Bubbling Brown Sugar on Mon. May 11 at 6 PM at NYC’s Rosie’s Place at Penthouse 45 (432 W. 45th St), directed by Jonathan S. Cerullo. and hosted by Carla Hall.

 

   Darlesia Cearcy, Darius de Haas, Carmen Ruby Floyd, Mel Johnson, Jr., Nicolas King, Doremshia Sumbry-Edwards, Anthony Wayne, Lillias White and Brittany Nicole Williams.

 

  Three young people are guided by characters: Irene Paige, Sage, and Checkers through Harlem’s “Golden Age” (1920s – 1940s) discover it history and vibrant culture.

 

 

 

 

 


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