This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, August 26
Huntington Theatre‘s Sing Street, by Enda Walsh & Gary Clark, directed by Rebecca Taichman, featuring Adam Bregman (Conor Lawlor), Courtnee Carter (Raphina), Billy Carter (Robert Lawlor), Jack DiFalco (Barry Bray), Dónal Finn (Brendan Lawlor), Anthony Genovesi (Declan), Michael Lepore (Gary), Diego Lucano (Darren Mulvey), Elijah Lyons (Larry), Alexa Xioufaridou Moster (Anne Lawlor), Anne L. Nathan (Sandra), Gian Perez (Kevin), Dee Roscioli (Penny Lawlor), Armand Schultz (Brother Baxter), and Ben Wang (Eamon), with Gable Kinsman, Ale Philippides, and Virginia Vogel, opens at Boston”s Calderwood Pavilion.
Valley Song, by Athol Fugard, directed by caryn desai, featuring Michael A. Shepperd and Belle Guillory, opens at Long Beach’s International City Theatre.
Saturday, August 27
My Fair Lady (Lincoln Center production), directed by Bartlett Sher, featuring Amara Okereke (Eliza Doolittle), Harry Haddon-Paton as(Henry Higgins), Heather Jackson (Mrs. Higgins), Maureen Beattie (Mrs. Pearce), Sharif Affix (Freddie Eynesford-Hill), Stephen K. Amos (Alfred P. Doolittle) and Malcolm Sinclair (Colonel Pickering), with Dammi Aregbeshola, Bernadette Bangura, Joseph Claus, Jordan Crouch, Jamie Cruttenden, Francessca Daniella-Baker, Barry Drummond, Bethany Huckle, Heather Jackson, Emma Johnson, Charlotte Kennedy, Sinead Kenny, Jenny Legg, Tom Liggins, Rebekah Lowings, Carl Patrick, Tom Ping, Dominique Planter, Joseph Poulton, John Stacey, Joshua Steel, Oliver Tester, Adam Vaughan, Annie Wensak, and Paul Westwood, closes at the London Coliseum.
The Glass Menagerie, directed by Jeremy Herrin, featuring Amy Adams, Paul Hilton, Tom Glynn-Carney, Lizzie Annis, and Victor Alli, closes at London’s at the Duke of York’s Theatre.
Sunday, August 28
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, by Anna Deavere Smith, directed by Taibi Magar, featuring Elena Hurst, Wesley T. Jones, Francis Jue, Carl Palmer, and Tiffany Rachelle Stewart, begins previews at Cambridge’s A.R.T.
Animal Farm, by George Orwell, directed by Julia-Rodriguez-Elliott, featuring Stanley Andrew Jackson III (Snowball), Bert Emmett (Mr. Jones), Geoff Elliott (Horse), Nicole Javier (Horse), Deborah Strang (Horse), Philicia Saunders (Goat), Jeremy Rabb (Donkey), Sedale Threatt Jr, (Cat), Cassandra Marie Murphy (Raven), Rafael Goldstein (Napoleon), and Trisha Miller (Squealer), begins previews at Pasadena’s A Noise Within.
The Music Man special benefit performance, in support of the Entertainment Community Fund (aka The Actors Fund), at 8 PM ET at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre.
The Secret Garden In Concert, directed by Nick Winston, featuring Mark Feehily (Neville), Hadley Fraser (Archibald), Maiya Quansah-Breed (Martha), Alex Thomas-Smith (Dickon), Emma Williams (Lucy), with Darcy Jacobs (Mary), Isaac Lancel-Watkinson (Colin), Michael Riseley (Captain Albert Lennox), Linda John-Pierre (Mrs. Medlock), Grace Mouat (Alice), Aleyna Mohanraj (Ayah), Johndeep More (Fakir), Glain Rhys (Rose), and Howard Scott Walker (Ben Weatherstaff), at 6 PM GMT at the London Palladium.
101 Dalmatians, by Douglas Hodge & Jonny McKight, directed by Timothy Sheader, featuring Kate Fleetwood (Cruella de Vil, Stuart Angell (Captain), George Bukhari (Jasper), Karen Fishwick (Danielle), Tom Peters (Captain), Eric Stroud (Dominic), Jonny Weldon (Casper), and Grace Wylde (Madam Doué), with Jamil Abbasi, Sonya Cullingford, Joseph Fletcher, CJ Johnson, Sonya Cullingford, Kody Mortimer, and Courtney George with swings Jade Davies, Taofique Folarin, Tash Holway, and Simon Oskarsson, closes at London’s Open Air Theatre.
Lincoln Center Theatre‘s The Nosebleed, written & directed by Aya Ogawa, featuring Drae Campbell, Ashil Lee, Aya Ogawa, Saori Tsukada, and Kaili Y. Turner, closes at Off-Broadway’s Claire Tow Theater.
Second Stage‘s Patience, world premiere by Johnny G. Lloyd, directed by Zhailon Levingston, featuring Justin Davis (Daniel), Jonathan Burke (Jordan), Nemuna Ceesay (Nikita), Zainab Barry (Ella), and Mary E. Hodges (Mother), closes at Off-Broadway’s McGinn/Cazale Theater.
Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool, directed by directed by Seth Barrish, closes at LA’s Mark Taper Forum.
Hamlet, starring Ian McKellen & dancer Johan Christiansen, both as Hamlet, closes at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
American Prophet: Frederick Douglass in His Own Words world premiere, by Charles Randolph-Wright & Marcus Hummon, directed by Randolph-Wright, featuring Cornelius Smith Jr. (Frederick Douglas) and Kristolyn Lloyd (Anna Douglass), with Carolyn Agan, Kurt Boehm, Thomas Adrian Simpson, and Kanysha Williams, with Erica Aubrey, Zoë Bryant, Cicily Daniels, Christopher B. Portley, Christopher Michael Richardson, Chris Roberts, Brendon Schaefer, Corry West, and Curtis Wiley, closes at DC’s Arena Stage.
A Little Night Music, directed by Julianne Boyd, featuring Emily Skinner (Desiree), Jason Danieley (Frederick), Sierra Boggess (Charlotte, Mary Beth Peil (Madame Armfeldt), Cooper Grodin (Count Carl Magnus), Liesl Collazo (Anne Egerman), Noah Wolfe (Henrik Egerman), Sophie Mings (Petra), Kate Day Magocsi (Fredrika), Adam Richardson (Mr. Lindquist), Rebecca Pitcher (Mrs. Nordstrom), Stephanie Bacastow (Mrs. Anderssen), Andrew Maughan (Mr. Erlanson), Leslie Jackson (Mrs. Segerstrom), and Slater Ashenhurst (Frid), closes at Pittsfield, MA’s. Barrington Stage.
Secondo, world premiere by Jacques Lamarre, directed by Rob Ruggiero, starring Antoinette LaVecchia, closes at TheaterWorks Hartford.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Victor Malana Maog, featuring Jacob Ming-Trent (Bottom), Rotimi Agbabiaka (Oberon), Danaya Esperanza (Puck), Nubia M. Monks (Titania), Bryan Barbarin (Demtrius), Renea Brown (Helena), John Floyd (Flute), Brit Herring (Snout), Lilli Hokama (Hermia), Jake Lowenthal (Lysander), Shinji Elspeth Oh (Philostrate), John-Alexander Sakelos (Peter Quince), Sabrina Sawyer (Snug), and Kathryn Zoerb (Starveling), closes at DC’s Folger Theatre.
Ragtime, directed by Will Pomerantz, featuring Kyrie Courter (Sarah), Derrick Davis (Coalhouse), Lora Lee Gayer (Mother), Zachary Prince (Tateh), Daniel Jenkins (Father), Harrison Bryan (Younger Brother), Davon Williams (Booker T. Washington), Clyde Voce (Matthew Henson), Rachel Parker (Sarah’s Friend), Taylor Jackson (Harlem Woman), Cathryn Wake (Evelyn Nesbit), Victoria Huston-Elam (Emma Goldman), Ryan Hunt (Willie Conklin), Cecelia Ticktin (Kathleen), Will Hantz (The Boy), and Sonnie Betts (The Girl), with Ian Lowe and Brianna Kaleen, closes at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater.
Outdoor Summer Concert Series, with a different performer each night, closes at Burbank’s Garry Marshall Theatre.
Let It Be: A Celebration of the Music of The Beatles closes at Atlantic City’s Hard Rock Hotel.
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Reviews for Into the Woods at London’s Theatre Royal Bath:
The Guardian (Arifa Akbar): …Terry Gilliam and Leah Hausman’s atmospheric production does not quite manage to pull us into the musical’s mournful depths but it entertains enough and excels in its aesthetics of dark, dreamlike otherworldliness… There are plenty of visual delights… it has been changed by degrees – trimmed in parts (though it still feels long) and given a gothic Grimms’ tales makeover… draws together the intersecting stories, the framing device here is a girl playing with her doll’s house, the latter becoming a miniature setting for the story – as if the action in her little house has come to life after bedtime. It is a Nutcracker kind of twist that is cute but twee… This realism should render them more human and affecting, but they feel slightly featureless and generic instead, while the humorous lines in James Lapine’s book and Sondheim’s sparkling lyrics feels oddly dampened…
The Stage (Dave Fargnoli): …Gilliam and Hausman…a glossy, stylised vision, enlivened with a lively if distinctly skewed sense of fun that wrings every bit of humour from the unlikely, often-grotesque situations its protagonists find themselves in… ambitious if uneven and occasionally thorny… The strong ensemble skilfully handles the tonal jumps from pantomime silliness to melancholy introspection, ensuring their characters, however archetypal, still feel grounded and truthful… Julian Bleach’s sepulchral Mysterious Man…delivering his riddle-filled narration with a delicious twinkle of dark amusement in his eyes… Nicola Hughes brings heaps of charisma to her role as the Witch…Her belting, characterful rendition of Last Midnight is easily the show’s musical highlight.
What’sOnStage (Kris Hallett): …the production is impeccably cast, beautifully designed, and with a couple of moments of sheer wonderment and dazzle, its staging is also overtly busy at times and lacking an emotional core. This is a work that by the end leaves its audience emotionally shattered. It’s currently visually sensational as one would expect from that visual master Gilliam while remaining stand-off-ish in tone… The production is at its purest in the first act when the imagery pops; flowers dropping from the ceiling, Red Riding Hood and Grandma resembling the final imagery from Reservoir Dogs as they are sliced out of the wolf’s stomach. It’s fun and imaginative and Jon Bausor’s picture-book fairytale design is stunningly rendered on the Theatre Royal Bath’s stage… As it gets darker in the second act though, it loses something…
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Reviews for Kinky Boots at Off-Broadway’s Stage 42:
NY Times (Elisabeth Vincentelli):… Callum Francis, who has played the part [Lola] in Britain, Australia and, briefly, on Broadway…is a delight not just as Lola but as her alter ego, Simon — it is hard to tell who the real person is, what real means in this context and whether it even matters. Unlike [Billy] Porter, whose physical intensity often came across as combative swagger, Francis moves with a dancer’s grace, and Lola’s confidence has a slinky playfulness that is especially fun to watch in her early scenes with Charlie (Christian Douglas, whose performance is a little stiff)… Simon’s wounded vulnerability is never too far underneath the glitter and takes center stage in the 11 o’clock power ballad “Hold Me in Your Heart.”
Theatermania (David Gordon): …Fortunately for us, Lola has sashayed her way back to New York City in a downsized edition of Jerry Mitchell’s original production… this off-Broadway revival is no less high than what you would have seen at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on opening night. In fact, with an almost entirely new company, the show is currently in better shape than it was when it closed in 2019… Callum Francis as Lola…is electricity personified. Nicely balancing Lola’s confidence and vulnerability, Francis commands the stage and has the audience in his hand from moment one.
New York Theatre Guide (Diep Tran): …The smaller Stage 42 is actually an asset. You’re close enough to the stage to Lola (an incandescent Callum Francis) and her fellow drag queens (called the Angels), to admire their contouring and to see the fine craftsmanship on their boots… Fierstein has made some changes to the show’s book for this new version, and to reflect changing terminology… It’s a smart cut, as it means Lola is never explaining drag culture to the audience… Callum Francis has played Lola in the West End and on Broadway, so there’s an effortlessness and youthfulness to his portrayal… His Lola is multidimensional…
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BC/EFA‘s annual Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction will take place Sun. Sept. 25 from 10 AM – 7 PM ET in Times Square.
Additional details TBA.
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The world premiere of Rebecca Gilman’s Swing State will run Oct. 7 – Nov. 13 (opening Oct. 17) at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, directed by Robert Falls.
Mary Beth Fisher (Peg), Kirsten Fitzgerald (Sheriff Kris), Anne E. Thompson (Dani), and Bubba Weiler (Ryan), with Jennifer Engstrom, Jessica Ervin, Laura T. Fisher, and Jack Lancaster.
A contemporary portrait of America’s heartland in a time when it feels like everyone’s way of life is in danger of disappearing.
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NYC’s 92Y has announced its upcoming Lyrics & Lyricists season:
California Dreamin’: Jessica Vosk Sings the Songwriters of Laurel Canyon (Nov. 5-7), with music direction by Mary-Mitchell Campbell.
MISS: Broadway’s Women Songwriters (Dec. 10-12), conceived by Georgia Stitt, directed by & starring Kate Baldwin.
An Evening with Kelli O’Hara (Feb. 16)
What’s Going On: Songs of Social Change (Mar. 25-27, 2023), with Warren Adams, Michael O. Mitchell, and more TBA.
Judy on TV: A Celebration of the “Judy Garland Show” (May 6-8), with Billy Stritch and more TBA.
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A live screening of London’s The Seagull, directed by Jamie Lloyd, will take place Sun. Nov. 5 at 3 PM PT at UCLA’s James Bridges Theatre.
Emilia Clarke, Rhys Harries, Daniel Monks, Sophie Wu, and Indira Varma.
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RIP: Scott Barnes, a two-time winner of the MAC Award for Best Director, passed away Aug. 23 following a long illness. He was 68.
Mr. Barnes was a musical theatre aficionado who also knew all of the soprano operatic repertory. He performed in theaters around the country, including those both on and Off-Broadway, later singing in six of the animated Disney films, including “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” and “Pocahontas.” He was also featured in scores of TV commercials and print ads between 1977 and 1990.
Scott later became one of the most sought-after directors in the New York cabaret scene, winning two MAC Awards for Best Director; he was nominated a total of five times. He directed, managed, and publicized the late, legendary cabaret singers Nancy LaMott and Marianne Challis and also produced and/or directed 26 CDs for many of New York’s leading cabaret artists.
As a writer, Mr. Barnes penned dozens of features for Opera News, including cover articles and reviews, as well as opinion pieces on operatic acting, English diction for American singers, and his most unforgettable operatic performances.
Donations in Mr. Barnes’ memory can be made to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
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Video: Lillias White (Hermes) in rehearsal for Broadway’s Hadestown. She begins her run on Sept. 13 at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
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Ins Choi’s Kim’s Convenience will run Sept. 21 – Oct. 9 (opening Sept. 25) at Laguna Playhouse, directed by Lawrence Rivera.
Young Im (Appa), Gavin Lee (Jung), Susane Lee (Janet), Clinton Lowe (Alex), and Janet Song (Umma), with Joe Alanes, Peter Laboy, Pamela Lee Paek, and Chris Yim.
Set in a family-run Korean convenience story, this is a hilarious and heartwarming ode to generations of immigrants. Mr. Kim is a first-generation Korean immigrant and the proud owner of Kim’s Convenience for the past 30 years. Now he’s trying desperately – and hilariously – to grapple with both a changing neighborhood landscape and the chasm between him and his second-generation offspring.
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Video: First look at The Color Purple at DC’s Signature Theatre.
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Second Stage will present Bess Wohl’s Camp Siegfried, which will begin previews Oct. 25 and open Nov. 15 at the Tony Kiser Theater, directed by David Cromer.
Sawyer Barth and Lily McInerny, with Jane Ackermann and Charlie B. Foster.
Set on the cusp of World War II at Long Island’s real-life Camp Siegfried, the play follows two teenagers who find themselves headed towards either young passion or fascist extremism.
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Chicago’s 2022 Jeff Award nominations have been announced.
Click here for the complete list of nominees.
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Philip Barry’s Holiday will run Oct. 7 – Nov. 6 (opening Oct. 13) at DC’s Arena Stage, directed by Anita Maynard-Losh.
John Austin, Rachel Felstein, Todd Scofield, Jamie Smithson, Regina Aquino, Claire Blackwelder, Peter Boyer, Baize Buzan, Bowen Fox, Olivier Hebert, Ahmad Kamal, Emily King Brown, Andrés F. Roa, and Sean Wiberg.
Johnny Case, an up-and-coming Wall Street Lawyer from a working-class family, aspires to quit work and enjoy his life one he’s made enough money to do so. This prospect doesn’t thill his wealthy, will-born fiancée Julia, but excites her more unconventional sister Linda. Can his dreams survive his soon-to-be-bride’s narrow view of affluence?
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Video: Trailer for the live-action “Pinocchio” film, with Tom Hanks and Cynthia Erivo, which premieres Dec. 8 on Disney+
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? Although no official announcement has been named, it appears that a revival of Sweeney Todd may begin in Spring 2023, starring Josh Groban (Sweeney Todd) and Annaleigh Ashford (Mrs. Lovett), directed by Thomas Kail. Stay tuned…
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Lin-Manuel Miranda & John Kander are creating a stage adaptation of Martin Scorsese’s film “New York, New York,” with Susan Stroman on board to direct and choreograph. The musical is planning a Spring 2023 Broadway opening.
The musical will feature Kander & Ebb songs from the film, including the famous title number, with new lyrics by Miranda. David Thompson is on board to write the book.
The plot will reportedly be only loosely based on the film, featuring “a little Scorsese’s storyline. It’s about this city; this social experiment of people from all walks of life. Simply put, it’s about New York with a big band, big cast, and show-stopping dance numbers. The thing to remember is that it’s not the film, it’s a million miles away from the film, just to be clear.
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Rebecca Gilman’s Swing State will run Oct. 7 – Nov. 13 (opening Oct. 16) at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, directed by Robert Falls.
Mary Beth Fisher (Peg), Kirsten Fitzgerald (Sheriff Kris), Anne E. Thompson (Dani), and Bubba Weiler (Ryan), with Jennifer Engstrom, Jessica Ervin, Laura T. Fisher, and Jack Lancaster.
It’s hard to know who your friends are in a world that’s more divided than ever.
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Anna Deavere Smith is writing a new musical, featuring the music from the Ella Fitzgerald songbook, and starring Dee Dee Bridgewater. Work sessions continue through Sept. 21, with a private industry presentation, directed by Philip Wm. McKinley, with choreography by Ellenore Scott.
Dee Dee Bridgewater (Ella) and Charity Angél Dawson (Young Ella), with Saint Aubyn, Angela Birchett, J. Bernard Calloway, Milanis Clark, Crystal Joy, Ken Marks, Jhardon DiShon Milton, Joshua Morgan, Rance Nix, Okwui Okpokwasili, Nick Rehberger, Jessica Rush, Deandre Sevon, and Erica Sweany.