This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, February 11
. 50 Years of Broadway at the Kennedy Center concert, directed by Marc Bruni, hosted by James Monroe Iglehart, and featuring Stephanie J. Block, Alfie Boe, Sierra Boggess, Gavin Creel, Christopher Jackson, LaChanze, Beth Leavel, Norm Lewis, Andrew Rannells, Frances Ruffelle, Vanessa Williams, Tony Yazbeck, and more, opens at the Kennedy Center.
. Dream House, by Eliana Pipe, directed by Laurie Woolery, featuring Darilyn Castillo (Julia), Jacqueline Correa (Patricia), Marianna McClellan (Tessa), with Katie Gonzalez, Kenneth C. Lewis, Blake Lowe, and Shelby Woolridge, opens in person at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre.
A.D. 16, world premiere by Stephen Brackett, directed by Stephen Brackett, featuring Phoenix Best (Mary Magdalene), Ben Fankhauser (Jesus), Kelli Blackwell (Diana), Alan H. Green (Jacob), Jade Jones (Jessica), Jared Loftin (Nicholas), Calvin McCullough (Matthais), Adelina Mitchell (Ruth), Christian Montgomery (Bartimaeus), Da’Von Moody (Simeon), and Chani Wereley (Ester), with Alex De Bard, Sylvern Gromes, RJ Pavel, John Sygar, Kanysha Williams, Tiffany Lyn Royster, and Chris Urquiaga, opens at MD’s Olney Theatre Center.
The Andrews Brothers, by Roger Bean, directed by Jeffrey Polk, featuring David Engel (Max Andrews), Larry Raben (Patrick Andrews), Jonathan Arana (Lawrence Andrews), and Krystle Simmons (Peggy Jones), opens at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West.
Marry Me A Little, directed by Kari Hayter, featuring Katy Tang and Nick Tubbs, opens at Long Beach’s International City 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, begins previews at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.
Love in Hate Nation cast recording, by Joe Iconis, featuring Sydney Farley, Amina Raye, Jasmine Forsberg, Lauren Marcus, Kelly McIntyre, Lena Skeele, Emerson Mae Smith, Ryan Vona, and Tatiana Wechler, released on Ghostlight Records.
Saturday, February 12
This Bitter Earth, by Harrison David Rivers, directed by Gregg T. Daniel, featuring Matthew Hancock (Jesse) and Chase Cargill (Neil), begins streaming at North Hollywood’s Road Theatre Company.
A Ghost Story, by Danny Robbins, directed by Matthew Dunster, featuring Stephanie Beatriz, James Buckley, Elliot Cowan, and Giovanna Fletcher, closes at London’s Gielgud Theatre.
50 Years of Broadway at the Kennedy Center concert, directed by Marc Bruni, hosted by James Monroe Iglehart, and featuring Stephanie J. Block, Alfie Boe, Sierra Boggess, Gavin Creel, Christopher Jackson, LaChanze, Beth Leavel, Norm Lewis, Andrew Rannells, Frances Ruffelle, Vanessa Williams, Tony Yazbeck, and more, closes at the Kennedy Center.
Sunday, February 13
Space Dogs, written & performed by Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire, directed by Ellie Heyman, opens at Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater.
Patti Murin & Seth Rudetsky livestreamed concert at 2 PM ET here.
High School Play: a Nostalgia Fest, by Vichet Chum, directed by Tiffany Nichole Green, featuring Daniel Velasco (Dara), Richard Dávila (Rich), Sabrina Koss (Kailee), Mai Lee (Allison), Melissa Pritchell (Ms. Blow/Mrs. Dimms), Kiaya Scott (Sophie), Jarred Tettey (Paul), and Todd Waite (Dirkson/Mr. Bland), closes at Houston’s Alley Theatre.
Dream House, by Eliana Pipe, directed by Laurie Woolery, featuring Darilyn Castillo (Julia), Jacqueline Correa (Patricia), Marianna McClellan (Tessa), with Katie Gonzalez, Kenneth C. Lewis, Blake Lowe, and Shelby Woolridge, closes in person at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre.
The Spitfire Grill, directed by Steve Steiner, featuring Julia Hoffman (Percy Talbott), Missy McArdle (Hannah Ferguson), Anneliese Moon (Shelby Thorpe), Alex Canty (Caleb Thorpe), Noah Berry (Sheriff Joe Sutter), Sarah Godwin (Effy Krayneck), Grant Brown (The Visitor), and Glen Rovinelli (The Musician), closes at Laguna Playhouse.
Million Dollar Quartet, directed by Tim Seib, featuring Jacob Bartin (Elvis Presley), Steven Lasiter (Johnny Cash), Trevor Dorner (Jerry Lee Lewis), Nathan Burke (Carl Perkins), Sean Casey Flanagan (Sam Phillips), Taylor Kraft (Dyanne), Justin Bendel (Brother Jay), and Jon Rossi (Fluke), closes at CA’s La Mirada Theatre.
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Reviews for The Music Man at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre:
NY Times (Jesse Green): There comes a moment in the latest Broadway production of Meredith Willson’s The Music Man when high spirits, terrific dancing and big stars align in an extended marvel of showbiz salesmanship. Unfortunately, that moment is the curtain call… Until then, the musical…only intermittently offers the joys we expect from a classic revival starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster… The frenzy of love unleashed in that show by Bette Midler [Hello Dolly], has gone missing here, despite all the deluxe trimmings and 42 people onstage. Instead we get an extremely neat, generally perky, overly cautious take on a musical that, being about the con game of love and music, needs more danger in the telling… Jackman mostly suppresses his sharky charisma here… Instead, he seems to see Hill as a character role: a cool manipulator and traveling horndog who in being unprincipled must also be unlovable… As the town librarian who sees through him immediately, Foster does not have that problem; her take on Marian is witty and front-facing throughout. She fully commits to the seriousness but also to the size of the comedy…
Broadway News (Charles Isherwood): …More’s the pity, then, that this undeniably polished production, with its ticket-sales-galvanizing star, Hugh Jackman, proves to be a sadly mechanical, overproduced and overdesigned revival of a musical that needs tender care to allow its undeniable charms to bloom… But the musical, with book, music and — most importantly — lyrics by Meredith Willson, does in fact have the grit of permanence embedded within it… But what’s missing from this production is that elusive thing, the beating heart of a musical that is fundamentally a love story. Instead, there is a lot of busy stage business… Jackman is, as always, a stage wonder. But here his magnetism and dynamism, not inconsiderable heaven knows, get tripped up… unfortunately, his singing is consistently off-pitch and metallic. More disappointingly, he seems to be aiming his performance at the audience in a way that ill suits an artist of his caliber… Sutton Foster sings beautifully, albeit (as has been noted) in lower keys than are traditional… Foster and Zaks have rendered her a sort of zombie… But what’s sorely missing from her performance is the vulnerability — and tenderness…
New York Post (Johnny Oleksinski): …The Music Man, I’m sorry to say, does not live up to our oversize expectations. Quite unexpectedly, you leave not raving about Jackman, one of Broadway’s hottest sellers, but the music woman — Sutton Foster, who plays Marian “The Librarian” Paroo. She’s a wonder and the main reason to buy a ticket… Hers is as thoughtful, funny, threatening, witty, maternal and romantic a Marian as you’ve ever seen… Sometimes the show is dark and moody, determined not to have too much fun with a story about a con artist who wins in the end despite his misdeeds… The friendly opening night crowd was not sure when to laugh at the jokes, and that’s a major problem for a musical comedy… “Ya Got Trouble” and, say it ain’t so, “Seventy-Six Trombones” are jarringly ho-hum here. The whole first act meanders to a fizzle.
Hollywood Reporter (Frank Scheck): …The production seems not so much a theatrical enterprise as a public service, if you redefine public service to mean having to pay hundreds of dollars for a seat… Jackman has the audience in the palm of his hand. And when Sutton finally gets to shed her character’s decorousness and let loose her tremendous dancing chops, there’s definitely no more trouble in River City… Unlike Robert Preston… he (Jackman) never seems very larcenous… many of the songs aren’t really suited for her (Foster)… When her Marian finally succumbs to Hill’s charms, it seems less like he seduced her than the other way around… a bounty of riches in the cast, with many of the supporting players seeming almost too qualified for their roles… Carlyle’s choreography is in most cases more vigorous than memorable…
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Beetlejuice will return to the Marquis Theatre on Fri. Apr. 8, directed by Alex Timbers.
(returning): Alex Brightman, Kerry Butler, David Josefsberg, Adam Dannheisser, Leslie Rodruguez Kritzer, Kelvin Moon Loh, Danny Ruftigliano, and Dana Steingold.
(new): Elizabeth Teeter, Michelle Aravena, Zonya Love, Kate Bailey, Will Blum, Ryan Breslin, Natalie Charle Ellis, Brooke Engen, Eric Anthony Johnsoon, Andrew Kober, Elliott Mattox, Mateo Melendez, Ramone Owens, Commodore C. Primous III, Nevada Riley, and Graham Stevens.
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Broadway World‘s (link TBA) new 6-episode web series, “The Aging Ingenue,” written by Sara Jean Ford & Cameron Dingwall, will premiere on Wed. Feb. 16, with new episodes released every Wed., directed by Dingwall.
Sara Jean Ford, Vishal Vaidya Ashley Blanchet, Will Reynolds, and Daniel Gaymon.
Claire is a Broadway starlet all grown up, struggling to navigate her new reality as an aging actor and mother, all while singing songs that she is far too old to sing.
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NY’s Hudson Valley Shakespeare has announced its 2022 Summer Season (dates TBA):
Romeo & Juliet, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, featuring Kurt Rhoads and Nance Williamson. An age-blind production.
Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, by Anne Washburn, directed by Davis McCallum, with music by Michael Friedman. The play imagines American society following the failure of the electric grid.
Where We Belong, by Madeline Sayet, directed by Mei Ann Teo. The solo play follows a Sayet, a Mohegan theater-maker, who travels to England to study Shakespeare and uncovers the intertwined relationship between Shakespeare and colonialism.
Untitled Agatha Project developmental workshop by Heidi Armbruster.
. Memmon developmental workshop by Will Power, directed by Carl Cofield.
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Complete casting has been announced for Funny Girl, which will begin previews Mar. 26 and open Apr. 24 at the August Wilson Theatre, with a revised book by Harvey Fierstein, directed by Michael Mayer, with choreography by Ellenore Scott, tap choreography by Ayodele Casel, and music direction by Michael Rafter.
Beanie Feldstein (Fanny Brice), Ramin Karimloo (Nicky Arnstein), Jane Lynch (Mrs. Brice), Peter Francis James (Florenz Ziegfeld), Ephie Aardema (Emma/Mrs. Nadler), Debra Cardona (Mrs. Meeker), Toni DiBuono (Mrs. Strakosh), Martin Moran (Tom Keeney), and Julie Benko (Fanny Brice Standby), with Amber Ardolino, Daniel Beeman, Colin Bradbury, Kurt Thomas Csolak, Leslie Donna Flesner, Afra Hines, Masumi Iwai, Aliah James, Jeremiah James, Danielle, Kesley, Stephen Mark Lukas, Alicia Hadiya Lundgren, John Thomas Manzari, Liz McCartney, Katie Mitchell, Justin Prescott, Mariah Reives, and Leslie Blake Walker.
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Manhattan Theatre Club‘s production of Joshua Harmon’s Prayer for the French Republic has been extended through Mar. 13 at NY City Center, directed by David Cromer.
Betsy Aidem, Ari Brand, Pierre Epstein, Peyton Lusk, Molly Ranson, Nancy Robinette, Jeff Seymour, Kenneth Tigar, and Richard Topol.
The play begins in 1944 with a Jewish couple awaiting news of their missing family and examines questions of history, home, and the effects of ancient hatred of the couple and their descendants.
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Manhattan Theatre Club‘s Spring Gala will take place Mon. May 23 at 7 PM ET at NYC’s Cipriani’s.
Honorees, performers, and additional information TBA.
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Huntington Theatre (link TBA) will present Enda Walsh & Gary Clark’s Sing Street Aug. 26 – oct. 2 at Boston’s Calderwood Pavilion, directed by Rebecca Taichman, with choreography by Sonya Tayeh.
Casting TBA.
Conor is a sixteen-year-old boy who forms a band to impress a girl, as he comes of age in 1982 Dublin during tough times.
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Cincinnati Playhouse has announced its 2022-23 season:
Murder on the Orient Express (Sept. 25 – Oct. 23), adapted by Ken Ludwig, directed by Risa Brainin.
Frida…A Self Portrait (Oct. 15 – Nov. 6), written & performed by Vanessa Severo, directed by Joanie Schultz.
The Lion (Nov. 12 – Dec. 4), directed by Sean Daniels & Alex Stenhouse. An intimate musical tale about one man’s courage and the redemptive power of music.
A Chorus Line (Mar. 11 – Apr. 14 2023), directed by Blake Robison
The Chinese Lady (Mar. 25 – Apr. 30), by Lloyd Suh.
Seven Guitars (Apr. 22 – May 14), by August Wilson, directed by Ron “OJ” Parson.
Origin Story (May 20 – June 25), by Nathan Alan Davis, directed by Joanie Schultz. Margaret finds herself in a quarter-life crisis while working two jobs to pay down her debt.
Shane (June 3-25), by Karen Zacarías, directed by Blake Robison. Shane, an experienced ex-gunfighter, is a man with a dangerous past.
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. The world premiere of “Ensemble” will premiere Mar. 11 on Broadway OnDemand, directed by Pierre Marais, choreographed by Karla Puno Garcia, and moderated by Mo Brady.
Cameron Adams, Aaron J. Albano, Stephanie Bissonette, Gaby Gamache, Karla Puno Garcia, David Guzman, Jacob Guzman, Sasha Hutchings, James. T. Lane, iris menas, Khori Michelle Petinaud, Emilio Ramos, and Megan Sikora.
A behind-the-scenes look at cast members from the biggest hits on Broadway as they come out of isolation to examine their love of performing and how they can be the change they want to see in the world and in the industry they love.
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Sara Jean Ford & Cameron Dingwall’s “The Aging Ingenue,” Broadway World’s new 6-episode web series, will launch Wed. Feb 16 here, directed by Dingwall. New episodes will be released every Wednesday.
Sara Jean Ford, Vishal Vaidya, Ashley Blanchet, Will Reynolds, and Daniel Gaymon.
The story of Claire, a Broadway starlet all grown up, who struggles to navigate her new reality as an aging actor & mother – all while singing songs that she’s far too old to sing.