This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, July 11
Oh, Mary, by Cole Escola, directed by Sam Pinkleton, featuring Cole Escola (Mary), Conrad Ricamora (Mary’s Husband), James Scully (Mary’s Teacher), Bianca Leigh (Mary’s Chaperone), and Tony Macht (Mary’s Husband’s Assistant), opens at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre.
The Buddy Holly Story, by Alan Janes, directed & choreographed by Keith Andrews, starring Will Riddle, with Will Riddle (Buddy Holly), Justin Mariel Boyd (trumpet player Tyrone), Will Riddle (Buddy Holly) and Justin Mariel Boyd (Tyrone), with Trent Mills, Elizabeth Curtain, Mia Sempertegui, David Kirk Grant, Janaya Mahealani Jones, Chase Ramsey, Ryan DeNardo, and Lauren Han, opens at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West.
The 16th Annual Summer Playwrights Festival opens at North Hollywood’s Road Theatre Company.
Impact of Dildos on a Funeral, world premiere by Emma J. Latimer, directed byNatasha Renae Potts & Madylin Sweeten Durrie, featuring Xanxan Beneche, Isabella Costa, Matt Lorenzo, Sean Alan Mazur, Ignacio Navarro, Mitch Rosander, Rosie Ryden, and Esteban Vasquez, opens at North Hollywood’s Loft Ensemble.
Saturday, July 12
Broadway Barks, the annual star-studded annual dog and cat adoption event, from 3 – 6:30 PM at Broadway’s Shubert Alley, in support of BCEFA.
Parade, directed by Michael Arden, featuring Max Chernin (Leo Frank), Talia Suskauer (Lucille Frank), Griffin Binnicker (Tom Watson), Evan Harrington (Old Soldier/Judge Roan), Ramone Nelson (Jim Conley), Jack roden (Frankie Epps), Andrew Samonsky (Hugh Dorsey), Chris Shyer (Governor Slaton), Michael Tacconi (Britt Craig), Alison Ewing (Sally Salton), Olivia Goosman (Mary Phagan), Jenny Hickman (Mrs. Phagan), Oluchi Nwaokurie (Mrs. Phagan), Oluchi Waokorie (Angela), Robert Knight (Newt Lee), Rentiss E. Mouton (Riley), Danielle Lee Greaves (Minnie McKnightz), Ben Cherington (Officer Ivey), Emily Rose DeMartino (Essie), Bailee Endbrock (Monteen), Caroline Fairweather (Nurse), Trevor James (Young Soldier),Sophia Manicone (Iola Stover), Trista Moldovan (Nina Formby), Ethan Riordan (Mr. Turner), Brian Vaughn (Luther Rosser/Mr. Peavy), and Jason Simon (Det. Starnes), with William Bishop, Jerquintez A. Gipson, Brianna Javis, Benjamin Magnuson, Jodi Snyder, Eden Witvoet, and Jake Ziman, closes at LA’s Ahmanson Theatre.
Sunday, July 13
Lowcountry, by Abby Rosebrock, directed by Jo Bonney, featuring Jodi Balfour, Keith Kupferer, and Babak Tafti. closes at Off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theatre.
The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical, by Joe Iconis & Gregory S. Moss, directed by Christopher Ashley, featuring Eric William Morris (Hunter S. Thompson), George Abud (Nixon), Darlesia Cearcy (Jann), Giovanny Diaz De Leon (The Kid), Ciovanny Diaz De Leon Loring Lisitza (Virginia), Megh McLeod (Flower Child), George Salazar (Ocar), Ryan Vona (Juan), Tatiana Wechsler (Sandy), Jason SweetTooth Williams (Seadman), and Josiah Cajudo (Puppeteer), with Tzian Coli and Stephen Russell Murray, closes at DC’s Signature Theatre.
Nice Girl, by Melissa Ross, directed by Ann Bronston, featuring Anaïs Fairweather (Jo), Bailey Humiston (Sherry), Jeff Lorch (Donny), and eahl (Francine), closes at LA’s Matrix Theatre.
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West Side Story will run Sept. 20 – Oct. 12 at LA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, directed & choreographed by Jerome Robbins.
Gabriella Reyes (Maria) and Duke Kim (Tony), with more TBA.
Video. Promo
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Dolly Parton & Maria S. Schlatter’s Dolly: A True Original Musical will run Aug. 8 – 31 at Nashville’s Belmont University, directed Bartlett Sher, with choreography by Mandy Moore.
John Behlmann (Carl Dean), Katie Rose Clarke (Dolly Parton), Carrie St. Louis (Dolly) and Quinn Titcomb (Little Dolly), John Zdorjeski (Porter Wagoner), Jacob Fishel (Sandy Galli). Tabitha Lawing (Little Judy Ogle), (Beth Malone (Judy Ogle), and Danny Wolohan (Uncle Bill), with Peri Barnhill, Klea Blackhurst, Sarah Bockel, Jonathan Butler-Duplessis, Joe Carroll, Donald Corren, Ryan Demoville, Olivia Donalson, Sarah Hunt, Ruchir Khazanchi, James Moye, Cole Ragsdale, Maddie Robert, Alex Ross, Josh Canfield, Tiffany Engen, Todd A. Horman, Norah Nunes, and Kathlynn Rodin.
The musical takes us on a journey through the life of this rhinestone in the rough, from her barefoot beginnings in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee to performing in platform heels under the bright lights of Hollywood. Featuring all her beloved hits, including “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” and “9 to 5,” this joyful and moving new musical will take audiences inside the literal rags-to-riches story of Parton and give you new insight into her triumphs, trials, and trailblazing.
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Julia Randall’s Dilaria has been extended through Aug. 8 at Off-Broadway’s DR2 Theatre, directed by Alex Keegan.
Ella Stiller, Chiara Aurelia, and Christopher Briney …. Tessa Albertson begins in the role of George on July 13.
A wealthy young woman named Dilaria who becomes fixated on the onlyne attention a deceased former classmate is receiving. She grapples with her own mortality and the superficiality of slocak media, particularly how death becomes a sourve of online engagement. Her obsession strains her relationships with her best friend and boyfriend.
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Laura & Linda Benanti: Mother Knows Best will run July 16-19 at 7 PM at NYC’s 54 Below, with music direction by Billy Stritch.
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The world premiere of Jac Godfrey’s Rome, Sweet Rome, directed by Ellie Coote, will run Sept. 23 – Oct. 29 at Chicago’s Q Brothers Collective.
Charlie McCullagh, Evelyn Hoskins, Daniel Assetta, Kailin Brown, Devin Cortez, Cameron Anika Hill, Josh Hoon Lee, Minju Michelle Lee, Austin Nelson Jr., Morgan Schoeneker, Lucia Spina, Lucia Spina, Akron Watson, Julia Bain, Lacey Jack, Joshua Messmore, and Luke Nowakowski.
Julius Caesar, torn between conflictin advice from his wife and the colleagues a bout whether to attend the Senate. His Decision, influenced by his ego and superstition, leads him to the Senadte House where he is ultimately assassinated. The play explores themes of ambition, betrayal, and the consequences of unchecked power, all while delivering Shakespeare’s narrative through the energy of 90s hip-hop.
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A staged reading of Roger Q. Mason’s Night Cites will take place Mon. July 14 at 6 PM at Fire Island’s Cherry Gove Community House & Theater (180 Bayview Walk, Cherry Grove, NY, 11782), directed by Karl Hawkins.
J Harrison Ghee, Kalonji Gallmore, Ashton Muñiz, and Kamal Sehrawy.
A young Bayard Rustin—before Civil Rights Movement fame—must choose between his private desires as a queer Black man and his public calling as an agent of social justice and civic change. Set against the vibrant labor movement of the 1930s and 40s, this piece embraces the musicality, dream imagery, and liberation of jazz playwriting to explore one man’s quest for complex humanity in a world that limits who we are to how we can be used for the good of others.