This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, July 12
Ragtime, directed by Michael Lluberes, featuring Ben Cherry (Tateh), Jaden Dominique (Sara), Erin Davie (Mother), Bill English (Father), Clyde Voce (Coalhouse Walker Jr.), Tori Bligen & Gemma Phipps (alternating as Coalhouse Walker III), Greg Bostwick (Harry Houdini/Henry Ford), Kemari Bryant (Harlem Man), Sydney Carmona (Evelyn Nesbit), Richard N. Coleman (Booker T. Washington), Dexter Conlin (Youner Brother), Enaw Elonge (Instrumentalist), Hugo Lloyd (Little Boy), Gabriella Rubacky (Little Girl), Ephraim Takyi (Harlem Man), Crystal Renee Wright (Sarah’s Friend), and Audrey Rose Young (Emma Goldman), opens at Ithica’s Hangar Theatre.
The Road Theatre Company‘s 15th Anniversary Summer Playwrights Festival, opens at North Hollywood’s Road on Magnolia.
The Pitch, by Tom Alper, directed by Louie Liberti, featuring Tom Alper, Albie Selznick, William Warren, Joe Lorenzo, Connor Killeen, Rachel Butera, Chris Cox, Darian Michael Garey, Grant Hall, Isabella Dibernardino, Johnathan R. Freeman, and Katie Silverman, opens at LA’s Odyssey Theatre.
Newsies, directed & choreographed byJeffry Denman, featuring Dillon Klena (Jack Kelly), Monika Peña (Katherine Plummer), David Engel (Joseph Pulitzer), Dominique Kent (Medda Larkin), Tom Avery (Crutchie), Jaylen Baham (Davey), Colton Jackson Hutzley (Les), Taven Blanke (Race), Anthony Cannarella (Elmer), Skylar Gaines (Delancey), David Kirk Grant (Snyder), William Hartery (Jacoby/Roosevelt), Bill Ledesma (Mayor), Darnell Myers (Specs), Shiloh Orr (Seitz), Corey Rieger (Wiesel/Nunzio), Alex Riley (Bunsen), and more, previews at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West.
Festival 2024, offering developmental readings and workshops, opens at MA’s Williamstown Theatre‘s (Click link for details. Too much to post here).
Saturday, July 13
Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie, by David M. Lutken & Nick Corley, directed by Corley, featuring Sam Sherwood (Woody Guthrie), and Helen J. Russell (Actor), with David Finch, and Megan Loomis, opens at Theaterworks Hartford.
Newsies, directed & choreographed byJeffry Denman, featuring Dillon Klena (Jack Kelly), Monika Peña (Katherine Plummer), David Engel (Joseph Pulitzer), Dominique Kent (Medda Larkin), Tom Avery (Crutchie), Jaylen Baham (Davey), Colton Jackson Hutzley (Les), Taven Blanke (Race), Anthony Cannarella (Elmer), Skylar Gaines (Delancey), David Kirk Grant (Snyder), William Hartery (Jacoby/Roosevelt), Bill Ledesma (Mayor), Darnell Myers (Specs), Shiloh Orr (Seitz), Corey Rieger (Wiesel/Nunzio), Alex Riley (Bunsen), and more, opens at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West.
ECHO Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen cold readings, by Nassim Solemanpour, directed by , featuring (rotating each performance) (rotating at every performance): Kathryn Hunter (July 27, evening), Toby Jones (July 27, matinee), Fiona Shaw (July 13), Meera Syal (July 22), and Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka Self Esteem, July 19) were already announced to participate. Newly joining them are Sheila Atim (July 16), Monica Dolan (July 20, matinee), Jessica Gunning (July 25), Jeremy O. Harris (July 18), Adrian Lester (July 17), Nick Mohammed (July 26), Mawaan Rizwan (July 24), Jodie Whittaker (July 23), Benedict Wong (July 15). and more, begins previews at London’s Royal Court Theatre.
David, A New Musical, by Martha Rosenblatt, Gary Glickstein & Al Tapper, directed & choreographed by Kyle Pleasant, featuring Danny Arnold (Saul), Jay Aubrey Jones (Achish), Jacob Louchheim (Jonathan), Caleb Mathura (Solomon), Kenny Morris (Nathan), Timothy Warmen (David), Olivia Vadnais (Michal), and Ethan Zeph (Young David), with Ashley Marie Arnold, Blair Alexis Brown, Bruce Blanchard, Scott Harrison, Garland Ray, and Jodi Snyder, closes at Off-Broadway’s AMT Theatre.
Sunday, July 14
New York Classical Theatre‘s Henry IV, adapted & directed by Stephen Burdman, featuring Nick Salamone (Henry IV), Juan Luis Acevedo (Northumberland/Lord Chief Justice), Ian Antal (Prince Hal), Anique Clements (Poins/Mortimer), Ian Gould (Owen Glendower/Westmoreland), John Michalski (Sir John Falstaff), Carine Montbertrand (Mistress Quickly/Worcester), Nuah Ozryel ( Sir Walter Blount/Pistol), Briana Gibson Reeves (Lady Percy/Bardolph), and Damian Jermaine Thompson (Hotspur/Lancaster), concludes its runs in 3 NYC locations.
The Music Man, directed by Sarah Edwards, featuring Charles Esten (Harold Hill), Nikki Renée Daniels (Marian Paroo), Nick Alvino (Tommy Djilas), Ryan Cavanugh (Marcellus Washburn), E. Clayton Cornielious (Mayor Shinn), Kamie Crum (Zaneeta Shinn), Aaron Gallivan-Stierle (Oliver Hix, Salesman), Michael Greer (Charlie Cowell), Ashley Harmon (Alma Hix), Jenna Kantor (Ethel Toffelmier), Emmett Kent (Winthrop Paroo), Natalie McGovern (Amaryllis), Brady D. Patsy (Ewart Dunlop), Cissy rebich (Mrs. Paroo), Erin Stetor-Seaberg (Maud Dunlop), David Toole (Jacey Squires/Conductor), Joseph Torello (Olin Britt) Lucas Fedele (Salesman), Savannah Lee Birdsong (Mrs. Squires), Rory Prichard (Gracie Shinn, and more, closes at Pittsburgh CLO.
tiny father, by Mike Lew, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, featuring Tiffany Villarin (Caroline) and Maurice Williams (Daniel), closes at LA’s Geffen Playhouse.
The Hope Theory, world premiere written & performed by master illusionist Helder Guimarãese, closes at LA’s Geffen Playhouse.
Eisenhower: This Piece of Land, by Richard Hellesen, directed by Peter Ellenstein, starring John Rubinstein, closes at Santa Barbara’s New Vic.
The Group Rep‘s The Ghee Ghee, world premiere by Suzy London, directed by Kathleen R. Delaney, featuring Diana Angelina (Barbara Kelly), Davino Buzzotta (Trevor Dickson), Mandy Fason (Margaret Kelly), Doug Haverty (Joel Mackson), Cierra Lundy (Angela Donaldson), Jason Madera (Dr. Bennett Kenilworth), Kevin Michael Moran (Kendrick Gold), Helen O’Brien (Roberta Link), Stevie Stern (Dr. Jennifer Atchison) and Cathy Diane Tomlin (Judge Dana Smythe), closes at North Hollywood’s Lonny Chapman Theatre.
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Reviews for Oh, Mary at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre:
New York Times (Jesse Green): Oh, Mary! is “the stupidest play,” Cole Escola, its author and star, tells anyone who will listen. “I have a huge hunger for deep stupidity,” Sam Pinkleton, its director, chimes in. They protest too much. “Oh, Mary!” may be silly, campy, even pointless, but “stupid,” I think not. Rather, the play … is one of the best crafted and most exactingly directed Broadway comedies in years. Which is a surprise on many levels, and on each level a gift. To start with, we don’t get a lot of comedies these days, not the kind you can feel good laughing at… You have to admire the glee and cheek with which Escola mauls American history, drawing humor from the collision of high importance and low piffle, puncturing one while elevating the other…
Chicago Tribune (Chris Jones): “This isn’t the South we’re battling,” says an exasperated Abraham Lincoln to one of his soldiers, “it’s my wife.” Indeed, the massed forces of the Confederacy are no match for Cole Escola’s chaotic version of Mary Todd Lincoln, a wild-eyed wannabe cabaret star marinated in whisky, paint thinner and self-delusion and the star of an uproariously anachronistic summer farce that has arrived on the Main Stem from edgier points downtown… At times, it feels like you are watching an extended “Saturday Night Live” sketch making campy hay by deconstructing early U.S. history and imagining the battles of a closeted gay Abe (not so much of a stretch) and his unhinged spouse (no stretch at all)… But if you spend your entertainment dollar purely on the basis of laughs per minute, this show’s a bargain, given how many howlers roll out from the stage…
Hollywood Reporter (David Rooney): Escola portrays first lady Mary Todd Lincoln as an alcoholic wannabe cabaret star, with Conrad Ricamora as her long-suffering husband and James Scully as her acting coach… Queer alt-comedy in the vein of Oh, Mary! seldom makes it to Broadway, so the arrival of Cole Escola’s downtown theatrical sensation at the Lyceum is cause for Big Gay Jubilation. But if that makes this blissfully absurd rethink of a key moment in American history sound like niche entertainment showing up late for Pride Month, don’t be deceived.
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Max Wolf Friedlich’s JOB will begin previews Mon. July 15 at open July 30 at the Hayes Theater, directed by Michael Herwitz.
Peter Friedman (Lloyd) and Sydney Lemmon (Jane)
Jane, an employee at a big tech company (you know the one), has been placed on leave after becoming the subject of a viral video. She arrives in the office of a crisis therapist – Loyd – determined to be reinstated to the job that gives her life meaning. JOB zooms in on two careerists of different generations, genders, and political paradigms to examine what it means to be a citizen of the internet and our obligation to help the people who need it most.
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Randy Newman’s Faust: The Concert will run Sept. 28-29 at Northridge, CA’s Soraya, narrated by Jordan Temple.
Reeve Carney & Javier Muñoz.
This American retelling of Goethe’s classic story highlights Newman’s signature genius and song-writing wit.
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NJ’s Paper Mill Playhouse will launch a new cabaret series, titled Summer Nights: Front Row Center, all at 8:30 PM. 
973-376-4343
Karen Mason (July 19-20)
Jarran Muse (Aug. 2-3)
Nicholas Rodriguez (Aug. 23-24)
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A benefit performance of Venus and Adonis will take place Sun. Nov. 17 at London’s Marylebone Theatre (link TBA), directed by TBA.
Mark Rylance, Derek Jacobi, and more TBA.
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A Christmas Carol will run Nov. 26 – Dec. 24 at Milwaukee Rep, adapted & directed by Mark Clements, with music direction by Dan Kazemi.
Matt Daniels (Ebenezer Scrooge), Aja Alcaraz (Belle), Jordan Anthony Arredondo (Fred), Mark Corkins (Ghost of Marley), Todd Denning (Ghost of Christmas Present), Kevin Kantor (Ghost of Christmas Past), George Lorimer (Young Scrooge), Reese Madigan (Bob Cratchit), James Pickering (Mr. Fezziwig), Tami Workentin (Mrs. Fezziwig), and more TBA.
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A new film, “The Auction,” inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, written & directed by William Atticus Parker (the real-life son of Mary-Louise Parker and Billy Crudup), is in development. No word yet on a release date.
Audra McDonald, K. Todd Freeman, Mary-Louise Parker, Richard Kind, Ben Vereen, and more TBA.
A fantasy-horror story set in a workplace (further plot details are being kept secret).
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Arlene Hutton’s Blood of the Lamb will run Sept. 14 – Oct. 20 at 59E59 Theaters, directed by Margot Bordelon.
Johanna Day and Meredith Garretson.
A pregnant woman is detained at a Texas airport with the appointed attorney who is assigned to represent her baby in court.
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Theatre Raleigh‘s Bull Durham, A New Musical, by Ron Shelton (writer & director of the “Bull Durham” film) and Susan Werner, will run Sept. 10-22 Raleigh’s Duke University, directed by Marc Bruni, with choreography by Joshua Bergasse, and music supervision by Vadim Feichtner.
Carmen Cusack (Annie Savoy), Nik Walker (Crash Davis), John Behlmann (Ebby Calvin “Nuke” Laloosh), and Ira David Wood III (Uncle Roy Tuck), with more TBA.
The Bull Durham story weaves together baseball and romance as veteran catcher Crash Davis is brought in to mentor rookie pitcher Ebby Calvin “Nuke” Laloosh, while Annie Savoy, the team’s muse, must choose between the two men.
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The New Group‘s production of Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class will run in Winter 2025 (dates TBA) at the Signature Theatre, directed byScott Elliott.
Calista Flockhart, Cooper Hoffman, and Christian Slater, with more TBA.
With their family home on the verge of collapse and the creditors closing in, the Tate family white knuckles to their past, while scratching and clawing their way towards a better future. Told through a contemporary biting lens, this classic story dismantles the American dream in its look at a family fighting to stay alive.
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The world premiere of Clint Dyer & Teddy Abrams’ Ali, will run Apr. 22 – May 18, 2025 at Chicago’s Nederlander Theater, directed by Dyer, with choreography by Rich + Tone Talauega.
Casting and additional information TBA.
The new musical celebrates the life and legacy of the heavyweight boxing champion and humanitarian Muhammad Ali.