This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, July 21
The Negro Ensemble Company’s Unentitled, by Charles White, directed by Florante Galvez, featuring C. Kelly Wright, Justine Hall, Adrain Washington, Ron Scott, and Gil Tucker, previews at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters.
Group Therapy, by Peter Lefcourt, directed by Terri Hanauer, featuring Andy Hoff, Ashley Platz, and Marnina Schon, with Sawyer Fuller and Cat Masterson, previews at North Hollywood’s Theatre 68 Arts Complex.
West Side Story, directed by Rob Ruggiero, featuring Christian Douglas (Tony), Kanisha Feliciano (Maria), Jersha Cavazos (Anita), Yurel Echezarreta (Bernardo), Ken Page (Doc), Kyle Coffman (Riff), Drew Battles (Gladhand), James A. Butz (Officer Krupke), Cedric Leiba, Jr. (Chino), Michael James Reed (Lt. Schrank), Ethan David Zeph (Action), Caylie Rose Newcom (Anybodys), Ethan Van Slyke (Baby John), Daniel Assetta (A-Rab), Tanner Ray Wilson (Big Deal), and RJ Higton (Snowboy), with with Gabriel Amato, Angelica Maria Beliard, Jonathan Bryant, Veronica Sofia Burt, Devin Cortez, Daniela Delahuerta, Abbey Friedmann, Henry Julian Gendron, Yoni Haller, Eloise Kropp, Francis Lawrence, Macy McKown, Natalia Nieves-Melchor, Tatiana Nuñez, Courtney Ortiz, Daniel Pahl, Daniel Powers, Grace Marie Rusnica, and Ronan Ryan, closes at the St. Louis Muny.
Saturday, July 22
The Negro Ensemble Company’s Unentitled, by Charles White, directed by Florante Galvez, featuring C. Kelly Wright, Justine Hall, Adrain Washington, Ron Scott, and Gil Tucker, opens at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters.
Group Therapy, by Peter Lefcourt, directed by Terri Hanauer, featuring Andy Hoff, Ashley Platz, and Marnina Schon, with Sawyer Fuller and Cat Masterson, opens at North Hollywood’s Theatre 68 Arts Complex.
National Theatre Live’s production of James Graham’s The Best of Enemies, directed by Jeremy Herrin, featuring David Harewood and Zachary Quinto, screens at 2 PM at UCLA’s James Bridges Theatre.
School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, by Jocelyn Bioh, directed by Monique Touko, featuring Tara Tijani (Paulina Sarpong), Anna Shaffer (Ericka Boafo), Heather Agyepong (Ama), Bola Akeju (Mercy), Deborah Alli (Eloise Amponsah), Francesca Amewudah-Rivers (Gifty), Jadesola Odunjo (Nana), and Alison A Addo ( Headmistress Francis), closes at London’s Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.
Lucy Arnaz: I GOT THE JOB! Songs From My Musical Past concert closes at NYC’s 54 Below.
Sunday, July 23
No Man’s Land, by Harold Pinter, directed by Les Waters, featuring Austin Pendleton, Jeff Perry, John Hudson Odom, and Samuel Roukin, opens at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre.
Summer Sizzle concert, featuring Nathan Madden and Brenna Yeary, at 7 PM at Venice’s Pacific Resident Theatre.
Camelot adapted by Aaron Sorkin, directed by Bartlett Sher, featuring Andrew Burnap (Arthur), Phillipa Soo (Guenevere), Jordan Donica (Lancelot Du Lac), Dakin Matthews (Merlyn/Pellinore), Taylor Trensch (Mordred), Marilee Talkington (Morgan Le Fey), Anthony Michael Lopez (Sir Dinadan), Fergie Philippe (Sir Sagramore), Danny Wolohan (Sir Lionel) Andrew Burnap (Arthur), Phillipa Soo (as Guenevere), and Jordan Donica (Lancelot Du Lac), with Delphi Borich, Matías De La Flor, Sola Fadiran, Rachel Fairbanks, Nkrumah Gatling, Christian Mark Gibbs, Holly Gould, Monte Greene, Edwin Joseph, Tesia Kwarteng, James Romney, Ann Sanders, Britney Nicole Simpson, Philip Stoddard, Valerie Torres-Rosario, Frank Viveros, and Paul Whitty, closes at Broadway’s Vivian Beaumont Theater.
Life of Pi closes at Broadway’s Schoenfeld Theatre, after 23 previews and 133 regular performances.
Peter Pan Goes Wrong, by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer & Henry Shields, directed by directed by Adam Meggido, featuring \Harry Kershaw, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields, Chris Leask, Ellie Morris, Charlie Russell, Greg Tannahill, and Nancy Zamit, with Matthew Cavendish, Bianca Horn, Ryan Vincent Anderson, Stephen James Anthony, and Brenann Stacker, closes at Broadway’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
2 Pianos 4 Hands, by Ted Dyskstra & Richard Greenblatt, directed by Tom Frey, featuring Jefferson McDonald (Ted) and Matthew McGloin (Richard), closes at Laguna Playhouse.
Call Fosse at the Minskoff solo show, written & performed by Mimi Quillin, directed by Michael Berresse, closes at Vassar College’s Powerhouse Theater.
The Lehman Trilogy, adapted by Ben Power, directed by Carey Perfloff, featuring Firdous Bamji (Mayer Lehman), Joshua David Robinson (Emanuel Lehman), Steven Skybell (Henry Lehman), and Jo LaRocca (Musician), with Kadahj Bennett, Matthew Bretschneider, Todd Brunel, and Scott Wentworth, closes at Boston’s Huntington Theatre.
Dial M for Murder, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher, directed by Walter Bobbie, featuring Mamie Gummer, Rosa Gilmore, Erich Bergen, Max Gordon Moore, and Red Rogers, closes at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre.
The Wizard of Oz, directed by Paige Price, featuring Leianna Weaver (Dorothy Gale), Erik Scott Romney (Scarecrow), Michael James (Tinman), Dedrick Bonner (Cowardly Lion), Sarah Uriarte Berry (Glinda, the Good Witch), Erica Hanrahan (Wicked Witch of the West), Jason Graae (Wizard), and Dennis Holland (Uncle Henry), with Dekontee Tucrkile, Brianna Liddi, David Kirk Grant, TJ Punchard, Jacob Matthews, Taleen Shrikian, Eric Dubreuil, Julia Doty, Allen Lucky Weaver, DarRand Hall, Quintan Craig, Rachael Beard, James dela Cruz, Ameliac Fischer, Savannah Fischer, Faith Graham, Chloe Alyssa Hanser, Becca Last, Catherine Last, Elizabeth Last, Maisie Magdalen Oliveros, and Daniela Somers, closes at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West.
Cinderella, directed by Yvette Lawrence, featuring Camryn Hamm (Ella), Tyler Burk (Topher), Emily King Brown (Madame), Kevin Bailey (Sebastian), Regina Fernandez (Marie), Sarah Hinrichsen (Gabrielle), Kelsie Piini (Charlotte), Frankie Zabilka (Jean-Michel), and Landen Starkaman (Lord Pinkleton), with Georgia Bresnillian, Lucy Bollier, Aaron, Camites, Mary Kate Chapman, Anna Dreslinksi, Lila Dunham, Andrew Ge, Kayla Goldsberry, Matthew San Jose, Bruno Kosskoff, Kailyn Leilani, Sharon Logan, Laufen Lorati, Sammy Linkowski, Rachel McLaughlan, Andrea Pantazis, Luke Prynor, Coby Rogers, Cole Sisser, Joshua Tanenbaum, and Abigail Thompson, closes at CA’s Thousand Oaks’ Kavli Theatre.
Final Interview, by Gabriel Oliva, directed by Katierose Donahue-Enriquez, featuring Colleen Foy, Frank Martinelli, Gabriel Oliva, and Brian Stanton, closes at LA’s Pico Playhouse.
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Reviews for Here Lies Love at Broadway’s Broadway Theatre:
NY Times (Jesse Green): …The infernally catchy songs…will have you clapping whether you want to or not… Because the real star of this show is the astonishing architectural transformation of the theater itself… at the place where irony and meta-messaging form a theatrical-historical knot that can’t be picked apart. Which is why, as you clap, you should probably wonder what for… The confusion of sympathies is just where Byrne and the director Alex Timbers want us… the material steers as far from emotion as possible… Without a vivid inner life to inflect such clichés, it’s hard to wring anything from them except a cringe… Here Lies Love bets that glamour can make up for narrative…
Time Out (Adam Feldman): The groundbreaking, floor-shaking Here Lies Love makes space for itself like no Broadway show ever has… With much of the audience moving throughout the 90-minute show, guided around an ever-shifting set of platforms, it barely feels like it’s in a theater at all… Here Lies Love is ultimately less sweet on its central figure than Evita is on Eva Perón. At first, the opposite seems true: Here Lies Love gets you rooting early on for Imelda and the handsome Ferdinand… It’s not just that she embodies love, but that she will take it down with her when she goes. And the musical grows as it moves forward and the Marcoses embrace corruption, torture and martial law. If the first half enfolds us in Imelda’s love, the second reveals it to be lies. darker…
Theatermania (David Gordon): …this souped-up version of Alex Timbers’s remarkable original production fits effortlessly into the massive Broadway Theatre on 53rd Street… it’s not hyperbole to say that you won’t believe your eyes. I want to live in the brains of Alex Timbers and David Korins… Byrne and longtime director Timbers lean heavily on Peter Nigrini’s all-encompassing, cinematic projections to not just provide historical context, but string together the plot points that aren’t dictated by the largely dialogue-free 85-minute text… This is the rare show that could afford to be expanded… the sound (by M.L. Dogg and Cody Spencer) has a flatness, a result of the music being entirely prerecorded, save for one number at the end… Salonga…not just brings down the house, but stops the show…
Daily Beast (Tim Teeman): Immersive theater should feel participatory and intriguing, but right from the beginning Here Lies Love…feels hectoring—before ultimately becoming a big, baffling Broadway mess… It is important to note that David Korins’ refitted Broadway Theatre looks stunning… But it’s what all the music (by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim), and the get-up-and-dance instruction is in service of that is the offensively under-realized puzzle of Here Lies Love. (And what the hell does the title mean? The musical does not make a persuasive, or even clear, case for it.)… There is a lot of concept and dazzle in Here Lies Love, but not much consideration given to what it’s all for… Sometimes the songs are beyond ridiculous…. The problem that Here Lies Love cannot solve is that this is not a period of history to easily craft a pulsating dance musical around…
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Jacob Yandura & Rebekah Greer Melocik’s How to Dance in Ohio will begin previews Nov. 15 and open Dec. 10 at the Belasco Theatre, directed by Sammi Cannold.
Desmond Edwards (Remy), Amelia Fei (Caroline), Madison Kopec (Marideth), Liam Pearce (Drew), Imani Russell (Mel), Conor Tague (Tommy,) Ashley Wool (Jessica), Haven Burton (Terry), and Darlesia Cearcy (Johanna), with Carlos L Encinias, Nick Gaswirth , Melina Kalomas, Martín Solá, and more TBA.
The piece follows the challenges faced by a group of autistic young adults at a counseling center in Ohio. With the support of clinical psychologist Dr. Emilio Amigo, the center arranges a spring formal dance and encourages them as they encounter love, fear, stress, excitement, and hope, along the path to human connection.
Video: “Building Momentum”
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RIP: Carlin Glynn passed away July 13 after suffering from dementia and cancer. The news was shared by Glynn’s daughter, Mary Stuart Masterson.
“She was the most graceful clumsy person you would ever meet,” writes Masterson of her mother. “Strong, smart, silly, intuitive, kind, generous, passionate, and a deep listener. She was devoted to my father and to the enormous circle of students and collaborators who were considered her chosen family.”
Carlin decided she would become an actor while attending Mirabeau B. Lamar High School, where she served as co-president of the dramatic society with Tommy Tune. Glynn moved to NYC to study at The Actors Studio. She moved back to Houston, where she met local actor Peter Masterson while working with him at the Alley Theatre. They fell in love and were married in 1960. After the birth of their first daughter, Alexandra, the couple relocated to New York City so that Masterson could continue his acting career. Glynn left the business after modest success to raise the couple’s children.
By the mid-1970s, Peter Masterson had re-focused his own career on directing and producing. After reading a non-fiction article about the closing of a surprisingly charming Texas brothel, he began writing the fictional musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in collaboration with the article’s writer, Larry L. King, and Texan songwriter Carol Hall… By the time the musical premiered at Off-Broadway’s Entermedia Theatre in 1978, Glynn’s high school chum Tommy Tune was co-choreographing (with Thommie Walsh) and co-directing with Masterson—a true family affair.
The show turned out to be a surprise hit, moving uptown to Broadway’s 46th Street Theatre after just a few months. The production nabbed seven Tony nominations and two wins.
Whorehouse came along shortly after Glynn had restarted her acting career, having made her big screen debut as Mae Barber in Three Days of the Condor in 1975. She also made memorable appearances in Sixteen Candles and The Trip to Bountiful (directed by Peter Masterson).
Glynn was pre-deceased by husband Masterson in 2018, and is survived by her children Mary Stuart Masterson, Alexandra Masterson, and Peter Masterson, Jr.
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The 2023 Williamstown Theatre Festival continues through Sept. 10.
Too much to post here, click this link for all events.
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Additional casting has been announced for the world premiere of Joe DiPietro’s Sinatra The Musical, to run Sept. 23 – Oct. 28 at the UK’s Birmingham Rep, directed & choreographed by Kathleen Marshall.
Matt Doyle (Frank Sinatra), Ana Villafañe (Ava Gardner), Pheobe Panaretos (Nancy Sinatra), Dawn Buckland (Dolly Sinatra), Vincent Riotta (Marty Sinatra), Carl Patrick (George Evans), Maddy Ambus (Marlene Dietrich), Tyler Orphé Baker (Nat King Cole), Gregory Bernstein (Gene Kelly), Helen Colby (Hedda Hopper), Frances Dee (Judy Garland), Alex Givson-Giorgio (Nelson Riddle), Ryesha Higgs (Billy Holliday), Stevie Hutchinson (Lee Mortimer), Lottie Power (Lana Turner), Spin (Sammy Davis, Jr.), John Stacey (Mitch Miller), and Amelia Connor, Effie Gell & Isla Granville (sharing the role of Little Nancy), with Samara Casteallo and Alastair Crosswell in the ensemble and swing Lindsay Atherton.
The musical is set on New Year’s Eve 1942 as a 27-year-old Italian-American singer is about to step onto the stage of New York’s Paramount Theatre. As Sinatra’s career skyrockets, he struggles with balancing the love of his wife, Nancy, against the demands and temptations of his career. When he begins an affair with Ava Gardner, his records stop selling and the press turns against him, but one of the greatest comebacks in showbiz will follow.
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Virginia Stage has announced its 2023-24 season:
Fiddler on the Roof (Oct. 4-29), directed by Gary John La Rosa.
A Merry Christmas Carol (Jan. 4 – Feb. 11, 2024), adapted by Mark Shanahan
Dial M for Murder (Jan. 24 – Feb. 11), directed by Mark Shanahan.
The Three Musketeers (Mar. 6-24)
Blues for an Alabama Sky (Apt. 17 – May 5), by Pearl Cleage
Lay it Down: The Music of the Everly Brothers (May 8-19), created by & starring Ben Hope and Eric Scott Anthony.
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This year’s Fire Island Dance Festival raised record-breaking funds of $700,572 to benefit Dancers Responding to AIDS.
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Ronnie Marmo & Kitty Bruce’s I’m Not a Comedian… I’m Lenny Bruce will run Aug. 17-19 at Laguna Playhouse, directed by Joe Mantegna.
Ronnie Marmo
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NYC’s 92NY has announced its 2023-24 concert series (all in-person):
An Evening with Audra McDonald (Oct. 12 & 13), with music direction by Andy Einhorn. 
here.
Tales As Old As Time: The Songs of Howard Ashman (Oct. 28-30). Performers TBA. here.
Joshua Henry’s Get Up, Stand Up (Nov. 18). here.
In The Key of Life: The Genius of Stevie Wonder (Dec. 2-4). Performers TBA. here.
Soul Picnic: The Songs and Legacy of Laura Nyro (Mar. 2-4). Performers TBA. here.
An Evening with Stephanie J. Block (Feb. 22). here.
An Evening with Jason Robert Brown (May 9). here.
Wonder of Wonders: Celebrating Sheldon Harnick (June 1-3). here.
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Hadestown has announced casting updates at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
Lillias White has extended her run as Hermes through Feb. 4, 2024
Solea Pfeiffer will being her run as Eurydice on Aug. 15.
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Michael Frayn’s Noises Off will run Sept. 27 – Dec. 16 at Theatre Royal Haymarket, directed by Lindsay Posner.
Felicity Kendal (Dotty), Jonathan Coy (Frederick Fellows), Alexander Hanson (Lloyd Dallas), and more TBA.
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Sanaz Toossi’s ENGLISH will run Aug. 16 – Sept. 17 at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, directed by Shadi Ghaheri.
Auveen Dezgaran (Gol)i,Lilly Heidari (Jennifer – voiceover), Ash Kahn (Omid), Adir Lev Man (Coach – voiceover), Pooya Mohseni (Marian), Sake Namei (Elham), and Xaye Yabandeh (Roya), with Lilly Heidari, Adir Lev Mann, Laurie Shireen Sanii and Golbanoo Setayesh.
“English Only” is the mantra that rules one Iranian classroom where four adults are learning English in preparation for the TOEFL — the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Passing the test might be the key to better opportunities — a green card, medical school admission, or family reunification. Playing out in awkward lessons of word games and mistranslations, ENGLISH is both a comedy of miscommunication and a look at the ways speaking a new language can expand your world and limit your identity.
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Rebekah Greer Melocik & Jacob Yandura’s How to Dance in Ohio will begin previews Nov. 15 and open Dec. 12 at the Belasco Theatre (link TBA), directed by Sammi Cannold with choreography by Mayte Natalio.
(many are autistic): Desmond Edwards (Remy), Amelia Fei (Caroline), Madison Kopec (Marideth), Liam Pearce (Drew), Imani Russell (Mel), Conor Tague (Tommy), and Haven Burton (Terry), andDarlesia Cearcy (Johanna), with Carlos L Encinias, Melina Kalomas, Martín Solá, and more TBA.
A heartfelt new musical about the desire to connect and the courage it takes to put yourself out into the world. At a group counseling center in Columbus, Ohio, seven autistic young adults prepare for a spring formal dance—a challenge that breaks open their routines as they experience love, stress, excitement, and independence. How to Dance in Ohio is a story about people on the cusp of the next phase of their lives, facing down hopes and fears, ready to take a momentous first step…and dance.
Video: Sneak peek at the Syracuse Stage production.