This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, July 30
School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, by Jocelyn Bioh, directed by Lili-Anne Brown, featuring Adia Alli (Gifty), Kyrie Courter (Ericka Boafo), Ashley Crowe (Nana), Ciera Dawn (Paulina Sarpong), Tiffany Renee Johnson (Mercy), Adhana Reid (Ama), Tania Richard (Headmistress Francis), and Lanise Antoine Shelley (Eloise Amponsah), begins previews at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.
Saturday, July 31
Carousel, directed by Joanna Bowman, featuring Carly Bawden (Julie Jordan), Declan Bennett (Billy Bigelow), Christina Modestou (Carrie Pipperidge), John Pfumojena (Enoch Snow), Joanna Riding (Nettie Fowler), Natasha May Thomas (Louise Bigelow), Brendan Charleson (Mr. Bascombe), Joe Eaton-Kent (Mrs. Mullin), Sam Mackay (Jigger Craigin), and Ediz Mahmut (Young Enoch), with Chanelle Anthony Craig Armstrong, William Atkinson, Shay Barclay, Sarah Benbelaid, Madeline Charlemagne, Freya Field, Sebastian Goffin, Amie Hibbert, Tim Hodges, Lukas Hunt, Tessa Kadler, Lindsay McAllister, Matthew McKenna, Jack Mitchell, Charlotte Riby, Lisa Ritchie, and Daisy West, opens at London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
Austen’s Pride gala outdoor concert presentation, by Linda Warren Baker & Amanda Jacobs, featuring Mamie Parris, Bobby Conte Thornton, and Olivia Hernandez, at 6 PM ET on the lawn at MA’s Cape Playhouse.
Milwaukee Rep‘s The Three Divas FREE outdoor concert, featuring Nova Y. Payton, Alexis J. Roston, and Bethany Thomas, at 7 PM CT at a local Milwaukee location.
seven methods of killing kylie jenner, by Jasmine Lee-Jones, directed by Milli Bhatia, featuring Tia Bannon and Leanne Henlon, closes at London’s Royal Court Theatre.
Laughing Wild, by Christopher Durang, directed by Jade King Carroll, featuring Dan Butler and Mary Bacon, concludes streaming at VT’s Dorset Theatre Festival.
Emily Skinner: A Broad with a Broad Broad Mind concert closes at 54 Below.
Sunday, August 1
Charmed Life, written by & starring Lori Brown Mirabal, directed by Vincent Scott, closes at Off-Broadway’s Urban Stages.
Smokey Joe’s Cafe, directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, featuring Charl Brown, Michael Campayno, Mykal Kilgore, Tiffany Mann, Haley Podschun, Dee Roscioli, Christopher Sams, Nasia Thomas, and Jason Veasey, closes at the St. Louis Muny.
Judgement Day, by Rob Ulin, directed by Matthew Penn, featuring Patti LuPone, Jason Alexander, Santino Fontana, and Michael McKean, with Loretta Devine, Josh Johnston, Bianca LaVerne Jones, Julian Emile Lerner, Justina Machado, Carol Mansell, Michael Mastro, and Elizabeth Stanley, concludes streaming on demand at Barrington Stage Company.
Johnny and the Devil’s Box outdoor concert, by Douglas Waterbury-Tieman, featuring Douglas Waterbury-Tieman and Annabelle Fox, closes at CT’s Goodspeed Musicals.
New Faces Sing Broadway 1979 concert, directed by Brianna Borger, featuring Micah Beauvais, Adia Bell, Chloe Belongilot, Wesly Anthony Clergé, Haley Gustafson, Drew Mitchell, Mia Nevarez, Larua Quiñones, Christopher Ratliff, and Nathe Rowbotham, concludes streaming at Chicago’s Porchlight Music Theatre.
Summer Playwrights Festival 12, offering play readings, concludes streaming at North Hollywood’s Road Theatre Company.
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Video: Stars in the House, a SIX encore presentation, with Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss, along with cast members Anna Uzele, Sam Pauly, Britt Mack, Abby Mueller, Andrea Macasaet, and Adrianna Hicks, joined by special guests Keala Settle and Christopher Jackson. (1:18:25)
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Complete casting has been announced for the return of Hamilton on Sept. 14 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
Miguel Cervantes (Alexander Hamilton), Krystal Joy Brown (Eliza Hamilton), Mandy Gonzalez (Angelica Schuyler), Tamar Greene (George Washington), Jin Ha (Aaron Burr), James Monroe Iglehart (Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson), Euan Morton (King George III), Fergie L. Philippe (Hercules Mulligan/James Madison), Aubin Wise (Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds), and Daniel Yearwood (John Laurens/Philip Hamilton), with Amber Ardolino, Giuseppe Bausilio, Lauren Boyd, Amanda Braun, Erin Elizabeth Clemons, Marc delaCruz, Alexander Ferguson, Jennifer Geller, Christina Glur, Shonica Gooden, Deon’te Goodman, David Guzman, Jennie Harney-Fleming, Thayne Jasperson, Roddy Kennedy, Malik Shabazz Kitchen, Eddy Lee, Johanna Moise, Justice Moore, Preston Mui, Antuan Magic Raimone, Willie Smith III, Gabriella Sorrentino, Gregory Treco, Robert Walters, and Ta-Tynisa Wilson.
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A staged reading of Brent Askari’s Andy Warhol in Iran will take place Sun. Aug. 22 at 8 PM ET at MA’s Barrington Stage, directed by Reginal L. Douglas.
Anthony Rapp and Afsheen Misaghi.
In 1976, Andy Warhol, having re-invented himself as the portrait painter of the rick and famous, traveled to Tehran to take photographs of the Shah of Iran’s wife, the Empress Farah Pahlavi, only to encounter a young revolutionary who throws his plans into turmoil.
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Dori Berinstein’s “The Show Must Go On” will premiere Mon. Aug. 9 at 6:30 PM ET at Broadway’s Majestic Theatre, in support of The Actors Fund.
In the wake of the global pandemic, the documentary chronicles the race against time to save live theater, and focuses in on some of the theater makers determined to win it. In March of 2020 and for the first time in history in every country except one: South Korea. From the frontlines in Seoul, this film follows a company of artists involved in two theatrical productions – the World Tour of The Phantom of the Opera and the South Korean Tour of Cats – two of the productions that pushed ahead safely during the pandemic and helped show the way forward. And a continent away in the UK, the film simultaneously follows Andrew Lloyd Webber as he uses the example set by his Korean colleagues to fight for theater’s future on the West End and beyond. The film chronicles the survival of the performing arts and the worldwide resuscitation of an artform with the fate of a global industry at stake. But more importantly, the film tells a human story – one of the resilience of storytellers and their determination to come together to heal, create, and inspire.
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Lincoln Center presents Restart Stages, to run this summer at on the Hearst Plaza. Below is the first event in the series.
Dark Disabled Stories (Aug. 5 at 7 PM ET), written by & starring Ryan J. Haddad, directed by Jordan Fein. Free tickets available through the TodayTix lottery.
What do a crosstown bus, a bathroom stall, and Gramercy Park have in common? Not very much. But they’re all places where write & performer Ryan J. Haddad must face the messy contradictions of his proudly disabled life. There’s not always a punchline, darlings, and the truth is often more complicated than the empowered narratives we create for ourselves. This piece is comprised of stirring vignettes about the strangers he encounters while navigating a city (and a world) not built for his walker and cerebral palsy.
Click here for additional events in the series.
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“Doris Dear’s Christmas in July” continues through July 31 on Broadway On Demand.
Blake Allen, Lina Koutrakos, Benny Benack III, Karen Mason, Amra Faye Wright, Lisa Yaeger, Sean Harkness, and Kristina Nicole Miller.
Join Doris and friends in the holiday Rumpus Room for an evening full of stories and songs from holidays past and present.
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“Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I created Sunday In The Park With George“ will stream Tue. Aug. 3 at 7 PM ET at NYC’s Town Hall, moderated by Christine Baranski.
Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine, Mandy Patinkin, and Bernadette Peters.
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Seattle Rep has announced its 2021- 22 season:
The Winter’s Tale (Dec. dates TBA), musical adaptation by Todd Almond & Lear deBessonet, directed by Desdemona Chiang.
Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer (Jan. 14 – Feb. 6, 2022), by Cheryl L. West, directed by Henry Godinez.
The captivating story of one of the most powerful female voices of the civil and voting rights movement.
Freestyle Love Supreme (Feb. 16 – Mar. 13), directed by Thomas Kail.
Teenage Dick (Mar. 4 – Apr. 3), by Mike Lew, directed by Malika Oyetimein.
A satirical retelling of Richard III, re-imagined as a 16-year-old outsider.
Ghosts (Apr. 1 – May 2), newly translated by Paul Walsh, directed by Carey Perloff.
Selling Kabul (Apr. 22 – May 22), by Sylvia Khoury.
A deeply moving story about the consequences of collaboration with the enemy.
Bruce (May 27 – June 26), world premiere by Robert Taylor & Richard Oberacker, directed by Donna Feore.
In 1974, a virtually unknown 26-year-old director set out to film a best-selling n ovel. Invading a sleepy fishing island off Cape Cod to shoot on the open ocean, he battle weather, water, hostile locals, an exploding budget, endless delays, and a highly dysfunctional mechanical star named Bruce. Base the “Jaws Log” by Carl Gottlieb.
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Choreographer Graciela Daniele will receive a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre at the 74 annual ceremony.
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54 Below has announced upcoming concerts:
Bree Lowdermilk & Friends (Aug. 3-4 at 9:45 PM ET), with special guests Kait Kerrigan, Zach Altman, Charity Angél Dawson, Zoe Jensen, Krystina Alabado, Danny Harris Kornfeld, Sav Souza, and Cory Wade.
here.
Antonio Cipriano: Nostalgia (Aug. 5 at 9:45 PM ET).
here.
Andre De Shields: Back by Popular Demand (Aug. 7 at 7 PM ET), with music direction by Sean Mayes, and special guests Kimberly Marable, Lori Tishfield, and Freida Williams.
here.
Livestream only!
Liz Callaway: Comin’ Round Again (Aug. 8-9 at 7 PM ET).
here.
Both concerts are live, but the Aug. 9 concert is also available for streaming.
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Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem will return Apr. 6 – Aug. 6, 2022 (opening Apr. 28) at the Apollo Theatre, directed by Ian Rickson.
Mark Rylance (Jonny “Rooster” Byron) and Mackenzie Crook (Ginger), with more TBA.
On St. George’s Day, the morning of the local county fair, Johnny Bryon is a wanted man. The Council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his son wants his dad to take him to the fair, Troy Whitworth wants to wreak his revenge, and a motley crew of mates wans his ample supply of drugs and alcohol.
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“On Broadway” documentary created & directed by Oren Jacoby, will be open Aug. 20 in NYC and Aug. 27 in Los Angeles, prior to a national rollout.
Hugh Jackman, Helen Mirren, George C. Wolfe, Ian McKellen, Christine Baranski, Alec Baldwin, August Wilson, Hal Prince, James Corden, John Lithgow, Tommy Tune, Alexandra Billings, David Henry Hwang, Oskar Eustis, Nicholas Hytner, Jack O’Brien, Daniel Sullivan, Trevor Nunn, Julie Taymor, Sonia Friedman, Jeffrey Seller, and Tony Kushner.
The film chronicles how Broadaway, on the verge of bankruptcy in the ’70s, avoided collapse and reinvented itself.
Trailer, with Hugh Jackman, Helen Mirren, George C. Wolfe, Ian McKellen, Christine Baranski, Alec Baldwin.
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International City Theatre presents Wendy Graf’s Closely Related Keys Aug. 25 – Sept. 12 (opening Aug. 27) at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, directed by Saundra McClain.
Oscar Best, Sydney A. Mason, Mehrnaz Mohammadi, Nick Molari, and Adrian Mohamed Tafesh.
Living in New York shortly after September 11, Julia Dolan is an up-and-coming corporate attorney whose carefully constructed life begins to crumble when she lears she has a half-sister – a Muslim who has fled Iraq. Neyla plays the violin and wants to audition for Julliard, but Julia is wary. Is there more to Neyla’s story? The play
reminds us, on the 20th anniversary of that pivotal event, how living in a climate of racial, religious, moral and political polarization can cause us to put up walls on a personal level.
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Celebrity Autobiography, which features an all-star cast reading hilarious passages from other stars’ memoirs, will take place Sun. Aug. 22 at 7:30 PM ET at Long Island’s Southampton Arts Center.
Christie Brinkley, Matthew Broderick, Susan Lucci, Ralph Macchio, Eugene Pack and Dayle Reyfel.
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Jersey Boys is back at the newly refurbished Trafalgar Theatre through Jan. 2, 2022.
Ben Joyce (Frankie Valli), Adam Bailey (Bob Gaudio), Benjamin Yates (Tommy DeVito), Karl James (Nick Massi), Ben Irish (Bob Crewe), Mark Isherwood (Gyp de Carlo), Koko Basigara (Lorraine), Melanie Bright (Mary Delgado), Carl Douglas (Norm/Hank), Matteo Johnson (Joe Pesci), Jacob McIntosh (Barry Belson), and Helen Ternent (Francine), with Elliot Allinson, Jack Campbell, Huon Mackley, Bonnie Page, and Andy Smith.
