This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, June 4
BKLYN The Musical, by Mark Schoenfeld & Barri McPherson, directed by Meg Fofonoff, featuring Diana DeGarmo (Brooklyn), Miguel Cervantes (Taylor), Taylor Iman Jone (Faith), Quentin Earl Darrington (Streetsinger), and Felicia Boswell (Paradice), with Thom Sesma, Nick Cearley and Lauren Molina, begins streaming on demand here.
I 
The 5th Gala, featuring Kataka “Kat” Corn, Cayman Ilika, Rheanna Atendido, Andi Alhadeff, Rico Lastrapes, Richardl Peacock, Taylor Niemeyer, and Richard Gra, streams for FREE at 7 PM PT at Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theatre.
Broadway Stories & Songs with Ted Sperling & Friends, with special guest Victoria Clark, streams at 8 PM ET here.
Melissa Errico: Ladies of the Playhouse live concert, at 8 PM ET at PA’s Bucks County Playhouse.
Stars in the House, a “Kate & Allie” reunion, with special guests Susan Saint James, Jane Curtin, Frederick Koehler, Alison Smith, Ari Meyers, and director Bill Perskey, streams for FREE at 8 PM ET here.
42nd Street (the recent West End production), in support of BC/EFA, featuring Tom Lister (Julian Marsh), Philip Bertioli (Billy Lawlor), Clare Halse (Peggy Sawyer), Bonnie Langford (Dorothy Brock), Jasna Ivir (Maggie Jones), Christopher Howell (Bert Barry), Matthew Goodgame (Pat Denning), Graeme Henderson (Andy Lee), Bruce Montague (Abner Dillon), Mark McKerracher (Mac/Doc/Thug), Emma Caffrey (Annie), Ella Martine (Lorraine), Clare Rickard (Phyllis), and Paul Knight (Oscar), streams at 2 PM ET (and available through June 6) here.
Saturday, June 5
Becoming Dr. Ruth, by Mark St. Germain, directed by David Ellenstein, starring Tovah Feldshuh, opens in person at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre.
Oso Fabuloso & The Bear Backs!, by C. Julian Jiménez & P.K. Variance, with music direction by Variance, featuring C. Julian Jiménez, Joseph Distl, Vasilios Leon, and P.K. Variance, opens in person on an outdoor stage in front of Off-Broadway’s Intar Theatre (500 W. 52nd St.)
Broadway Stories & Songs with Ted Sperling & Friends, with special guest Victoria Clark, streams at 2 PM ET here.
OVATION: Imagine Gala, featuring Tom Hanks, The Avett Brothers, John Gallagher, Jr. Raúl Esparza, Amber Iman, and Kuhoo Verma, streams for FREE at 6:30 PM PT CA’s Berkeley Rep.
First Time in Forever benefit concert, featuring Jessica Vosk, Kyle Dean Massey, and Taylor Frey, streams at 7 PM PT here.
Music, Song, and Celebration: A Sondheim Cabaret, a benefit hosted by Jason Graae, with special guest Camryn Manheim, and featuring Dana Jackson, Carolyn Mignini, Martha Hackett, Mary VanArsdel, Lesley Fera, Michael Tulin, Jason Downs, Steve Vinovich, and Robert Bailey, streams for FREE at 5 PM PT/8 PM ET (pre-show party begins at 4 PM PT/7 PM ET) at CA’s Pacific Resident Theatre.
Spring Celebration, hosted by Britney Mack, featuring Anna Deavere Smith, Sara Bareilles, Gavin Creel, Jack Noseworthy, Sergio Truillo, Todd Almond, Brandon Michael Nase, Claudia Rankine, Bill Rauch, and Julia Riew, Abbie Sage, streams for FREE at 7:30 PM at Cambridge’s A.R.T.
Stars in the House, an Aida reunion, with special guests Lillias White, Audra McDonald, Heather Headley, Darius deHaas, Norm Lewis, Tamara Tunie, and Brenda Braxton, streams for FREE at 8 PM ET here.
“Broadway Profiles with Tamsen Fadal,” with special guests Lin Manuel Miranda, Alfred Molina, Anthony Ramos, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jimmy Smits, and Olga Merediz, airs here (check local listings for times) and also tomorrow.
We Have to Hurry, by Dorothy Lyman, directed by Patricia Vanstone, starring Alfred Molina and Dorothy Lyman, streams at 8 PM ET on BroadwayOnDemand. (also June 6 at 3 PM ET).
“Andrea Boccelli: Believe” concert airs at 9 PM ET/PT on PBS (check local listings).
Sunday, June 6
Moonlighters filmed production, by Cin Martinez, directed by Jenn Thompson, featuring Janet Dacal, Herbert Newsome, Maribel Martinez, Julian Remulla, and Monica Rae Summers Gonzalez, begins streaming on demand at TheaterWorks Hartford.
“The 43rd Annual Kennedy Center Honors,” celebrating Debbie Allen, Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, Midori, and Dick Van Dyke, airs at 8 PM on CBS.
We Have to Hurry, by Dorothy Lyman, starring Alfred Molina and Dorothy Lyman, streams at 3 PM ET on BroadwayOnDemand.
BKLYN The Musical, by Mark Schoenfeld & Barri McPherson, directed by Meg Fofonoff, featuring Diana DeGarmo (Brooklyn), Miguel Cervantes (Taylor), Taylor Iman Jone (Faith), Quentin Earl Darrington (Streetsinger), and Felicia Boswell (Paradice), with Thom Sesma, Nick Cearley and Lauren Molina, concludes streaming on demand here.
42nd Street (the recent West End production), in support of BC/EFA, featuring Tom Lister (Julian Marsh), Philip Bertioli (Billy Lawlor), Clare Halse (Peggy Sawyer), Bonnie Langford (Dorothy Brock), Jasna Ivir (Maggie Jones), Christopher Howell (Bert Barry), Matthew Goodgame (Pat Denning), Graeme Henderson (Andy Lee), Bruce Montague (Abner Dillon), Mark McKerracher (Mac/Doc/Thug), Emma Caffrey (Annie), Ella Martine (Lorraine), Clare Rickard (Phyllis), and Paul Knight (Oscar), concludes streaming here.
The Show Must Go On! Live at the Palace Theatre, featuring Aisa Jawando (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical), Zizi Strallen (Mary Poppins), Alice Fearn (Come From Away), Olly Dobson (Back to the Future), Aimie Atkinson (Pretty Woman), and more, concludes FREE streaming here.
**********************
Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ will return to Broadway in the 2022-23 season, 40 years and 1,774 performances after the original production closed in 1982. The new production will be directed by Wayne Cilento.
A pre-Broadway engagement is planned, and will be announced later. Casting and additional information TBA.
**********************
& 
Manhattan Theatre Club presents its annual gala, NYC 
MTC, to stream Thurs. June 10 at 7 PM ET (and available through June 14 at 7 PM ET).
Lewis Black, Gale A. Brewer, Mark Brokaw, Blair Brown, David Cromer, Fiona Davis, Edie Falco, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Darren Goldstein, Rupert Goold, James Graham, Anchuli Felicia King, Tom Kirdahy, Nathan Lane, Ayodele Maakheru, Junior Mack, Eden Marryshow, Bryonha Marie Parham, Mary-Louise Parker, Debra Jo Rupp, Ruben Santiago Hudson, Benjamin Scheuer, Simon Stephens, R.L. Stine, Paco Tolson, Roma Torre, Meredith Biera, Jason Michael Webb, Richard Wesley, Florian Zeller, and more.
AUCTION: View all available items here.
**********************
& 
The Broadway Flea Market and Grand Auction, in support of BCEFA, will take place in person on Sun. Oct. 3.
Details, including participating tables, auction lots, special guests, times, etc. are TBA.
**********************
A reading of Ben Jonson’s Volpone, Or The Fox will livestream Mon. June 14 at 7:30 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater, adapted & directed by Jesse Berger.
André De Shields, Jordan Boatman, Sofia Cheyenne, Franchelle Stewart Dorn, Clifton Duncan, Amy Jo Jackson, Peter Francis James, Hamish Linklater, Roberta Maxwell, Sam Morales, Kristine Nielsen, Mary Testa, and Shannon Wicks.
Meet Volpone, the rich old magnifico, whose ingenious schemes and farcical scams dupe his wealthy friends into showering him with gold. This feast of extraordinary language and outrageous characters is a merciless satire that delightfully skewers the selfish manipulations of hypocrites – without excusing the greed and gullibility of their victims. Again scoundrels cloaked in propriety and legal dodgings, the virtuous are practically defenseless – and even the judge is in on the make. Is Volpone the sly fox…or the outfoxed?
**********************
MCC Theater has announced its 2021-22 season:
Nollywood Dreams (Oc.-Nov. dates TBA), by Jocelyn Bioh, directed by Saheem Ali. It’s the 1990s and in Lagos, Nigeria, the Nollywood film industry is exploding and taking the world my storm. Ayamma dreams of stardom while working at her parents’ travel agency alongside her love and celebrity-obsessed sister Dede. When Ayamma lands an audition for a new film by Gbenga Ezie, Nigeria’s hottest director, she comes head-to-head with Gbenga’s former leading lady, Fayola. Tension flare just as sparks start flying between Ayamma, the aspiring ingenue, and Wale, Nollywood’s biggest heartthrob.
Space Dogs (Jan. – Feb., 2022 dates TBA), written & performed by Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire. The heartbreaking, mind-blowing true story of Laika and the Chief Designer – a stray dog and the top-secret Russian scientist who sent her to space during the Cold War.
Here She Is, Boys (Apr. – May), by Ana Nogueira, directed by Mike Donahue. The year is 2015 and Jeff and Judy are right where they’re supposed to be: waiting outside the stage door of If/Then to get an autograph from the star. But the conversation they have while they wait will change the course of their decades-long friendship forever. Warning: Beware of Tourists.
soft (May – June), by Donja R. Love, directed by Whitney White. Flowers are magically in bloom – in Mr. Isaiah’s classroom, in the halls of the correctional boarding school where he teaches, and in the depths of his students’ imaginations. After one boy dies by suicide, Mr. Isaiah struggles to figure out how to save the Black and Brown boys he teaches from a world that tries to crush their softness.
Uncensored (Spring 2022), an MCC Youth Company production. A celebration of young voices who speak to their experiences, hopes and dreams reflecting on today, while looking toward the future.
**********************
Spamalot will run June 16 – July 10 (opening June 18) at ME’s Ogunquit Playhouse, directed by BT McNicholl, with choreography by Jennifer Rias, and music direction by Fred Lassen.
Charles Shaughnessy (King Arthur), Mariand Torres (Lady of the Lake), Marc Ginsburg (Sir Lancelot), Daniel A. Lopez (Sir Galahad), Josh Grisetti (Sir Robin), Dwelyan David (Sir Bedevere), Nic Rouleau (The Historian), and Jennifer Cody (Patsy), with Maya Kazzaz, Larkin Reilly, Jacob Robert-Miller, Michael Olaribigbe, Mackenzie Perpich, and Celina Nightengale.
In a departure from the original Broadway production, a troupe of vagabond storytellers arrive in a plague-ridden Tudor village, with their pageant wagon and all its tricks, to perform this hysterically inaccurate version of King Arthur’s quest for the Holy Grail.
**********************
The North American tour of Mean Girls will re-launch Nov. 2 at Tempe, Arizona’s ASU Gammage. Click here for the initial tour schedule.
Casting and additional information TBA.
**********************
Costa Mesa’s Segerstom Center has announced its 2021-22 cabaret series:
Laura Benanti (Sept. 23-25)
Megan Hilty (Oct. 21-23)
John Lloyd Young (Dec. 15-17)
Jane Lynch & Kate Flannery (Jan. 27029, 2022)
Tony Yazbeck (Mar. 24-26)
Caissie Levy (Mar. 19-21)
**********************
DC’s Arena Stage has announced its 2021-22 season:
Tony Stone (Sept. 3 – Oct. 3), by Lydia R. Diamond, directed by Pam MacKinnon. Casting TBA. Toni Stone was the first woman to play baseball in the Negro Leagues, also making her the first woman to play professionally in a men’s league in the 1950s. Against all odds, Stone shattered expectations and created her own set of rules in the male-dominated sports world.
Celia and Fidel (Oct. 8 – Nov. 21), by Eduardo Machado, directed by Molly Smith. It’s 1980s Cuba and the revolution has reached a crazed tipping point. As Fidel Castro grapples between his desire to maintain power and do what is best for his country, he turns to his closest confidant and political partner, Celia Sanchez for answers.
Seven Guitars (Nov. 26 – Dec. 26), by August Wilson, directed by Tazewell Thompson. The lives of 7 friends are irrevocably changed when their old friend and blues singer Floyd Barton reappears with the chance of ta lifetime.
Change Agent (Jan. 21 – Mar. 6, 2022), written & directed by Craig Lucas. This provocative Power Play imagines dramatic scenes between figures from history who were celebrated and unsung. These insider voices were responsible for influencing major decisions that are still unfolding and radically impacting our country today.
Catch Me If You Can (Mar. 4 – Apr. 17), by Terrence McNally, Marc Shaiman, and Scott Wittman, directed by Molly Smith, and starring Corbin Bleu. Based on the film.
Cambodian Rock Band (Apr. 12 – May 15), by Lauren Yee, directed by Chay Yew. Guitars tuned. Mic checked. Get ready to rock! This is the story of a Khmer Rouge survivor returning to Cambodia for the first time in 30 years, as his daughter prepares to prosecute one of Cambodia’s most infamous war criminals.
Drumfolk (May 31 – June 26), by Step Afrika. Inspired by the Stono Rebellion of 1739 and the Negro Act of 1740 in South Carolina, where state laws mandated that enslaved Africans could not or use their drums which were use to signal the uprising.
American Prophet: Frederick Douglass in His Own Words (July 15 – Aug. 28), world premiere by Charles Randolph-Wright & Marcus Hummon, directed by Randolph-Wright. A groundbreaking musical powered by Frederick Douglass own words, which celebrates the revolutionary legacy of one of history’s first freedom fighters.
**********************
Turn Back Time: Ben & Dee Rock the 70s, 80s and Beyond will run June 10-20 at CT’s Goodspeed by the River.
Ben Clark and Dee Roscioli
**********************
The Public Theater has extended its run of Shakespeare’s Merry Wives, adapted by Jocelyn Bioh and directed by Saheem Ali. The production will now run July 6 – Sept. 18 (opening July 27) at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre.
Abena, Shola Adewusi, Bgenga Akinnagbe, Pascale Armand, MaYaa Boateng, Phillip James Brannon, Brandon E. Burton, Joshua Echebiri, Branden Lindsay, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, Jarvis D. Matthews, Jacob Ming-Trent, Jennifer Mogbock, Julan Rozzell Jr., Kyle Scatliff, David Ryan smith, and Susan Kelechi Watson.
**********************
The Lehman Trilogy, adapted by Ben Power, will begin previews Sept. 25 and open Oct. 14 at the Nederlander Theatre, directed by Sam Mendes.
Adrian Lester (Emanuel Lehman), Simon Russell Beale (Henry Lehman), Adam Godley (Mayer Lehman), and more TBA.
Following the limited Broadway run, the play will then play engagements at LA’s Ahmanson Theatre (Mar. 3 – Apr. 10, 2022) and San Francisco’s American Conservator Theatre (Apr. 20 – May 22, 2022)
**********************
The St. Louis Muny has announced its 2021 summer season: Casting TBA.
Smoky Joe’s Cafe (July 29 – Aug. 1), directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, with choreography by Josh Walden, and music direction by Abdul Hamid Royal.
The Sound of Music (Aug. 3-9), directed by Matt Kunkel, with choreography by Beth Crandall, and music direction by Ben Whiteley.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Aug. 12-18), directed & choreographed by Josh Rhodes, with music direction by Valerie Gebert.
On Your Feet (Aug. 21-27), directed by Maggie Burrows, with music direction by Lon Hoyt.
Chicago (Aug. 30 – Sept. 5), directed & choreographed by Denis Jones, with music direction by Charlie Alterman.