This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, March 18
“Andy Mientus Sings ‘Joni Mitchell’s Ladies of the Canyon” film, directed by directed by Michael Arden, with special guests, Nikki M. James, Krista Pioppi, and Cathy Ang, begins streaming at PA’s Bucks County Playhouse.
Roundabout Theatre Company‘s Birthday Candles, by Noah Haidle, directed by Vivienne Benesch, featuring Debra Messing (Ernestine Ashworth), John Earl Jelks (Matt/William), Enrico Colantoni (Kenneth), Crystal Finn (Joan/Alex/Beth), Susannah Flood (Alice/Madeline/Ernie), and Christopher Livingston (Billy/John), begins previews at Broadway’s American Airlines Theatre.
Heartland, by Gabriel Jason Dean, directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh, featuring Mari Vial-Golden, Mark Cuddy, and Owais Ahmed, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters.
Fountain Of You, by Tasha Gordon-Solmon & Faye Chiao, directed & choreographed by Chloe Treat, featuring Kate Rockwell (Kristen), Maya Days (Angelica), Chris Collins-Pisano (Man), Caitlin Ort (Esthette), Maria Sylvia Norris (Esthette), and Allie Re (Esthette), with Taylor Drumwright, previews at Virginia’s Zeider’s American Dream Theatre.
Dead Outlaw new musical presentation, by David Yazbek, Itamar Moses & Erik Della Penna, at 7 PM ET at 54 Below.
Saturday, March 19
Moulin Rouge! national tour, directed by directed by Alex Timbers, featuring Courtney Reed (Satine), Conor Ryan (Christian), Austin Durant (Harold Zidler), Andre Ward (Toulouse-Lautrec), David Harris (Duke of Monroth), Gabe Martinez (Santiago), Libby Lloyd (Nini), and Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer (Satine Alternate), with Nicci Claspell, Harper Miles, Andres Quintero, Adrienne Balducci, Andrew Brewer, Jack Cahill-Lemme, Sam J. Cahn, Darius Crenshaw, Alexander Cruz, Alexa De Barr, Tamrin Goldberg, Alexis Hasbrouck, Jordan Fife Hunt, Justin Keats, Tyler Logan, Tanisha Moore, Brayden Newby, Kent Overshown, Amy Quanbeck, Adéa Michelle Sessoms, Jenn Stafford, Denzel Tsopnang, Travis Ward-Osborne, Sharrod Williams, Jennifer Wolfe, and Ricardo Zayas, launches at Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre.
The Gin Game, directed by Jenny Sullivan, featuring JoBeth Williams and Joe Spano, opens at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre.
Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay!, by Dario Fo & Franca Rame, directed by Bob Turton, featuring Kaili Hollister (Antonia), Lynde Houck (Margherita), Jeremie Loncka (Giovanni), Steven M. Porter (Agent, Old Man, Sergeant, Undertaker), Luis Quintana (Luigi), and Stephanie G. Galindo (Officer, Agent, Nurse, Assistant), opens at LA’s The Actors Gang Theater.
Fountain Of You, by Tasha Gordon-Solmon & Faye Chiao, directed & choreographed by Chloe Treat, featuring Kate Rockwell (Kristen), Maya Days (Angelica), Chris Collins-Pisano (Man), Caitlin Ort (Esthette), Maria Sylvia Norris (Esthette), and Allie Re (Esthette), with Taylor Drumwright, opens at Virginia’s Zeider’s American Dream Theatre.
David Loud: Facing the Music concert, featuring Heidi Blickenstaff, Laura Darrell, David Garrison, Alex Joseph Grayson, and Matthew Scott, opens at NYC’s 92Y.
TW Cabaret: Love Actually concert, directed by Victoria Lavan, featuring Sara Ballentine, Sandra Tucker, Paul Cady, Sara Shearer, Arden Lewis, Connie Mellors, Mimi Kmet, Anne Leyden, Michael Van Duzer, Heidi Appe, Rick Simone-Friedland, Tessa Bell, and Robert W. Laur, at 7 PM PT at LA’s Theatre West.
Sunday, March 20
Bhangin’ It: A Bangin’ New Musical, world premiere by Mike Lew, Rehana Lew Mirza, Sam Willmott & Deep Singh, directed by Stafford Arima, featuring Ari Afsar (Mary), Aryaan Arora (Mohan), Bilaal Avaz (Amit), Jesse Bhamrah (Gobind), Brandon Contreras (Billy), Laura Dadap (Constance), Henry Walter Greenberg (Noah), Jason Heil (Wallace), Terrance Johnson (Jake), Jaya Joshi (Sunita), Madison McBride (Lily), Anu Mysore (Shetal), Amey Natu (Big Bob), Alka Nayyar (Rekha), Zain Patel (Varun), Devi Peot New Mary), Vinithra Raj (Preeti), and Ramita Ravi (Shilpa), with Nikki Mirza, Gerry Tonella, and Levin Valavil, opens at Jolla Playhouse.
Derek Klena concert with Seth Rudetsky, livestreams at 8 PM ET here.
“Step Into…The Movies with Derek and Julianne Hough,” with special guests Ariana DeBose, Amber Riley, John Stamos, Kevin Bacon, Charli D’Amelio, Jenna Dewan, Harry Shum Jr., Baz Luhrmann, Tate McRae, Rob Marshall, and Kenny Ortega, airs at 10 PM on ABC (check local listings).
Encore’s The Life, by Cy Coleman, Ira Gasman & David Newman, directed by Billy Porter, featuring Jelani Alladin (Lou), Alexandra Grey (Queen), Antwayn Hopper (Memphis), Mykal Kilgore (Young JoJo), Ledisi (Sonja), Erika Olson (Mary), Destan Owens (Old Jojo), and Ken Robinson (Fleetwood), with Joe Beauregard, Angela Brydon, Tyler Eisenreich, Asmeret Ghebremichael, Semhar Ghebremichael, Jeff Gorti, Albert Guerzon, Heather Lang, Nathan Lucrezio, Tiffany Mann, LaQuet Sharnell Pringle, Devin L. Roberts, MiMi Scardulla, and Tanairi Vazquez, closes at NY City Center.
Space Dogs, written & performed by Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire, directed by Ellie Heyman, closes at Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater.
On Sugarland, by Alesha Harris, directed by Whitney White, featuring Kiki Layne, Stephany Berry, Thomas Walter Booker, Xavier Scott Evans, Mister Fitzgerald, Josh Fulton, Charisma Glasper, Kai Heath, Shemar Yanick Jonas, Billy Eugene Jones, Mariyea, Lizan Mitchell, Adeola Role, and Jacob Daniel Smith, closes at Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop.
English, world premiere by Sanaz Toossi, directed by Knud Adams, featuring Tala Ashe, Ava Lalezarzadeh, Pooya Mohseni, Marjan Neshat, and Hadi Tabbal, closes at Off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theatre Company.
Mint Theater‘s The Daughter-in-Law, by D.H. Lawrence, directed by Martin Platt, featuring Amy Blackman, Ciarán Bowling Seth Andrw Bridges, Tom Coiner, Katie Fanning, Polly McKie, Sandra Shipley, and Tina Stafford, closes at NY City Center.
Notes From Now, world premiere with songs by Jay Adana, Troy Anthony, Masi Asare, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Georgie Castilla & Jaime Lozano, Gretchen Cryer, Tia DeShazor & Derrick Byars, Alexandra Elle & Stephen Schwartz, Adam Gwon, Douglas Lyons & Ethan Pakchar, Peter Mills, Ryan Scott Oliver, Michelle J. Rodriguez, Angela Sclafani, Paulo Tiról, and Amanda Yesnowitz & Deborah Abramson, directed & choreographed by Billy Bustamante, featuring Ashley Blanchet, Thani Brant, Darron Hayes, Josh Lamon, Aline Mayagoitia, Judy McLane, and John Yi, with Genesis Adelia Collado, closes at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters.
Labyrinth Theatre‘s Through the Fire, written & performed by Victor Almanzar, directed by Elizabeth Canavan, concludes FREE streaming at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters.
Daphne’s Dive, by Quiara Alegria Hudes, directed by Paige Hernandez, featuring Rayanne Gonzales (Daphne), Yesenia Iglesias (Inez), James Shalen (Acosta), Jonathan Atkinson (Pablo), Jefferson A. Russell (Rey), Quynh-My Luu (Jenn), and Jyline Carranza (Ruby), with Dylan Arredondo, Deidre Staples, and Elizabeth Ung, closes at DC’s Signature Theatre.
Huntington Theatre‘s What the Constitution Means to Me, directed by Oliver Butler, featuring Cassie Beck and Gabriel Marin, with Jocelyn Shek and Emilyn Toffler, closes at Boston’s Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre.
This Bitter Earth, by Harrison David Rivers, directed by David Mendizábal, featuring Tom Holcomb and Damian Jermaine Thompson, closes at Theaterworks Hartford.
First Lady of Song: Alexis Roston Sings Ella Fitzgerald, by Angela Ingersoll, closes at Laguna Playhouse.
As You Like It, adapted & directed by Daryl Cloran, featuring Morgan Matthew Bernard (Assassin/Hymen), Lizzy Brooks (Celia), Adam Wesley Brown (Touchstone), Tony Carter (Oliver), Michael Dashefsky (Silvius), Savannah L. Jackson (Rosalind), Heidi Kettenring (Phoebe/Eleanor Rigby), Trish Lindström (Jaques/Le Beau), Justin Gregory Lopez (Orlando), Kieran McCabe (William/Jacques de Boys), Norman Moses (Adam/Sir Oliver), Sophie Murk (Audrey/Mother Russia), Don Noble (Duke Senior/Duke Frederick), Kurt Schweitz (Assassin/Amiens), Nancy Voigts (Corin/Duke’s Assistant), and Marquis Wood (Charles the Wrestler/Forest Lord), closes at Milwaukee Rep.
A.D.16, world premiere by Cinco Paul & Bekah Brunstetter, directed by Stephen Brackett, featuring Phoenix Best (Mary Magalene), Ben Fankhauser (Jesus). Kelli Blackwell (Diana), Alan H. Green (Jacob), Jade Jones (Jessica), Jared Loftin (Nicholas), Calvin McCullough (Matthias), Adelina Mitchell (Ruth), Christian Montgomery (Bartimaeus), Da’Von Moody (Simeon), and Chani Wereley (Esther), with Alex De Bard, Sylvern Groomes, RJ Pavel, John Sygar, Kanysha Williams, Tiffany Ly Royster, and Chris Urquiaga, closes (both live and streaming options) at MD’s Olney Theatre Center.
Blues in the Night, by Sheldon Epps, directed by David Fiorello, featuring Felicia P. Fields (The Lady from the Road), Donica Lynn (The Woman of the World), Clare Kennedy (The Girl with a Date), Evan Tyrone Martin (The Man in the Saloon), and Terrell Armstrong (The Dancing Man), closes at Chicago’s Porchlight Music Theatre.
Assassins, directed by Snehal Desai, featuring Gedde Watanabe (Charles Guiteau), Joan Almedilla (Sara Jane Moore), Adam Kaokept (Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald), Trance Thompson (John Wilkes Booth), Max Torrez (The Proprietor), Christopher Chen (Samuel Byck), George Xavier (Leon Czolgosz), Astoncia Bhagat (Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme), Arvin Lee (John Hinckley, Jr.), Aric Martin (Giuseppe Zangara), and Kym Miller (Emma Goldman), with Andrea Somera, Jalen Lum, Michael Cavinder, and Maya Nahree McGowan, closes at LA’s East West Players.
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Reviews for Encores! The Life at NY City Center:
NY Times (Elizabeth Vincentelli): …Not only is this dialogue leaden — especially coming from a young pimp — but it is not in The Life as we know it: The musical that opened last night… has been drastically reconfigured from the one that premiered on Broadway in 1997… Now Billy Porter…puts Trump and Reagan masks on the ensemble members and has them sing and dance their denunciation of an ideology… Whether it’s of a piece with The Life, well, that is something else… Unfortunately the memory-musical format only takes us out of the plot and, most crucially, the emotional impact… The original show let us progressively discover the characters’ distinct personalities through actions, words and songs; now they are archetypal pawns in an op-ed.
Theatermania (David Gordon): Billy Porter razes and revises a not very good musical, and somehow make it worse… Porter’s new script ends up even worse than the original… concocted a disjointed mess that lays on the City Center stage like a lump, and they pump the volume to painful, ear-piercing levels if only to keep the audience awake… Even if the execution was kind of silly, the heart of The Life has always been in the right place… The heart of Porter’s production is in the right place, too… but Porter’s additions are embarrassingly heavy-handed, removing whatever comedy there was and replacing it all with a battering ram of political speechifying that doesn’t trust the audience to get it on its own.
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Daniel Fish’s The Most Happy in Concert, a re-imagination of The Most Happy Fella, will run July 13 – Aug. 7 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, directed by Fish, with choreography by Jawole Will Jo Zollar.
Casting TBA.
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The new tour of Roundabout’s 2020 Broadway production of Charles Fuller’s A Soldier’s Play will begin performances in Dec. 2022, with dates & tour stops TBA. Click here for more information.
Norm Lewis (Captain Richard Davenport) and more TBA.
In 1944, on a Louisiana Army base, two shots ring out. A Black sergeant is murdered. And a series of interrogations trigger a gripping barrage of questions about sacrifice, service, and identity in America.
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Houston’s TUTS has announced its 2022-23 season:
Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Sept. 20 – Oct. 2), directed by Monique Midgette
The Griswald’s Broadway Vacation (Oct. 25 – Nov. 6), directed by Donna Feore
Mary Poppins (Dec. 6-24), directed & choreographed by Dan Knetchges
9 to 5 (Jan. 31 – Feb. 12, 2023)
Waitress (Mar. 28 – Apr. 9) national tour
Rent (May 16-28)
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Video: Sneak peek at “Ensemble” documentary, a behind-the-scenes look at cast members from the biggest hits on Broadway as they come out of isolation to examine their love of performing and how they can be the change they want to see in the world and in the industry they love. Directed by Pierre Marias, moderated by Mo Brady, and choreographed by Karla Puno Garcia.
Cameron Adams, Aaron J. Albano, Stephanie Bissonnette, Gaby Gamache, Karla Puno Garcia, David Guzman, Jacob Guzman, Sasha Hutchings, James T. Lane, Iris Menas, Khori Michelle Petinaud, Emilio Ramos, and Megan Sikora.
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The world premiere of Ana Nogueria’s Which Way to the Stage will run Apr. 14 – May 22 (opening May 10) at MCC Theater, directed by Mike Donahue.
Sas Goldberg, Max Jenkins, Evan Todd, and Michelle Veintimilla.
The year is 2015 and Jeff and Judy are right where they’re supposed to be: waiting outside of the stage door of If/Then to get an autograph from the star. But the experience they have while they wait will change the course of their decades-long friendship forever.
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The Witches of Eastwick, by John Dempsey & Dana P. Rowe, will have a one-night-only concert on Mon. June 20 at 7 PM GMT at London’s Sondheim Theatre, directed by original cast member Maria Friedman, with choreography by Stephen Mear.
Giles Terera (Darryl Van Horne) and more TBA.
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New York Theatre Workshop‘s annual gala, For the First Time in Forever: The Songs of Kristen and Bobby Lopez will take place Mon. Apr. 25 at 7 PM at Carnegie Hall, with music directed & conducted by Steven Reineke.
Bobby & Kristen Lopez
Kristen Bell, Caissie Levy, Betsy Wolfe, Jennifer Barnhart, Jaime Camil, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Santino Fontana, Jordan Gelber, Anna Harada, Nikki M. James, Mykal Kilgore, Rick Lyon, Patti Murin, John Tartaglia, and more TBA.
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The pre-Broadway world premiere of Robert Mark Kamen & Drew Gasparini’s The Karate Kid — The Musical will run May 25 – June 26 at STAGES St. Louis, directed by Amon Miyamoto, with choreography by Keone & Mari Madrid, with music direction by Andrew Resnick.
Jovanni Sy (Chojun Miyagi), John Cardoza (Daniel LaRusso), Kate Baldwin (Luiclle LaRusso), Alan H. Green (John Kreese), Jake Bentley Young (Johnny Lawrence), Jetta Juriansz (Ali Mills), and Luis Pablo Garcia (Freddie Fernandez, with Manik Anand, Trevor James Berger, Leah Berry, Gabi Campo, Caitlyn Caughell, Kristina Garvida Doucette, Zachary Downer, Francis Florendo, Kayla Jenerson, Sydney Jones, Josh Hoon Lee, Noah Lentini, Garrick Macatangay, Abby Mastusaka, Justice D. Moore, Omar Nieves, Jackson Kanawha Perry, Isidro Rafael, Sangeetha Santhebennur, and Victor Carrillo Tracey.
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9 To 5 The Musical all-new production, with a book by Patricia Resnick, will launch this Fall, directed by Jeff Calhoun, with choreography by Lisa Stevens.
Casting, tour dates, and additional information TBA.