Today’s Highlights:
MCC Theater‘s Miscast24, honoring Jason Robert Brown and Nicole Suazo, featuring Gavin Creel, Leslie Rodriguez, Brian D’acy James, Lea Salonga, Ingrid Michaelson, Ryan Vasquez, Wayne Brady, Amber Iman, Mykal Kilgor, and Jinkx Monsoon, begins its on-demand streaming option, at 7 PM ET (see link above).
2024 Sondheim Award presentation, honoring Nathan Lane, with special guests Christopher Fitzgerald, Faith Prince, Kryta Rodriguez, James Caverly, Adelina Mitchell, Tracy Lynn Olivera, Awa Sal Secka, and more, at 8 PM at DC’s The Anthem at the Wharf.
Atlantic Theater Company‘s Gala 2024, with special guests Saheem Ali, Patricia Delgado, Justin Levine, Justin Peck, Marco Ramirez, and Adam Rapp, and featuring Patti LuPone, BD Wong, Daisy the Treat, Jamestown Revival. Natalie Venetia Belcon, the band of Buena Vista Social Club Musical, and more, at 6 PM at NYC’s Plaza Hotel.
Gingold Theatrical Group‘s I’ll Leave It To You script-in-hand performance, byNoel Coward, directed by David Staller, featuring Veanne Cox (Mrs. Anne Dermott), Dan Domingues (Oliver Dermot), Evie Shuckman (Evangeline Dermott), Susannah Perkins (Sylvia Dermott), Vishaal Reddy (Bobbie Dermott), Thoman Jay Ryan (Daniel Davis), Susan Cella (Mrs. Crombie), Devin Kessler (Faith Crombie), and Aarom Lee Battle (Narrator/Griggs), at 7 PM at NYC’s Symphony Space.
Larry: The Big-Time Broadway Producer free reading, by Peter Filichia, directed by Joe Mancuso, featuring Collin Kelly-Sordelet, Laura Swanson, Keith Strunk, Dawn Gaynor, Samantha Soybel, Paul O’Connor, and William Lawson, at Rahway, at 7 PM at New Jersey’s American Theater Group.
Backstage Babble live & livestreamed concert, celebrating the iconic wall of Broadway flop posters at NYC’s Joe Allen Restaurant, featuring Brenda Braxton (representing Legs Diamond), Philip Casnoff (representing Rockabye Hamlet), Robert Creighton (representing Laughing Room Only), Anita Gillette (representing Kelly), Josie De Guzman (representing Nick and Nora), Willy Falk (representing Marilyn), Beth Fowler, her husband Jack Witham, and singer Elena Shaddow (representing 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue), Amanda Green (representing High Fidelity), Ruth Gottschall (representing The Prince of Central Park), Michael Korie & Tam Mutu (representing Doctor Zhivago), Michael Kubala (representing A Broadway Musical), Heather MacRae (representing Here’s Where I Belong), Jim Walton (representing Merrily We Roll Along), and Martin Vidnovic (representing Home, Sweet Homer), at 7 PM at NYC’s 54 Below.
Happy Hour: The Songs of Carter McPherson concert, directed by Devi Peot, featuring Rayven Bailey, Caleb Barnett, Dan Berry, Hoke Faser, Lily Kren, Ashlyn Maddox, Jimin Moon, Madison Thompson, and Alyssa Wray, at 9:30 PM at NYC’s 54 Below.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Enter Who? by Jim Bernhard
Identify these characters from plays as described in their first entrances:
| 1. She is a woman of nine-and-twenty. Her face and figure show refinement and distinction. Her complexion is pale and opaque. Her steel-grey eyes express a cold, unruffled repose…. | A. Countess Aurelia in The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux |
| 2. She wears a dinner gown that has seen better days, and the whole is surmounted by an extremely tacky-looking evening wrap, trimmed with bits of ancient and moth-eaten fur. | B. Carlotta Vance in Dinner at Eight by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber |
| 3. She is aged 18. She is wearing a gray smock, a small white collar, and carries a satchel under her arm. | C. Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams |
| 4. She is dressed in the blue-and-gold uniform of a Bradleyville cheerleader. She is well-built and very blond. She is also very pretty. Small-town pretty, healthy pretty, clean pretty, Pepsodent and Ivory Soap pretty. | D. Barbara Undershaft in Major Barbara by Shaw |
| 5. A plump little darling in her late sixties. | E. Hedda Gabler in Hedda Gabler by Ibsen |
| 6. A battered beauty of perhaps fifty-three. She cannot be said to be faded, for there is still about her a magnificent vitality and zest. Her figure is gone, for the she likes good living, and in the past twelve or fifteen years she has given up the struggle. There clings to her, intangibly, much of the splendor, the success, the élan of the old days when she was a famous theatrical beauty and the mistress of millions…. | F. Grand Duchess Olga Katrina in You Can’t Take It With You by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman |
| 7. She is breathtakingly beautiful and breathtakingly simple. | G. The Young Pupil in The Lesson by Ionesco |
| 8. She is robust, jolly, energetic, and wearing a Salvation Army uniform. | H. Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander in Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander by Preston Jones |
| 9. She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves, and hat, looking as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party in the garden district. Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light. There is something about her…that suggests a moth. | I. Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin |
| 10. She is dressed in the grand fashion of 1885—a taffeta skirt with an immense train–which she has gathered up with a clothespin—ancient button shoes, and a hat in the style of Marie Antoinette. She wears a lorgnette on a chain, and an enormous cameo pin at her throat. | J. Abby Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring |
Scroll down for the answers…
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Manhattan Theatre Club‘s Mary Jane, world premiere by Amy Herzog, has been extended through June 16 at Broadway’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
Rachel McAdams
The story of a single mother in an impossible family situation. Faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, Mary Jane relies on unflagging optimism and humor, along with the wisdom of the women around her who have become a makeshift family, to take on each new day. But will inner strength and newfound friendships be enough to see her through?
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Upcoming events at NYC’s 92NY:
Whoopi Goldberg: Bits and Pieces (May 6 at 5:45; PM). A candid conversation about her life and her new memoir, “Bits and Pieces.” 
here.
Jeff Daniels: A Man in Full (May 2 at 8 PM). Jeff discusses his life & career. here.
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The cast album of Broadway’s The Wiz (2024 production) will be released Fri. June 12 on most platforms.
Nichelle Lewis (Dorothy), Wayne Brady (The Wiz), Deborah Cox (Glinda) Melody A. Betts (Aunt Em/Evillene), Kyle Ramar Freeman (Lion), Phillip Johnson Richardson (Tinman). and Avery Wilson (Scarecrow), with Lauryn Adams, Maya Bowles, Shayla Alayre Caldwell, Jay Copeland, Allyson Kaye Daniel, Judith Franklin, Michael Samarie George, Collin Heyward, Amber Jackson, Olivia Jackson, Christina Jones, Polanco Jones, Kolby Kindle, Mariah Lyttle, Kareem Marsh, Alan Mingo, Jr., Anthony Murphy, Dustin Praylow, Cristina Rae, Matthew Sims Jr, Avilon Trust Tate, Keenan D. Washington, and Timothy Wilson.
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The Pacific Jazz Orchestra in concert, with special guest Aaron Tveit, will take place Sat. May 11 at 8 PM at Northridge’s Soraya.
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Jeff Augustin & The Bengsons’ Where the Mountain Meets the Sea, will run May 21 – July 7 at DC’s Signature Theatre, directed by Timothy Douglas, with choreography by Dane Figueroa Edidi, and music direction by Rob Morrison.
Isaac “Deacon Izzy” Bell (Jonah) and Robert Cornelius (Jean).
After Jonah learns of his estranged father’s death, a son recreates the cross-country trip his Haitian immigrant parents took before he was born. As he traces their journey across America, and bonds with the music his father adored, time blurs and erases the distance between them. Lyrical storytelling and an evocative folk score drive father and son to rediscover love, each other and their everlasting bond.
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Me, Myself, and Why (Am I Here?), written & performed by Maria Margaret Wilson, will run June 8, 18 & 22 at Hollywood’s Broadwater Main Stage Theatre, directed by Caroline Sweet.
How does one move forward after being confronted with their true self? As the approach of middle age looms large over Maria’s head, she confronts the characters (nay, “baggage”) that have shaped her path to date in this not-quite-one-woman show that you’ll have to see to believe.
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The cast album of Stephen Sondheim & David Ives’ Here We Are, directed by Joe Mantello, will be released Fri. May 17 on most platforms.
Francois Battiste, Tracie Bennett, Bobby Cannavale, Micaela Diamond, Amber Gray, Jin Ha, Rachel Bay Jones, Denis O’Hare, Steven Pasquale, David Hyde Pierce and Jeremy Shamos.
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A reading of Daniel Berrigan’s The Trial of the Catonsville Nine will take place Sat. May 18 at 7 PM at LA’s Mark Taper Forum, directed by Michael John Garcés.
Bill Pullman, Raymond Lee, and more TBA.
The Catonsville Nine were a group of Catholic peace activists including Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan, who put their lives and careers on the line when they broke into the Catonsville, Maryland draft board office on May 17, 1968, took 378 draft folders from the files, and burned them in the parking lot using homemade napalm in protest of the Vietnam War. The incident was one of the most famous of its time and inspired hundreds more anti-war demonstrations—as well as this searing dramatization of the events.
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SAM, written & performed by Sam Labrecque, will run June 6-30 (opening June 14) at Hollywood’s Broadwater Studio.
A one-woman musical that defies conventions and captivates audiences with its blend of existential comedy, showbiz satire, and meta musical numbers. Join Sam Labrecque, a seasoned actor, singer, and comedian, on a voyage through her career featuring the eclectic voices in her head. Through an inspiring exploration of identity, SAM unveils the raw struggles of a pre-successful career as an actor, taking you beyond the glitz of Hollywood.
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Commonwealth Shakespeare Company‘s The Winter’s Tale will run July 16 – Aug. 4 at the Boston Common, directed by Bryn Boice.
Nael Nacer (Leontes), Marianna Bassham (Hermione), Omar Robinson (Polixenes), Paula Plum (Paulina/Time), Tony Estrella (Camillo), Richard Snee (The Shepherd), Robert Walsh (Antigonus), Ryan Winkles ( Autolycus), Joshua Olmide (Florizel), Nettie Chickering (Emilia), Clara Hevia (Perdita), Cleveland Nicoll (Clown), John Blair (First Lord), Bella Grace Harris (Gaoler/Bohemian Servant), Ednilson Tavares (Second Lord), Ryan Richard Doyle (Cleomenes), Dyce Stephens (Dion), Rilyn Gardner (First Lady/Mopsa), Chloe Boyan (Second Lady/Dorcas), Anne Borzner (Doctor/First Gentleman), and Eviva Rose (Mamillius).
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Atypical Grace, created, written & performed by Maria Fagan Hassani, will run June 9-29 (opening June 21) at Hollywood’s Zephyr Theatre, directed by Heather Dowling.
Marilynn runs a weekly support group for parents who have children who are struggling with learning disabilities. These parents are as diverse as their children’s needs, but Marilynn continually searches for a way to empathetically meet the parents where they are. Each parent shares their child’s ups and downs with learning and their own individual challenges supporting their kiddos.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Enter Who? by Jim Bernhard
1-E. She is a woman of nine-and-twenty. Her face and figure show refinement and distinction…Hedda Gabler in Hedda Gabler
2-F. She wears a dinner gown that has seen better days…Grand Duchess Olga Katrina in You Can’t Take It With You
3-G. She is aged 18. She is wearing a gray smock, a small white collar, and carries a satchel under her arm….The Young Pupil in The Lesson
4-H. She is dressed in blue-and-gold uniform of a Bradleyville cheerleader….Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander in Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander
5-J. A plump little darling in her late sixties…Abby Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace
6-B. A battered beauty of perhaps fifty-three….Carlotta Vance in Dinner At Eight
7-I. She is breathtakingly beautiful and breathtakingly simple…Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday
8-D. She is robust, jolly, energetic, and wearing a Salvation Army uniform….Barbara Undershaft in Major Barbara
9-C. She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl…Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire
10-A. She is dressed in the grand fashion of 1885…Countess Aurelia in The Madwoman of Chaillot