Today’s Highlights:
Second Stage‘s Take Me Out, by Richard Greenberg, directed by Scott Ellis, featuring Patrick J. Adams, Julian Cihi, Hiram Delgado, Brandon J. Dirden, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Carl Lundstedt, Ken Marks, Michael Oberholtzer, Eduardo Ramos, Tyler Lansing Weaks, and Jesse Williams, begins previews at Broadway’s Haye’s Theatre.
MCC Theater‘s MisCast22 Gala, featuring Shoshana Bean, Myles Frost, J. Harrison Ghee, Andrea Martin, Audra McDonald, Lea Michele, Kelli O’Hara, Steven Pasquale, Uzo Aduba, Raúl Esparza, Joshua Henry, Jennifer Simard, and Aaron Tveit, at 6:30 PM ET at NYC’s Hammerstein Ballroom.
Theatre Forward‘s annual Gala 2022, honoring Kenny Leon, featuring Kristin Chenoweth, Norm Lewis, Alexander Bello, Phylicia Rashad, and Dewitt Fleming Jr, at 6:30 PM ET at NYC’s Edison Ballroom.
Seth Rudetsky’s Broadway concert, with special guest Brian Stokes Mitchell, at 8 PM ET at NYC’s Town Hall.
Millennials Are Killing Musicals concert, by Nico Juber, directed by Ciara Renée, featuring Klea Blackhurst, Alex Boniello, Nicholas Edwards, Lauren Marcus, Olivia Puckett, Marissa Rosen, Nora Schell, and Nyla Watson, at 9:30 PM ET at 54 Below.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Everything Old Is New…or Young, by Jim Bernhard
Old… or new…. or young…choose one of those words to fill the blanks in these titles:
1. The ____ Man from Atlanta – Horton Foote
2. ____ Girl in Town – George Abbott and Bob Merrill
3. The ____ Moon – Sigmund Romberg, Oscar Hammerstein II, et al
4. ____ Times – Harold Pinter
5. The ____ Word – J. M. Barrie
6. he ____ Idea – Noël Coward
7. The ____ Boy – A. R. Gurney
8. The ____Boy – Arthur Law
9. The ____ Lady Shows Her Medals – J. M. Barrie
10. The ____ and Beautiful – Sally Benson
Scroll down for the answers…
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Reviews for Paradise Square at Broadway’s Barrymore Theatre:
NY Times (Jesse Green): … Yes, history shows that in 1863, after Abraham Lincoln extended the Civil War draft to include all white men between the ages of 25 and 45 — Black men being excepted because they were not considered citizens… in hammering these large-scale events into individual stories, and in manipulating them so performers have reason to sing at top volume and dance nearly nonstop, the uplifting, star-making, overwrought new musical, which opened on Sunday at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, turns history on its head. Racism becomes an individual character flaw instead of a systemic evil; resistance, the solitary moral genius of a hero.
Chicago Tribune (Chris Jones): …led by a blockbuster lead performance from Joaquina Kalukango, who makes her audience care about the struggling denizens of Nelly O’Brien’s edenic saloon partly through the talents of the young composer Jason Howland, but mostly by her resolute force of will… the unifying efforts of Howland’s growing suite of music, which is rich, earnest and emotionally potent… The Irish contingent is led by the powerhouse Chilina Kennedy… Paradise Square still struggles with something at its core.. a consequence is that the show cannot decide whether Nelly’s bar is paradise or not…
New York Stage Review (Elysa Gardner): Imagine that the Jets and the Sharks had all been buddies, and that dance at the gym had been defined by their camaraderie. That’s the vibe in “Turn My Life Around,” one of several thrilling production numbers that Bill T. Jones has choreographed for Paradise Square … Hopefully, attention can now be paid to Jones—sure to be a fierce competitor this awards season… Jones draws on both Irish and African traditions to exhilarating and gorgeously lyrical effect… Jason Howland’s score, with lyrics by Nathan Tysen and Masi Asare and additional music by Kirwan, isn’t instantly memorable…
Broadway News (Diep Tran): About three quarters through the new Broadway musical Paradise Square, my lingering doubts about the show vanished. This clarifying moment happened during the show’s 11 o’clock number, “Let It Burn.” As [Joaquina] Kalukango sang, her soulful voice gained both altitude and power, as if she were climbing up to the heavens with her bare hands… a bloated, melodramatic musical that could cut 20 minutes off its 2-hour-and-40 minute run time… It’s a committed performance that elevated the musical and demanded the audience’s empathy, reminding us of the humanity of all the characters in the story.
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2022 Grammy Awards. Click here for the complete list of winners.
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Macbeth has cancelled all performances through Apr. 7 at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre, due to the detection of a limited number of positive COVID tests within the company.
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Complete casting has been announced for the world premiere of Chelsea Marcantel’s The Upstairs Department, to run Apr. 26 – June 12 at DC’s Signature Theatre, directed by Holly Twyford.
Annie Grove (Colleen), Joy Jones (Shiloh), and Zach Livingston (Luke), with Anna Shafer, Anissa Parekh, and Taylor Witt.
After a serious illness, a young man wakes up with the power to communicate with the dead (or so he believes). Desperate for guidance and to connect with their late father, he and his skeptic sister set out to test his paranormal talent at the Lily Dale Spiritual community, where their discoveries summon more than the afterlife.
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Lincoln Center Theater will present Aaron Sorkin’s revised Camelot, to begin previews Nov. 3 and open Dec. 8 at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, directed by Bartlett Sher.
Casting and creative team TBA.
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Off-Broadway’s Keen Company (scroll down) has announced its 2nd season of Audio Theater Hear/Now: LIVE, featuring two world premieres, which will air on all podcast platforms.
The Telegram, (available now) by Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, featuring Moe Angelos, Randon Danson, and Cesar Rosado. Augie is the consummate cowboy – she’s hardened, principled, and quick on the draw. But when the Kid tags along, expecting stagecoach races, shootouts, and barrels of whiskey, he finds himself entirely unprepared for the absurd realities of the Wild West. Sort of your traditional Western, sort of not. Listen here (not
That Old Perplexity (released Apr. 11), by Deb Margolin, featuring Jordan Boatman, Marcia Jean Kurtz, and Lance Coadie Williams. While Manhattan is still reeling from the fall of 2001, Mary and Barbara find themselves in the midst of their own private crises. As their morning commute stalls, the beautiful discord of the recovering city is healed in a tiny way through the women’s sudden intimate connections, the bizarre grace of a vagrant, and the organic ascendance of kindness. A comedy!
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The world premiere of Patrick Pacheco, Erik Forrest Jackson, Jason Howland & Amanda Yesnowitz’s Christmas in Connecticut: A New Musical, based on the film, will run Nov. 18 – Dec. 30 (opening Dec. 7) at CT’s Goodspeed Musicals, directed by Amy Corcoran.
Casting and additional creative team TBA.
Smart Housekeeping columnist Liz Lane, a famous expert on marriage, cooking and homemaking, is asked by her publisher to host a war hero for Christmas dinner at her renowned Connecticut farmhouse. The only problem? She can’t cook, she isn’t married and she lives in a tiny New York apartment.
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A Radical Invention of Shakespeare’s King Lear will run May 10 – June 5 (opening May 14) at Beverly Hills’ The Wallis, directed by John Gould Rubin.
Joe Morton (King Lear), Mark Harelik (Gloucester), River Gallo (Cordelia/Fool), Zach Soloman (Edgar/King of France), Brie Eley (Regan), and Emily Swallow (Goneril), Rafel Jordan (Edmund), with Miguel Perez, Stanley Jackson, and Danielle Thorpe.
The production features original music, videos, and projections that will transform the theater into a not-t00-distant future United States ravaged by environmental catastrophes.
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Fun Home will run Apr. 21 – May 8 at San Francisco’s 42nd Street Moon, directed by Tracy Ward, with music direction by Dave Dobrusky, and choreography by Natalie Greene.
Rinabeth Apostal (Alison), Jennifer Boesing (Med Alison), Teresa Attridge (Med Alison), Jason Vesely (Bruce), McKenna (Small Alison), Keenan Moran (John), Royal Mickens (Christian), and Rudy Guerreo (Man), with Sophi Introna.
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Chicago Cabaret Week will run May 6-16 at various Chicago venues.
Click here for the complete schedule of events.
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Gingold Theatrical Group (scroll down) will presents Shakespeare Sonnet Soirée, an open mic event, on Sun. Apr. 23 at 6 PM ET A party, not a fundraiser. The event will livestream on Facebook.
Come as you are and share anything you’d like: a poem, sonnet, song, toast excerpt, limerick, or quote.
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Pasadena’s Boston Court will present the world premiere of Carolyn Ratteray’s Both And (a play about laughing while black) Apr. 7 – May 15 (opening Apr. 16), directed by Andi Chapman.
Carolyn Ratteray.
Through clowning and poetic text, the play deeply investigates the nucleus of Black joy. As her mother is dying, Teayanna finds herself in a netherworld between life and death, struggling to help her mother cross over.
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The current London production of Allan Knee, Jason Howland & Mindi Dickstein’s Little Women, directed by Bronagh Lagan, will stream worldwide beginning Apr. 21 on BroadwayHD (link not yet available).
Ryan Bennett (Professor Bhaer), Hana Ichijo (Meg), Sev Keoshgerian (Laurie), Anastasia Martin (Beth), Mary Moore (Amy), Bernadine Pritchett (Aunt March), Brian Protheroe (Mr. Lawrence), Lejaun Sheppard (John Brooke), Savannah Stevenson (Marmee), and Lydia White (Chee/Rags), with Jo Andrusier and Liv Andrusier.
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Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses will run May 8 – June 5 (opening May 14) at Pasadena’s A Noise Within, directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott.
Alan Blumenfeld, DeJuan Christopher, Geoff Elliott, Rafael Goldstein, Nicole Javier, Kasey Mahaffy, Sydney A. Mason, Trisha Miller, Cassandra Marie Murphy, and Erika Soto.
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Tim Federle’s “Better Nate Than Ever” is currently streaming on Disney+.
Rueby Wood, Aria Brooks, Joshua Bassett, Michelle Federer, Norbert Leo Butz, Lisa Kudrow, and Brooks Ashmanskas.
Teenager Nate Foster has big Broadway dreams. There’s only one problem – he can’t even land a part in the school pay. But when his parents leave town, Nate and his best friend Libby sneak off to the Big Apple for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to prove everyone wrong. A chance encounter with Nate’s long-lost Aunt Heidi turns his journey upside-down, and together they must learn that life’s greatest adventures are only as big as your dreams.
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Matthew Spangler’s adaptation of The Kite Runner will run July 6 – Oct. 30 (opening July 21) at the Hayes Theater, directed by Giles Croft.
Amir Arison (Amir), Faran Tahir (Baba), Danish Farooqui (Wali/Doctor), Azita Ghanizada (Soraya), Joe Joseph (Merchant/Russian Soldier), Dariush Kashani (Rahim Kahan), Beejan Land (Kamal.Zaman), Amir Malaklou (Assef), Eric Sirakian (Hassan/Sohrab), Houshan Touzie (General Taheri), and Evan Zes (Ali/Farid), with Demosthenes Chrysan, Dea Julien, Christine Mirzayan, Haris Pervaiz, and Alex Purcell.
A haunting tale of friendship spanning cultures and continents, that follows one man’s journey to confront his pas and find redemption. Afghanistan is a divided country on the verge of war and two childhood friends are about to be torn apart. It’s a beautiful afternoon in Kabus and the skies are full of the excitement and joy of a kite flying tournament. But neither of the boys can foresee the terrible incident which will shatter their lives forever.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Everything Old Is New…or Young
1. The Young Man from Atlanta – Horton Foote
2. New Girl in Town – George Abbott and Bob Merrill
3. The New Moon – Sigmund Romberg, Oscar Hammerstein II, et al
4. Old Times – Harold Pinter
5. The New Word – J. M. Barrie
6. The Young Idea – Noël Coward
7. The Old Boy – A. R. Gurney
8. The New Boy – Arthur Law
9. The Old Lady Shows Her Medals – J. M. Barrie
10. The Young and Beautiful – Sally Benson