Today’s Highlights:
Erich Bergen begins his run as Billy Flynn in Chicago at Broadway’s Ambassador Theatre.
Lincoln Center‘s The Nosebleed, written & directed by Aya Ogawa, featuring Drae Campbell, Ashil Lee, Aya Ogawa, Saori Tsukada, and Kaili Y. Turner, opens at Off-Broadway’s Claire Tow Theater.
Chess – The Musical in Concert, directed & choreographed by Nick Winston, featuring Hadley Fraser (Anatoly), Samantha Barks (Florence), Joel Harper-Jackson (Freddie), Frances Mayli McCann (Svetlana), Ako Mitchell (The Arbiter), and Craige Els (Molokov), with Joseph Craig, Darius J James, Aoife Kenny, Jessica Lee, Nick Len, Natasha May-Thomas, Alice Readie, Joshua Robinson, Stuart Rouse, Phoebe Samuel-Gray, Grant Thresh and Libby Watts, opens at the UK’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
The Butcher Boy, adapted by Asher Muldoon, directed by Ciarán O’Reilly, featuring Nicholas Barasch (Francie Brady), Joe Cassidy (Alo/William), Kerry Conte (Mary/Mary/Mary), Andrea Lynn Green (Ma), Daniel Marconi (Phillip Nugent), Michele Ragusa (Mrs. Nugent/Kathleen), Scott Stangland (Da), with Teddie Trice (Pig 1), Carey Rebecca Brown Pig 2), Polly McKie (Pig 3), and David Baida (Pig 4), opens at Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep.
Brand New Day benefit concert, in support of Broadway Bound Kids, featuring Joey Contreras, Emily Afton, Kim Exum, Emily Schultheis, Katerina McCrimmon, and Kelechi Ezie, both live & livestreamed at 7 PM ET at NYC’s Green Room 42.
In Love With Cancer staged reading, by Marylou DiPietro, directed by Carlyle King, featuring Michelle Gillette, Kathy Bell Denton, Cheryl Francis Harrington, and Krishna Smith, at 7:30 PM PT at North Hollywood’s Road on Magnolia (scroll down).
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Name Dropping, by Jim Bernhard:
Insert the missing names in these play titles.
| 1. The ____ Trilogy, play by Stefano Massini | A. Caine |
| 2. The ____ Proposals, play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse | B. Browning |
| 3. The ____ Version, play by Terence Rattigan | C. Aspern |
| 4. The ____ Inheritance, play by Harley Granville-Barker | D. Donovan |
| 5. The ____ Story, play by Diana Morgan | E. Voysey |
| 6. The ____ Papers, play by Michael Redgrave | F. Lehman |
| 7. The ____ Mutiny, novel by Herman Wouk on which his Broadway play was based | G. Elton |
| 8. The ____ Trial, play by Frances Noyes Hart and Frank E. Carstarphen | H. Starcross |
| 9. The ____ Case, play by William Devereux | I. Prescott |
| 10. The____ Affair, play by Owen Davis | J. Bellamy |
Scroll down for the answers…
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The world premiere of Marcus Gardley’s modern translation of Lear will run Sept. 7 – Oct. 2 (opening Sept. 14) at Orinda’s California Shakespeare Theatre, directed by Eric Ting & Dawn Monique.
James A. Williams (King Lear), Michael J. Asberry (Glouster), Emma Van Lare (Regan), Dov Hassan (Cornwall), Sam Jackson (Cordelia/The Comic), Leontyne Mbele-Mbong (Goneril), Cathleen. Riddley (Kent), Kenny Scott (Albany), Jomar Tagatac (Edmund), Dane Troy (Edgar), and Velina Brown (Black Queen).
Set in San Francisco’s Fillmore District from the eminent domain crisis through to the subsequent displacement of the 1960s, the play is a deconstruction of the classic story of power, betrayal, and madness.
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Video: Final bows for Broadway’s Company.
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RIP: Pat Carroll died on July 30 at the age of 95, after a bout of pneumonia.
On stage, Ms. Carroll appeared in the original Broadway companies of Catch a Star! and Dancing in the Endzone, and in revivals of the plays Electra and The Show Off.
Ms. Carroll was Tony nominated for her Broadway debut in Catch a Star! She would later star in a production of The Threepenny Opera for The Actors Studio before making a triumphant return to New York with her one woman show in which she embodied icon Gertrude Stein. For Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Ms. Carroll was awarded the Drama Desk for Outstanding Actress, and the 1980 Grammy for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama.
In 1989, Ms. Carroll inhabited the role for which she is most remembered, the sea witch Ursula in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Ms. Carroll reprised the role many times, lending her vocal talents to the role as recently as 2020.
Her Broadway credits include Catch a Star (1955), Dancing in the End Zone (1985), The Show Off (1992), and Electra (1998).
She was best known as Bunny Halper on “The Danny Thomas Show” in the early ’60s, and also played Hope Stinson on “Too Close for Comfort,” as well as appearing opposite Suzanne Somers on the 1987-89 series “Shers the Sheriff.”
She was also well known as a cranky patient who shared a hospital room with Mary Richards on “the Mary Tyler Moore Show (1971), and also played the role of Lily Feeney, the mother of Cindy Williams’ character in “Laverne & Shirley.”
Other TV credits include “Cinderella,” “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies,” “Love, American Style,” My Three Sons,” “Police Woman,” “Busting Loose,” “The Love Boat,” “Trapper John, M.D.,” “Evening Shade,” Designing Women,” and “ER.”
Click here to read more about Pat’s illustrious career.
Video: Pat Carroll interview on “The Complete Pioneers of Television” (46:29)
Video: “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from “The Little Mermaid” film.
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Audio: Listen to Broadway’s Best Overtures
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An Evening with Orfeh and Andy Karl will take place Thurs. Aug. 4 at 7 & 9:30 PM ET at NYC’s Chelsea Table + Chair (scroll down), with music direction by Steven Jamail.
Video: The duo performs “When I Fall in Love”
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RIP: Actress Mary Alice has passed away at the age of 80.
She made her Broadway debut in 1969’s No Place to Be Somebody. Other Broadway credits include The Shadow Box, Having Our Say, and Fences (1987 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play).
Mary Alice also received a Tony nomination for Having Our Say, as well as earning an Obie Committee Gold Star at the Obie Awards.
In addition Mary won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1993 for “I’ll Fly Away. Her other film credits include “Malcolm X,” “The Inkwell” (1994), and “Down in the Delta (1998).
In 2000, Mary Alice was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. She retired from acting in 2005.
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The San Francisco production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will close Sept. 11 at the Curran Theatre after 393 performances, making it the longest running play in the history of the city.
John Skelley (Harry Potter), Steve O’Connell (Ron Weasley), Lily Mojekwu (Hermione Granger), Lucas Hall (Draco Malfoy), Abbi Hawk (Ginny Potter), Jon Steiger (Scorpius Malfoy), Folami Williams (Rose Granger-Weasley), and more.
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Complete casting has been announced for Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day, to run Sept. 6 – Oct. 31 at the Old Vic, directed by Katy Rudd.
Helen Hunt (Suzanne), Kirsten Foster (May), Mark McKinney (Don), Ben Schnetzer (Eli), and Susan Kelechi Watson (Carina).
The play is set during a mumps outbreak in California in 2017, as the school community weighs up questions of vaccination.
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Video: Beanie Feldstein‘s final Funny Girl bows.
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The world premiere of Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo & Bradley Bredeweg’s Invincible – The Musical will run Nov. 22 – Dec. 17 (opening Nov. 30) at Beverly Hills’ The Wallis, directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene, with music direction by Jesse Vargas.
Casting TBA.
Set in the war-torn metropolis of Verona where the newly elected Chancellor Paris vows to destroy the progressive resistance and return the city to its traditional roots. The star-crossed lovers’ story, exploring how love and equality battle for survival in times of great transformation, envisions peace in a divided world.
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“Eric LaRue,” the film adaptation of Brett Neveu’s play of the same name, is currently in development, directed by Michael Shannon. Timeline and additional information TBA.
Judy Greer, Paul Sparks, Alison Pill, Tracy Letts, Annie Parisse, Kate Arrington, and Alexander Skarsgard.
The play was written in response to the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. The film follows Janice, the mother of 17-year-old Eric, who shot and killed three of his classmates. As Janice meets with the mothers of the other boys, and a visit to her son in prison, the story becomes not about the violence, but about what we choose to think and do to survive trauma.
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RIP: Darius Barnes, a director, choreography, dancer, and performing artist has died at the age of 34.
Darius appeared on Broadway in Mean Girls, Memphis, Roundabout’s revival of Kiss Me Kate, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Spider-Man, and Cinderella.
Additional credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (at the Guthrie), Cinderella (1st national tour), Memphis (1st national tour), The Sting (Papermill Playhouse), Cabin in the Sky (Encores!), La Cage Aux Folles (Goodspeed), My Paris (Long Wharf), The Pirates of Penzance (Barrington Stage), Anastasia: The Musical (workshop), Hazel: A New Musical Maid In America (workshop) Souzatska, and Superfly.
Darius was also the Associate Choreographer for Off-Broadway’s Kimberly Akimbo. He made his Off-Broadway debut in The New Group’s revival of Sweet Charity.
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Video: The cast of Netflix‘s “13: The Musical” performs “Opportunity”
Debra Messing, Rhea Perlman, Josh Peck, Peter Hermann, Eli Golden, Gabriella Uhl, JD McCrary, Frankie McNellis, Lindsey Blackwell, Jonathan Lengel, Ramon Reed, Nolen Dubuc, Luke Islam, Shechinah Mpumlwana, Kayleigh, Cerezo, Wyatt Moss, Liam Wignall, and Khiyla Aynne.
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Netflix is suing songwriting duo Abigail Barlow & Emily Bear, team behind The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, over the popular adaptation of the hit TV series.
According the lawsuit, Netflix has taken aim at the pair over their for-profit, live production. “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical Album Live in Concert,” which played to a sold-out-crowd at the Kennedy Center last week.
The complaint states, “The live show featured over a dozen songs that copied verbatim dialogue, character traits and expression, and other elements from the “Bridgerton” series. It included dramatic portrayals of Bridgerton characters by Broadway actors, emoting through the performance of the songs that comprise the “musical.”
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The world premiere of Peter Lefcourt’s Remembering the Future continues through Aug. 21 at the Odyssey Theatre, directed by Terri Hanauer.
Michael Corbett, Fatima El-Bashir, David Jahn, Andrew Neaves, and Tarina Pouncy.
What would your eighteen-year-old self say to your fifty-eight-year-old self if it had the opportunity? How would they judge the life you are living? this question hangs over this thought-provoking comedy that deals with love, life, and the tinted prism of memory.
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Audio: Listen to Broadway’s Best Overtures
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Neil Bartlett’s stage adaptation of the Virginia Woolf novel “Orlando” will open this Fall at a theatre TBA, directed by Michael Grandage. Casting and additional information TBA.
Emma Corrin (Orland) and more TBA.
The feminist classic spans nearly 400 centuries and follows a poet who changes sex from man to woman and meets various key figures of English literary history. A film adaptation, written & directed by Sally Potter, debuted in 1992, starring Tilda Swinton.
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Video: “Ms. Guidance” – Episode 5: “How to Succeed in Jenny Without Really Trying.”
Amber Gray, Van Hansis, Tyler Hanes, Ian Unterman, Calli Alden, Adriane Lenox, Mark Boyett, Sam Faulkner, Andrew Hollinger, Erin Kommor, Ginna Le Vine, Antonio Marziale, Ashley Austin Morris, Amy Russ, Nikki Snelson, Kit Williamson, Marco Zunino, Michael Urie, and Elliotte Crowell.
In this episode, Jenny has turned over a new leaf, or at least that’s what she wants everyone to think. Pistol is conflicted by a nagging desire to cast Walker as the lead in The Seagull. Bethany uncovers a dirty secret and uses it to her advantage. And Porsche learns how to be good at being bad.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Name Dropping
1-F. The Lehman Trilogy
2-I. The Prescott Proposals
3-B. The Browning Version
4-E. The Voysey Inheritance
5-H. The Starcross Story
6-C. The Aspern Papers
7-A. The Caine Mutiny
8-J. The Bellamy Trial
9-G. The Elton Case
10-D. The Donovan Affair