Today’s Highlights:
The 32nd Annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre award ceremony, honoring César Alvarez (Most Promising Musical Theatre Lyricist) and Isabella Dawis (Most Promising Musical Theatre Librettist), with special guests Bernadette Peters, Richard Maltby Jr., and Maury Yeston, streams for FREE at 7 PM ET (and available through Feb. 28) on BroadwayOnDemand.
Caitlin Kinnunen streaming concert with Seth Rudetsky, at 8 PM ET here (use code EMMA5 to save 20%).
“Miss Lillian: More Than A President’s Mother,” a documentary focusing on Lillian Carter, the Carter Family, and Jimmy Carter, released on iTunes, Apple TV, and Prime Video. Click here for more information.
Video (trailer).
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Also Known As… by Jim Bernhard
Match these titles with the characters they denote:
| 1. The Merchant of Venice | A. Sheridan Whiteside |
| 2. The Alchemist | B. Bumerli |
| 3. The Merchant of Yonkers | C. Harpagon |
| 4. The Imaginary Invalid | D. Sir Fopling Flutter |
| 5. The Bourgeois Gentleman | E. Randy Carter |
| 6. The Man of Mode | F. Monsieur Jourdain |
| 7. The Young Man from Atlanta | G. Horace Vandergelder |
| 8. The Man Who Came to Dinner | H. Argan |
| 9. The Chocolate Soldier | I. Subtle |
| 10. The Miser | J. Antonio |
Scroll down for the answers…
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Reviews for The Power of Sail at LA’s Geffen Playhouse:
LA Times (Charles McNulty): …Unfortunately, while Cranston is painting in oils, his playwright is diagramming in stick figures. Power of Sail, a debate play on the hot topics of free speech and academic freedom, is something a cable news network looking to get into scripted television drama might dream up… The production, under the direction of Weyni Mengesha, wastes an enviable cast (that includes Amy Brenneman) on a play that’s part position paper, part political mystery… The other characters are all pawns in an argument presented from different angles. Complexity is the goal, but the drama is too manipulative to be enlightening.
Stage Scene LA (Steven Stanley): The consequences are catastrophic when a respected Ivy League professor invites an infamous white nationalist to speak at Harvard in Paul Grellong’s Power Of Sail, a powerhouse Geffen Playhouse West Coast Premiere… If ever there were a play inspired to provoke audience debate, Power Of Sail is that play… what makes Grellong’s play a particular must-see are a pair of eleventh-hour flashbacks that will have audiences reevaluating all five of Power Of Sail’s principal players (and perhaps making plans for a repeat visit if only to see them with entirely different eyes)… Cranston delivers a devastating tour-de-force performance…
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MCC Theater‘s MISCAST22 will take place Mon. Apr. 4 at 8 PM ET at NYC’s Hammerstein Ballroom. The creative team is TBA.
Christine Baranski, Raúl Esparza, Susan Raanan, and Alexander Lambie.
Aaron Tveit, Uzo Aduba, Anika Noni Rose, Jennifer Simard, Sky Dakota Turner, Joshua Henry, and more TBA.
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“Give or Take” is now available in movie theaters (see list below), and will begin streaming Feb. 22 on Amazon Prime Video.
Norbert Leo Butz, James Effros, Joanne Tucker, and Cheri Oteri.
In theaters:
* Quad Cinemas, 34 W. 13th St., NYC
* Laemmle Royal, 11523 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles
* Cape Cinema, 35 Hope Lane, Dennis, MA
Video: Trailer
When a disillusioned New Yorker’s father dies, he goes home to Cape Cod and prepares the house for sale while sharing it with his father’s temperamental live-in-boyfriend. Grieving, they circle each other, butt heads, and negotiate how to remember the man they both loved, and the significance of what he left behind.
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The League of Professional Theatre Women present an interview with Emily Mann on Thurs. Feb. 24 at 6 PM ET at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium, moderated by Alexis Green.
required, by emailing danielwdemello@gmail.com.
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Mrs. Doubtfire will re-open Apr. 14 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, directed by Jerry Zaks.
Rob McClure (Mrs. Doubtfire), Brad Oscar (Frank Hillard), Jenn Gambatese (Miranda Hillard), Peter Bartlett (Mr. Jolly), Charity Angél Dawson (Wanda Sellner), Mark Evans (Stuart Dunmire), J. Harrison Ghee (Andre Mayem), Analise Scarpaci (Lydia Hillard), Jake Ryan Flynn (Christopher Hillard), Avery Sell (Natalie Hillard), with Cameron Adams, Calvin L. Cooper, Kaleigh Cronin, Maria Dalanno, Casey Garvin, David Hibbard, KJ Hippensteel, Aaron Kaburick, Jodie Kimura, Erica Mansfield, Brian Martin, Alexandra Matteo, Sam Middleton, LaQuet Sharnell Pringle, Akilah Sailers, Jaquez André Sims, Travis Waldschmidt, and Aléna Watters.
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The Bridges of Madison County will run Mar. 11-27 (opening Mar. 12) at New Jersey’s Axelrod PAC, directed by Hunter Foster, with music direction by Keith Levenson.
Kate Baldwin (Francesca Johnson) Aaron Lazar (Robert Kincaid), Bart Shatto (Bud Johnson), Thomas Cromer (Michael Johnson), and Emily Pellecchia (Carolyn Johnson), with Giuliana Augello, Sealth Grove, Lara Hayhurst, Mark Megill, Natalie Myrick, Rutledge Varley, and Nikki Yarnell.
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The world premiere of Cinco Paul & Bekah Brunstetter’s A.D. 16 has been extended through Mar. 20 at MD’s Olney Theatre Center, directed by Stephen Brackett.
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.
Mary is 16, new in Nazareth and crushing hard on a Jewish carpenter’s son…
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Mary Zimmerman’s The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, currently in previews, will open Feb. 22 and continue through Mar. 20 at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, directed by Zimmerman.
Adeoye, Christina Clark, Christopher Donahue, Kasey Foster, Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel, John Gregorio, Anthony Irons, and Wai Yim, with Chloe Baldwin, Sean Blake, Jack DeCesare, Lawrence Grimm, Andrea San Miguel, and Will Wilhelm.
The production is composed entirely of words from Da Vinci’s notebooks and various treatises, as well as his idea on topics from mathematic, anatomy, architecture and engineering, to philosophy, love and the human spirit come to vivid life.
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Sandra Bernhard: An Evening of Comedy and Music will take place Sat. Mar. 12 at 8 PM ET at Westport Country Playhouse.
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The world premiere of Doug Wright’s Good Night, Oscar, will run Mar. 12 – Apr. 17 (opening Mar. 21) at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, directed by Lisa Peterson.
Sean Hayes (Oscar Levant) Emily Bergl (June Levant), Ben Rappaport (Jack Paar), Peter Grosz (Bob Sarnoff), Ethan Slater (Max Weinbaum), Tramell Tillman (Alvin Finney), and John Zdrojeski (George Gershwin).
Halfway into the 20th century finds American glued to their TVs as Jack Paar’s amusing and always unpredictable banter echoes across living rooms. One night, he is joined by the equally unbridled pianist and character actor Oscar Levant. During an evening of witty one-liners (“There’s a fine line between genius and insanity; I have erased this line”), Oscar lays bare the necessity of insanity in the making of brilliant work and the cost he is willing to pay to entertain the masses in an episode that Paar’s audience, and the rest of America, won’t soon forget.
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Video: Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker discuss Plaza Suite on “CBS Sunday Morning.” (7:13)
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Dario Fo & Franca Rame’s Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay! will run Mar. 12 – Apr. 30 (opening Mar. 19) at The Actors’ Gang Theater, directed by Bob Turton.
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).
Hungry and fed up by rising prices and stagnant wages, Antonia joins a revolt of women at the local supermarket. Determined to live with dignity and rejecting an austerity diet of dog food and birdseed, the women’s protest escalates, and looting ensues. As police search door to door, Antonia and her friend Margherita frantically try to hide their “liberated” goods from their husbands and the police.
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Video: Ep. 1 of the new 6-episode web series, “The Aging Ingenue,” by Sara Jean Ford & Cameron Dingwall. New episodes will be released every Wednesday. (4:43)
Sara Jean Ford, Vishal Vaidya, Ashley Blanchet, and Will Reynolds.
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2022 TheaterWorksUSA Spring Benefit will take place Mon. Apr. 25 at 6 PM ET at NYC’s Chelsea Piers (Pier 59), with music direction by Isaac Harlan, and hosted by Chuck Cooper. 
here.
Bonnie Comley & Stewart F. Lane, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Tom Costanzo, and Schele Williams.
Andréa Burns, Miguel Cervantes, Mandy Gonzalez, Jose Llana, Eric Peterson, Kate Wetherhead, and more TBA.
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Working in Concert has announced it 4th international exchange of the Cabaret Connexion, to run May 8-16 at various Chicago venues (as well as in Paris).
(performers leading workshops, discussions, concerts, and master classes): Jeff Harnar, Michele Barbier, Clotilde Rullaud, Cynthia Clarey, and Isabelle Georges.
The event convenes cabaret enthusiasts from around the globe to gather concerts and educational workshops.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Also Known As…
1-J. The Merchant of Venice – Antonio
2-I. The Alchemist – Subtle
3-G. The Merchant of Yonkers – Horace Vandergelder
4-H. The Imaginary Invalid – Argan
5-F. The Bourgeois Gentleman – Monsieur Jourdain
6-D. The Man of Mode – Sir Fopling Flutter
7-E. The Young Man from Atlanta – Randy Carter
8-A. The Man Who Came to Dinner – Sheridan Whiteside
9-B. The Chocolate Soldier – Bumerli
10-C. The Miser – Harpagon