Today’s Highlights:
Bigfoot, The Musical in concert, by Amber Ruffin, Kevin Sciretta & David Schmoll, featuring Justin Guarini, Bonnie Milligan, Alex Moffat, Alex Newell, and Larry Owens, at 7 PM at NYC’s 54 Below.
Scott Alan in concert, with special guest Ben Cohen, along with Megan Dwinnel, Alyssa Fox, Jenn Gambatese, Luke Islam, Robin de Jesús, Tommy Kaiser, Diva LaMarr, Ginna Claire Mason, Mauricio Martínez, Lindsay Heather Pearce, Henry Jacob Platt, Jelani Remy, Adam Roberts, Nic Rouleau, Analise Scarpaci, Kate Shindle, and Talia Suskauer, at 7 PM at NYC’s Birdland.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: That’s Insulting! by Jim Pernhard
Match these insults with the speaker and the person to whom they are addressed:
| 1. “…you starveling, you eel-skin, you dried neat’s-tongue, you bull’s pizzle, you stock-fish—O for breath to utter what is like thee!” | A. Linda Loman to Happy and Biff in Death of a Salesman |
| 2. “For nine years…I have done everything in my power to protect this boy from your idiotic, cockeyed nincompoopery!” | B. Stanley Kowalski to Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire |
| 3. “…you squashed cabbage leaf, you disgrace to the noble architecture of these columns, you incarnate insult to the English language…” | C. Prince Hal to Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV Part 1 |
| 4. “You’re about as sexy as a wet cardboard box…” | D. Martha to George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
| 5. “I swear…if you existed I’d divorce you…I haven’t been able to see you for years… you’re a blank, a cipher “ | E. Sir John Falstaff to Prince Hal in Henry IV Part 1 |
| 6. “Get those shoes off your feet, little brat! Who takes a dead woman’s shoes, must have been raised in a barn!” | F. Dwight Babcock to Mame Dennis Burnside in Auntie Mame |
| 7. “…You come in here and sprinkle the place with powder and spray perfume and cover the light bulb with a paper lantern, and lo and behold the place has turned into Egypt and you are the Queen of the Nile! Sitting on your throne and swilling down my liquor! I say Ha!—Ha! Do you hear me? Ha—ha—ha!” | G. Gwendolen Fairfax to Cecily Cardew in The Importance of Being Earnest |
| 8. “Why thou clay-brained guts, thou knotty-pated fool, thou whoreson, obscene, greasy tallow-catch.” | H. Violet to Mattie Fae in August: Osage County |
| 9. “Get out of here, both of you, and don’t come back. I don’t want you tormenting him any more…Pick up this stuff. I’m not your maid any more. Pick it up, you bum, you! You’re a pair of animals! Not one, not another living soul would have had the cruelty to walk out on that man in a restaurant!” | I. Henry Higgins to Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion |
| 10. “From the moment I saw you I distrusted you. I felt that you were false and deceitful. I am never deceived in such matters. My first impressions are invariably right.” | J. Elphaba to Dorothy in Wicked |
Scroll down for the answers…
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Broadway Cares game night, in support of BCEFA, will present its annual Broadway Bets official game night on Mon. June 2 at 6 PM at N YC’s Sardi’s. Prizes will be awarded to all players who reach the final table. Participants TBA.
A full house of Broadway talent, industry insiders and theater enthusiasts will join in a friendly Texas Hold ’em tournament for all levels. Newcomers and aces alike will have the chance to play their cards right and win the coveted title of Broadway Bets champion. Prizes will be awarded to all players who reach the final table. A mix of Broadway talent, industry insiders, and theatre enthusiasts will join in a Texas Hold ’em tournament for all levels. Prizes will be awarded to all who reach the final table, and one player will receive the title of Broadway Bets champion. Guest passes offer a chance to observe the poker action and play other casino games for fun, including blackjack and roulette.
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Long Island’s Bay Street Theater has announced 2 shows in its 2024 summer season:
The Subject Was Roses (May 28 – June 16), directed by Scott Wittman, featuring John Slattery, Talia Balsam, and Harry Slattery.
TBA (June 25 – July 21)
Young Frankenstein (Aug. 1-25), directed by Stuart Ross, with choreography by Gerry Mcintyre.
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Fawlty Towers, adapted by John Cleese, will run May 4 – Sept. 28 (opening May 15) at the Apollo Theater, directed by Caroline Jay Ranger.
Adam Jackson-Smith (Basil) Anna-Jane Casey (Sybil), Hemi Yeroham (Manuel), Victoria Fox (Polly), Paul Nicholas (The Major), Rachel Izen (Mrs. Richards), Steven Meo (Mr. Hutchinson (German Guest), Kate Russell-Smith (Miss Tibbs), Nicola Sanderson (Miss Gatsby), Greg Haiste (Mr. Thurston), Danny Bayne (Mr. Walt/Dr. Finn), Neil Stuart (Taxi Driver/Mr. Firkins/Mr. Kerr/Mr. Sharp), and Emma Fenney (German Guests), with Mia Austen, John Hasler, Dale Superville, Ben Jacobson, and Suzy Bloom.
Following a tip off that hotel inspectors may be visiting and eager to impress, Basil attempts to ingratiate himself with guests that he suspects are there to critique the establishment. The situation is further plagued by a party of Germans, the deaf and dotty guest-from-hell, Mrs. Richards, whose infuriating complaints prevent him from hiding a gambling win from his ever vigilant and bossy wife, Sybil. Together they run their hotel with a little help from the unflappable Polly, and very little help at all from Manuel, the trainee waiter from Barcelona who is the butt of Fawlty’s frustration.
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George Brant’s Into the Breeches! will run Mar. 21 – Apr. 27 at Theatre Forty (link TBA), directed by Louis Fantasia. Note: This show will run in repertory with Power and Light.
Caroline Westheimer, Maria Brodeur, David Datz, Jean Mackie, Kevin Dulude, Nakasha Norwood, Tricia Cruz, and Holly Sidell.
A group of mostly amateur actresses keep a Rhode Island playhouse alive during World War II by taking on all the roles once played by the men now fighting overseas.
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Make Me Gorgeous! The True Story of Kenneth “Mr. Madam” Marlowe, written & directed by Donnie, has been extended through Feb. 25 at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Lukes.
Wade McCollum.
The fabulous and incredible true story of Kenneth Marlowe, an oft-overlooked trailblazer in LGBTQ history. Described as one of mid-Century America’s gayest and most openly homosexual personalities, Marlowe took on many roles in life. Kenneth was private hairdresser to the stars; the madam of a notorious gay prostitution ring in Hollywood; an author; a hustler; a female impersonator; a private in the U.S. Army, a call boy; a Christian missionary, a mortuary cosmetologist; a newspaper columnist … and for the final decade of an incredibly lived life, Marlowe was a woman, having transitioned to become Kate Marlow.
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Richard Hawley & Chris Bush’s Standing at the Sky’s Edge will begin previews Feb. 8 and open Feb. 28 at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, directed by Robert Hastie, with choreography by Lynne Page, and music supervision by Tom Deering.
Elizabeth Ayodele (Joy), Joel Harper-Jackson (Harry), Sharlene Hector (Grace), Samual Jordan (Jimmy), Mel Lowe (Connie), Baker Mukasa (George), Alastair Natkiel as Marcus, Laura Pitt-Pulford as Poppy, Lauryn Redding as Nikki, Rachael Wooding (Rose), Jonathan Andre (Max), Jonathon Bentley (Gary), Mya Fox-Scott (Jenny), Rachael Louise Miller (Cathy), Adam Price (Charles), Nicola Sloane (Vivienne), Lillie-Pearl Wildman (Justine), and David McKechnie (Joe/Workman), with Monique Ashe-Palmer, Adam Colbeck-Dunn, Viquichele Cross, Jamie Doncaster, Caroline Fitzgerald, Jerome Lincoln, Sean McLevy, Karen Wilkinson, Alayna Anderson, Luca Foster-Lejeune, Renee Hart, Eric Madgwick, Chioma Nduka, and Sam Stocks.
The musical, which reveals the history of modern Britain through the stories of this iconic housing estate, charts the hopes and dreams of three generations over the course of six decades.
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Video: Highlights from tick, tick…BOOM! at the Kennedy Center, directed by Neil Patrick Harris, featuring Harris, Brandon Uranowitz, Denée Benton, and Grey Henson,
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The TRU Voices New Plays Reading Series will offer a reading of Scott Sublett’s 1920 on Sun. Feb. 11 at 4 PM ET here, directed by Christopher Scott.
Gene Gillette and Marina Shay.
The night 36-year-old Eleanor Roosevelt confesses her bisexuality to her handsome, still healthy, 37-year-old husband, they teeter on the verge of divorce, but out of their conflict they forge a new kind of marriage … and political alliance. Like Hamilton, 1920 explores the flawed and fascinating human side of our national heroes.
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The world premiere of Timothy Braun’s Coney Island Land or The Great Existential Actuality at The End of The Universe will run Feb. 16 – Mar. 17 (opening Feb. 17) at Theatre 68 Arts Complex, directed by Lucy Smith Conroy.
Tate Evans and Thoms Piper.
It is Memorial Day Weekend 2021, and two high school sweethearts are meeting in person for the first time in 30 years. They have come to the Best Western Plus Brooklyn Bay Hotel in Coney Island to see what the future holds for them. Coney Island Land is about memory, nostalgia, middle age, and love in the time of a pandemic. Running time is 90 minutes with no intermission.
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Sara Bareilles & Sarah Ruhl are in the process of adapting Meg Wolizer’s novel, The Interestings. Stay tuned for further updates.
Six teenagers meet at summer camp in the 1970s and form a lifelong bond over their shared dream of leading creative and inspiring lives. Decades later in New York City, that bond remains powerful, but so much else has changed. The musical traces their lives as they grow together and apart to explore friendship, love, envy, class, art, money, and power; and how all of it can shift and tilt precipitously over the course of a friendship and a life.
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LA’s East West Players has announced its 2024 season at the David Henry Hwang Theater. Casting TBA.
Kairos (Apr. 4-28), by Lisa Sanaye Dring, directed by Jesca Prudencio. Casting TBA. The new sci-fi musical follows two people falling in love during a tectonic shift in society.
Unbroken Blossoms (June 27 – July 21, opening June 30), world premiere by Philip W. Chung, directed by Jeff Liu. Based on true events, the play follows a pair of Chinese American consultants hired to work on Broken Blossoms, an onscreen interracial love story which features two white actors with one in yellowface makeup.
Pacific Overtures (Nov. 7 – Dec. 1 (opening Nov. 10). Creative team TBA.
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The world premiere of Timothy Braun’s Coney Island Land or The Great Existential Actuality at The End of The Universe will run Feb. 16 – Mar. 17 (opening Feb. 17) at North Hollywood’s Theatre 68 Arts Complex, directed by Lucy Conroy.
Tate Evans and Thomas Piper.
It is Memorial Day Weekend 2021, and two high school sweethearts are meeting in person for the first time in 30 years. They have come to the Best Western Plus Brooklyn Bay Hotel in Coney Island to see what the future holds for them. Coney Island Land is about memory, nostalgia, middle age, and love in the time of a pandemic. Running time is 90 minutes with no intermission.
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Sara Bareilles & Sarah Ruhl’s The Interestings, a musical adaptation of Meg Wolitzer’s book of the same name, is currently in devopment. Dates, theater, creative teams, and casting TBA.
Six teenagers meet at summer camp in the 1970s and form a lifelong bond over dreams of leading creative, inspiring lives. Decades later, all six are living in New York City, navigating their professional and personal lives as they grow together and apart.
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Footloose, adapted by Dean Pitchford & Walter Bobbie, will run Mar. 1-17 at Burbank’s Colony Theatre, directed by Barry Pearl, with choreography by Michelle Elkin, and music direction by Ron Barnett.
Larry Cedar, Robin DeLano, Brady Fritz, KelseyLee Smith, Casey Anne Apregan, James Beadlsey, Whitney Kathleen Vigil, Sammy Linkowski, Camie Del Rosario, Lauren Lorati, Michael Well, Christopher Robert Smith,Karen Macarah, Lisa Kyson, and Ceron Jones, with Mary Kate Chapman, Madison Miyuki Sprague, Michael Riskin, Melvin Biteng, Christopher Ho, Noah Heie, Coby Rogers, Laura Aronoff, Veronica Carolina Leite, Callula Sawyer, Lauren Barette, Arielle Dettmer, Almand Martin Jr., and Mathew San Jose.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: That’s Insulting!
1-E. Falstaff to Prince Hall, Henry IV, Part 1
2-F. Dwight Babcock to Mame Dennis Burnside, Auntie Mame
3-I. Henry Higgins to Eliza Doolittle, Pygmalion
4-H. Violet to Mattie Fae, August: Osage County
5-D. Martha to George, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
6-J. Elphaba to Dorothy, Wicked
7-B. Stanley Kowalski to Blanche DuBois, A Streetcar Named Desire
8-C. Prince Hal to Falstaff, Henry IV, Part 1
9-A. Linda Loman to Happy and Biff, Death of A Salesman
10-G. Gwendolen Fairfax to Cecily Cardew, The Importance of Being Earnest