Today’s Highlights:
Toni Stone, by Lydia R. Diamond, directed by Ron OJ Parson, featuring Tracey Bonner (Toni Stone), Kai Ealy (King Tut), Joseph Aaron Johnson (Elzie), Chiké Johnson (Alberga), Travis Knight (Stretch), Victor Musoni (Jimmy), Jon Hudson Odom (Millie), Edgar Miguel Sanchez (Spec), and Terence Sims (Woody), with Jabari Khaliq, Krystel McNeil, and Matty Robinson, opens at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.
The Acting Company‘s The Misanthrope reading, translated byNeil Bartlett, directed by Devin Brain, featuring Kelley Curran (Celimene), Elizabeth Stahlmann (Arsinoe), Rufus Collins (Oronte), Ben Horner (Philinte), Chukwudi Iwuji (Alceste), and Nikki Massoud (Eliante), at 7 PM at Off-Broadway’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater.
Pippin: The 50th Anniversary Original Broadway Cast Reunion Concert, directed by Walter Willison, featuring John Rubinstein, Joy Franz, Candy Brown, Cheryl Clark, Gene Foote, Will D. MacMillian, Jennifer Nairn-Smith, Pamela Sousa, Walter Willison, Leland Palmer, and Aaron Lee Battle, both live & livestreamed at 7 & 9:30 PM at NYC’s 54 Below (also Feb. 7).
A Celebration of John Guare event, featuring Tony Kushner, Meryl Street, Ben Stiller, Ariana DeBose, Paul Dano, Suzan-Lori Parks, Edie Falco, Linda Lavin, Zoe Kazan, Kenneth Lonergan, Amy Herzog, Elizabeth Marvel, Corey Hawkins, Dylan Baker, Stephen Adly Girugis, Bill Camp, Camryn Manheim, Becky Ann Baker, Linda Emond, and Ato Blankson-Wood, at 7:30 PM at NYC’s 92Y.
Julie Benko in concert, with both live & livestream options, at 7 PM at NYC’s Birdland.
Fran Lebowitz in conversation, at 8 PM at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center.
Brothers Play, by Matthew Doherty, directed by James Eckhouse, featuring Rob Nagle, Jeffrey Nordling, and Jamie Wollrab, closes at Legacy LA (1350 San Pablo St.).
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Two for One by Jim Bernhard
Put each word in the second column into the titles of two plays in the first column:
| 1. A Severed ____, play by Iris Murdoch and J. B. Priestley | A. Train |
| 2. The Milk ____ Doesn’t Stop Here Any More, play by Tennessee Williams | B. Street |
| 3. _____ at Eight, play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber | C. House |
| 4. The ____ of Blue Leaves | D. Dinner |
| 5. Angel ____, play by Patrick Hamilton | E. Head |
| 6. Two ____s Running, play by August Wilson | |
| 7. The Long Christmas ____, play Thornton Wilder | |
| 8. ____ Scene, play by Elmer Rice | |
| 9. A Hole in the ____, play by Arnold Schulman | |
| 10. Heartbreak _____, play by George Bernard Shaw |
Scroll down for the answers…
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The world radio premiere broadcast of “Musical Theatre Melodies” aired Feb. on Australia’s 96.6 Inner FM Radio FM, hosted by Rob Morrison.
Click here to listen to the podcast.
Julia Murney, Christine Sajous, Garbrielle McClinton, Johnny Link, Liz Flemming, and Robert H. Fowler, with Ethan Paulini, Jewell Noel, Jorge Conoso, and Marisa Kirby.
Richard Maltby, Jr. will discuss the writing of the original 1983 production and the revisions made for the 2021 Off-Broadway production.
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Manhattan Theatre Club will present David Auburn’s Summer, 1976, to begin previews Apr. 14 and open Apr. 25 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, directed by Daniel Sullivan.
Jessica Hecht (Alice) and Laura Linney (Diana).
Over one fateful summer, and unlikely friendship develops between Diana, a fiercely iconoclastic artist and single mom, and Alice, a free-spirited yet naive young housewife. As the Bicentennial is celebrated across the country, these two young women in Ohio navigate motherhood, ambition, and intimacy, and help each other discover their own independence.
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The New York Choral Society‘s annual gala will take place Thurs. Mar. 30 at 6 PM at NYC’s Metropolitan Club, hosted by Andy Peeke.
Soprano Chantal Freeman and baritone Kenneth Overton.
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Hollywood’s Actors Co-op has announced two upcoming productions. Casting TBA.
The Human Comedy (Mar. 18 – Apr. 23), written & directed by Tom Babbes. Set in the aftermath of the devastating 2012 Oklahoma tornado, Jade, a college student at Oklahoma Baptist University, and Becca, a corporate lawyer from New York City, have come to volunteer in the clean-up efforts. When a Chick-fil-A lunch truck arrives to offer free lunch to the volunteers, their vastly different cultural perspectives clash head-on, and they must struggle to set aside their differences for the good the tornado victim they hope to serve.
Tornado (Apr. 23 – May 28), by Chris Cragin-Day), directed by Linda Kerns. Set in 1942 war front America, this coming-of-age tale tells the story of Homer Macualay, a 14-year-old boy who delivers telegrams at night to make money for his family. Over the course of two days, Homer grows from an idealistic boy to a mature young man as he struggles with the unfairness of the world around him and the pain of the families to whom he delivers the War Department’s death notices. But in the midst of the decaying idealism of small-town America, and the loneliness of growing up, Homer finds hope in humanity through Mr. Grogan, an old alcoholic telegrapher, and Mr. Spangler, the manager of the telegraph office who becomes a replacement father figure. In these men, Homer learns to see goodness in people no matter how desperate or broken they may be and also finds the true meaning of home.
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RIP: Melinda Dillon, known for countless screen and stage roles, died Jan. 9 at the age of 83. Known for countless screen and stage roles, including her Tony nominated performance as Honey in the original 1962 production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.
Additional Broadway credits include A Way of Life (1969), Paul Sill’s Story Theatre (1970), and Ovid’s Metamorphosis (1971). She won the Theater World Award and as nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.
On screen, Dillon received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for “Absence of Malice” in 1981, and is most recognizable for her roles as the mom in “A Christmas Story,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” and “Harry and the Hendersons.”
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Steve Ross: Falling in Love Again…and Again! will take place Mon. Feb. 13 at 7 PM at NYC’s Birdland.
KT Sullivan
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Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love will begin previews May 12 and open May 25 at the Lyric Theatre, directed by Jonathan Kent.
Jamie Bogyo (Alex), Michael Ball (George), and more TBA.
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The 2022 Into the Woods cast recording has won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater album.
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“Monet’s Garden The Immersive Experience” has been extended through Mar. 26 at 30 Wall Street in NYC.
The event thrusts visitors into a multi sensory and multimedia voyage that reveals the inspiration and history behind some of the world’s greatest masterpieces. Employing and unprecedented range of visual, phonic, and olfactory stimuli, this enchanting exhibition provides complete and total immersion into the work and world of Claude Monet.
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Watch moments from the Kennedy Center production of Sunset Boulevard
Video: Stefanie J. Block performs “As If We Never Said Goodbye”
Video: Derek Kleena performs “Sunset Boulevard”
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Sutton Foster returns to NYC’s Café Carlyle May 23 – June 3, with an all new show (details TBA).
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The next podcast of Charles Kirsch’s “Backstage Babble” will take place Sun. Feb. 19 at 8 PM ET, in honor of the the 45th anniversary of the opening night of Broadway’s On the Twentieth Century. The panel discussion will stream live on YouTube, and will remain available afterwards.
Original cast members John Cullum (Oscar Jaffe) and George Lee Andrews (Max Jacobs), with Craig Lucas, Mel Johnson Jr.
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Concert presentations of Ragtime will run May 11-13 at Boston Symphony Hall, and July 8 at MA’s Tanglewood, directed by Jason Danieley.
Elizabeth Stanley (Mother), Alton Fitzgerald White (Coalhouse Walker Jr.), Nikki Renée Daniels (Sarah), A.M. Shively (Mother’s Younger Brother), David Harris (Father), Klea Blackhurst (Emma Goldman), and more TBA.
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Ramin Karimloo‘s latest album, “The Road to Find Out – North” is now avaiable her and on all Amazon and all platforms.
Audio: Ramin performs “Androgynous”
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An Evening of Love Songs with Nathan and Brenna will take place Sun. Feb. 12 at 7 PM at Venice, CA’s Pacific Resident Theatre.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Two for One
1,9-E. A Severed Head, A Hole in the Head
2, 6-A. The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Any More, Two Trains Running
3, 7-D. Dinner at Eight, The Long Christmas Dinner
4, 10-C. The House of Blue Leaves, Heartbreak House
5, 8-B. Angel Street, Street Scene