Today’s Highlights:
Intimate Apparel, by Lynn Nottage & Rickey Ian Gordon, directed by Justin Austin, Errin Duane Brooks, Kearstin Piper Brown, Chanáe Curtis, Adrienne Danrich, Jesse Darden, Matthew Gamble, Arnold Livingston Geis, Christian Mark Gibbs, Tesia Kwarteng, Anna Laurenzo, Barrington Lee, Jasmine Muhammad, Naomi Louisa O’Connell, Kimberli Render, Krysty Swann, Chabrelle Williams, and Jorell Williams, featuring Justin Austin, Errin Duane Brooks, Kearstin Piper Brown, Chanáe Curtis, Adrienne Danrich, Jesse Darden, Matthew Gamble, Arnold Livingston Geis, Christian Mark Gibbs, Tesia Kwarteng, Anna Laurenzo, Barrington Lee, Jasmine Muhammad, Naomi Louisa O’Connell, Kimberli Render, Krysty Swann, Chabrelle Williams, and Jorell Williams, opens at NYC Opera.
Tambo & Bones, by Dave Harris, directed by Taylor Reynolds, featuring W. Tré Davis, Tyler Fauntleroy, Brendan Dalton, and Dean Linnard, opens at Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons.
An Evening with Marlow & Moss 3: Lost in New York concert, with surprise special guests TBA, at 7 & 9:45 PM ET at 54 Below.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Stout Hearted Men, by Jim Bernhard.
Match these Broadway leading men with the correct Rodgers & Hammerstein musical:
| 1. Theodore Bikel | A. South Pacific (Emile de Becque) |
| 2. Yul Brynner | B. Flower Drum Song (Wang Ta) |
| 3. John Battles | C. Me and Juliet (Larry) |
| 4. Alfred Drake | D. Oklahoma! (Curly) |
| 5. William Johnson | E. The King and I (The King of Siam) |
| 6. John Raitt | F. Allegro (Joseph Taylor Jr.) |
| 7. Ezio Pinza | G. Pipe Dream (Doc) |
| 8. Santino Fontana | H. Cinderella (Topher) |
| 9. Bill Hayes | I. Carousel (Billy Bigelow) |
| 10. Ed Kenney | J. The Sound of Music (Captain Georg von Trapp) |
Scroll down for the answers…
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Complete casting has been announced for Funny Girl, to begin previews Mar. 26 and open Apr. 24 at the August Wilson Theatre, directed by Michael Mayer, with choreography by Ellenore Scott, and music supervision by Michael Rafter.
Beanie Feldstein (Fanny Brice), Ramin Karimloo (Nick Arnstein), Jared Grimes (Eddie Ryan), Jane Lynch (Mrs. Rosie Brice), Peter Francis James (Florenz Ziegfeld), Ephie Aardema (Emma)/Mr. Nadler), Debra Cardona (Mrs. Meeker), Toni DiBuono (Mrs. Strakosh), Martin Moran (Tom Keeney), and Julie Benko (Standby for Fanny Brice), with Amber Ardolino, Daniel Beeman, Colin Bradbury, Kurt Thomas Csolak, Leslie Donna Flesner, Afra Hines, Masumi Iwai, Aliah Hames, Jeremiah James, Danielle Kelsey, Stephen Mark Lukas, Alicia Hadiya Lundgren, John Thomas Manzari, Liz McCartney, Katie Mitchell, Justin Prescott, Mariah Reives, and Leslie Blake Walker.
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New principal casting has been announced for Anything Goes, which will return July 15 – Sept. 3 at the Barbican Theatre, directed & choreographed by Kathleen Marshall.
Kerry Ellis (Reno Sweeney), Denis Lawson (Moonface Martin), Simon Callow (Elisha Whitney), Bonnie Langford (Evangeline Harcourt), Samuel Edwards (Billy Crocker), Carly Mercedes Dyer (Erma), Nicole-Lily Baisden (Hope Harcourt), Haydn Oakley (Lord Eveyln Oakley), and more TBA.
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MasterVoices has announced additional casting for the concert staging of Stephen Sondheim & Arthur Laurents’ Anyone Can Whistle on Thurs. Mar. 10 at 7 PM ET at Carnegie Hall, directed & conducted by Ted Sperling, with choreography by JoAnn M. Hunter.
Vanessa Williams (Cora Hoover Hooper), Elizabeth Stanley (Fay Apple), Santino Fontana (J. Bowden Hapgood), Douglas Sills (Comptroller Schub), Eddie Cooper (Treasurer Cooley), and Michael Mulheren (Police Chief Magruder).
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Timothy Allen McDonald, Elyssa Samsel & Kate Anderson’s Between the Lines will begin previews June 14 and open on a date TBA at the Tony Kiser Theater, directed by Jeff Calhoun, with choreography by Paul McGill, and music direction by Daniel Green.
Arielle Jacobs (Delilah) Jake David Smith, Vicki Lewis, Will Burton, Jerusha Cavazos, Pierre Marais, John Rapson, and Julia Murney, with more TBA.
Delilah is an outsider in a new school who seeks comfort in the pages of her favorite book, where she feels heard and understood. But the lines between reality and fantasy soon begin to blur with her friendship with the novel’s handsome Prince Oliver.
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“Making Broadway Dance,” Liza Gennaro’s new book, is now available in Hardcover and Kindle.
Through in-depth analysis of musical theatre choreography and choreographers, the book challenges long-held perceptions of Broadway dance as a kitsch and disposable dance for created with artistic process and demonstrates that the art form is not a monolith but is rather multifaceted in terms of dance styles, aesthetics and methodologies.
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A reading of Nicky Silver’s The Einstein Letter will take place Thur. Feb. 24 at 8 PM GMT at The Other Palace, directed by Silver.
Sam Hoare, Luke Baker, and more TBA.
A lonely old woman, lost in the past, languishes in a London bedsit. Her only connection is to the surly young man who delivers her meals, yet these two strangers forge a hilarious, touching, and ultimately brutal relationship.
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Musical Theatre Guild will present Duane Pool’s Live, Laugh, Love: A Sondheim Birthday Celebration, to take place Tues. Mar. 22 at 7:30 PM PT at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre, directed by Lewis Wilkenfeld, with music direction by John Massey & Brad Ellis, and hosted by Jason Graae.
Special guest Teri Ralston, and more TBA.
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Matt Walker’s The Revue will run Mar. 17-27 at Burbank’s Colony Theater, directed by Walker, with choreography by Suzanne Jolie.
Matt Walker, Rick Batalla, Katie DeShan, Tiffany Daniels, Isaac Robinson-Smith, and Travis Leland.
Not everything should be a musical. A theatre director and producer are faced with the financial ruin and the loss of their beloved theatre unless they can find the next big sellout show. So, they hit the slush pile of scripts and audition several “never-shoulda-been-a-musical shows.”
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Kevin Kline will star in “American Classic,” to premiere on Epix (date TBA). Additional information and casting TBA.
The series will follow the life of conceited Broadway star Richard Bean after a spectacular public breakdown. Bean returns home to find his family, and the town theater in a state, very different from Bean’s expectations. Putting his talent and ego to use, he takes over for his brother running the theater, which now serves dinner with a side of murder mysteries instead of lauded works. Bean’s solution? Put on an American classic starring himself.
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Video (scroll down): Ethan Slater and Will Swenson perform “The Ballad of Guiteau” from Classic Stage Company’s Assassins.
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Lyrics & Lyricists 2022 has been announced at NYC’s 92 Y:
David Loud: Facing the Music (Mar. 19-21), offering stories of his work with Stephen Sondheim, Kander & Ebb, and many more, with behind-the-scenes anecdotes from on stage and off.
You Send Me: The Songs and Soul of Sam Cooke (Apr. 23-35), with special guest Darius de Haas.
Isn’t it Bliss: Sondheim on Love (June 18-20), with special guests TBA.
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LA Opera has announced its 2022-23 season:
Lucia Di Lammermoor (Sept. 19 – Oct. 9), by Gaetano Donizetti, conducted by Lina González-Grandos, featuring Amanda Woodbury, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, Alexander Birth Elliott (Enrico), and Eric Owens (Raimondo). Lucie is trapped in an impossible situation. Her abusive brother hates the man she love. Worse, he’s forcing her to marry someone else in a last-ditch effort to shore up the family’s failing finances. Her only way out seems to be murder…
Omar (Oct. 22 – Nov. 13), by Rhiannon Giddens & Michael Abels, conducted by Kazem Abdullah, featuring Jamez McCorckle (Omar), Daniel Okulitch (Johnson/Owen), Norman Garrett (Omar’s Brother), Barry Banks (Auctioneer/Taylor), Jaqueline Echols (Julie), and Briana Hunter (Katie Ellen). Set in the shifting darkness of memory and imagination, Omar follows his compelling journey from a peaceful life in his homeland to enslavement in a violet, foreign world. Lost in the wilderness of his thoughts and his stolen life, he’s haunted by memories of his family and the people he encounters along the way.
Tosca (Nov. 19 – Dec. 10, by Giacomo Puccini, conducted by Oksana Lyniv, featuring Angel Blue (Tosca), Gregory Kunde (Cavara Dossi), (Ryan McKinny (Scarpia), Philip Cokorinos (Sacristan), Wei Wu (Angelotti), and Zachary James (Sciarrone). Torn between devotion to her love and the machinations of a treacherous sociopath who will do anything in his power to break her down, she’s trapped in an utterly impossible predicament, with fatal consequences for them all. But his prima donna isn’t going down with a fight.
Figaro (Feb. 4-26, 2023), by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, conducted by James Conlon, featuring Craig Colclough (Figaro), Janai Brugger (Susanna), Ana María Martínez (Countess), Lucas Meachem (Count), Rihab Chaieh (Cherubin0), Kristinn Sigmundsson (Doctor Bartolo), Marie McLaughlin (Marcellina), and Rodell Aure Rosel (Don Basilio). Something old, something new, something borrowed and something… threatening to throw Figaro’s wedding plans into disarray. Count Almaviva’s wandering eye las landed on his wife’s maid Susanna, who’s about to marry his own manservant Figaro. Racing against the clock, Figaro quickly concocts a play to outwit his master. Will the wily duo outwit the Count in time to save the day?
Pelléas (Mar. 25 – Apr. 16), by Claude Debussy, conducted by James Conlon, featuring Sydney Mancasola (Mélisande), Will Liverman (Pelléas), Kyle Letelsen (Golad), Susan Graham (Geneviève), and Ferruccio Ferlantto (King Arkel). Lost in the forest, a prince encounters an ethereal beauty with a mysterious past (and lush locks that would make Rapunzel envious). but after she’s brought home to his family, she begins to grow increasingly close to his handsome younger brother.
Otello (May 13 – June 4), by Giuseppe Verdi), conducted by James Conlon, featuring Russell Thomas (Otello), Rachel Willis-Sørensen (Desdemona), Igor Golovatenko (Iago), Morris Robinson (Lodovico), and Anthony Ciaramitaro (Cassio). When an envious subordinate introduces the notion – just the slightest whispered hint – that Othello’s wife Desdemona might possible unfaithful, it’s enough to send him into a downward spiral of fury and murder.
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Red Bull Theater‘s The Alchemist (2021 filmed production), adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher and directed by Jesse Berger, continues streaming on demand through Feb. 14.
Nathan Christopher, Stephen DeRosa, Carson Elrod, Manoel Feliciano, Teresa Avia Lim, Jacob Ming-Trent, Louis Mustillo, Reg Rogers, Jennifer Sánchez, and Allen Tedde.
London. 1610. It’s plague time again. When a wealthy gentleman flees to the country, his trusted servant opens his house to a pair of con artists and sets up a den of criminal capitalism. Claiming alchemical powers, the quick-witted trio fleece an onslaught of greedy sheep with their virtuosic ability to improvise amidst increasingly frantic comings and goings.
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Initial casting has been announced for Timothy Allen McDonald, Elyssa Samsel & Kate Anderson’s Between the Lines, to run June 14 – Oct. 2 at the Tony Kiser Theatre, directed by Jeff Calhoun, with choreography by Paul McGill, and music direction by Daniel Green.
Arielle Jacobs, Jake David Smith, Vicki Lewis, Will Burton, Jerusha Cavazos, Pierre Marais, John Rapson, and Julia Murney, with more TBA.
An outsider in a new town and a new school, Delilah seeks comfort in the pages of her favorite book, where she feels heard and understood by the handsome Prince Oliver. But as the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur in both extraordinary and astonishing ways, Delilah discovers how to find her place in the real world while keeping her dreams alive.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Stout Hearted Men
1-J. Theodore Bikel – The Sound of Music (Captain Georg von Trapp)
2-E. Yul Brynner – The King and I (The King of Siam)
3-F. John Battles – Allegro (Joseph Taylor Jr.)
4-D. Alfred Drake – Oklahoma! (Curly)
5-G. William Johnson – Pipe Dream (Doc)
6-I. John Raitt – Carousel (Billy Bigelow)
7-A. Ezio Pinza – South Pacific (Emile de Becque)
8-H. Santino Fontana – Cinderella (Topher)
9-C. Bill Hayes – Me and Juliet (Larry)
10-B. Ed Kenney – Flower Drum Song (Wang Ta)