GRACE NOTES: Monday, June 13, 2022

 

Today’s Highlights:

  Chicago, directed & choreographed by Denis Jones, featuring Sarah Bowden (Roxie Hart), J. Harrison Ghee (Velma Kelly), Adam Heller (Amos Hart), Emily Skinner (Matron “Mama” Morton), James T. Lane (Billy Flynn), and Ali Ewoldt (Mary Sunshine), with Mackenzie Bell, Joe Bigelow, Darien Crago, Abbey Friedmann, Anna Gassett, Valton Jackson, Madison Johnson, David Paul Kidder, Drew King, Tara Kostmayer, Brian Shimasaki Liebson, Lizz Picini, Michal James Reed, Trevor Michael Schmidt, Diana Vaden, Adam Vanek, Nathaniel Washington, Keli Youngman, Kamal Lado, Gabi Stapula, and Debby Lennon, opens at the St. Louis Muny.

  The Acting Company‘s 50th Anniversary Gala, directed by Ian Belknap, honoring Peter Darrow, with special guests Duane Boutté, Jimonn Cole, Keith David, Stephen DeRosa, Harriet Harris, Ezra Knight, JD Mollison, Mary Lou Rosato, Roslyn Ruff, Derek Smith, Henry Stram, at 6 PM ET at NYC’s Capitale.

  Irish Rep‘s A Celebration of the Musicals of Harold Prince 2022 Gala, directed by Charlotte Moore, featuring Michel Bell, Len Cariou, Michael Cerveris, Glenn Close, Mark Evans, Joel Grey, Donna Kane, Chita Rivera, Ciarán Sheehan, Max Von Essen, Kaley Ann Voorhees, Delaney Westfall, and more… at 7 PM ET at NYC’s Town Hall.

  Red Bull Theater‘s Revelry gala benefit, honoring Andre De Shields, featuring Jennifer Sánchez and Mary Testa, at 6 PM ET at NYC’s Bowery Hotel.

  I Wanna Be Evil: The Eartha Kitt Story solo show, by Janelle Lynn Randall, directed by Yvans Jourdain, starring Darrell Philip, at 7 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Theater555.

  “Broadway Rising” documentary, directed by Amy Rice, premieres at 5 PM ET at NYC’s 2022 Tribeca Film Festival.

  Islander, by Amy Draper, Stewart Melton & Finn Anderson, directed by Draper, featuring Kirsty Findlay and Bethany Tennick, closes at Off-Broadway’s Playhouse 46.

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GRACE NOTES Quiz:  Oh, the Places We’ll Go! by Jim Bernhard

Match these snippets of song lyrics with the musicals in which they’re found:

1. Then they get off at Saratoga for the fourteenth time A.  42nd Street
2.  Could I go through the pain / On a terrace in Spain? B.  Kiss Me, Kate
3.  Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo. C.  Chess
4.  We next play Verona D.  The Book of Mormon
5.  Not Louisiana, Paris, France, New York, or Rome E.  Follies
6.  To Niagara in a sleeper / There’s no honeymoon that’s cheaper F.  Guys and Dolls
7.  I am Africa G.  La Cage aux Folles
8.  A Saint Tropez tradition H.  Damn Yankees
9.  There is only one Paris for that I.  The Music Man
10.  One night in Bangkok J.  Irma la Douce

Scroll down for the answers…

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  2022 Tony Awards.    Click here for the complete list of winners.

  Video:  Watch performances from all the nominated shows.

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  RIP: Don Pippin, the last living recipient of the Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director, passed away on June 9.

Born in 1926 in Macon, Georgia, Mr. Pippin studied piano at Julliard before making his Broadway debut in 1955 as the dance arranger for Ankles Aweigh. In the 1960s, he established himself as an ever-reliable music director, winning the Tony for Best Conductor and Musical Director for the original production of Oliver! (the honor was discontinued in 1965).

Mr. Pippin conducted the Broadway productions of 110 in the Sahe, Foxy, Ben Franklin in Paris, Applause, Seesaw, A Chorus Line, A Broadway Musical, and Woman of the Year, but it is for his collaborations with composer Jerry Herman that he is most remembered.

Together, the pair presented Mame, Dear World, Mack and Mabel, The Grand Tour, and La Cage Aux Folles, and Mr. Pippin was Mr. Herman’s most trusted vocal arranger. His arrangements were also used in the revue Jerry’s Girls, a compendium of Mr. Herman’s which Mr. Pippin supervised.

His final Broadway credit was the 2018 revival of Hello, Dolly!, for which he again provided vocal arrangements.

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 The Boys From Syracuse in Concert has announced complete casting for its concert presentation on Thurs. June 16 at 9:30 PM at NYC’s 54 Below, with music direction by Michael Lavine, and hosted by Michael Portantiere.

John Drinkwater (Antipholus of Syracuse), Mathew Drinkwater (Antipholus of Ephesus), Leah Horowitz (Adriana), Jay Aubrey Jones (Sergeant of Police), Katie Dixon (Luciana), Kenny Rahtz (Dromio of Syracuse/Dromio of Ephesus), Janet Fanale Luce), Sara DiPasquale (Courtesan), Jay Aubrey Jones (Sergeant of Police), Klea Blackhurst (Seeress), Christine Pedi (Chief Courtesan), Megan Styrna (Courtesan), and Sara DiPasquale (Courtesan).

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  Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber chose not to attend the final performance of his adaptation of Cinderella in the West End.

Instead, he sent a letter, which was read aloud on stage by the show’s director Laurence Connor. “My huge thanks to everyone,” it read, part. “We kept the government’s feet to the flames and led the charge to the West End opening again. It might have been a costly mistake, but I am proud of what we did and will be forever grateful to everyone who supported me.”

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  Video: Patina Miller on preparing for Broadway’s Into the Woods.

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  “Schmigadoon” has been renewed for Season 2 on Apple TV+, with a release date TBA.

  Cecily Strong, Keegan-Michael Key, Ariana DeBose, Dove Cameron, Jaime Camil, Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Ann Harada, Jane Krakowski, Martin Short, and Aaron Tveit, with new cast members Titus Burgess and Patrick Page.

Josh and Melissa find themselves in Shmicago, in the world of ’60s and ’70s musicals.

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  Chess in concert will run Aug. 1-2 at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, directed & choreographed by Nick Winston, with music direction by Freddie Tapner.

Hadley Fraser (Anatoly), Samantha Barks (Florence), Joel Harper-Jackson (Freddie), Frances Mayli McCann (Svetlana), and Ako Mitchell (The Arbiter), with Joseph Craig, Darius J James, Aoife Kenny, Jessica Lee, Nick Len, Natasha May-Thomas, Alice Readie, Stuart Rouse, Phoebe Samuel-Gray, Grant Thresh and Libby Watts, and more TBA.

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The 2022 Drama Desk Awards will take place Tues. June 14 from 3-6 PM ET at NYC’s Sardi’s, hosted by Renée Elise Goldsberry.

Charles Busch, Kerry Butler, Liz Callaway, Lileana Blain-Cruz, Santino Fontana, Jessica Hecht, Brittany Johnson, Leslie Kritzer, Derek McLane, Heidi Schreck, Talia Suskauer, and Sanaz Toossi.

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  T. Oliver Reid will begin his run as Hermes in Hadestown on June 14 at the Walter Kerr Theatre.

Reid replaces André De Shields, who departed the production on May 29.

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  Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre has announced its Music Mondays concert series:

  Marilyn Maye: 94, Of Course There’s More!  (July 18 at 8 PM ET)

  Lillias White: The Lillias White Effect (Aug. 8 at 8 PM ET)

  An Evening with Ali Stroker (Aug. 15 at 8 PM ET)

  The Great American Mousical (Aug. 22 at 8 PM ET), directed by Julie Andrews (including a live talkback)

  Sip & sing LIVE with Kyle Barisich (Aug. 29 at 8 PM ET)

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  The world premiere of Amy Dellagiarino’s Clownfish will run June 30 – Aug. 6 (opening July 7) at Hollywood’s Theatre of NOTE (link TBA), directed by Laura Stribling.

Sean Michael Boozer, Joe Mahan, Susan Louise O’Connor, Mara Shuster-Lefkowitz, Bill Voorhees, Jamila Webb, and Omari Williams.

Newly released from a mental hospital, Erica is trying hard to be a good bridesmaid but is finding that everyone is treating her differently… and it’s getting really annoying. The only thing that could make this reunion worse? The wedding reception might just by held in a haunted cabin.

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  The cast album of Broadway’s MJ The Musical will be released Fri. July 15.    here.

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Complete casting has been announced for Camelot, revised by David Lee, which will run June 22-28 at the St. Louis Muny, directed by Matt Kunkel, with choreography by Beth Crandall, and music direction by Abdul Hamid Royal.

  Robert Petkoff (Arthur), Shereen Pimentel (Guenevere), Brandon Chu (Lancelot), Evan Ruggiero (Sir Dinadan), Daryl Tofa (Sir Lionel), Sarah Quinn Taylor (Sir Sagramore), Riley Carter Adams (Tom of Warwick), and Barrett Riggins (Mordred/Squire Dap), with Harris Milgrim, Trenay Caruthers, Kelly Berman, Jack Brewer, Trenay Caruthers, Sydney Chow, Jacob Guzman, Maggie Kuntz, Kiara Lee, Sage Lee, Nathaniel Mahone, Melissa Hunter McCann, Evan Kinnane, Spencer Davis Milford, Harris Milgrim, Brendon Stimson, and Kristin Yancy.

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  A Toast to Harvey: Celebrating the Life and Career of Harvey Evans will take place Wed. June 22 at 6 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Triad Theater, directed by Lawrence Leritz.

Joel Grey, Jim Brochu, Anita Gillette, Kurt Peterson, Marianne Tatum, Penny Worth, and Dancers Over 40.

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  The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle has announced nominations for Theatrical Excellence in 2020 & 202.

Click here for the complete list of nominees.

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&   Isn’t This Bliss? Sondheim on Love, conceived, directed, hosted & music directed by Ted Sperling, will run June 18-20 at NYC’s 92Y.

Ben Davis, Jordan Donica, Solea Pfeiffer, and Scarlett Strallen.

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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers:  Oh, the Places We’ll Go!

1-F – Guys and Dolls (“Adelaide’s Lament,” lyrics by Frank Loesser)

2-E – Follies (“Could I Leave You?” lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)

3-H – Damn Yankees (“Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo.,” lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross)

4-B – Kiss Me Kate (“We Open in Venice,” lyrics by Cole Porter)

5-I – The Music Man (“Gary, Indiana,” lyrics by Meredith Willson)

6-A – 42nd Street (“Shuffle Off to Buffalo,” lyrics by Al Dubin)

7-D – The Book of Mormon (“I Am Africa,” lyrics by Robert Lopez)

8-G – La Cage aux Folles (“La Cage aux Folles,” lyrics by Jerry Herman)

9-J – Irma la Douce (“There Is Only One Paris for That,” lyrics by Julian More, David Henneker, and Monty Norman)

10-C – Chess (“One Night in Bangkok,” lyrics by Tim Rice)

 


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