Today’s Highlights:
The Who’s Tommy, re-imagined by Pete Townshend & Des McAnuff, directed by McAnuff, featuring Ali Louis Bourzgui (Tommy), Adam Jacobs (Captain Walker), Alison Luff Mrs. Walker), John Ambrosino (Uncle Ernie), Bobby Conte (Cousin Kevin), and Christina Sajous (Acid Queen), with Jeremiah Alsop, Stephen Brower, Haley Gustafson, Sheldon Henry, Aliah James, Gabriel Kearns, Tassy Kirbas Lily Kren, Nathan Lucrezio, Alexandra Matteo, Morgan McGhee, Mark Mitrano, Reagan Pender, Daniel Quadrino, Jenna Nicole Schoen, Zach Sorrow, Ayana Strutz, and Andrew Tufano. The role of Young Tommy will be in rotation with Ava Rose Doty, Presley Rose Jones, Annabel Finch, and Ezekiel Ruiz, opens at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.
2023 Short New Play Festival, available in person & on-demand, at 7:30 PM at Off-Broadway’s Red bull Theater.
Transport Group‘s Nine: In Concert, followed by a Q&A with Maury Yeston and original Broadway cast member Karen Akers, directed by Jack Cummings III, featuring Santino Fontana (Guido), Klea Blackhurt, Lilli Cooper, Christine Ebersole, Jessica Fontana, Julia Murney, Alexandra Silber, Emily Skinner, Elizabeth Stanley, Jessica Vost, Benjamin Pajak, Ethan Joseph, Matthew Lamb, Jayden Theophile, Julia Adams, Erin Anderson, Gina Naomi Baez, Victoria Baroni, Elizabeth Brady , Brianna Brice, Katie Cox, McKenzie Custin, Madison Barcia, Sarah Killough, Gaby Mank, Alison McCartan, Emily Nies, Aubrie-Mei Rubel, Maureen Taylor, Stephanie Toups, Sophia Tzougros, and Katrina Wischusen, at 8 PM at NYC’s Merkin Hall.
Janine LaManna: Black and Gold concert, at 7 PM at NYC’s Green Room 42.
Shaun Cassidy: The Magic of a Midnight Sky, closes at NYC’s 54 Below.
Celebration Theatre’s Tales of the Transcestors, by Jude Batterman, directed by Shaan Dasani, featuring Amir Levi (Claude Cahun), Nicole Delsack (Marcel Moor), B Alexander (Pauli Murray), Mallery Jenna Robinson (Mary Jones), Felix Garcia (Jose Manuel Pachini), and Alexia Jasmene (Dawn Langley Simmons), closes at LA’s Greenway Court Theatre.
**********************
GRACE NOTES Quiz: Modified People by Jim Bernhard
Choose the correct modifier for each of these people in the titles of musicals:
| 1. ____ Jonathan, operetta by Hugo Wittman, Julius Bauer and Carl Milloecker | A. Fearless |
| 2. ____ Jane, musical by McElbert Moore, Tom Johnstone, and Phil Cook | B. Glittering |
| 3. ____ Mary, musical by William B. Friedlander, Con Conrad, and Isabel Leighton | C. Little |
| 4. ____ Letty, revue by Werner Janssen, Irving Bibo, and Leo Wood | D. Long-legged |
| 5. ____ Adeline, musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II | E. Mercenary |
| 6. ____ Johnny Jones, musical by George M. Cohan | F. Naughty |
| 7. ____ Marietta, operetta by Victor Herbert and Rida Johnson Young | G. Plain |
| 8. ____ Eddie, musical by Guy Bolton, Philip Bartholomae, Jerome Kern, and Schuyler Greene | H. Poor |
| 9. ____ Frank, musical by Dave Brown and Andrew Davies | I. Sweet |
| 10. ____ Gloria, musical by Bernard Rolt and C. M. S. McLellan | J. Very Good |
Scroll down for the answers…
**********************
Reviews for The Light in the Piazza at NY City Center Encores:
New York Times (Naveen Kumar): …an exquisite Encores! revival directed by Chay Yew… sensational performance by Ruthie Ann Miles delivers a feeling close to the sublime…. embodies a vivid and elegant portrait of maternal empathy and restraint… It’s a bittersweet reflection that Miles imbues with grace, fortitude, and the circumspect wit of middle age… The young lovers the actors’ connection lacks animal magnetism… The 16-member orchestra is the magnificent centerpiece…
Theatermania (David Gordon): …Chay Yew’s production doesn’t rise to [Ruthie Ann] Miles’s level of emotional intensity. But how could it?… The voices and orchestra certainly do Guettel’s masterpiece of a score justice, even if the show itself is still kind of dull… Lucas’s script — from the novella by Elizabeth Spencer — is as economical as it gets (the whole show clocks in at a fleet two hours and 15 minutes) but presents a set of challenges that the revival can’t really solve (to be fair, the original version couldn’t either).
New York Stage Review (): …sometimes you have the chance to, in the words of another not-so-obvious Encores! show, “give us more to see.” And that’s exactly what this gorgeous Piazza, directed by Chay Yew…does… luminous Ruthie Ann Miles… In the past, Piazza had left me a little cold. But with Zavelson’s open-hearted delivery of Clara’s sunny solo “The Beauty Is”… I was hooked.
**********************
Jason Graae & Friends will take place Sat. July 29 at 8:30 PM at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club, with music direction by Gerald Sternbach.
Susanne Blakeslee, Michele Brourman, David Burnham, Amanda McBroom, Kerry O’Malley, and Jennifer Leigh Warren.
**********************
Video: “What Makes Me Love Him,” from The Apple Tree, with Millicent Martin (2015)
**********************
MA’s Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced its 2023 Reading Series:
Paris, ACTORS! (July 22 & 23), by Hamish Linklater, directed by Jack O’Brien, featuring Gus Birney, Hamish Linklater, Lily Rabe, Noah Robbins, Jordan Tyson, and more TBA. 
Occupied Paris. 1944. Real-life celebrity Nazi Werner Krauss is between projects. But the Party, desperate for a propaganda extravaganza in the City of Lights, has arranged a remount of his notorious Merchant of Venice produced by a French theater teeming with family secrets. Paris, ACTORS! is The Last Metro if Truffaut were unavailable to direct, but the Marx Brothers were.
Three Sisters (July 29 & 30), by Chekhov, featuring Edmund Donovan, Grace Gummer, Henry Wolfe Gummer, Mamie Gummer, Louisa Jacobson, Robert Sean Leonard, John Rothman, Dario Ladani Sanchez, and more TBA.
The Pillowman (Aug. 5 & 6), by Martin McDonagh, directed by Lila Neugebauer. Casting TBA. They say life imitates art – but what happens when that art is horror? In a totalitarian dictatorship, young author Katurian is interrogated by the authorities after a string of child murders bears a striking resemblance to his grisly short stories. When his brother admits to the murders and implicates Katurian and their troubled childhood, more complicated questions arise – is it really possible to separate art from artist?
Hasan Minhaj: Experiment Time (July 8-9). Minhaj will showcase and prepare new material for his latest work-in-progress.
Laura Benanti in Concert (July 16).
**********************
Chess will run July 5-11 at the St. Louis Muny, directed & choreographed by Josh Rhodes, with music direction by Jason DeBord.
Jessica Vosk (Florence Vassey, Jarrod Spector (Frederick Trumper), John Riddle (Anatoly Sergievsky), Taylor Louderman (Svetlana Sergievskaya), Rodney Hicks (Walter De Courcey), Tally Sessions (Alexander Molokov) and Phillip Johnson Richardson (Arbiter) with Annelise Baker, Jett Blackorby, Eric Allen Boyd, Sydney Chow, Cicily Denise Daniels, Spencer Dean, Matt Faucher, Anna Gassett, Brian Golub, Omega Jones, Sydney Jones, Gareth Keegan, Sage Lee, Daniel May, Brady Miller, Trina Mills, Alysha Morgan, Kristen Faith Oei, Alex Prakken, Emilie Renier, Shelby Ringdahl, Michael Seltzer, and Avilon Trust Tate.
**********************
BC/EFA’s Broadway Barks dog & cat adoption event, will take place Sat. July 8 from 3-6:30 PM in Broadway’s Shubert Alley, hosted by Bernadette Peters.
Randy Rainbow and Josh Groban, along with a plethora of Broadway stars.
**********************
27 Theater Books for Your Summer 2023 Reading List. Click here.
**********************
Rabiah’s Hussain’s Word-Play will run July 20 – Aug. 26 (opening July 26) at the Royal Court Theatre, directed by Nimmo Ismail.
Issam Al Ghussain, Kosar Ali, Simon Manyonda, Sirine Saba, and Yusra Warsama.
In the Downing Street Press Office an emergency meeting has been called. The Prime Minister has been ad-libbing on live TV (again) and his words are going viral. There is a flurry of accusations, and demands for an apology; but as the team debate what to do next, it’s already too late. His words have found their way to dinner parties, bus journeys and newspaper columns across the nation – and not everyone is angry.
**********************
Video: Inside rehearsals for Goodspeed’s Summer Stock, starring Corbin Bleu, Will Roland, Vianne Cox, and more. The musical will run July 7 – Aug. 27.
**********************
Paul Gordon’s The Gospel According to Heather has been extended through July 16 at Off-Broadway’s Theater 555, directed & choreographed by Rachel Klein
Katey Sagal, Lauren Elder, Badia Farha, Maria Habeeb, Darron Hayes, Jeremy Kushnier, Maya Lagerstam, Wayne Wilson, and Brittany Nicole Williams, with Armando Gutierrez, Georgia Kate Haege, Sarita Amani Nash, and Zach Rand
**********************
Principal casting has been announced for John Logan & the Avett Brothers’ Swept Away, to run Nov. 25 – Dec. 30 (opening Dec. 6) at DC’s Arena Stage, directed by Michael Mayer.
John Gallagher Jr. (Mate), Stark Sands (Big Brother), Adrian Blake Enscoe (Little Brother), and Wayne Duvall (Captain), with more TBA.
When a violent storm sinks their whaling ship off the coast of New Bedford, Mass., the four survivors face a reckoning: how far will they go to stay alive? And can they live with the consequences?
**********************
Charles Kirsch’s next Backstage Babble Live will take place Mon. July 17 at 7 PM PM at NYC’s 54 Below, with music direction by Michael Lavine.
Loni Ackerman, Christine Andreas, D’Jamin Bartlett, Jim Brochu, Lori Tan Chinn, Josie De Guzman, Judy Kaye, Karen Mason, Teri Ralston, Thom Sesma, and Steven Skybell.
**********************
Video: The opening number from BC/EFA’s recent Broadway Bares benefit.
**********************
Casting has been announced for Week 1 for the Blank Theatre‘s 31st Annual Young Playwright Festival, to run July 6-9 at LA’s Skylight Theatre.
Lox, by Leo Eigen, directed by Victoria Hoffman, features Elena Campbell-Martinez, Bettina Devin, and Andy Goldenberg. While standing in line at a bagel shop, friendly neighbors reflect on the moments that got them there and how the simplest things in life can help us get back to who we are.
Waiting for the Six Train, by Elizabeth Shannon (ELLIS), directed by Marguerite Moreau, features Michele Selene Ang, Sharmita Bhattacharya, Nathalia Coppa, and Max Reed III. As three college friends find their safety challenged while waiting for the six train, they must band together and examine their own biases and threat perception.
Bowling!!!, by Quint Bastian, directed by Mario Pérez, features Alison Becker, Lenny Jacobson, Sean Alexander James, and Chase Kim. Being a professional bowler is a stressful job. And the stress of a tournament pushes Norman to the limit and he must take action to stay out of the gutter.
**********************
Summer Stock, adapted by Cheri Steinkellner, will run July 7 – Aug. 27 at CT’s Goodspeed, directed and choreographed by Donna Feore, with music direction by Adam Sousa.
Stephen Lee Anderson (Lt. Henry (Pop) Falbury), Gilbert L. Bailey (Phil Filmore), Corbin Bleu (Joe Ross), Veanne Cox (Margaret Wingate), J. Anthony Crane (Montgomery Leach), Will Roland (Orville Wingate), Arianna Rosario (Gloria Falbury), and Danielle Wade (Jane Falbury), with Erika Amato, Hannah Balagot, DeShawn Bowens, Ronnie S. Bowman Jr., Emily Kelly, Francesca Mancuso, Tommy Martinez, Corinne Munsch, Gregory North, Kaylee Olsen, Jack Sippel, Cayel Tregeagle, Nicholas Cunha, and Kennedy Perez.
**********************
Video: First look at the Muny’s opening of Beauty and the Beast, starring Ashley Blanchet, Claybourne Elder, Ann Harada, Kelvin Moon Loh, Eric Jordan Young, and more…
**********************
LA’s Stage Raw & Greenway Arts Theatre will present a festival of new plays and theater-themed symposia June 20-21 at LA’s Greenway Court Theatre.
PLAY LA will develop 5 original plays by local writers from the ground up, and pairs them with local theaters for production opportunities.
**********************
GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Modified People
1-H. Poor Jonathan, operetta by Hugo Wittman, Julius Bauer and Carl Milloecker
2-G. Plain Jane, musical by McElbert Moore, Tom Johnstone, and Phil Cook
3-E. Mercenary Mary, musical by William B. Friedlander, Con Conrad, and Isabel Leighton
4-D. Long-Legged Letty, revue by Werner Janssen, Irving Bibo, and Leo Wood
5-I. Sweet Adeline, musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II
6-C. Little Johnny Jones, musical by George M. Cohan
7-F. Naughty Marietta, operetta by Victor Herbert and Rida Johnson Young
8-J. Very Good Eddie, musical by Guy Bolton, Philip Bartholomae, Jerome Kern, and Schuyler Greene
9-A. Fearless Frank, musical by Dave Brown and Andrew Davies
10-B. Glittering Gloria, muysical by Bernard Rolt and C. M. S. McLellan