Today’s Highlights:
Love Quirks, by Mark Childers, Brian Childers & Seth Bisen-Hersh, directed by Brian Childers, featuring Maggie McDowell and Lauren Testerman, with Dylan Hartwell and Rori Nogee, opens at Off-Broadway’s AMT Theatre (354 W. 45th St.).
Lady Hamlet, by Sara Schulman, directed by David Drake, featuring Jennifer Van Dyck, Kate Levy, John Shuman, Anne Stott, Laura Scribner, and Brandon Cordeiro, opens at MA’s Provincetown Theatre.
Broadway by the Year‘s Almost on Broadway concert, created, hosted & directed by Scott Seigel, featuring Christine Andreas, Jason Graae, Ed Staudenmayer, Kelli Rabke, Crystal Joy, Brian Charles Rooney, Pedro Coppeti, and Danny Gardner, at 8 PM ET at NYC’s Town Hall.
Transport Group‘s Rodgers & Hammerstein: A Broadway Celebration concert, directed by Jack Cummings III, featuring Paolo Montalban, Mikaela Bennett, Sherry D. Boone, Donna Lynne Champlin, Hannah Elless, Danyel Fulton, Erika Henningson, Rachal Bay Jones, Sean McLaughlin, Betsy Morgan, Tally Sessions, Alexandra Silber, Jacob Keith Watson, and Sally Wilfert, at 8 PM ET at NYC’s Merkin Concert Hall.
Leaves: Songs of Ourselves for Pride Month concert, featuring Athony Alfaro, Clybourne Elder, Bradley Gibson, Adam Hyndman, Zane Philips, and Katie Thompson, at 7 PM at NYC’s 54 Below.
School Girlz concert, with music direction by Jack Maloney, featuring Arica Jackson, Olivia Dei Cicchi, Nya, Jana Jackson, Khailah Johnson, Amina Faye, Caroline Mixon, Jada Mayo, Isabel Stein, and Juliet Perel, at 9:30 PM ET at NYC’s 54 Below.
Gingold Theatrical Group‘s 2021 presentation of Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession, directed by David Staller, featuring Karen Ziema (Mrs. Warren), Robert Cuccioli, David Lee Huynh, Alvin Keith, Nicole King, and Raphael Nash Thompson, with Katya Collazo and Max Roll, concludes on demand streaming.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Curtains! by Jim Bernhard
Identify the playwrights who met their deaths as follows:
1. He was born in a New York hotel and died in a Boston hotel—which is now a college residence hall said to be haunted by his ghost.
2. He was fatally stabbed through an eye during a brawl in a tavern.
3. Mistaking his shiny bald head for a rock, an eagle dropped a turtle on him, killing him instantly.
4. He was bludgeoned to death by his lover, who administered nine blows to his head with a hammer, providing inspiration for the Beatles song “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.”
5. Putting in some eyedrops, he apparently choked to death on the bottle cap, which he was holding between his teeth—although his brother maintained he was mysteriously murdered.
6. While playing the part of a hypochondriac in one of his own comedies, he suffered a tubercular seizure on stage and died several hours later.
7. Gunned down by a fascist death squad during a civil war, he was assassinated for his left-wing views; his body has never been found.
8. A physician as well as a playwright, he died of tuberculosis right after drinking a glass of champagne.
9. He died of an infection at the age of 94, after falling from a ladder while pruning a tree.
10. He died in a Paris hotel room, of which he said, “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or other of us has to go.”
Scroll down for the answers…
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Reviews for Epiphany at Off-Broadway’s Mitzi Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center:
NY Times (Maya Phillips): … an existential dinner-party play. Or a satire of academics, armchair psychologists and the general intelligentsia, always trying to find a common language for our ways of living in the world. It could be called a critique of our modern society of self-interest. A statement on grief. Or a ghost story… That this heady work…evades any one definition is a testament to its grand ambitions. In one hour and 50 minutes, Epiphany astutely captures a wide swath of ideas without losing its grasp on the hilarious and heartbreaking experience of being a person in the world… Marylouise Burke, perfect as a jittery sexagenarian… Watkins…effortlessly extracts the humor.
Theatermania (Pete Hempstead): …Brian Watkins’s bizarre and altogether hilarious new play…under the fine-tuned direction of Tyne Rafaeli… this existential comedy about the modern world’s obsessions with technology, human isolation and loneliness, the commodification of emotions, and the sense of loss that results from overabundance. Fortunately, Watkins knows how to spread these ideas out to keep things from getting tediously heady; and the magical presence of Marylouise Burke, who tirelessly flies about the stage like a flock of wild birds, elicits a laugh at every turn along with a terrific cast who pull the comic out of this American gothic… Burke, in a role that seems as though it was written just for her, gives an unflagging performance…
The Wrap (Robert Hofler): Epiphany is definitely a better title than The Dead… also a lot more fun than reading James Joyce’s short story “The Dead.” Then again, that depends on your definition of the word fun… very funny, especially in its rambunctious first half… The enormous pleasure of watching this disastrous dinner party derives from the fact that we’re not guests, just voyeurs… the guests in Watkins’ play have only the vaguest idea of what they’re celebrating in the holiday known as Epiphany… Tyne Rafaeli directs, and her mastery of handling both the broad comedy and the profound tragedy is remarkable.
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Casting has been announced for The Sound of Music, to run July 25-26 at the Aspen Music Festival, directed by Marc Bruni, with music direction by Andy Einhorn, and choreography by Denis Jones.
Christy Altomare (Maria), Brandon Victor Dixon (Captain von Trapp), Ashley Blanchet (Elsa), Ana Maria Martinez (Mother Abbess), and Brad Oscar (Max), along with local youth performers.
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Video: Highlights from London’s West End Live! (scroll down)
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The 120th anniversary of Richard Rodgers will be celebrated with a streaming concert, A Celebration of Richard Rodgers, recorded live at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre on Mar. 26, 1972, with the streaming premiere worldwide on Tues. June 28 on Melbourne’s 96.5 Inner FM Radio website at 7 AM ET/4 AM PT, directed by Donald Saddler, with music direction by Clint Romoff.
Mary Martin, Leonard Bernstein, Jan Clayton, Helen Gallagher, Celeste Holm, Patsy Kelly, Richard Kiley, Gordon MacRae, Pamela Myers, Gene Nelson, Tricia O’Neil, Tony Randall, John Reardon, Terry Saunders, Bobby Short, Joanna Simon, Benay Venuta, Walter Willison, Agnes De Mille, and Rodgers himself.
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James Ryan Caldwell’s “Ms. Guidance” a new 6-episode series, will premiere Wed. June 29 here, directed by Van Hansis & Meldie Sisk.
Amber Gray, Van Hansis, Tyler Hanes, Ian Unterman, Calli Alden, and Adriane Lenox, with Mark Boyett, Sam Faulkner, Andrew Hollinger, Erin Kommor, Ginna leVine, Antonio Marziale, Ashley Austin Morris, Amy Russ, Nikki Snelson, Kit Williamson, Marco Zunino, Michael Urie, and Eilliotte Crowell.
A dark comedy about Jenny Bump, a talented and narcissistic actress dealing with a failed acting career. After a humiliating meltdown on a New York Stage, Jenny calls it quits on her acting career and retreats to the performing arts boarding school she attended in her youth to be a guidance counselor. However, listening to the dreams of her students quickly stokes the dying embers of her own, and she is soon plotting a new path to stardom, wreaking havoc on her friends and family. “Mis Guidance” is also a love letter to the theater, the theatre community, and most significantly, to those theatre artists who will do anything to make their dreams a reality.
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Michael Orland: An Open Mic Event will take place Thurs. June 30 at 7:30 PM ET at Studio City’s Upstairs at Vitellos.
Tally Sessions, Alexandra Silber, Jacob Keith Watson, and Sally Wilfert.
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Complete casting has been announced for Mary Poppins, to run July 5-13 at the St. Louis Muny, directed by John Tartaglia, with choreography by Patrick O’Neill, and music direction by Brad Haak.
Jeanna de Waal (Mary Poppins), Corbin Blue (Bert), Nehal Joshi (George Banks), Darlesia Cearcy (Bird Woman), Gabe Cytron (Michael Banks), Laila Fantroy (Jane Banks), Erin Davie (Winifred Banks), Zoe Vonder Haar (Mrs. Brill), Barrett Riggins (Robertson Ay), Whit Reichert (Admiral Boom/Bank Chairman), Jade Jones (Mrs. Corry), and Debby Lennon (Queen Victoria/Miss Andrew), with Taylor Marie Daniel, Matthew Davies, Joel Douglas, Francine Espiritu, Duane Martin Foster, Kaitlyn Frank, Anna Gassett, Alyssa Giannetti, Brett-Marco Glauser, Lynn Humphrey, Bryan Thomas Hunt, Abigail Isom, Maggie Kunta, Ryan Lambert, Devin Neilson, Rich Pisarkiewicz, Michael James Reed, Michael Santomassimo, Dave Schooner, Kelly Sheehan, Wesley Slade, Nathaniel Washington, and Erin Wilson.
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The 2022 Ojai Playwrights Conference will take place Aug. 7-14, offering a return to in-person workshops and live performances at CA’s Matilija Auditorium.
* Vivian Barnes, The Sensational Sea Mink-Ettes
* Bill Cain, God’s Spies
* Jahna Ferron-Smith, Running While Blace
* Peter Kim George, To Red Tendons
* Stephen Adly Guirgis, Dog Day Afternoon
* Matthew Paul Olmos, a home what howls (or the house was a ravine)
* Michael Shayan, Avaaz
* Zakiya Young, Suburban Black Girl
* Anna Ziegler, The Janeiad
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This week at NYC’s 54 Below:
Leaves: Songs of Ourselves for Pride Month (June 27 at 7 PM ET), featuring Athony Alfaro, Clybourne Elder, Bradley Gibson, Adam Hyndman, Zane Philips, and Katie Thompson. 
here.
School Girlz (June 27 at 9:30 PM ET), with music direction by Jack Maloney, featuring Arica Jackson, Olivia Dei Cicchi, Nya, Jana Jackson, Khailah Johnson, Amina Faye, Caroline Mixon, Jada Mayo, Isabel Stein, and Juliet Perel. here.
To Steve with Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim (June 28-29 at 7 PM ET), with special guest Nick Callaway Foster. here.
Alone by Dean Tyler K (June 28 & July 7 at 9:30 PM ET), directed by Rianna Carrier, with music direction by Christian Cantrell, and wspecial guests Virginia Alonso-Luis, Kevin Bernard, Chloe Cahill, Kevin DiCarlo, Carmine Elyezio, Sarah Grace Ford, Lillian Gorski, Kimberly Faye Greenberg, Etta Grover, Logan Kelley, Katriana Koppe, Madeline Kunkowski, Copeland Lewis, Spencer Petro, Dante Pereto, Fafa Shaeffer, and Chandler Sinks. here.
Emily Skinner: A Broad with a Broad, Broad Mind (June 30 – July 2 at 7 PM ET). here.
10 Years of New Writers, Celebrating 54 Below’s 10th Anniversary (live & livestreamed July 3 at 7 & 9:30 PM ET) with music direction by Greg Paladine, writers Joey Contreras, Amanda D’Acrchangelis & Sami Horneff, Drew Gasparini, Joe Iconis, Kait Kerrigan & Bree Lowdermilk, Ryan Scott Oliver, Murphy Taylor Smith & Emerson Mae Smith, and Georgia Stitt, and performers Mariah Lyttle, Wren Rivera, Gabriella Joy Rodriguez, Analise Scarpacti, and Alyssa Wray. here.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Curtains!
1. Eugene O’Neill was born in a New York hotel and died in a Boston hotel.
2. Christopher Marlowe was fatally stabbed during a brawl in a tavern.
3. An eagle dropped a turtle on Aeschylus.
4. Joe Orton was bludgeoned to death by his lover.
5. Tennessee Williams apparently choked to death on a bottle cap–although his brother Dakin maintained he was murdered.
6. Molière suffered a tubercular seizure on stage and died several hours later.
7. Federico García Lorca was assassinated for his left-wing views.
8. Anton Chekhov died after drinking a glass of champagne.
9. George Bernard Shaw died after falling from a ladder while pruning a tree.
10. Oscar Wilde died in a Paris hotel room whose wallpaper he criticized.