Today’s Highlights
Red Bull Theater‘s Arden of Faversham, by Jeffrey Hatcher & Kathryn Walat, directed by Jesse Berger, featuring Cara Rickets (Alice), Thomas Jay Ryan (Arden), and Tony Roach (Mosby), with Veronica Falcón, Zachary Fine, Emma Geer, Joshua David Robinson, Thom Sesma, David Ryan Smith, and Haynes Thigpen, begins previews at Off Broadway’s Lucille Lortel Theatre.
Mozart: Her Story – The New Musical presentation, by Tegan Summer & Gregory Nabours, directed by directed by Stephanie Klemons, featuring Kennedy Caughell (Nan),Justin Matthew Sargent (Wolfgang), Robert Cuccioli, Kate Rockwell, Zachary Noah Piser, Etai Benson, Jonathan Mousset, Jenna Leigh Green, Gregory Treco, Greg Laucella, Jelani Remy, Sasha Hutchings, Asmeret Ghebremichael, and Morgan Marcell, with Jillian Davis, Tatian Melendez, Larissa Gerske, Joe González, Thomas Dilley, and Kelly Marsh, at 7:30 PM at Carnegie Hall.
**********************
GRACE NOTES Quiz: Catch Some Rays by Jim Bernhard
Fill in the missing words in these show songs about the sun—and for extra credit name the musicals in which they appear.
| 1. “I Got the Sun in the ____” | A. Set |
| 2. “Let the Sun Shine ___” | B. Rays |
| 3. “____ Like the Sun” | C. In |
| 4. “Sun and ____” | D. Morning |
| 5. “Sun on My ____ | E. Setting |
| 6. “The Song of the ____ Sun” | F. Down |
| 7. “The Sun Has Got His ____ On” | G. Shine |
| 8. “The Sun Won’t ____” | H. Hat |
| 9. “The Sun Whose____ Are All Ablaze” | I. Face |
| 10. “When the Sun Goes ____” | J. Moon |
Scroll down for the answers…
**********************
The Writers Guild Awards 2023 have been announced. Click here for the complete list of winners.
**********************
“Remember This,” starring David Strathairn, will air Mar. 13 at 9 PM (check local listings) on PBS.
The true story of a reluctant World War II hero and Holocaust witness, Jan Karski, and his moral courage and individual sense of responsibility.
Video: How the play was adapted for the screen.
**********************
Erlina Ortiz’ La Egoista will run Mar. 4 – Apr. 9 at the Skylight Theatre, directed by Daphnie Sicre.
Chanel Castañeda (Josephina)
Josephina is a rising stand-up comic who takes nothing seriously. Her younger sister Betsaida, on the other hand, takes everything seriously. When a sudden diagnosis upends Betsaida’s life, the sisters are drawn together to rediscover the history, friction, and affection that still fuels their relationship.
**********************
Spamalot will run May 12-21 at the Kennedy Center, directed & choreographed by Josh Rhodes, with music direction by John Bell.
Alex Brightman (Sir Lancelot), James Monroe Iglehart (King Arthur), Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer (Lady of the Lake), Rob McClure (The Historian), and more TBA.
**********************
BC/EFA has announced additional performers for Broadway Backwards, which will take place Mon. Mar. 13 at 8 PM at Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theatre, directed by Robert Bartley, with music supervision by Ted Arthur & Mary-Mitchel Campbell, and hosted by Jen Colella.
F. Murray Abraham, George Abud, Philippe Arroyo, Corbin Bleu, Wayne Brady, Lec Cariou, Bradley Dean, Eden Espinosa, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Robbie Fairchild, Barrett Foa, Adrianna Hicks, Robyn Hurder, Jeigh Madius, Beth Leavel, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Chris McCarrell, Bonnie Milligan, Samantha Pauly, Anthony Rapp, Turner Riley, Lea Salonga, Kyle Scatliffe, Alexandra Silber, A.J. Shively, Ali Stroker, Paulo Szot, and Paul C. Vogt.
**********************
Video: Sneak peek at “Dancin’ Man” from Broadway’s Dancin’
**********************
The original Broadway cast album of Almost Famous will be released Apr. 21 by Sony Masterworks Broadway on most platforms. 
here.
Audio: Listen to “1973”
**********************
Industry readings of Sharleen Cooper Cohen’s Who Killed Marilyn will take place Fri. Mar. 10 at 11 AM & 2:30 PM in NYC, directed by Dick Scanlan. 
: kgmtheatrical.com/shows/marilyn
Rebecca Faulkenberry (Marilyn Monroe), Victor Almanzar (Johnny Roselli/Frank Otash), Erich Bergen (John F. Kennedy/Arthur Jacobs), Joe Carroll (Robert Kennedy/Joe DiMaggio), Charlie Hofheimer (Arthur Miller.Sam “Moomey” Giancanna), Edward James Hyland (Dr. Greenson/Joe Kennedy), Dale Soules (Eunice Shriver/J. Edgar Hoover), and Matthew James Thomas (Laurence Olivier/Peter Lawford), and John Scherer.
The play reveals the person she was, not the pitiful waif the world characterized her to be. And her journey reveals how she died.
**********************
Like Water for Chocolate, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, with an original score by Joby Talbot, will run Mar. 29 – Apr. 2 at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center, featuring a rotating cast.
A family saga set in 19th-century Mexico, which tells the story of Tita, a young Mexican woman overwhelmed by a sense of duty and family tradition, unable to marry until her mother dies.
**********************
Ellen Abrams’ Eleanor and Alice – Conversations Between Two Remarkable Roosevelts, will run Apr. 5-30 (opening Apr. 10) at Urban Stages, directed by Frances Hill.
Trezana Beverley (Eleanor Roosevelt) and Mary Bacon (Alice Roosevelt Longworth).
Throughout the historical drama, Eleanor and Alice Roosevelt—friends, cousins, and rivals—meet at eight crucial moments over 60 years. One a Democrat and one a Republican, they witness a changing world from their unique vantage points.
**********************
Shaun McKenna, Matthew Warchus, A.R. Rahman & Christopher Nightingale’s The Lord of the Rings will run July 25 – Oct. 15 at the Watermill Theatre, directed by Paul Hart.
Casting and additional creative team TBA.
This immersive staging takes place across Watermill’s auditorium and gardens. Set on Bilbo Baggins’ eleventy-first birthday, Bilbo gives Frodo a gold ring, and follows Frodo on the dauting and perilous task of journeying across Middle Earth, to save them all from the Dark Lord Sauron.
**********************
The return of Eli Bauman & Jon “Bowzer” Bauman’s 44 – THE unOFFICIAL, unSANCTIONED OBAMA MUSICAL (As Told through the Hazy Recollection of Joe Biden) will return Apr. 19 – May 20 at Hollywood’s Bourbon Room, directed by Bauman.
T.J. Wilkins (Barak Obama) Summer Nicole GReet (Michelle Obama), Kevin Bailey (John Boehner), Larry Cedar (Mitch McConnell), Chad Doreck (Joe Biden), Kelly Dorney (Hillary Clinton), Kitten Kuroi (Voice of the People), Jane Papageorge (Sarah Palin), Dino Shorté (Herman Cain), Jeff Summer (Lindsay Graham), and Michael Uribes (Ted Cruz).
**********************
The Comedy of Errors, adapted & directed by Barbara Gaines, will run Mar. 9 – Apr. 16 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Breon Arzell, Adia Bell, Melanie Brezill, Lillian Castillo, Dan Chameroy, William Dick, Keving Gudahl, Ora Jones Bill Larkin, Ross Lehman, Michael E. Martin, Steve McDonagh, Russell Marnagh, Susan Moniz, Robert Petkoff, Maya Vinice Prentiss, Greg Vinkler, and Bruce A. Young, with Isabella Abel-Suarez, Angelica Herndon, Benjamin Jenkins, Madison Kauffman, Jeff Kurysz, Matt Miles, Michael Joseph Mitchell, Ian Reed, and Jonathan Schwart.
**********************
Rick Crom’s NEWSical The Musical will return (after closing due to Covid), on Sundays & Mondays beginning Mar. 19 at the AMT Theatre, directed by Mark Waldrop, with 50% of the proceeds donated to the Entertainment Community Fund.
Kristen Alderson, Taylor Crousore, Carly Sakalove, Michale West … and a special guest star each week.
**********************
Broadway shows which closed in previews:
Breakfast at Tiffany’s, by Edward Albee (replacing Abe Burrows) & Bob Merrill (6 previews, Dec. 12-14, 1966)
Let My People Come, by Earl Wilson Jr. & Phil Oesterman (128 previews, July 2 – Oct. 2, 1976)
The Little Prince and the Aviator, by Don Black & John Barry (20 previews, Jan. 1-7, 1982)
One Night Stand, by Jule Styne & Herb Gardner (8 previews, Oct. 20-25, 1980)
Rachael Lily Rosenbloom… and don’t you ever forget it!, by Paul Jabara (7 previews Nov. 26-Dec. 1, 1973)
Senator Joe (3 previews, Jan. 6-7, 1989), by Perry Arthur Kroeger
Truckload (6 previews, Sept. 6-11, 1975), by Hugh Wheeler, Wes Harris & Louis St. Louis.
**********************
Varla Jean Merman’s Ready to Blow!, by Jeffery Roberson, Ricky Graham & Jacques Lamarre, will take place Sun. Mar. 19 at 4 & 7 PM at TheaterWorks Hartford.
**********************
Audio: John Rubinstein performs “Extraordinary” from Pippin (at 54 Below).
**********************
Rent will run May 16-28 at Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars, directed by Ty Defoe, with choreography by Monica Josette, and music direction by Wiley DeWeese.
Scott Redmond (Mark), Adrian Lopez (Roger), Teresa Zimmerman (Maureen), Simone Gundy (Joanne), Tomas Matos (Angel), Will Mann (Tom), Isabella De Souza Moore (Mimi), and Jamall Houston (Benjamin), with Kahlil Cabble, Dwayne Cook, Jack Gereski, Jayson Kolbicz, Stephanie Jones, Tyler Lewis, Miles Marmolejo, Dominick Pecikonis, Gemini Quintos, Sarah Sachi, Yasmyn Sumiyoshi, and Raven Justine Troup.
**********************
GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Catch Some Rays
1-D. “I Got the Sun in the Morning” – Annie Get Your Gun
2-C. “Let the Sun Shine In” – Hair
3-G. “Shine Like the Sun” – 9 to 5
4-J. “Sun and Moon” – Miss Saigon
5-I. “Sun on My Face” – Sugar
6-E. “The Song of the Setting Sun” – Whoopee!
7-H. “The Sun Has Got His Hat On” – Me and My Girl
8-A. “The Sun Won’t Set” – A Little Night Music
9-B. “The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze” – The Mikado
10-F. “When the Sun Goes Down” – In the Heights