Today’s Highlights:
The Janice Jam: Broadway for Breast Cancer benefit concert, with music direction by Jacob Yates, featuring Audra McDonald, Will Swenson, Norm Lewis, Omar Jose Cardona, Jackie Cox, Matt DeAngelis, Lissa DeGuzman, Christine Dwyer, John Gallagher Jr., Justin Quarini, Morgan James, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Caissie Levy, Talia Suskauer, Rayn Vona, Nik Walker, and surprise guests, at 7:30 PM at NYC’s Haswell Green’s (249 W. 52nd St.)
Amas Musical Theatre‘s A Lotta Night Music benefit concert, honoring Patricia Birch, Len Cariou, and Butler Tibbits, directed by Jonathan Cerullo, featuring Ivy Austin, Brenda Braxton, Liz Callaway, Joanna Carpenter, Robert Cuccioli, Carole Demas, Dewitt Flemming Jr., Penny Fuller, Clint Hromsco, Kylie Kuioka, Erin Moore, Geoffrey Owens, Lee Roy Reams, and Cyndi Lauper, at 6 PM at NYC’s Baruch Performing Arts Center.
Darren Criss: A Concert for Long Wharf benefit concert, at 7 PM at New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre.
Another Opening, Another Debut! – Broadway Debuts of the 2023-24 Season live & livestreamed concert, featuring Dan Berry (The Outsiders), Will Branner (Back To The Future), Tsilala Brock (Suffs), Leana Rae Concepcion (Merrily We Roll Along), Nicole Ferguson (Days of Wine and Roses), Hillary Fisher (The Notebook), Christina Jones (The Wiz), Loren Lester (Cabaret), Liam Pearce (How To Dance In Ohio), and Eric Peters (Harmony), at 9:45 PM at NYC’s 54 Below.
Red Bull Theater‘s 20th Anniversary Festival, offering all-star performances of Shakespeare, his contemporaries, and more, closes at Off-Broadway’s Sheen Center.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Hey, You, by Jim Bernhard.
Fill in the missing word in these titles, all of which start with “You”
| 1. You Never Can ____, play by George Bernard Shaw | A. Know |
| 2. You Can’t ____ It With You, play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman | B. Said |
| 3. You Know I Can’t ____ You When the Water’s Running, plays by Robert Anderson | C. See |
| 4. You Never ____, musical by Cole Porter, George Abbott, and Rowland Leigh | D. Hear |
| 5. You ____ It, musical by Harold Arlen, Jack Yellen, and Sid Silvers | E. Touch |
| 6. You ____ed Me, play by Tennessee Williams and Donald Windham | F. Win |
| 7. You’ll ____ Stars, musical by Leo Edwards and Herman Timberg | G. Box |
| 8. You Can’t ____ play by Ralph Cullinan | H. Tell |
| 9. You’re In ____, musical by Rudolf Friml, Otto Harbach, and Edward Clark | I. Take |
| 10. Your Arms Too Short to ____ With God, musical by Vinnette Carroll and Alex Bradford | J. Love |
Scroll down for the answers…
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Wonder of Wonders: Celebrating Sheldon Harnick will run June 1-3 at NYC’s 92NY, moderated & music directed by Ted Sperling.
Sam Gravitte, Adam Heller, Adam Kantor, Alysha Umphress, and Anna Zavelson.
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Bobby Delaney and Jodie Prenger’s Homo Alone! panto will run Nov. 29 – Jan. 5, 2025 at The Other Palace.
Casting and creative team TBA.
A radio producer gives a jailed drifter a spot on the airwaves only to find out the move is more than she bargained for.
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Audio: Ann Kittredge performs “Trunk Song Garden,” by Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty.
The never-before-recorded songs was originally written for Karen Akers.
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An industry reading of Drew Larimore’s The Cannibals of McGower County will take place Wed. May 22 at NYC’s Pearl Studios, directed by Jen Wineman. 
Morsini@BretAdamsLTD.net
Margo Martindale, Constance Shulman, Bus Birney, and Jay Armstrong Johnson.
Set in West Texas, the play follows a couple who make a living selling stolen goods taken from abandoned restaurants. When the two unexpectedly run into their estranged daughter, some family trauma is on the menu.
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Zoe Sarnak & Rachel Bonds’ The Lonely Few, currently in previews, will open May 20 at MCC Theatre, directed by Trip Cullman & Ellenore Scott.
Damon Daunno, Taylor Iman Jones, Peter Mark Kendall, and Lauren Patten.
Lila and her band, The Lonely Few, have a standing gig at Paul’s Juke Joint in their small Kentucky town. When an established musician, Amy, gives them a chance to join her on tour, they take it. Love blossoms between Lila and Amy on the road, but can it endure
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Steve Ross: Finding Words for Spring will take place Mon. May 20 at 7 PM at NYC’s Birdland.
Steve will celebrate the optimism of the season as well as the more mellow and reflective moods it evokes. Featured will be a salute to Michael Legrand and the Bergmans (“You Must Believe In Spring”). Other songs in the show will include “Some Other Spring” (Billie Holiday), “It Might As Well Be Spring” (Rodgers and Hammerstein), and “Spring Isn’t Everything” (Blane and Warren). Songbook favorites by Jerome Kern and the Gershwins will also be included.
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The cast album of Broadway’s Stereophonic, by David Adjmi & Will Butler, directed by Daniel Aukin, is now available on most platforms.
Will Brill (Reg), Andrew R. Butler (Charlie), Juliana Canfield (Holly), Eli Gel (Grover), Tom Pecinka (Peter), Sarah Pidgeon (Diana), and Chris Stack (Simon.
Video: The cast performs “Masquerade”
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The Little Mermaid will run May 31 – June 23 (opening June 1) at CA’s La Mirada Theatre, directed by Glenn Casale, with choreography by John MacInnis, and music direction by Brent Crayon.
Leianna Weaver (Ariel), Coleman Cummings (Prince Eric), Trent Mills (King Triton), Dana Orange (Sebastian) Kevin Kulp (Flounder), Quintan Craig ((Scuttle), Regina Le Vert (Ursula), Mitchell Lam Hau (Flotsam, Christopher Diem (Jetsam, Jeff Skowron (Chef Louis/Pilot), and Kevin Symons (Grimsby), with Kevin Corte, Katie Cruz, Cristyn Dang, Daniel Dawson, Andrea Dobbins, Christopher Ho, Michael James, Kurt Kemper, Edgar Lopez, Tayler Mettra, Neema Muteti, Madison Miyuki Sprague, Candace J. Washington, Josh Zacher and Helen Tait.
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Principal casting has been announced for In The Heights, to run Aug. 9-15 at the St. Louis Muny, directed & choreographed William Carlos Angulo, and music direction by Roberto Sinha.
Benji Santiago (Usnavi), Ariana Burks (Nina), Alex Joseph Grayson (Benny), Alysia Velez (Vanessa), Nancy Ticotin (Abuela Claudia), Miguel Gil (Sonny), Martín Solá (Kevin), Karmine Alers (Camila), Darilyn Castillo (Daniela), Marlene Ferenandez (Carla), and more TBA.
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A reading of Christopher Monger’s Dear Mr. Thomas: A New Play for Voices will take place Tues. May 14 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s 92NY.
Matthew Rhys, Keri Russell, Kate Burton, Lorna Bennett, Gopal Divan, Betsy Zajko and Taylor Trensch.
A play about a day in the life of a Welsh fishing village had been rattling around in Dylan Thomas’ head for some time — a ‘play for voices.’ By 1950, Thomas was a famous poet, and he was determined to finish the play — the now-iconic Under Milk Wood. But there would be several twists and turns before it would make its US premiere on the stage of The 92nd Street Y.
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Scott Alan: The Old and The New will take place Mon. Aug. 5 at 7 PM at NYC’s Birdland.
Audrey Belle Adams, Beatriz Melo, Marylee Fairbanks, LaRaisha DiEvelyn Dionne, Carla Mongado, Ashlyn Combs, Natalie Ortega, Cassidy Ewert, Eli Thomas, T’Arica Crawford, Jenna Miller Ferreira, Julian Carli, and Kendall Paige Parrett.
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Collin Smith’s When He Was Young and Pretty will debut Wed. June 5 at Open-Door Playhouse, directed by Gary Lamb.
Daamen Krall and Michael Fletcher.
An older gentleman invites a younger man to his apartment for dinner. As the meal progresses the two discuss the difficulties that each generation has delt with over the years; each contending that their generations has endured the harshest difficulties. As the conversation between the two fades, they acknowledge their similarities and the evening takes on a more personal tone.
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The world premiere of A Face in the Crowd, by Sarah Ruhl & Elvis Costello, will run Sept. 10 – Nov. 9 (opening Sept. 17) at the Young Vic, directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah.
Ramin Karimloo (Lonesome Rhodes), Anoushka Lucas (Marcia Jeffries) and more TBA.
When local radio producer Marcia Jeffries interviews drunk drifter “Lonesome Rhodes” in his jail cell, she immediately sees his potential and gives him a slot on her show. But as Lonesome’s fans grow more clamorous and the politicians start taking notice, Marcia realizes she has unleashed a force she can no longer control.
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Video: Taylor Iman Jones and Thomas Silcott perform “If Your Child” from The Lonely Few, now running at Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater.
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South Pacific will run June 14 – Aug. 11 (opening June 26) at CT’s Goodspeed, directed by Chay Yew, with music direction by Adam Souza, and choreography by Parker Esse.
Danielle Wade (Nelli Forbush), Omar Lopez-Cepero (Emile deBecque), Sky Vaux Fuller (Nagana), Mejay Roa (Jerome), Joan Almedilla (Bloody Mary), Alex Humphreys (Liat), Keven Quillon (Luther Billis), and Cameron Royal (Lt. Cable), with Ethan Hardy Benson, Kelly Berman, Eric Briarly, Chloe Fox, Graham Keen, Hannah Jewel Kohn, Danny Lindgren, Alexa Jane Lowis, John Michael Peterson, James Michael Reilly, Eric Shawn, Nicolette Shin, Phil Sloves, Ethan Van Slyke, John Barsoian, Alyssa Sunew, and Phoenix Noelle.
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. The Current Off-Broadway production of All The Devils are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain, created & performed by Patrick Page, will run Apr. 9-13 & 17-20, 2025 at Santa Monica’s Broadstage, directed by Simon Godwin.
Patrick Page turns his attention to the twisted motivation and hidden humanity at the heart of Shakespeare’s greatest villains. Moving swiftly through the Shakespeare canon, Page illuminates the playwright’s ever-evolving conception of evil by delving into more than a dozen of his most wicked creations. Thrilling, biting, hilarious, and enlightening, what Page delivers is a masterclass on the most terrifying subject of them all: human nature.
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Video: Liz Callaway’s Mothers Day playlist (includes 18 songs).
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Hey, You
1-H. You Never Can Tell, play by George Bernard Shaw
2-I. You Can’t Take It With You, play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
3-D. You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running, plays by Robert Anderson
4-A. You Never Know, musical by Cole Porter, George Abbott, and Rowland Leigh
5-B. You Said It, musical by Harold Arlen, Jack Yellen, and Sid Silvers
6-E. You Touched Me, play by Tennessee Williams and Donald Windham
7-C. You’ll See Stars, musical by Leo Edwards and Herman Timberg
8-F. You Can’t Win play by Ralph Cullinan
9-J. You’re In Love, musical by Rudolf Friml, Otto Harbach, and Edward Clark
10-G. Your Arms Too Short to Box With God, musical by Vinnette Carroll and Alex Bradford