Today’s Highlights:
A Case for the Existence of God, world premiere by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by David Cromer, featuring Kyle Beltran and Will Brill, opens at Off-Broadway’s Signature Center.
Wish You Were Here, by Sanaz Toossi, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, featuring Nikki Massoud, Nazanin Nour, Artemis Pebdani, Roxanna Hope Radja, and Marjan Neshat, opens at Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons.
Nightclub Cantata, by Elizabeth Swados, Brian Avidan, Nazim Hikmet, Nancy Larrick, Isabel Leitner, Eve Merriman, Pablo Neruda, Sylvia Plath, Muriel Rukeyser, and Delmore Schwartz, directed & choreographed by Bill Castellino, featuring Noreen Crayton, Sarah Nandola, Pearl Rhein, Noah Ruebeck, Hansel Tan, Miles Whitaker, and Victoria Casillo, opens at Off-Broadway’s cell theatre.
“You’ll Be Swell! You’ll Be Great! The Fine Art of Performance” exhibit, opens in person & online at NYC’s HeliCline.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Three’s A Crowd, by Jim Bernhard
Match these trios with the plays or musicals in which they appear.
| 1. Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo, Pitti-Sing | A. Hair |
| 2. Park Casino Trio | B. Seussical |
| 3. White Boys Trio | C. Company |
| 4. Be Black Trio | D. The Three Musketeers |
| 5. Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia | E. The Most Happy Fella |
| 6. The Wickersham Brothers | F. The Mikado |
| 7. Teen Trio | G. King Lear |
| 8. Kathy, April, and Marta | H. Memphis |
| 9. Pasquale, Giuseppe, and Jake | I. Bye Bye Birdie |
| 10. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis | J. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes |
Scroll down for the answers…
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Reviews for Macbeth at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre:
NY Times (Jesse Green): … the overthought production…seems unsure of its welcome, as if a classic that has enjoyed nearly 50 Broadway revivals since 1768 might no longer find an audience willing to meet it halfway… this relentlessly analytical production, offering not so much Macbeth as a private inquest into it… If you’ve seen enough of Gold’s Shakespeare… you’ll know that he does not make idle or showy choices… For at least the first half-hour, I thought he was trying to demystify the play… the production too often feels as if it were designed for the company’s own edification — an endless rehearsal rather than a Broadway revival… yet here are beautiful, quietly observed moments… the top note here is gore, the more so because most other notes are muted…
Daily News (Chris Jones): …Macbeth always presents one confounding problem above all others: What’s the through line?… Let’s first stipulate that tragedy, people oft forget, is not so much about flaws or sadness but about the human experience of chaos… Craig plays with the idea of exterior calm and interior trauma… It’s delicious to watch, as is Craig’s enigmatic moon-faced co-star Ruth Negga, playing Lady M… [director] Sam Gold…manages to forge some very cool, and hot, individual scenes… the issue here is that those modern speeches don’t feel organic to the rest of the show; rather, they feel added at the last minute… Craig, of course, is this production’s great, mostly unused asset… Gold’s production simply lacks narrative drive…
The Guardian (Alexis Soloski): Sam Gold’s inventively staged take on the classic tragedy has its moments but there’s something missing at the centre.. for tragedy to really tear your heart out, it has to feel preventable… the brisk, mordant Broadway revival… this swift, savvy Macbeth never winds its charm too tightly; only rarely does it feel unearthly… instead, Craig’s burly Macbeth…is every inch a man of action and a soldier… this Macbeth inhabits a one-man culture of toxic masculinity, prisoner to his vaulting ambition, unable to accept any personal weakness or to enjoy his golden opinions when there is more still to achieve… There’s pleasure to be found here and a dark, macabre wit.
Variety (Christian Lewis): …It is in no way original to focus, as a curtain speech tells us here, on the witches and what we might call the generally creepy vibe of the play. Under all the fog (and there is a lot of it), there isn’t much substance in this production, which clearly prioritizes an aesthetic and a mood over acting, coherence and Shakespeare’s text… The last show Gold (“Fun Home”) directed on Broadway, King Lear (starring Glenda Jackson), was an endless cacophony of confounding choices. His Macbeth is better, but only marginally… every single actor is in their own play… Craig has some strong moments but does not capture the transformation of Macbeth into a power-hungry tyrant.
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The 37th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway have been announced here (scroll down).
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Chicago Shakespeare Theatre has announced its 2022-23 season:
The Notebook (Sept. 6 – Oct. 16), world premiere by Bekah Brunstetter & Ingrid Michaelson. Creative team and casting TBA.
Measure for Measure (Oct. 21 – Nov. 27), directed by Henry Godinez.
Wuthering Heights (Jan. 26 – Feb. 19, 2023), reimagined by Emma Rice.
The Comedy of Errors (Mar. 10 – Apr. 16), directed by Barbara Gaines.
…and more TBA…
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Tom Kitt & Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous, based on the film, will arrive on Broadway in the 202-23 season at a theatre TBA, directed by directed by Jeremy Herrin.
Casting, creative team, dates, and additional information TBA.
William Miller is a 15-year-old scribe in the 1970s who gets the assignment of a lifetime when “Rolling Stone” sends him on tour with a fictitious up-and-coming band.
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Video: Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff look back on 15 years of Spring Awakening. (14:51)
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MD’s Olney Theatre has announced its 2022-23 season:
Dance Nation (Sept. 28 – Oct. 30), by Clare Bloom, directed by Jenna Place.
Beauty and the Beast (Nov. 9 – Jan. 1, 2023), directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, with choreography by Josh Walden, and music direction by Walter “Bobby” McCoy.
A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas (Nov. 25 – Jan. 1), adapted & performed by Paul Morella.
Holiday Revue Spectacular (Dec. 14 – Jan. 1)
Kinky Boots (Feb. 10 – Mar. 19), directed by Jason King Jones, with music directed by Chris Youstra.
In Every Generation (Mar. 8 – Apr. 9), by Ali Viterbi, directed by Jenna Place. The Levi-Katz family celebrates Passover again and again (and again and again) and while times, location, and languages change, traditions stay the same. Over matzah ball soup and (vegan) brisket, the close-knit clan contends with questions of race, religion, and inter-generational trauma.
The World Goes ‘Round (Apr. 19 – May 21), directed by Kevin McAllister, with music direction by Chris Youstra.
A Nice Indian Boy (May 24 – June 25), by Madhuri Shekar.
Fela! (July 7 – Aug. 13), by Fela Kuti, Bill T. Jones & Jim Lewis, directed by Lily-Anne Brown.
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Andrew Lloyd Webber, Emerald Fennell & David Zippel’s Cinderella will close June 12 at London’s Gillian Lynne Theatre.
A Broadway transfer is in the works.
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Complete casting has been announced for the world premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s King James, tow run June 1 – July 3 (opening June 8) at the Mark Taper Forum, directed by Kenny Leon.
Glenn Davis (Shawn) and Chris Perfetti (Matt).
An intimate exploration of the place that sports and athletes occupy in our emotional lives and relationships. It explores the star players impact on Cleveland, from his rookie season to the city’s historic championship, and the lives of these two unlikely friends whose turbulent relationship is best navigated through their shared love of the sport in a verbal game of one-on-one. Though he is never seen in the show LeBron James serves as a symbol for the hopes, desires, and fears that these two characters have bottled up since childhood.
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Complete casting has been announced for John Leguizamo, Benjamin Velez & David Kamp’s Kiss My Aztec!, to run June 1-26 at Hartford Stage, directed by Tony Taccone, with choreography by Mayte Natalio.
Krystina Alabado, Angelica Maria Beliard, KC Dela Cruz, Chad Carstarphen, Nicholas Caycedo, Eddie Cooper, Richard Ruiz Henry, Z Infante, Jesus E. Martinez, Maria Christina Oliveras, Joel Perez, Geena Quintos, Daniela Rodrigo, Desiree Rodriguez, and Matt Saldivar.
Loosely based on Latin American history, the play travels back to the 16th century as a group of Aztecs lead the resistance against Spanish invaders. With a fierce female warrior at the helm and a not-so-fierce clown in tow, they mount a scrappy attack — and get entangled with royalty, colonizers, pop stars, and puppets.
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Laguna Playhouse (link TBA) has announced its 2022-23 season:
Kim’s Convenience (Sept. 21 – Oct. 9), by Ins Choi, directed by Victor Malana Maog. Set in a family-run Korean convenience store, owner Mr. Kim is trying desperately – and hilariously – to grapple with both a changing neighborhood landscape and the chasm between him and his second-generation offspring.
Love Among the Ruins (Oct. 26 – Nov. 13), by James G. Hirsch & Robert A. Papazian, directed by TBA. When a wealthy widow and socialite Jessica Medlicott is sued for breach of promise by her money-seeing ex-fiancé, will her past as an actress help her or haunt her? As highlight respected, strait-laced lawyer Sir Arthur Granville-Jones steps into the picture, he is drivien to hilarious distraction by her larger-than-life personality.
TBA Play (Jan. 25 – Feb. 12, 2023), directed by Martin Bergman, starring Rita Rudner.
Once (Mar 8-26), directed by Steve Steiner.
The Realistic Joneses (Apr. 26 – May 14), by Will Eno, directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett, featuring Faline England, Conor Lovett & Joe Spano. Bob and Jennifer Jones and their new neighbors, John and Pony Jones, two suburban couples, discover they have even more in common than their identical homes and shared last names.
Murder on the Links (May 31 – June 18), written & directed by Steven Dietz. Something’s afoul on the private gold course at Merlinville-Sur-Mer — namely the body of Hercule Poirot’s newest client.
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Mint Theatre will present Elizabeth Baker’s Chains June 7 – July 17 (opening June 23) at Theatre Row, directed by Jenn Thompson.
Jeremy Beck, Anthony Cochrane, Christopher Gerson, Olivia Gilliatt, Laakan McHardy, Ned Noyes, Brian Owen, Claire Saunders, Peterson Townsend, Amelia White, and Avery Whitted.
The stories of a few ordinary people yearning for a less ordinary life. Charley lives with his wife Lily in suburban London, sharing a cramped house with a lodger. Charley commutes daily to an office in London, his only pleasure is the tiny garden patch beside the house which gives little satisfaction. Charley’s sister-in-law, Maggie, finds the drudgery of shop work so stifling that she plots and escape by marrying a kind man she doesn’t love – an escape that can’t provide the adventure she craves.
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Andrea McCardle & Friends Celebrate the 45th Anniversary of Annie will run May 5-7 (also livestreamed May 7), all at 7 PM ET, at NYC’s 54 Below, with music direction by Steve Marzullo.
Special guests TBA.
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Complete casting has been announced for the pre-Broadway production of Anthony McCarten’s A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical, to run June 21 – July 31 at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre, directed by Michael Mayer, with choreography by Steven Hoggett. and music
Will Swenson (Neil Diamond – Then), Mark Jacoby (Neil Diamond – Now), Robyn Hurder (Marcia), Linda Powell (Doctor), Jessie Fisher (Jaye Posner), Michael McCormick (Fred Colby/Tommy O’Rourke), Tom Alan Robbins (Bert Berns/Kieve Diamond), and Bri Sudia (Ellie Greenwich/Rose Diamond), with Jessie Austrian, Neal Benari, Jordan Dobson, Ninako Donville, Paige Faure, Nick Fradiani, Kalonjee Gallimore, Samantha Gershman, Alex Hairston, Makai Hernandez, Jess LeProtto, Tatiana Lofton, Aaron James McKenzie, Mary Page Nance, Robert Pendilla, Max Sangerman, and MiMi Scardulla.
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The MisMatch Game will run May 21-22 in support of Hollywood’s LGBT Center, created & hosted by Dennis Hensley.
Casting TBA.
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Seagull, adapted & directed by Yasen Peyankov, continues through June 12 at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre.
Sandra Marquez, Caroline Neff, Jeff Perry, Karen Rodriguez, Eric Simonson, and Namir Smallwood.
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The world premiere of Arthur Holden’s Beloved will run May 9 – June 19 (opening May 13) at North Hollywood’s Road on Magnolia, directed by Cameron Watson. Early bird discount: BELOVED20.
Sam Anderson, Taylor Gilbert, and Cherish Monique Duke.
Dorothy and Stephen are married co-owners of a failing real estate company. They’re shocked when they learn that their teenage son has committed a disturbing crime – and they’re devastated when they find out why. In three successive waiting rooms, accompanied by three young professionals, Dorothy and Stephen must overcome confusion, acrimony, and bitter regret as they struggle to find a way forward.
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The Muny has announced principal casting for The Color Purple, to run Aug. 3-9, directed by Lili-Anne Brown, with choreography by Breon Arzell, and music direction by Jermaine Hill.
Brittney Mack (Celie), Tracee Beazer (Shug Avery), Evan Tyrone Martin (Mister), Nasia Thomas (Nettie), Gilbert Domally (Harpo), and Nicole Michelle Haskins (Sofia), with more TBA.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Three’s A Crowd
1-F. Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo, Pitti-Sing – The Mikado
2-J. Park Casino Trio – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
3-A. White Boys Trio – Hair
4-H. Be Black Trio – Memphis
5-G. Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia – King Lear
6-B. The Wickersham Brothers – Seussical
7-I. Teen Trio – Bye Bye Birdie
8-C. Kathy, April, and Marta – Company
9-E. Pasquale, Giuseppe, and Jake – The Most Happy Fella
10-D. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis – The Three Musketeers