Today’s Highlights:
American Buffalo, by David Mamet, directed by Neil Pepe, starring Laurence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell, and Darren Criss, opens at Broadway’s Circle in the Square.
Mrs. Doubtfire, directed by Jerry Zaks, featuring Rob McClure (Mrs. Doubtfire), Brad Oscar (Frank Hillard), Jenn Gambatese (Miranda Hillard), Peter Bartlett (Mr. Jolly), Charity Angél Dawson (Wanda Sellner), Mark Evans (Stuart Dunmire), J. Harrison Ghee (Andre Mayem), Analise Scarpaci (Lydia Hillard), Jake Ryan Flynn (Christopher Hillard), Avery Sell (Natalie Hillard), with Cameron Adams, Calvin L. Cooper, Kaleigh Cronin, Maria Dalanno, Casey Garvin, David Hibbard, KJ Hippensteel, Aaron Kaburick, Jodie Kimura, Erica Mansfield, Brian Martin, Alexandra Matteo, Sam Middleton, LaQuet Sharnell Pringle, Akilah Sailers, Jaquez André Sims, Travis Waldschmidt, and Aléna Watters, re-opens at Broadway’s Sondheim Theatre.
POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, world premiere by Selina Fillinger, directed by Susan Stroman, featuring Lilli Cooper (Chris), Lea DeLaria (Bernadette), Rachel Dratch (Stephanie), Julianne Hough (Dusty), Suzy Nakamura (Jean), Julie White (Harriet), and Vanessa Williams (Margaret), with Anita Abdinezhad, Gisela Chípe, Jennifer Fouché , and Lisa Helmi Johanson, begins previews at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre.
A Strange Loop, by Michael R. Jackson, directed by Stephen Brackett, featuring Jaquel Spivey (Usher), Antwayn Hooper (Thought 6), L. Morgan Lee (Thought 1), John-Michael Lyles (Thought 3), James Jackson (Thought 2), John-Andrew Morrison (Thought 4), and Jason Veasey (Thought 5), begins it’s rescheduled previews at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre.
Which Way to the Stage, world premiere by Ana Nogueria, directed by Mike Donahue, featuring Sas Goldberg, Max Jenkins, Evan Todd, and Michelle Veintimilla, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater.
H*tler’s Tasters, by Michelle Kholos Brook, directed by Sarah Norris, featuring Hallie Griffen (Liesel), MaryKathryn Kopp (Hilda), Kaitlin Paige Longoria (Anna), and Hannah Mae Sturges (Margot), begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row.
Islander, by Amy Draper, Stewart Melton & Finn Anderson, directed by Draper, featuring Kirsty Findlay and Bethany Tennick, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s St. Luke’s Theatre.
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Reviews for Harmony at NYC’s Museum of Jewish Heritage:
NY Times (Elizabeth Vincentelli): For many people…the name Barry Manilow immediately summons innocuous marshmallow-soft rock. Regardless of whether you interpret that description as comforting or saccharine, it is not necessarily a style you would associate with a show about a Weimar-era vocal group split apart by the rise of Nazism. And yet here is Harmony: A New Musical, a project Manilow and his longtime collaborator Bruce Sussman have been nursing for over 25 years… Every time the production becomes a little wobbly, those songs steer it back to solid emotional ground… the workshop-style production…
Daily News (Chris Jones): You might think of Harmony, structurally, as a cross between Jersey Boys and The Sound of Music… the admirable determination of this group of people to tell these stories without impediment… superbly sung throughout… we don’t see enough of the group in full-throated, late-career performance… It just all still needs to go further, although Carlyle already is heading down that road… gorgeous harmonics as to accommodate more dissonance. And pain… Manilow and Sussman’s inherent optimism as songwriters gives the show that freedom. It should grab it and find its way to Midtown.
New York Post (Johnny Oleksinski): Barry Manilow’s new musical Harmony could begin with the lyric: His name was Josef! He was a rabbi!… It’s some of the better quality stage scores of the theater season… The drama is about a little-known, fascinating piece of World War II history that will have audiences racing to Google at intermission. Manilow’s score, with lyrics by Bruce Sussman, is pretty and occasionally touching. And all of the singers are sensational. Still, there is some discord… While the musical’s greatest asset is the sextet of musicians, the real lead is veteran actor Chip Zien playing Rabbi (and some other hilarious surprise characters) in old age.
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The Broadway Green Alliance will present its Broadway Earth Day Concert on Sat. Apr. 23 (from 11 AM – 5 PM ET) in Times Square between 41st & 42nd Streets, hosted by Shakina Nayfack.
Beth Malone, Andrew Arrington, Saint Aubyn, Jeremy Gaston, Tamar Greene, Laurel Harris, Arielle Jacobs, Rob Marnell, Lindsay Roberts, and DeAnne Stewart, with young performers from local schools.
Textiles accepted during the drive include used and clean clothing, shoes, curtains, hats, linens, towels, handbags, and belts (unacceptable are pillows, comforters, rugs/carpets, large luggage items, other household goods, and fabric/fabric scraps). Wearable Collections will repurpose or recycle textiles that are not reused by the animal shelters. The drive is open to all shows, theatres, industry members, fans, and neighbors as part of a collective effort to reduce textile waste.
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The world premiere of Awa Sal Secka & Dani Stoller’s The Joy That Carries You will run May 11 – June 12 (opening May 15) at MD’s Olney Theatre Center, directed by Jason Loewith & Kevin McCallister.
Billie Krishawn (Alaia), Dani Stoller (Shiri), Michael Russotto (Martin), Susan Rome (Nancy), Bru Ajueyitsi (Ezekiel), Lolita Marie (Alaia’s Ma), and James J. Johnson (Beau).
Shiri and Alaia are navigating their first year together as a couple. Over the course of a few days, their relationship is tested by events that underline the radically different ways each of them, one African-American, one Ashkenazi, experiences the world.
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Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center has announced its 2022-23 Broadway series (national tours):
Hamilton (Sept. 28 – Oct. 16)
Moulin Rouge (Nov. 9-27)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Dec. 27 – Jan. 28, 2023)
Frozen (Feb. 1-19)
Hairspray (Apr. 18-30)
Chicago (May 16-21)
SIX (June 13-25)
Tina – The Tina Turner Musical (July 11-23)
The Book of Mormon (Sept. 5-10)
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Video: Tony Yazbeck and Melanie Moore perform “The Best Things in Life Hapen When You’re Dancing”
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Antaeus Theatre Company‘s Hamlet will run May 15 – June 20 (opening May 20) at Glendale’s Gindler PAC, directed by Elizabeth Swain.
Ramón de Ocampo (Hamlet), Gregg T. Daniel (Claudius), Veralyn Jones (Gertrude), Jeanne Syquia (Ophelia), Peter Van Norden (Polonius), Michael Kirby (Laertes), and Adam J. Smith (Horatio), with Sally Hughes, Lloyd Roberson II, and Joel Swetow.
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Roundabout Theatre has announced casting for Mansa Ra’s …what the end will be, to run May 12 – July 10 (opening June 2) at the Steinberg Center, directed by Margo Bordelon.
Emerson Brooks (Maxell Kennedy), Gerald Caesar (Tony Kennedy), Randy Harrison (Charles), Keith Randolph Smith (Bartholomew Kennedy), Ryan Jamal Swain (Antoine), and Tiffany Villarin (Chloe).
The play follows three generations of men who live together as they handle and come to terms with what it means to each of them to be Black and gay. by exploring the relationships and perspectives of fathers and sons, the play explores themes of price, pain, and patience.
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City Center Encores has announced that Neil Patrick Harris will replace Christian Borle as The Baker in Into The Woods, to run May 4-15 at NYC Center, directed by Lear deBessonet, with choreography by Lorin Latarro, and music direction by Rob Berman.
Heather Headley (Witch), Sara Bareilles (Baker’s Wife), Neil Patrick Harris (Baker), Julia Lester (Little Red), Jordan Donica (Rapunzel’s Prince), Shereen Pimentel (Rapunzel), Cole Thompson (Jack), Denée Benton (Cinderella), Gavin Creel (the Wolf / Cinderella’s Prince), Annie Golden (Cinderella’s Mother / Grandmother / Giant’s Wife), Ann Harada (Jack’s Mother), David Patrick Kelly (Narrator / Mysterious Man), Tiffany Denise Hobbs (Lucinda), Brooke Ishibashi (Florinda), Kennedy Kanagawa (Milky White), Lauren Mitchell (Cinderella’s Stepmother), and David Turner (Steward).
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Matthew Lopez’s Zoey’s Perfect Wedding will run Apr. 30 – June 5 (opening May 6) at TheaterWorks Hartford, directed by Rob Ruggiero.
Esteban Carmona, Hallie Eliza Friedman, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka, Rachel B. Joyce, Blair Lewin, and Daniel José Molina.
A wildly funny play about love, relationships, expectations, and the courage it takes to find what truly makes us happy. An hilarious commentary on commitment is every bride’s worst nightmare. Disaster after disaster follows her down the aisle, from brutally honest boozy speeches to a totally incompetent wedding planner and friends too preoccupied to help with the wreckage around them.
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Dave Harris’ Tambo & Bones will run May 1-29 (opening May 8) at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, directed by Taylor Reynolds.
W. Tré Davis and Tyler Fauntleroy.
Tambo and Bones are two characters trapped inside a minstrel show. It’s hard to feel like a real person when you’re trapped in a minstrel show. Their escape plan: get out, get rich, get even. Imaginative and provocative, the piece is a daring and explosive rags-to-riches roast of America’s past, present, and future at the intersection of racism and capitalism. And what’s at stake, for those deemed less-than-human, is the fate of humanity itself.
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Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre has announced its 2022-23 season:
The Incredible Book Eating Boy (July 13 – Aug. 14, world premiere by Madhuri Shekar, Christian Magby & Christian Albright, directed by Jamil Jude. Henry loves books. But he hates reading them. Because books are so full of… words! But one day he discovers the most amazing alternative to reading – eating the books whole. By chowing down and digesting the contents of whole libraries, Henry gest smarter and smarter and smarter… until his tummy doesn’t feel so good.
Everybody (Sept. 2 – Oct. 2), by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Susan V. Booth & Tinashe Kajese-Bolden. Everybody is a happy person, a free person, a person who believes nothing but the best lies ahead. Then Death comes calling, and Everybody must go on journey to find what has lasting significance in his lifetime.
A Christmas Carol (Nov. 12 – Dec. 24), adapted by David H. Bell, directed by Leora Morris.
Club Hertz Presents: A Gift of Love with Adam L. McKNight (Dec. 7-23). A musical journey with uplifting songs and holiday classics.
The Hot Wing King (Feb. 10 – Mar. 5, 2023), written & directed by Katori Hall. It’s time for Memphis; annual “Hot Wing Festival,” and Cordell knows he as the wings that will make him king… But when a family emergency forces Dwayne’s troubled nephew into the mix, it quickly becomes a recipe for disaster.
The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd (Mar. 1-26), world premiere by Steven Brown. Jasmin Starr-Kidd is a we-year-old computer genius who can hack into the AT&T mainframe, build an artificially-intelligent friend named Grace, and convince the Department of Defense to send her high-powered lasers. But when she realizes that time travel is a lot easier to figure out than trying to convince her parents to get back together, she takes matters into her own hands.
The Boy Who Kissed the Sky (Apr. 1-16), world premiere by Idris Goodwin, Eugene H. Russell IV & Divinity Roxx, directed by Tim Bond. In the early era of rock n roll music, a young Black boy conjures his creativity as a budding guitarist. Guided by the spirit of music itself, the Boy learns to find harmony inside the challenging noises of his life.
Lonely Planet (Apr. 26 – May 21), by Stephen Dietz, directed by Susan V. Booth. An intimate portrait of two friends navigating life at the height of an epidemic. Shop owner Jody becomes increasingly fearful of the world outside and the dangers it poses, refusing to leave his shop. While Carl, his spirited friend, begins filling the store with a variety of mysterious chairs.
Water for Elephants (Summer 2023), world premiere by Rick Elice & PigPen Theatre Company, directed by Jessica Stone. an adventure filled with romance, deception, and little bit of magic.