Today’s Highlights:
The King and I, directed by Alan Paul, featuring Betsy Morgan (Anna Leonowens), Adam Jacobs (The King of Siam), Christine Bunuan (Lady Thiang), Paulina Yeung (Tuptim), Ethan LePhong (Lun Tha), Braden Crothers (Louis Leonowens), Nolan Maddox (Louis alternate), Matthew Uzarraga (Prince Chulalongkorn), Karmann Bajuyo (The Kralahome), and Victor Holstein (Captain Orton/Sir Edward Ramsey), with Kristine Bendul, Chih-Jou Cheng, Mai Claypool, Hannah Fernandes, Albert Hsueh, Kenway Hon Wai K. Kua, Kevin Kulp, Anthony Christopher Milfelt, Nich O’Neil, Yuki Ozeki, Aurora Penepacker, Richel Mari Ruiz, Garrett Shin, Marissa Swanner, Avana Strutz, Michiko Takemasa, AvelynChoi, Dante Garcia, Enzo Garcia, Elle Laroco, Vin Laroco, Rika Nishikawa, and Alender Salazar, opens at London’s Drury Lane Theatre.
York Theatre‘s Penelope, or How the Odyssey Was Really Written, world premiere by Peter Kellogg, Stephen Weiner& Emily Maltby, directed by Emily Maltby, featuring Philippe Arroyo (Telemachus), Leah Hocking (Eurycleia), Cooper Howell (Antinous), Ben Jacoby (Odysseus), David Lamarr (Mileter), Jacob Alexander Simon (Bassanio), Britney Nicole Simpson (Penelope), George Slotin (Haius), Sean Thompson (Barius), and Maria Wirries (Daphne), opens at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Jean’s.
Beastgirl and Other Origin Myths, by C. Quintana & Janelle Lawrence, directed by Rebecca Aparicio, featuring Jenni Gil (Cami), Edima Essien (Eji), Brittani McNeill (Egun), and Mikaela Secada (Heketi), opens at the Kennedy Center.
Choir Boy, by Tarell Alvin McCraney, directed by Christopher D. Bettes, featuring Jarrett Anthony Bennett, Gilbert Domally, Denzel Fields, Israel Erron Ford, Allen Gilmore, Anthony Holiday, Malik James, Aaron James McKenzie, Darian Peer, Wildlin Pierrevil, and Walton Wilson, opens at Yale Rep.
Ensemble Theater Company‘s American Son, by Christopher Demos-Brown, directed by Jonathan Fox, featuring Tracey A. Leigh (Kendra), Jamison Jones (Scott), Alex Morris (Lieutenant John Stokes), and Toby Tropper (Officer Paul Larkin), begins previews at Santa Barbara’s New Vic.
Both And (a play about laughing while black), world premiere written by & starring Carolyn Ratteray, directed by Andi Chapman, begins previews at Pasadena’s Boston Court.
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Reviews for Suffs at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater:
NY Times (Maya Phillips): …though the musical isn’t guilty of scolding, it is guilty of stifling an impressive — though exhausting — breadth of U.S. history through its contemporary lens… the whole production feels so attuned to the gender politics and protests of today, so aware of possible critiques that it takes on its subject with an overabundance of caution…. all these women and stories of their activism are uncomfortably stuffed into a show too scared to miss anything that it becomes bloated with information… In many ways Suffs lands like a clunky heir of the Public’s other big historical musical, Hamilton, borrowing some of its approaches to structure while trying to avoid the criticisms about its politics around women and slavery.
Variety (Marilyn Stasio): …the remarkable, epic new musical by Shaina Taub… Coming from a bunch of men portrayed as vaudeville clowns (but played by women in this all-female cast), the smears run from “she can’t take a joke” and “she sure as hell won’t shut up” to the enduring insult that “she can’t get a man, so she’s a suffragette”… This scrupulousness about language isn’t nitpicking, because Taub has written the smart lyrics as well as the stirring music for the high-powered, sung-through score that has been entrusted to music director Andrea Grody and the full-bodied orchestra she oversees…. Director Leigh Silverman draws on a deep reservoir of skill to humanize the many, many characters in the play.
Theatrely (Jaun A. Ramirez): …it is the white feminist follow-up to the question first posed by the Public’s last big American musical. You know, the one that inexplicably cast actors of color as slave owning Founding Fathers in an attempt to, I dunno, yassss?… Suffs is not as puzzlingly concocted as that and, as directed by Leigh Silverman, is pretty straightforward… But for as radical and boundary-pushing as Paul is set up to be, the character itself is a chore to see played out. An implacable steamroller with no nuance or interiority… it seems Taub is as uninterested in confrontation as she is in telling any story that might complicate the narrative she set out to spin… the second act is vastly superior, if only because conflicts play out vividly onstage…
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Michael R. Jackson’s A Strange Loop , which was to have begun previews tonight, has again delayed its Broadway run, due to a limited number of positive COVID test results within the company. The musical will now begin previews Apr. 11 and open Apr. 26 at the Lyceum Theatre, directed by Stephen Brackett.
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).
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CT’s Goodspeed Musicals has announced the remainder of its 2022 season:
Cabaret (May 13 – July 3), directed by James Vásquez, with choreography by Lainie Sakakura, and music direction by Adam Souza.
Anne of Green Gables (July 15 – Sept. 4), by Matte O’Brien & Matt Vinson, directed by Jenn Thompson, with choreography by Jennifer Jancuska, and music direction by Adam Souza.
42nd Street (Sept. 16 – Nov. 6), directed & choreographed by Randy Skinner, with music direction by Adam Souza.
Christmas in Connecticut (Nov. 18 – Dec. 30), world premiere by Patrick Pacheco, Erik Forrest Jackson, Jason Howland & Amanda Yesnowits, directed by Amy Corcoran, with music direction by Adam Sousa.
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Roundabout Underground will present the world premiere of David Harris’ Exception to the Rule, to run Apr. 28 – June 26 (opening May 18) at the Steinberg Center, directed by Miranda Haymon.
Mayaa Boateng (Erika), Malik Childs (Tommy), Mister Fitzgerald (Abdul), Toney Goins (Dayrin), Amandla Jahaya (Mikayla), and Claudia Logan (Dasani).
How do you make it through detention? In the worst high school in the city, six Black students are stuck in Room 111. They flirt. They fight. They tease. Should they follow the rules and stay put, or find an escape? Are the walls keeping them in, or are stronger forces at play?
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Write Out Loud: From Contest to Concert Volume 3, a concert presentation of the winning songs from the annual Write Out Loud contest, spotlighting up-and-coming musical theatre writers, will take place Tues. Apr. 26 at 9:30 PM ET at NYC’s 54 Below, with music direction by Benjamin Raulhala, and hosted by Taylor Louderman.
Linedy Genao, Arielle Jacobs, Derek Klena, Desi Oakley, Tee Bovich, Gabe Violett, Eleri Ward, and more TBA.
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Sona Tatoyan’s Azad will run Apr. 21-23 (five performances only) at the Pico Playhouse, c0-directed by Tatoyan & Jeremy Boxer.
Azad (which mean “free” in Armenian), is one woman’s magical, multi-generational, healing journey from the Armenian Genocide to the Syrian War.
In addition, the 107th Armenian Genocide Commemoration will take place Sat. Apr. 23 at 7:30 PM PT, with a Q&A moderated by Bill Pullman.
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A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder will run Apr. 15 – May 22 at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, directed by Spiro Veloudos.
Leigh Barrett, Tersa Winner Blume, Neil A. Casey, Aimee Doherty, Jennifer Ellis, Kate Klika, Lori L’Italien, Todd McNeel Jr., Karen Murphy, Robert St. Laurence, Phil Tayler and Jared Troilo.
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The original Broadway cast recording of Ragtime (1998) is now available in a commemorative red, white, and blue collectors limited vinyl edition. from Masterworks Broadway.
The remastered 3-LP set is presented in a hardbound slipcase, with individually jacketed LPs in red, white, and blue. An oversized 20-page booklet includes a new essay from Ahrens & Flaherty, a complete recording libretto, and a track-by-track appreciation of the score. Also included: a new interview with the production’s original Coalhouse Walker, Brian Stokes Mitchell, conducted by Douglas Lyons, plus photos from the original recording session and production.
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The world premiere of France-Luce Benson’s Detained, directed by Mark Valdez, and featuring Liana Aráuz, Camila Ascecio, Christine Avila, Will Dixon, Jan Munroe, Theo Perkins, Marlo Su, and Michael Uribes, has been extended through May 15 at LA’s Fountain Theatre.
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Off-Broadway’s Classic Stage Company has announced a one-night-only concert performance of Assassins, in support of CSC, on Mon. May 9 at 7 PM at Broadway’s Sondheim Theatre, directed by John Doyle, with music direction by Greg Jarrett.
(the entire company of the theatre’s 2021 production): Adam Chanler-Berat (John Hinckley, Jr.), Eddie Cooper (The Proprieter), Tavi Gevinson (Lyneet “Squeaky” Fromme), Andy Grotelueschen (Samual Byck), Bianca Horn (Emma Goldman), Judy Kuhn (Sara Jane Moore), Steven Pasquale (John Wilkes Booth), Ethan Slater (Lee Harvey Oswald/The Balladeer), Will Swenson (Charles Guiteau), Wesley Taylor (Giuseppe Zangara), and Brandon Uranowitz (Leon Czolgosz), with Brad Giovanine, Whit K. Lee, Rob Morrison, and Katrina Yaukey.
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“Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known,” focusing on the original Broadway Nov. 2021 cast reunion concert (directed by Michael Mayer), will premiere May 3 at 9 PM on HBO and HBO Max, directed by Michael John Warren.
Jonathan Groff, Lauren Pritchard, Lea Michele, Skylar Austin, John Gallagher, Jr., Gerard Canonico, Lilli Cooper, Jennifer Damiano, Christine Estabrook, Gideon Glick, Robert Hager, Jennifer Damiano, Brian Johnson, Krysta Rodriguez, Stepen Spinella, Phoebe Strole, Jonny B. Wright, and Remy Zaken.
The documentary also features Steven Sater, Duncan Sheik, and lead producers Tom Hulce & Ira Pittelman. The film showcases the reunited original cast and creative team at rehearsals, in their homes, and backstage, with performances from the reunion concert, newly filmed interviews, archival video, and photographs, as well as performance footage from the original production.
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A discussion of Amazon Prime Video’s “A Very British Scandal,” will take place Wed. Apr. 13 at 7 PM ET at NYC’s 92Y.
Claire Foy and Paul Bettany.
Following the true story of the tumultuous media circus surrounding the divorce between the Duke and Duchess of Argyll in 1963, “A Very British Scandal” is both a riveting courtroom drama and a scathing look at sensationalism and misogyny in the 1960s British press.