Today’s Highlights:
Bridge Production Group‘s [title of show], directed by Max Hunter, featuring Max Hunter (Jeff), Keri René Fuller (Heidi), Jennifer Apple (Susan), and Josh Daniel (Hunter), opens at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, directed & choreographed by Josh Rhodes, featuring Kendra Kassebaum (Milly Bradon), Edward Watts (Adam Pontipee), Raymond Baynard (Caleb), Leslie Donna Flesner (Dorcas), Shonica Gooden (Sarah), Garett Hawe (Ephraim), Sarah Meahl (Ruth), Harris Milgrim (Benjamin), Mikayla Renfrow (Alice), Carly Blake Sebouhian (Martha), Ryan Steele (Daniel), Brandon L. Whitmore (Gideon), Kristin Yancy (Liza), and Kyle Coffman (Frank), with Matthew Davies, Joel Douglas, Duane Martin Foster, Anna Gassett, Michael Hartung, Lynn Humphrey, Kamal Lado, John Peterson, Rich Pisarkiewicz, Emilie Renier, Cooper Stanton, Daryl Tofa, Waldemar Quinones-Villanueva, Jerry Vogel, and Rebecca Young, opens at the St. Louis Muny.
The Book of Moron, written by & starring Robert Dubac, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Soho Playhouse.
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Reviews for 2: 22 – A Ghost Story at London’s Noël Coward Theatre:
Evening Standard (Nick Curtis): ily Allen makes a spellbinding stage debut in this clever, remorselessly effective supernatural thriller… the ideas in Danny Robins’ script are as important as the performances… Unlike most plays, it’s set properly in the here and now – Covid excepted… the script is very funny. But Robins also weaves in intriguing themes, imagining ghosts as refugees, homeless people, dementia sufferers or revenants dredged up by gentrification… I kicked myself that I didn’t see the final twist coming, but it’s brilliantly done. This is a superior, knowing piece of genre drama, well-executed, and buoyed up by Allen’s star power and skill. A great, spine-tingling night out.
Daily Mail (Patrick Marmian): … It’s a supernatural spinechiller… This isn’t the most challenging role that [Lily] Allen will face should she tread the boards again. It’s a case of following the formula to deliver the goose bumps. But deliver she does. She can scream at the screech of a fox and she can do furious flare-ups too – 0-60 in a fraction of a second… Danny Robins’ play is cleverly constructed with a nice sting in the tale – although maybe there’s a little too much well-researched debate on the reality of things that go bump in the night. Likewise, Matthew Dunster’s production lays on a few too many Hammer Horror thunderclaps and fox screeches. But he certainly has us screaming and laughing by turns as a digital clock counts down.
Time Out (Andrzej Lukowski): …Robins has written a cracking dinner party play, alive with wit and tension. He has a fine ear for dialogue and eye for emotional faultlines: I daresay he could write a play not about ghosts and it would be pretty good. Although that said, while the dinner party play tends to have its limits as a genre (some people have a party, get drunk, argue, some secrets are revealed) it’s the cleverly worked supernatural angle that keeps things fresh. And Allen is good! She bring a note of elegant froideur to the otherwise boisterous ensemble as Sam’s wife Jenny, who has just been left alone with her baby daughter in their creepy new fixer-upper while Sam went off on a star-watching trip to the Channel Islands… Matthew Dunster directs the whole thing with a macabre playfulness…
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The 74 Annual Tony Awards, celebrating the 2019-20 season, will take place Sun. Sept. 26 at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre. Click here for the complete list of 2020 nominees.
The celebration will also air 9-11 PM ET on CBS.
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Video: Stars in the House, offering Conversations with Cara, hosted by Cara Serber, with special guests Adam Pascal, Serafini, and Maggie Oberrender. (1:15:52)
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As many shows prepare for their big Fall returns, questions remain about how ticket sales well fare during Broadway’s first re-opening months. And it might be a while before those questions are answered.
It was just announced that the Broadway League will not share weekly grosses for the 2021-22 season. The League’s response: “This decision is based on many factors, including both the staggered roll-out of returning and new productions, and anticipated variations in performance schedules. The data will not be comparable with previous seasons. Our current plans are to resume reporting grosses as of the 2022-23 Broadway season.
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Complete casting has been announced for the national tour of Frozen, to begin performances Oct. 1 at Cleveland’s Playhouse Square. Click here for the complete tour schedule.
Caroline Bowman (Elsa), Caroline Innerbichler (Anna), Austin Colby (Hans), F. Michael Haynie (Olaf), Mason Reeves (Kristoff), Collin Baja & Evan Strand (alternating as Sven), Robert Creighton (Weselton), Natalia Artigas (Young Elsa), Olivia Jones (Natalie Grace Chan (Young Elsa), and Victoria Hope Chan (Young Anna), with Caelan Creaser, Jeremy Davis, Colby Dezelick, Michael Everett, Berklea Going, Michael Allan Haggerty, Tyler Jimenez, Hannah Jewel Kohn, Marina Kondo, Dustin Layton, Nika Lindsay, Tatyana Lubov, Adrianna Rose Lyons, Michael Milkanin, Kyle Lamar Mitchell, Jessie Peltier, Naomi Rodgers, Brian Steven Shaw, Daniel Switzer, Zach Trimmer, Brit West, and Natalie Wisdom.
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The world premiere digital recording of My Marcello, by Rosabella Gregory, Dina Gregory & Corey Brunish, will be released on Aug. 20 by Broadway Records.
Santino Fontana, Laura Osnes,. Elizabeth Stanley, Derek Klena, Terrence mann, Robert Cuccioli, and Raymond Jaramillo McLeod.
A different kind of love story: a romantic comedy about death. A man tries to keep everyone in town alive until he can afford to buy one of the last two remaining burial plots for this gravely ill wife.
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Lincoln Center Theater has announced that opening night of Antoinette Chionye Nwandu’s Pass Over has moved up to Sun. Aug. 22 (previously announced as Sept. 12) at the August Wilson Theatre, directed by Danya Taymor. Previews began Aug. 4.
Jon Michael Hill, Namir Smallwood, and Gabriel Ebert.
The new play is placed on a city street corner. Moses and Kitch stand around — talking shit, passing the time, and hoping that maybe today will be different. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wanders into their space and disrupts their plans.
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Stars in the House in-person fundraiser, in support of The Actors Fund, originally scheduled for Sept. 12, will now take place on Mon. Oct. 25 at 8 PM ET at NYC’s Town Hall, hosted by Seth Rudetsky & James Wesley, and directed by Lisa Mordente. The concert will also stream on Stars in the House.
Bebe Neuwirth, Chita Rivera, Kelli O’Hara, Laura Benanti, Marc Shaiman, Andy Karl, Anika Larsen, Brenda Braxton, Charlotte d’Amboise, Christine Pedi, Dana Delany, Linda Benanti, Liz Callway, Orfeh, and Schele Williams, Dr. Jon LaPook, and more TBA.
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Complete casting has been announced for the national tour of The Lion King, to begin performances Oct. 1 at Cleveland’s Keybank State Theatre. Click here for the complete tour schedule.
Spencer Plachy (Scar), Gerald Ramsey (Mufasa), Nick Cordileone (Timon), Jürgen Hooper (Zazu), Ben Lipitz (Pumba), Kayla Cyphers (Nala), Gugwana Dlamini (Rafiki), Keith Bennett (Banzi), Martina Sykes (Shenzi), Robbie Swift (Ed), Charlie Kahler (Young Simba), and Kalandra Rhodes (Young Nala), with Derek Adams, Kayla Rose Aimable, Sandy Alvarez, William John Austin, Eric Bean Jr., TyNia René Brandon, Sasha Caicedo, Sean Aaron Carmon, Kyle Robert Carter, Thembelihle Cele, Adrianne Chu, Daniela Cobb, Lyric Danae, Paige Fraser, Tony Freeman, Mukelisiwe Goba, Jamal Lee Harris, Alia Kache, Gabisile Manana, Christopher L. McKenzie Jr., Marq Moss, Nhlanhla Ndlovu, Aaron Nelson, Sihle Ngema, Sicelo Ntshangase, Sayiga Eugene Peabody, Kevin Petite, Yael Pineda-Hall, Nathan Andrew Riley, Maurica Roland, Christopher Sams, Jennifer Theriot, Courtney Thomand and Shacura Wade.
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Bay Street Theater‘s Camelot in concert continues through Aug. 29 at 2011 Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton, directed by Scott Schwartz, with music direction by Matt Hinkley.
Jeremy Kushnier (Arthur), Britney Coleman (Guenevere), Deven Kolluri (Lancelot), Amaya Grier (Tom of Warwick), and Aaron Dalla Villa (Mordred), with Kyle Lopez Barisich, Hope Hamilton, James Harkness, David LaMarr, Cecelia Ticktin, and Kevin Wang.
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The film adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s “Tick…Tick…BOOM!” will open AFI Fest 2021 on Nov. 10, directed by Lin Manuel Miranda, and starring Andrew Garfield.
This year’s hybrid AFI Fest will feature both in-person screenings and events in Los Angeles, as well as virtual screening.
The film will open in select theaters on Nov. 12 and on Netflix on Nov. 19.
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Allons Enfant! continues streaming through Aug. 25 here.
Steve Ross and Jean Brassard, with special guests Karen Akers and Stephanie Biddle.
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Funny Girl, with a revised book by Harvey Fierstein, will begin performances in Spring 2022 at a theatre TBA, directed by Michael Mayer, with choreography by Ellenore Scott, and tap choreography by Ayodele Casel.
Beanie Feldstein (Fanny Brice), and more TBA.
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Due to the recent surge of COVID-19 cases, San Francisco’s Magic Theatre has postponed the world premiere of Taylor Mac’s Joy and Pandemic, directed by Loretta Greco. New dates have not yet been announced.
In an early 20th Century Philadelphia children’s art school, the charismatic and tireless administrator, Joy, attempts to keep the school afloat against incredible odds. When she is thrown out of her comfort zone, Joy makes a decision in conflict with everything she believes.
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JAG Productions presents an all-Black concert production of Next to Normal will run Aug. 20-22 & 27-29 at Vermont’s King Arthur Baking Company, directed by Jarvis Green, with music direction by Elijah Caldwell.
Soara-Joyce, Akron Watson, and Nick Rashad Burrows, with Daelynn Jorif, Darron Hayes, and Nigel O. Richards.
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New York Theatre Workshop will resume performances of Martyna Majok’s Sancturary City on Sept. 8 and open Sept. 21 at the Lucille Lortel Tehatre, directed by Rebecca Frecknall. Performances continue through Oct. 10.
Jasai Chase-Owens, Sharlene Cruz, and Austin Smith.
DREAMers. Love(r)s. Life-long friends. Negotiating the promise of safety and the weight of re responsibility, they’ll fight like hell to establish a place for themselves and each other in America.
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Off-Broadway’s Signature Theatre has announced its 2021-22 season:
Infinite Life (Oct. 5 – Nov. 7), world premiere written & directed by Annie Baker. A play about no end in sight, and tackles persistent pain and desire.
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (Oct. 12 – Nov. 14), by Anna Deavere Smith, directed by Taibi Magar. Equal parts meticulously researched reportage and stirring cry for reform following the acquittal of police officers in Rodney King’s police brutality case that led to riots in 1992.
Confederates (Feb. 22 – Mar. 27, 2022), by Dominique Morisseau, directed by Stori Ayers. The play leaps through time to trace the identities of two Black American women and explore the reins that racial and gender bias still hold on American educational systems today.
A Case for the Existence of God (Apr. 12 – May 15), world premiere by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by David Cromer. The play is set almost entirely within a cubicle in southern Idaho and explores what character and setting can reveal about one another.
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“She Said,” the film retelling of the investigation into sexual assault and harassment perpetrated by Harvey Weinstein, is currently in development.
Andre Braugher (Dean Baquet) and more TBA.
In 2014, Baquet became the first Black executive editor of the New York Times. The reporters have spoken frequently about the dramatic moment that Baquet hit “publish,” posting the piece to the Times’ website, following weeks of pressure and obfuscation from Weinstein.