Today’s Highlights:
Hamlet, starring Ian McKellen & dancer Johan Christiansen, both as Hamlet, opens at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Second Stage‘s Patience, world premiere by Johnny G. Lloyd, directed by Zhailon Levingston, featuring Justin Davis (Daniel), Jonathan Burke (Jordan), Nemuna Ceesay (Nikita), Zainab Barry (Ella), and Mary E. Hodges (Mother), begins previews at Off-Broadway’s McGinn/Cazale Theater.
An Evening with Orfeh and Andy Karl concert, at 7 & 9:30 PM ET at NYC’s Chelsea Table + Chair.
**********************
The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle 2020-2021 Awards have been announced.
Click here for the complete list of winners.
**********************
The Public Theater has announced that Shaina Taub & Laurie Woolery’s adaptation of As You Like It will run Aug. 10 – Sept. 11 (opening Aug. 30) at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre, directed by Woolery, with choreography Sonya Tayeh (adapted by Billy Griffin).
Damion Allen (William), Tristan Andre (De Boys/Attendant), Ato Blankson-Wood (Orlando), Lori Brown-Niang (Agent), Brianna Cabrera (Silvia), Darius de Hall (Duke Senior), Bianca Edwards (Phoebe), Pierre Harmony Graves (De Boys/Young Orland Dad), Rebecca Naomi Jones (Rosalind), Jonathan Jordan (Andy), Bobby Moody (De Boys), Renrick Palmer (Oliver), Eric Pierre (Duke Frederick), Idania Quezada (Celia), Christopher M. Ramirez (Touchstone), Edwin Rivera (De Boys), and Shaina Taub (Jacques), with Amar Atkins, Sean-Michael Bruno, Danyel Fulton, Emily Gardner Xu Hall, Trevor McGhie, Mike Millán, Kevin Tate, and Claudia Yanez.
**********************
An American in Paris continues through Aug. 13 at MA’s Cape Playhouse, directed & choreographed by Al Blackstone, with music direction by Garrett Taylor.
Leigh-Ann Esty (Lise Dassin), Josh Drake (Jerry Mulligan), Bruce Landry (Henri Baurel), Manna Nichols (Milo Davenport), Barrett Riggins (Adam Hochberg), and Jennifer Smith (Madame Baurel).
**********************
The Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center‘s July 11 gala raised nearly $165,000 that will go towards the purchase of Highland Farm, the former Pennsylvania country home of Broadway legend Oscar Hammerstein II.
**********************
Song clips from Jason Robert Brown’s Netflix adaptation of “13”
Video: “I’ve Been Waiting”
Video: “Opportunity”
Video: “13”
Listen to the entire Off-Broadway cast album here.
**********************
NYC’s Symphony Space has announced its 2022-23 season:
![]()
Jesse Green discusses Meg Wolitzer’s new book, “Shy: the Alarming Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers” (Sept. 18 at 5 PM ET), with special guest Kelli O’Hara
Wall to Wall Sondheim concert (Fall date TBA), with performers. TBA.
“Misty Copeland: The Wind at my Back” discussion (Nov. 15 at 7 PM ET)
… and many more…
**********************
Julia Jarcho’s Marie It’s Time will run Sept. 7 -24 (opening Sept. 9) at HERE, directed by Ásta Bennie Hostetter.
Julia Jarcho, Jennifer Seastone, and Kedian Keohan
A “fucked-up mixtape” follows the two women as they fight for the role of Büchner’s lead, Marie.
**********************
Video: In rehearsal for The Color Purple at the Muny, featuring Tracee Beazer (Shug Avery), Nasia Thomas (Nettie), Evan Tyrone Martin (Mister), Gilbert Domally (Harpo), Nichole Michelle Haskins (Sofia), and Anastacia McCleskey (Celie), Jade Jones (Standby for Sofia), with Jos N. Banks, Shantel Cribbs, Erica Durham, Duane Martin Foster, Damon J. Gillespie, Kennedy Holmes, Omega Jones, Sage Lee, Alicia Revé Like, Melanie Loren, Danea Osseni, Grant James Reynolds, Paris Porché Richardson, Amber Alexandrea Rose, Alexis Roston, Owen Scales, Rodney Thompson, Sean Walton,
**********************
Upcoming Liz Callaway concerts:
To Steve with Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim (Oct. 17-22) at London’s Crazy Coqs.
To Steve with Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim (Nov. 18-19) at San Francisco’s Feinstein’s at the Nikko.
Liz Callaway & Ann Hampton Callaway: As Long as We’re Together! (Nov. 22-26) at NYC’s 54 Below.
**********************
Julia Jarcho’s Marie It’s Time will run Sept. 7-24 (opening Sept. 9) at HERE, directed by Ásta Bennie Hostetter.
Julia Jarcho, Jennifer Seastone, and Kedian Keohan.
A f*ucked-up mixtape about love, motherhood, and violence that pumps hot blood through the veins of theater’s favorite murder-victim.
**********************
The London production of Ed Curtis’s The Drifters Girl will close Oct. 15 at the Garrick Theatre, directed by Jonathan Church. A UK tour will launch in Fall 2023 (details to follow).
Felicia Boswell, Adam J Bernard, Tarinn Callender, Matt Henry, Tosh Wanogho-Maud, Marcus Ayton, Ashford Campbell, Ethan Davis, Vanessa Ela Young, Michael James Stewart, Alanna Leslie, Curtis Scott Aurora Baptiste, Amari Brown, Savanna Musoni, Savannah Skinner-Henry, and Shanyia Tsoto.
The musical charts the trailblazing efforts of the world’s first African American female music manager and how she refused to ever give up on the group she love.
**********************
The Secret Comedy of Women, created & performed by Barbara Gehring & Linda Klein, will run Sept. 4 – Oct. 16 at CA’s Huntington Library Theatre.
The play celebrates the joys of the journey from girlhood to womanhood. An immersive theatrical experience that rejoices in the challenges of being a woman – from boys to bras and pantyhose to menopause – this two-woman show explores the universal female experience through a rollicking spectacle of sweetly sharp comedy, songs, dances, stories, and spontaneous moments of discovery that all women share.
**********************
Roundabout Underground has announced complete casting for the world premiere of Harrison David Reivers’ the bandaged place, to run Oc.t 20 – Dec. 18 (opening Nov. 15) at the Steinberg Center, directed by David Mendizábal.
Stephanie Berry (Geraldine Irby), Jake Ryan Lozano (Sam Yates), Sasha Camilli Manuel (Ella Irby), Anthony Lee Medina (Ruben Torres), and Jhardon Dishon Milton (Jonah Irby).
Struggling to recover after an assault, Jonah realizes the only way to heal is by mending the relationships with his family. The play offers a humane statement about the scars we inherit – and the beauty they create.
**********************
Video: “Ms. Guidance” – Episode 6:” “Long Day’s Journey Into Jenny,” by James Ryan Caldwell, directed by Van Hansis & Melodie Sisk.
Amber Gray, Van Hansis, Tyler Hanes, Ian Unterman, Calli Alden, Adriane Lenox, Mark Boyett, Sam Faulkner, Andrew Hollinger, Erin Kommor, Ginna Le Vine, Antonio Marziale, Ashely Austin Morris, Amy Russ, Nikki Snelson, Kit Williamson, Marco Zunino, Michael Urie, and Elliotte Crowell.
Only one obstacle stands between Jenny and her dream role – herself. Porsche deals with some unexpected consequences. Timothy lies for the first time in his entire life.
**********************
MA’s Barrington Stage Company has named Alan Paul as its new Artistic Director, succeeding Julianne Boyd, who will retire after 27 years.
Click here to read more about Alan Paul.
**********************
The world premiere of Kareem Fahmy’s Dodi & Diana will run Oct. 1-29 (opening Oct. 5) at HERE, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt.
Rosaline Elbay and Peter Mark Kendall
With their marriage at a crossroads, the couple’s steamy tête-à-têtes unravel into a simmering interrogation of sex, fame, and erasure. As lies multiply and past and present collide, can their love survive the exposure of their darkest secrets?”
**********************
. “CHITA: A Memoir,” written by Chita Rivera & Patrick Pacheco, will be released in print and audiobook (both versions in English and Spanish) on Apr. 25, 2023.
here.
**********************
Lynne Nottage’s The Re-Education of Undine will run Sept. 16 – Nov. 9 at Boston’s Lyric Stage, directed by Dawn M. Simmons.
Lyndsay Allyn Cox (Undine), Shani Farrell (Mother), Jaime José Hernández (Herve/Guy), Brittani Jenese McBride (Stephie), Damon Singletary (Father), Daynene CB Walters (Grandma), and Sharmarke Yusuf (Flow).
Success. Love. Fabulous wardrobe. Undine has it all. Until her husband steals her hard-earned fortune, sending her tumbling down the social ladder. Pregnant and penniless, with life unraveling at every turn, Undine is forced to return home to Brooklyn and the family she left behind, in a crude new reality.
**********************
Broadway in Bryant Park has announced its FREE 2022 concert series, which returns for four weeks of free performances, running each Thursday from at 12:30 PM ET on the Bryant Park Stage.
Aug. 4: Stomp, Aladdin, Lion King
Aug. 11: Kimberly Akimbo, Dear Evan Hansen, Hadestown, Phantom of the Opera
Aug. 18: 1776, Come From Away, Funny Girl, Mr. Saturday Night, Wicked
Aug. 25: A Strange Loop, Beetlejuice, Moulin Rouge!, and Six
**********************
The world premiere of Kareem Fahmy’s Dodi & Diana will run Oct. 1-29 (opening Oct. 5) at HERE, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt.
Rosaline Elbay and Peter Mark Kendall
Set in August 2022—25 years after the car accident that took the lives of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed—a Wall Street banker and a Hollywood starlet, locked in the Hôtel Ritz Paris, unearth a strange connection to the star-crossed lovers.
**********************
Video: Inside rehearsal for A Little Night Music at Barrington Stage, featuring Emily Skinner (Desiree), Jason Danieley (Frederick), Sierra Boggess (Charlotte, Mary Beth Peil (Madame Armfeldt), Cooper Grodin (Count Carl Magnus), Liesl Collazo (Anne Egerman), Noah Wolfe (Henrik Egerman), Sophie Mings (Petra), Kate Day Magocsi (Fredrika), Adam Richardson (Mr. Lindquist), Rebecca Pitcher (Mrs. Nordstrom), Stephanie Bacastow (Mrs. Anderssen), Andrew Maughan (Mr. Erlanson), Leslie Jackson (Mrs. Segerstrom), and Slater Ashenhurst (Frid)
**********************
NYC’s Symphony Space will bring back its all-day marathon concert Wall to Wall Stephen Sondheim on Sat. Oct. 15 from 3-11 PM ET.
Performers and additional information TBA.
The event will feature music, dances, and conversations about Sondheim.
**********************
MA’s Barrington Stage Company has named Alan Paul as its new Artistic Director, succeeding co-founder and current Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, who is set to retire at the end of the current season following a 27-year tenure.
Paul comes to the Massachusetts company after serving as associate artistic director of D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre Company.
