Today’s Highlights:
We’ll Have Nun of It, by Rosie Dart & Finola Southgate, directed by Dart, featuring Angel Lema (Eliza), Chaya Gupta (Sarah), Heather Gourdie (Bernie), Juliette Artigala (Mary), and Michaela Murphy (Caragh), opens at the UK’s The Other Palace.
The Life & Slimes of Marc Summers, by Alex Brightman & Drew Gasparini, directed by Chad Rabinovitz, featuring Marc Summers, opens at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages.
York Theatre Company‘s A Sign of the Times, by Lindsey Hope Pearlman, Petula Clark, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, and other 1960s artists, directed by Gabriel Barre, featuring Chilina Kennedy (Cindy), Ryan Silverman (Brian), Justin Matthew Sargeant (Matt), Crystal Lucas-Perry (Tanya), and Akron Lanier Watson (Cody), with Cassie Austin, Erica Simone Barnett, Shawn Bowers, Alyssa Carol, Melessie Clark, Jeremiah Ginn, Kuppi Alec Jessop, Lena Matthews, Maggie McDowell, J Savage, Michael Starr, Justin Showell, and Edward Staudenmayer, opens at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Jeans.
The 2024 Chesley/Chambers Reading Series, celebrating queer voices, opens at Off-Broadway’s Flea Theatre.
Fatherland, conceived & directed by Stephen Sachs, featuring Ron Bottitta, Patrick Keleher, Anna Khaja, and Larry Poindexter, opens at LA’s Fountain Theatre.
Tony Danza: Standards & Stories concert opens at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club.
An Evening with Stephanie J. Block: The Mother concert, at 7:30 PM at NYC’s 92NY.
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To Life: A Celebration of Sheldon Harnick’s Legacy on his 100th will take place Tues. Apr. 30 at 7 & 9:30 PM at NYC’s 54 Below, hosted by Deborah Grace Winer, and directed by Robert W. Schneider. A celebration of what would have been Harnick’s 100th birthday.
(7 PM): Kate Baldwin, Laura Benanti, Allison Blackwell, Robert Cuccioli, Edmund Gaynes, Cady Huffman, Adam Kantor, Austin Pendleton, Neva Small, and Mary Stout.
(9:30 PM): Jim Brochu, Stephen Mo Hanan, Jessica Hecht, Penny Fuller, Timothy Jerome, Richard Kind, Liz Larsen, Craig Lucas, Howard McGillin, and Christine Pedi.
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Barbara Lebow’s A Shayna Maidel will run Mar. 13 – 31 (opening Mar. 17) at Laguna Playhouse, directed by David Ellenstein.
Samantha Klein (Mama), Zarah Mahler (Lusia Pechnik), Eden Malyn (Rose Weiss), Josh Odess-Rubin (David Pechenik), Marina Schon (Hanna), and Joel Swetow (Mordechai Weiss).
A Shayna Maidel (which means “a pretty girl” in Yiddish) is a touching memory play about two sister reconnecting after years of separation and a hopeful story about the resiliency of the human spirit. Set in New York City in 1936, the play explores family faith, and forgiveness in the pursuit of a better future.
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August Wilson’s King Hedley II will run Mar. 31 – Apr. 28 (opening Apr. 1) at Pasadena’s A Noise Within, directed by Gregg T. Daniel.
Aaron Jennings (King), Veralyn Jones (Ruby), Kacie Rogers (Tonya), and Evan Lewis Smith (Mister), Ben Cain (Elmore), and Gerald C. Rivers (Stool Pigeon).
After seven years in prison, King Hedley re-enters society eager to rebuild his life, but quickly confronts the inescapable challenges facing Black men in Reagan-era Pittsburgh. King’s disenfranchisement comes into conflict with the stories he’s been telling himself. Yet he continues to plant seeds where nothing can grow.
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Stages St. Louis has announced its 2024 summer season:
Steel Magnolias (May 31 – June 30), directed by Paige Price.
Newsies (July 26 – Aug. 25), directed by Steve Bebout.
Ragtime (Sept. 20 – Oct. 20), directed by Deidre Goodwin.
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Paul Gordon’s The Gospel According to Heather original Off-Broadway cast recording is now available on Jay Records.
Lauren Elder, Badia Farha, Maria Habeeb, Jeremy Kushnier, Maya Lagerstam, Zach Rand, Katey Sagal, Carson Stewart, Brittany Nicole Williams, and Wayne Wilson.**********************
Video: Andrew Barth Feldman and Kuhoo Verma Perform ‘Tell Her” From 13.
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RIP: Ira Bernstein, renowned Broadway executive, died of natural causes Dec. 21, at Belmont Village in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was 94.
Ira Bruce Bernstein was born Jan. 21, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York. His father, legendary Broadway press agent Karl Bernstein, founded the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers (ATPAM), and was said to have originated the job of theatrical press agent. Mr. Bernstein’s only sibling, Norman Bernstein, was a navigator on a B-17 bomber during WWII, and was killed in action in Europe in 1944.
Early in his career Mr. Bernstein worked as a casting director on Broadway productions such as Guys and Dolls and Wish You Were Here. Over the ensuing decades, Mr. Bernstein managed and produced 44 Broadway shows ranging from 1966’s Wait Until Dark to the original 1975 production of Chicago. Later in his career, Mr. Bernstein managed the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles from 1984 until 1991, and he served two three-year terms on the Tony Nominating Committee, first in 2002 and then in 2014.
He earned a degree from Pratt Institute as an industrial designer. In 1953, while working for the renowned Feuer & Martin management team on the Broadway musical Can-Can, General Motors hired Mr. Bernstein as a stylist for Oldsmobile. He left opening night for Michigan and upon arrival received a telegram from the show’s composer, Cole Porter, which read: “Dear Ira, success to you at General Motors. We of the theatre shall miss you.”
Mr. Bernstein married entertainer Florence Henderson in 1956. The couple met when Ms. Henderson was auditioning for a part. Mr. Bernstein had to inform Ms. Henderson she did not get the part, but their subsequent marriage lasted 28 years, and the couple raised four children, Barbara, Joseph, Robert, and Elizabeth.
Years later, Bernstein married Carol Richards, an actor and singer, in 2004. Ms. Richards described Mr. Bernstein as, “A true man of the theatre, my best friend, and the love of my life.”
In addition to his love of theatre, Mr. Bernstein had a life-long love of model toys, particularly pre-WWII die-cast automobiles. He was a member of the Antique Toy Club of America.
A date for a memorial service will be announced soon.
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The Mystery of Edwin Drood will run Apr. 5 – June 2 (opening Apr. 17) at CT’s Goodspeed, directed by Rob Ruggiero, with choreography by James Gray, and music direction by Adam Souza.
Lenny Wolpe (Chairman/William Carwright), Liz McCartney (Princess Puffer/Angela Prysock), Mamie Parris (Alice Nutting), Paul Adams Schaefer (Jasper/Clive Paget), Levin Valayil (Neville Landless/Victor Grinstead), Riley Noland (Rosa Bud/Jetta Juriansz), Paul Slade Smith (Crisparkle/Cedric Moncreiff), David Beach (Durdles/Master Nick Cricker), Marcus Montgomery (Deputy/Mister Nick Cricker), and Jamie LaVerdier (Bazzard/Phillip Bax), with Jon Cooper, Benjamin Howes, Albert Jennings, Miyuki Miyagi, Jacqueline Petroccia, Jesse Swimm, Natalie Welch, Megan Arseneau and Noah Rubeck,
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jeanine Tesori’s Grounded will run Sept. 23 – Oct. 19 at NYC’s Metropolitan Opera, directed by Michael Mayer, with music direction by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Emily D’Angelo and Ben Bliss.
A hot-shot fighter pilot whose unplanned pregnancy takes her out of the cockpit and lands her in Las Vegas, operating a Reaper drone halfway around the world, the opera explores the ethical conflicts created by the use of modern military technology and the psychological and emotional toll supposedly safe remote technology takes on servicepersons.
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Red Bull Theater‘s reading of Antony & Cleopatra will take place Mon. Mar. 25 at 7:30 PM at Off-Broadway’s Lucille Lortel Theatre, directed by Arin Arbus.
Isabel Arraiza, Jimonn Cole, Dakin Matthews, Nicole Ari Parker (replacing Audra McDonald), Tom Pecinka, Matthew Rauch, Derek Smith, John Douglas Thompson, and more TBA.
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Five Star Theatricals‘ production of Million Dollar Quartet will run Mar. 15-24 at Thousand Oak’s Kavli Theatre, directed by Tim Seib, music direction by David Lamoureux.
Peter Oyloe (Johnny Cash), LJ Benet (Elvis Presley), Will Riddle (Carl Perkins), Garrett Forrestal (Jerry Lee Lewis), Summer Nicole Greer (Dyanne), Adam Poole (Sam Phillips), Benny Lipson (Brother Jay), and Lonn Hayes (Fluke).