Today’s Highlights:
Endgame, by Samuel Beckett, directed by Conor Bagley, featuring Bill Irwin & John Douglas Thompson, with Joe Grifasi and Patrice Johnson, opens at Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep.
Roundabout‘s The Wanderers, by Anna Ziegler, directed by Barry Edelstein, featuring Katie Holmes (Julia Cheever), Sarah Cooper (Sophie), Lucy Freyer (Esther), David Klasko (Schmuli), and Eddie Kaye Thomas (Abe), begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Laura Pels Theatre.
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Reviews for Anthony Rapp’s Without You at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages:
Theatermania (David Gordon): …The stage version of Without You, directed by Steven Maler and running at New World Stages through the spring, opens with Rapp’s audition for the off-Broadway musical nobody expected to be a hit… Interwoven through his Rent journey is the story of Rapp’s mother and her battle with adrenal cancer… Rapp is an affable presence, and, remarkably, his 51-year-old voice sounds exactly as it does on the Rent original cast recording, if not better… Rapp’s performance is beautifully honest.
New York Theatre Guide (Gillian Russo) …To Rapp’s credit,…It’s a freshness that only an original Rent star could give a 30-year-old tune… Moments like Rapp’s vivid reenactment of Rent‘s very first performance — a concert-style tribute to Larson, who passed away that morning — even feel like they’re happening for the first time right there at New World Stages… But half of Without You dispenses with Rent as Rapp recalls his relationship with his on-and-off sickly mother in her last years… but theatrically, the show loses momentum in these sections and reminds us of its origin as a book.
The Wrap (Thom Geier): …Rentheads will have much to savor in Rapp’s 90-minute musical memoir… The monologue-slash-cabaret performance focuses on two of the biggest influences in his life and career: Larson, who died of a brain aneurysm at age 35 the night before the first Off Broadway performance of “Rent,” and his mother, a divorced nurse from Joliet, Illinois, who raised three kids and succumbed to cancer just over a year after attending the opening night of “Rent” on Broadway… The actor becomes more heartfelt in discussing his mom
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& 
Fifty Key Stage Musicals: The Concert will take place Wed. Feb. 8 at 7 PM at NYC’s 54 Below, with music direction by Michael Lavine. The cast will offer songs and stories, performed by the legends themselves.
George Lee Andrews, Caitlin Belcik, Jim Brochu, LaDonna Burns, Len Cariou, Kevin Chamberlin, Beth Fowler, Alexandra Amadeo Frost, Janine LaManna, Lee Roy Reams, and Mark William.
Live tickets here.
Livestream tickets here.
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A Celebration of John Guare will take place Mon. Feb. 6 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s 92Y, hosted by Tony Kushner.
Dylan Baker, Becky Ann Baker, Ato Blankson-Wood, Bill Camp, Paul Dano. Ariana DeBose, Billy Eichner, Linda Emond, Mike Faist, Edie Falco, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Corey Hawkins, Amy Herzog, Samuel Hunter, Zoe Kazan, Tony Kushner, Linda Lavin, Kenneth Lonergan, Camryn Manheim, Elizabeth Marvel, Suzan-Lori Parks, Ben Stiller, and Meryl Streep.
An all-star evening of words and music.
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The recent Broadway production of Company, directed by Marianne Elliot, will launch a national tour in October.
Casting, tour dates, and additional information TBA.
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Red Bull Theater‘s Arden of Faversham, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher & Kathryn Walat, will run Mar. 6 – Apr. 1 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, directed by Jesse Berger.
Casting TBA.
While Alice dreams of erotic freedom, Mosby and others want Arden dead for other reasons. Arden has recently been granted lands originally intended for others, and his upward social mobility is especially grating to those whose lower class standing he publicly derides. With so much local hostility to Arden, Alice has no trouble finding willing killers, but like the Road Runner of cartoons, Arden proves surprisingly difficult to destroy. Beginning with attempts by Alice herself, and continuing through multiple ill-starred efforts by the ruffians Black Will and Shakebag, the murder plots repeatedly fail in the face of bad luck and sheer incompetence: as Shakebag irritably observes, “Arden, thou hast wondrous holy luck.”
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Video: “671,000,000MPH” from Matthew Puckett’s Rebel Genius, featuring Cory Cott.
The musical tells the story of the early life of Albert Einstein and his first wife, Mileva Marić.
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Roundabout‘s The Wanderers, by Anna Ziegler, directed by Barry Edelstein, has been extended through Apr. 2 at Off-Broadway’s Laura Pels Theatre.
Katie Holmes (Julia Cheever), Sarah Cooper (Sophie), Lucy Freyer (Esther), David Klasko (Schmuli), and Eddie Kaye Thomas (Abe).
Orthodox Jews Esther and Schmuli are newly married, and their future is written in the laws of the Torah. Secular Jew Abe is a famous novelist who believes he can write his own future…until an unexpected email from a movie star puts his marriage to the test and threatens to prove him wrong.
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Red Bull Theater will present Francis Beaumont’s The Night of the Burning Pestle Apr. 17 – May 13 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, directed by Noah Brody & Emily Young.
Casting TBA.
As a group of players gathers to present a play about the elopement of star-crossed lovers, they are abruptly interrupted by a grocer and his wife. They have a different kind of play in mind – an outrageous hero’s quest of derring-do… The Knight of the Burning Pestle. And they know just the fellow to star – their apprentice, Rafe. This new subplot, invented on the fly, takes over the stage in surprising and disruptive ways.
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The 17th Annual Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals will run Mar. 17 – 19, and includes presentations of new works, insider events, seminars, cabarets, and staged readings. Casting and creative teams TBA.
Double Helix staged reading (Mar. 17 at 7:30 PM), byMadeline Myers. In the. mid-20th century, the race to find the structure of DNA grips the scientific community. One brilliant young researcher, Rosalind Franklin, will stop at nothing to uncover one of life’s great mysteries. But will she sacrifice what makes her human to discover what makes us human?
The Great Emu War (Mar. 18 at 7:30 PM), by Cal Silberstein & Paul Hodge. Remember that one time that the Australian government sent their army with machine guns to wage war on emus in Western Australia? Neither do most people…but when Edith, the headstrong warbler, and her flock begin to feed on the wheat of local farmers—the humans take up arms against Australia’s favorite feathered friends. Think of it as Cats, but with emus…and less dancing…and a plot.
Little Miss Perfect (Mar. 19 at 1 PM), by Joriah Kwamé. Inspired by the viral single of the same name, the musical tells the story of Noelle, a bi-racial teen navigating her senior year of high school after her mom and stepdad invite a study abroad student to be her roommate. But when a classmate becomes the victim of systemic racism at her school, Noelle must decide whether she will be true to herself and an ally to her peers, or if she will settle for simply being “Little Miss Perfect.”
…and many other events… Click on the link above for more information.
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A Streetcar Names Desire will transfer Mar. 20 – Apr. 29 to the Phoenix Theatre, directed by Rebecca Frecknall.
Paul Mescal (Stanley Kowalski), Patsy Ferran (Blanche Du Bois), Anjana Vasan (Stella Kowalski), Dwane Walcott (Mitch), and more TBA.
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The world premiere cast album of Kate Chavez, Robin Hohlloway, Lindsey Hope Pearlman & Peter Lurye’s MacGyver: The Musical will be released Jan. 27 on most platforms.
Taylor Louderman, Brandon Victor Dixon, and Tristin Mays.
Audio: Listen to “MacGyver” (scroll down)
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Disney on Broadway is developing a stage adaptation of “Coco.“ Stay tuned for updates.
Video: Mandy Gonzalez performs “Remember Me,” by Robert Lopez & Kristin Anderson-Lopez.
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Cat On a Hot Tin Roof will return to the Theatre at St. Clements, directed by Joe Rosario. The play will run Feb. 24 – Mar. 31 (opening Mar. 5).
Alison Fraser (Big Mama), Matt deRogatis (Brick), Courney Henggeler (Maggie), Frederick Weller (Big Daddy), Christine Copley (Mae), Adam Dodway (Gooper), Milton Elliott (Rev. Tooker), and Jim Kempner (Doc Baugh).
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Alessandro Camon’s Scintilla will run Apr. 12 – June 4 (opening Apr. 14) at North Hollywood’s Road Theatre Company, directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky.
Taylor Gilbert (Marianne), Kris Fros (Michael), Krishna Smitha (Nora), David Gianopolis (Stanley), and Carlos Lacamara (Roberto).
Michael and Nora travel to visit his mother Marianne, a reclusive artist who lives at the edge of the woods in California’s Wine Country. As a raging wildfire approaches, Michael must deal with Marianne’s stubborn refusal to leave, and the arrival of two unexpected visitors. The rising tension exposes a complicated family history erupting into a larger question about our very survival on this planet.
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John August & Andrew Lippa’s Big Fish, currently in previews, will opens Feb. 1 and continue through Mar. 19 at Chicago’s Marriott Theatre, directed by Henry Godinez, with choreography Tommy Rapley, and music direction by Ryan T. Nelson.
Alexander Gemignani (Edward Bloom), Heidi Kettenring (Sandra Bloom), Michael Kurowski (Will), and William Daly & Archer Geye (alternating as Young Will/Will’s Son), with Lydia Burke, Brandon Dahlquist, Lucy Godinez, Christopher Kale Jones, Emma Rosenthal, Allison Sill, Ayana Strutz, and Jonah D. Winston, and understudies Emily Ann Brooks, Andres Enriquez, Andrew Greiche, Sam Alan Johnson, Darryl D’Angelo Jones, and Jenny McPherson.
The story of charming traveling salesman Edward Bloom, who lives life to its fullest (and then some!), and his relationship with his adult son Will. In present-day Alabama, sixty-year-old Edward faces his final chapter while Will gets reading to face fatherhood himself. Returning to his teenage past, Edward spins larger-than-life stories of fairy-tale encounters with a Witch, a Giant, a Mermaid, and the love of his life, Sandra. Determined to find the truth behind Edward’s tall tales, Will embarks on a journey of his own to uncover the secret his father’s stories are hiding.
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Private NYC industry readings of Misha Mullany & Brent Morden’s Infernal will take place today and tomorrow, directed by Alex Sanchez. 
Information & reservations: misha@theinfernalcompany.com
Renée Albularia Kaila Buritt, Charmien Byrd, Darius De Haas, Hannah Duran, Eddie Korbich, Julia Meadows, Francisca Muñoz, Misha Mullany, Goran Popovic, Jazz Sunpanich, and Luis Villabon.
A rock musical based on Dante’s Inferno that explores consequences, remorse, and our own inescapable demons. Drawing from Dante’s text, the Bible, Catholic Tradition, and Jewish Mysticism, in this coming-of-age story, heaven and hell are made human. Lily dies and goes to Hell but doesn’t understand why. Will Lily learn to let others in, or will she stay selfish for all eternity? And what happens when you learn the error of your ways, but it’s too late to change the past? Can we learn to forgive ourselves?