Today’s Highlights:
An Evening with Groucho, starring Frank Ferrante opens at Laguna Playhouse.
The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes closes at Radio City Music Hall.
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Manhattan Theatre Club has announced complete casting for the world premiere of John Patrick Shanley’s Brooklyn Laundry, to begin previews Feb. 6 and open Feb. 28 at NY City Center Stage 1, directed by Shanley.
Cecily Strong (Fran), David Zayas (Owen), Florencia Lozano (Trish), and Andrea Syglowski (Susie).
The play centers on three sisters and a guy who run a Brooklyn laundry, and the “savage tricks life plays on them.”
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Eight new musicals will be showcased in London’s MTFeTUK, to run Jan. 30 – Feb. 11 at The Other Palace & the Turbine Theatre.
A Jaffa Cake Musical, by Sam Cochrane (Jan. 30 – Feb. 1). A brand new family-friendly musical comedy about the nation’s favourite cake (or biscuit…?).
Romy and Michele The Musical (Jan. 30 – Feb. 1), by Robin Schiff, Gwendolyn Sanford & Brandon Jay, directed by Kristin Hanggi. An absolute feel-good joyride and the best thing to happen since the invention of Post-Its.
Both, (Feb. 2-4)by Declan Bennett, Olivia Broadfield & Declan Bennett. When you’ve Both done all you can and something has to give, do you fall for what you know or lose the life you live?
Bling (Feb. 2-4), by Elliot Clay & Tori Allen-Martin. Inspired by unbelievably true events, this darkly comic pop-opera lampoons noughties culture and asks how and why they did it… O.M.G!!!
Tit Swingers (Feb. 2-8), by Abey Bradbury & Sam Kearney-Edwardes. Anne Bonney and Mary Read: polyamorous queer pirates named the Hellcats of the Seven Seas for their various vicious crimes…who fought with their tits out.
Redcliffe (Feb. 6-8), by Jordan Luke Gage, directed by Josh Seymour. Based on the true events, Redcliffe is an epic tale of forbidden love in spite of the persecution people faced for hundreds of years.
Plastered (Feb. 9-11), by Randy Rogel & BT McNicholl, directed by Jerry Zaks. A struggling sculptor accidentally creates a new style of art that thrusts him into fame and fortune as trouble mounts….
The Garden (Feb. 9-11), by Chisara Agor, with orchestrations by Robin G Breeze. An exciting, magical-realist, afro-electric-folk musical which sheds light on the need for social housing, nature and love.
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In My Own Little Corner: My Work In Progress with Bipolar Disorder, written by & starring Chryssie Whitehead, will take placeMon. Jan. 22 at 7 PM at Off-Broadway’s Abrons Arts Center, directed by Bryan Knowlton.
The play chronicles Whitehead and her late mother’s shared stories of mental health, specifically Bipolar Disorder.
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York Theatre Company’s production of Lindsey Hope Pearlman’s A Sign of the Times, featuring the songs of Petula Clark, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield & other 1960s artists, will continue as a commercial run beginning Mar. 4 at New World Stages (with opening night remaining Feb. 22), directed by Gabriel Barre.
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, Alyssa Carol, Melessie Clark, Jeremiah Ginn, Kuppi Alec Jessop, Lena Matthews, Maggie McDowell, J Savage, Justin Showell, Michael Starr, and Edward Staudenmayer.
The work is based on an original story by Richard J. Robin, following one young woman in the center of the pivotal decade of the 1960s, as the Vietnam War raged on, women fought for equal rights, and culture shifted rapidly.
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The original cast album of Adam Guettel & Craig Lucas’s new Broadway musical, Days of Wine and Roses is now available digitally and will be released on CD in the spring.
Michael Greif directed the production, which ran at the Atlantic Theater Company last year, starring Kelli O’Hara and Brian d’Arcy James.
Click here to stream or download the recording.
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The London production of Sunset Boulevard will begin previews/open on Broadway in 2024 (theater & dates TBA) in a minimalist production, directed by Jamie Lloyd, with choreography by Fabian Aloise, and music direction by Alan Williams.
Nicole Scherzinger (Norma Desmond), Tom Francis (Joe Gillis), Grace Hodgett-Young (Betty Schaefer), David Thaxton (Max Von Mayerling), and more TBA.
Video: Teaser from the London production.
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Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill will run Jan. 24 – Feb. 18 at San Diego’s Cygnet Theatre, directed by Wren T. Brown.
Karole Forman, with Damon Carter.
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MCC Theater‘s Walk on Through: Confessions of a Museum Novice has been extended through Jan. 7 at NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, directed by Linda Goodrich.
Gavin Creel … with special guests Sasha Allen, Madeline Benson, Chris Peters, Corey Rawls, Scott Wasserman, and Ryan Vasquez.
Inspired by the countless hours he spent wandering through the world-renowned collections of the museum for a MetLiveArts commission, Walk On Through is a thrilling new musical event featuring 16 original, infectious, pop-infused songs. In his theatrical songwriting debut, Creel takes us on an intimate, relatable journey of discovery and transformation through the lens of the art that captured his imagination. Whether you are a museum lover or a fellow novice, this show invites you to take a walk with Creel and engage with art, song, and the creative process in a fresh and new way.
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“Waitress,” the film version of the Broadway musical, will begin streaming Jan. 9 on both Amazon and Apple TV.
Sara Bareilles (Jenna), Christopher Fitzgerald (Ogie), Drew Gehling (Dr. Pomatter), Charity Angél Dawson (Becky), Caitlin Houlahan (Dawn), Eric Anderson (Cal), Dakin Matthews (Joe), and Joe Tippett (Earl), with Tyrone Davis, Jr., Matt DeAngelis, Andrew Fitch, Henry Gottfried, Molly Jobe, Emily Koch, Max Kumangai, Anastacia McCleskey, Gerianne Pérez, Stephanie Torns, and Nyla Watson.
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Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World will run Feb. 6 – Mar. 3 at the Gatehouse, directed by Kai Wright, with music direction by Liam Holmes.
Lizzy Parker, Eleanor Frances, Luke Walsh, and Christopher Cameron, with Elizabeth Chambers and Johah Sercombe.
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Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater has announced that submissions are now open for the theater’s Annual Short New Play Festival, which will take place scheduled to be held on Mon. June 24, offering 6 brand new 10-minute plays. This year’s theme is “Renewal.”
The deadline for submissions is 12 Noon on Mon. March 18. Click the link above for additional information.
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Cabaret will run Jan. 24 – Feb. 4 (opening Jan. 25) at CA’s Coachella Valley Rep, directed by Adam Karsten, with choreography by Karen Sieber, and music direction by Brent Alan Huffman.
Kristen Howe (Emcee), Cecily Dowd (Sally Bowles), Marrick Smith (Cliff), Leslie Tinnaro (Fraulein Schneider), Fred Frabotta (Herr Schultz), Erin Stlddard (Fraulein Kost), Erin Stoddard (Fraulein Kost/Baden), and Ben Sears (Ernst Ludwig), with Amber Lux Archer, Alli Bossart, Charlie Bostick, Beverly Durand, Gabriellea Garcia, Rachel Kay, Erik Scott Rommney, Ali Simon, J Pablo Stewart, Erin Stoddard, and Emily Unnasch.
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Romeo and Juliet will run Jan. 28 – Feb. 25 (opening Jan. 31) at the Ahmanson Theatre, directed & choreographed by Matthew Bourne, with music by Terry Davies.
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Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me a Soprano, a gender-swapped version of Lend Me a Tenor, will run Feb. 7 – Mar. 10 (opening Feb. 10) at MD’s Olney Theatre, directed by Eleanor Holdridge.
Carolann M. Sanita (Elena Firenzi), Tina Stafford (Lucille Wylie), Rachel Felstein (Jo), Maboud Ebrahimzadeh (Jerry), Tom Patterson (Leo), and Donna Migliaccio (Julia), with Graciela Rey and Benjamin Topa.
The play is set in 1934, when world-famous Italian soprano Elena Firenzi (Sanita) is in town for a one-night-only concert. The performance is the apex of general manager Lucille Wylie’s career, and she’s given her assistant one job—keep Elena away from men and liquor until the curtain rises. As Elena quarrels with her husband Pasquale, charms Jo’s fiancé Jerry, and offers a road out of Cleveland for star tenor Leo, Lucille has the opera’s president, Julia (Migliaccio), breathing down her neck and a star-struck bellhop (Rathnam) getting in the way.
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The 15th annual Summer Playwrights Festival at North Hollywood’s Road on Magnolia, is now open for submissions through July 21. Annually the festival mounts 20-30 staged readings of new plays.
The festival is one of the largest in the nation, with playwrights from across the country and around the world. Each reading is followed by a talkback with the playwright and director. This year, SPF will strive to further reduce bias from our evaluation process, while at the same time taking into consideration race, gender, and other factors in our choice of plays. We are asking the playwrights to remove all identifying information from their scripts.
Click the link above for additional information and to submit.