Today’s Highlights:
The Lion King, featuring George Asprey (Scar), David Blake (Banzai), Janique Charles (Nala), Gugwana Dlamini (Rafiki), Shaun Escoffery (Mufasa), Gary Jordan (Zazu), Jamie McGregor (Timon), Melone M’Kenzy (Shenzi), Mark Rober (Pumbaa), Kayi Ushe (Simba), and Phil Adèle (Ed), with Gesztenye Botos, Reece Darlington-Delaire, Shak Gabbidon-Williams, Ryesha Higgs, Candice Holdford, Angela Marie-Hurst, Duane Lamonte, Jane Carla Leynes, Deja Linton, Jonathan Lutwyche, Kearabetswe Mogotsi, Taela Yeomans-Browan, re-opens at London’s Lyceum Theatre.
Emily Skinner: A Broad with a Broad Broad Mind concert opens at 54 Below.
The Marilu Henner Show opens at PA’s Buck’s County Playhouse.
Sanctuary, by Billy Porter & Kurt Carr, featuring Deborah Cox, Bryan Terell Clark, Ledisi, and Virginia Woodruff, with Broadway Inspirational Voices, begins streaming at NY Stage and Film.
Fabulous Fanny: The Songs & Stories of Fanny Brice concert, starring Kimberly Faye Greenberg, directed by Brian Childers, at 7 PM ET at NYC’s Green Room.
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Roundabout‘s production of Alice Childress’ Trouble in Mind will run Oct. 29 – Jan. 9, 2022 (opening Nov. 18) at the American Airlines Theatre, directed by Charles Randolph-Wright.
LaChanze, and more TBA.
Follow an experienced Black stage actress through rehearsals of a major Broadway production of Alice Childress’ wry and moving look at racism, identity, and ego in the world of New York Theatre. At the forefront of both the Civil rights and feminist movements, the prescient Trouble in Mind opened to acclaim Off-Broadway in 1955, and was announced to move to Broadway in 1957…in a production that never came to be.
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Video: Stars in the House, offering The Phantom of the Opera Encore!, with special guests Ramin Karimloo, Norm Lewis, Howard McGillin, Hugh Panaro, and Sierra Boggess. (1:25:14)
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In an unprecedented opportunity, audiences can experience Goodman Theatre productions in three ways in one week — one in-person (when the theater re-opens this Friday), one online, and one in Chicago parks this summer.
School Girls: Or, The African American Mean Girls Play (July 30 – Aug. 20 in the theater), by Jocelyn Bioh, directed by Lili-Anne Brown, featuring Adia Alli (Gifty), Kyrie Courter (Ericka Boafo), Ashley Crowe (Nana), Ciera Dawn (Paulina Sarpong), Tiffany Renee Johnson (Mercy), Adhana Reid (Ama), Tania Richard (Headmistress Francis), and Lanise Antoine Shelley (Eloise Amponsah).
Memories of Overdevelopment (July 31 at 7 PM CT), a virtual reading, by Caridad Svich, directed by Lavina Jadhwani, featuring Alejandra Escalante and Kelli Simpkins. This play is a film. A documentary about what people remember about dictatorships where they grew up and how they left and how they survived. An enactment of eight startling, personal interviews, inspired by true stories.
Zulema: A Musical Journey from Chiapas to Chicago (Aug. 5-21 at various Chicago park locations), by Dolores Díaz, directed by Henry Godinez & Marcela Muñoz, featuring Jazmin Corona (Grown Zuleman/Mamá), Raúl Romero Lira (Kukulkan), and Mia Nevarez (Young Zulema/Itzel).
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Chicago Shakespeare Theatre has announced its 2021-22 season:
Come Together free pop-up events in various locations throughout Chicago.
As You Like It (Oct. 6 – Nov. 12), adapted & directed by Daryl Cloran, featuring Melanie Brezill (Celia), Adam Wesley Brown (Forest Lord/Hymen), Tony Carter (Oliver), Austen Eckert (Charles the Wrestler/Amiens), Lachrisa Grandberry (Audrey), Kevin Gudahal (Duke Senior/Duke Frederick), Heidi Kettenring (Phoebe), Kayvon Khoshkam (Touchstone), Kieran McCabe (Forest Lord), Steven Pringle (Adam/Sir Oliver Martext), Liam Quealy (Orlando), Ladeisha Renee (Rosalind), and Nancy Voigts (Corin). Set in the ’60s, this exuberant celebration features nearly 20 musical numbers from The Beatles songbook.
Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski (Nov. 3-14), by Clark Young & Derek Goldman, directed by Goldman, starring David Strathairn. After surviving the devastation of Poland by Nazi Germany, Jan Karski (a real-life WWII her0) swears allegiance to the Polish Underground and risks his life to carry the first eyewitness reports of the Holocaust to the White House, where his warnings are met with inaction and disbelief.
Q Brothers Christmas Carol (Dec. 8-23). This wildly entertaining 80-minute interpretation of A Christmas Carol mashes up hip hop with contemporary musical styles ranging from reggae and dancehall music, to dubstep and epic rock ballads, all underscored with beats spun live at the turntable by DJ Supernova.
TM (Jan. 2022 – dates TBA), directed by Alexander Devriendt. Made in collaboration with theater-makers from across the world, the piece beckons audiences into a live interactive one-to-one experience exploring media manipulation, populist ideology and conspiracy theories.
The Notebook (Mar. 15 – Apr. 24), world premiere by Ingrid Michaelson & Bekah Brunstetter. The musical chronicles the decades-long love story between a millworker named Noah and a privileged debutante named Allie. Beginning with a whirlwind summer romance, their love affair spans an entire lifetime – in spite of the differences that threaten to pull them apart.
All’s Well That End’s Well (Apr. 23 – May 29), directed by Shana Cooper.
It Came from Outer Space (May 25 – June 26), world premiere by Joe Kinosian & Kelly Blair, directed by Lara Braza. Adapted from the film, the musical spins Ray Bradbury’s flying saucer tale with a clever musical score and creative physical humor, examining society’s fear of outsiders and embracing the wonder of what lies just beyond the stars.
The Tempest (Sept. 2022 dates TBA ), directed by Sheldon Epps.
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The world premiere of John Patrick Shanley’s I Am Your Masseuse (six short digressions) will run Aug. 18 & 22 at he Brooklyn Navy Yards. directed by Claire Edmonds.
Christina Toth, Carlo Alban, Marcus Naylor, and Crawford M. Collins.
The 6 short plays are “designed to aid the digestion and further erode out attention span.”
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The Prince of Egypt has once again been forced again to cancel upcoming performances through Aug. 7 at the Dominion Theatre after a positive COVID-19 case was found in the company.
This comes after a previous closure from July 12-20.
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A Little New Music‘s next concert will spotlight the music of Jessica Fleitman & Rick Bassett on Tues. Aug. 3 at 7 PM PT, co-hosted by Luke H. Klepp & Travis Leland.
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Video: Jim Caruso’s Cast Party, with special guests Randy Austin, Jackson Perry, and Stephanie J. Block. (1:33:58)
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Eric Krebs has announced ownership & operation of Off-Broadway’s Theater 555 (555 West 42nd Street), which will launch this Fall. Unused since the start of the pandemic, the theater was the home of the Signature and Pearl Theater Companies.
Kreb expects Theater 555 to be available for short and long-term rentals starting in September. 
Learn more here.
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NYC Free Festival offers a 4-week concert series, to run Aug. 11 – Sept. 5 at Little Island, offering 160 different events. 
All events are FREE, although tickets are required for all Amph performances.
Highlights:
* Ali Stroker (Aug. 12)
* Owens (Aug. 20)
* Misty Copeland
* Jennie Harney
* Bowen Yang
* Matt Rogers
* Ziwe.
Click here for the complete lineup of performances and additional information.
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Julie Halston will receive the 2020 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for her substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of her dedication and advocacy in raising funding and awareness for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation.
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MA’s Cape Playhouse and the Cape Symphony have announced their first-ever joint concert,” Symphony at the Playhouse: In Harmony,” which will take place Sat. July 31 at 6 PM ET on the lawn at the Playhouse, offering a concert version of Austen’s Pride, by Linda Warren Baker & Amanda Jacobs.
Mamie Parris, Bobby Conte Thornton, and Olivia Hernandez.
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Video: Clips from London’s Anything Goes, starring Sutton Foster and Robert Lindsay.
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Discovering Broadway will premiere songs in concert from Hamlet, by Cody Fry, Gary Fry, Joel Ansett, Andrew R. Butler & Jeff Daye. on Fri. Aug. 20 at 7 PM CT at Indianapolis’ Indiana Historical Society, directed by Joel Kirk and music direction by Kris Kukul.
Jordan Donica (Hamlet), Samantha Pauly (Ophelia), Adam Pascal (King Claudius), and Bryonha Marie Parham (Gertrude).
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Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss’ SIX will resume previews Sept. 17 and open Oct. 3 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, co-directed by Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage, with choreography by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille.
Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), Abby), and Mueller (Jane Seymour), Brittney Mack (Anna of Cleves), Samantha Pauly (Katherine Howard), and Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr), with Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert, Courtney Mack, Mallory Maedke, and Keirsten Hodgens.
Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. From Tudor Queens to Pop Princesses, the six wives of Henry VIII take the mic to reclaim their identities out of the shadow of their infamous spouse-remixing five years of historical heartbreak into a celebration of 21st century girl power. The female cast is backed by an all-female band, the “Ladies in Waiting.”
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& A Little New Music‘s concert featuring the writing duo of Jessica Fleitman & Rick Bassett, will stream Tues. Aug. 3 at 7 PM PT here.