Today’s Highlights:
The Seagull, newly adapted by Anya Reiss, directed by Jamie Lloyd, featuring Emilia Clarke. (Nina), Tom Rhys Harries (Trigorin), Daniel Monks (Konstantin), Indira Varma (Arkadina), Sophie Wu (Masha), Jason Barnett (Shamray), Robert Glenister (Sorin), Mika Onyx Johnson (Medvedenko), Gerald Kyd (Dorn), and Sara Powell (Polina), with Katie Bucholz, Tina Harris, Joseph Langdon, and David Lee-Jones, opens at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre.
Summer Playwrights Festival (offering readings of 20 plays in 7 days) opens at North Hollywood’s Road Theatre Company.
Broadway Showstoppers with Glenn Rosenblum – Musicals of the 60s concert, with special guest Karen Morrow, at 7 PM PT at CA’s Coachella Valley Rep.
Music and Memories with Marilu Henner concert, with music direction by Michael Orland, at 7 PM PT at Studio City’s Feinstein’s at Vitello’s.
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Complete casting has been announced for Primary Stages‘ production of Clarence Coo’s On That Day in Amsterdam, to run July 23 – Sept. 4 at 59E59 Theatre, directed by Zi Alikhan.
Waseem Alzer, Brndon Mendez Homer, Glenn Morizio, Liz Ramos, and Jonathan Raviv.
Set the morning after a one-night stand, when a refugee from the Middle East wakes up next to an American backpacker who is himself the son of immigrants. With only a day until the two young men must each leave Amsterdam, they set off on a romantic journey through the city.
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Video: Bernadette Peters describes her first time meeting Stephen Sondheim.
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Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day will run Sept. 6 – Oct. 31 at the Old Vic, directed by Katy Rudd.
Helen Hunt, and more TBA.
The satire is set at a progressive day school in California circa 2017. When a mumps outbreak occurs, the school community turns on each other over questions of vaccination.
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North Hollywood’s Loft Ensemble (link TBA) has announced its 2022-23 season:
Mud (Aug. 19 – Sept. 11), world premiere written & directed by Bree Pavey. After the collapse of society, a group of people band together for safety, survival, and community. As they begin to rebuild, they examine the failures of the past with an eye on the truth. But can they escape the beast that hunts them and avoid falling into the holes humanity has left behind?
Mass Graves (Sept. 30 – Oct. 23), world premiere by Cris Eli Blak, directed by Matt Lorenzo. A group of men, struggling with the consequences of their past actions, tries to recover their lives inside a confined halfway house. As their cohabitants and families start closing in, each is forced to confront the crimes they committed.
Mrs. Dilber’s Fabulous Bedcurtains (Nov. 12 – Dec. 18), world premiere by Arthur M. Jolly, directed by Tor Brown & Marc Leclerc. A reimagining of A Christmas Carol, centering on Mrs. Dilber and her epic attempt to claim Scrooge’s bedcurtains despite a series of ghosts and other diversions, including Dr. Jekyll, the little matchstick girl, and an oddly Mr. Hyde-esque tiny Tim … on a night adjacent to … the more familiar holiday story.
Katrina (Jan. 27 – Feb. 19, 2023), world premiere by LaDarrion Williams, directed by Jazmine Nichelle. Two strangers stuck in an abandoned hospital during Hurricane Katrina’s landfall realize they may have nothing left but each other, and that just might be all they need.
Gifted (Mar. 10 – Apr. 2), by Bob DeRosa, directed by Jennifer Christina DeRosa & Sara Nilsen. A group of people with small but extraordinary gifts explores how those gifts can be used to benefit their own live and the lives of those around them, examining whether even the smallest power can be super.
Miss Opportunities (Apr. 21 – May 14), by Jillian Leff, directed by Ignacio Navarro & Madylin Sweeten Durrie. A young writer is mistaken as a lesbian by her college crush, and hilarity ensues when she and his roommate (actually lesbian and newly single), cook up a scheme to help her get closer to him… and, it turns out, to herself.
Behind the Six (June 2-25), world premiere by Dan Perry, directed by Sarah Sommers & Sarah Nilsen. A man goes undercover to infiltrate the crime gang that murdered his brother and falls in love with a grifter. But can he trust him or his heart?
Penthesilea (July 14 – Aug. 6), world premiere by Danielle Ozymandias, directed by Bree Pavey & Ozymandias. When Amazon women warriors went to the Trojan War, they intended to show their might in order to protect their world, but with their power and love, they created a legend.
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David West Read & Max Martin’s & Juliet will begin previews Oct. 8 and open Nov. 17 at the Sondheim Theatre (link TBA), directed by Luke Sheppard, with choreography by Jennifer Weber, and music supervision by Bill Sherman.
Lorna Courtney (Juliet), Melanie La Barrie (Nurse), Paulo Szot (Lance), Betsy Wolfe (Anne Hathaway), Stark Sands (Shakespeare), Justin David Sullivan (May), Ben Jackson Walker (Romeo), and Philippe Arroyo (Francois).
The musical irreverently considers a new story for Shakespeare’s tragic heroine and lovestruck teenager Juliet in which she chooses to live after Romeo dies. The score features familiar pop songs from the last three decades, such as “Since U Been Gone,” “Roar,” “Baby One More Time,” “Larger Than Life,” “That’s The Way It Is,” and “Can’t Stop the Feeling.”
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Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theatre has announced its Short New Play Festival 2022: Alchemy, all world premieres, which will take place Mon. July 11 at 7 PM ET at NYC’s Sheen Center, directed by Timothy Douglas & Nathan Winkelstein. Casting TBA.
And There Shall Be No More Tears, by Montana Cypress. As the U.S. Cavalry approaches, a Medicine Man rushes to concoct a remedy to save his people.
With Visible Breath, by Larissa FastHorse. Inspired by one of the oldest stories of the L/D/Nakota people, Pté Sán Winyan has been sent from the spiritual world to Earth on a quest to help the people who will be known as the Oceti Sakowin.
Another Part of the Green Room, by Debra Fried. Orson Welles, in the figure of Mercury, finds a trio of Elizabethan actors who have magically transformed into the very roles they play (within the play) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and recruits them for his 1937 Mercury Theatre production of Faustus.
Cancel Me, by Stephen Adly Guigus. An ancient King summons a long ago banished Alchemist to transmutate his greatest and worst possession – his son.
Vulgar Gold, by Kevin P. Joyce. Bitter Rosetta uses an alchemical elixir to seduce her sister’s husband with chaotic results.
Make Gold of That, by Nick Martorelli & Justin Muschong. A man arrives for his appointment with a modern Alchemist, where he meets other customers with items they want the Alchemist to transmute into the most valuable resource in the modern world: Time.
Medusa Prays, by Zoë Rhulen. Medusa, having just turned her most recent lover to stone, begs Athena to reverse her curse.
Prosperita, by Elaine Romero. Prosperita has the unique gift of folding and understanding both time and war. Here inner transformation calls her to actin as she prepares herself to intervene in a most brutal war.
Elizabeth Canavan, Liza Colón-Zayas, Montana Cypress, Jake Hart, Tanis Parenteau, Lorenzo Pisoni, Michael Puzzo, Sidney Williams, and David Zayas.
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Complete casting has been announced for the world premiere of American Prophet: Frederick Douglass in His Own Words, written by Charles Randolph-Wright & Marcus Hummon, to run July 15 – Aug. 28 (opening July 28) at DC’s Arena Stage, directed by Randolph-Wright, with choreography by Lorna Ventura, and music direction by Joseph Joubert.
Cornelius Smith Jr. (Frederick Douglas) and Kristolyn Lloyd (Anna Douglass), with Carolyn Agan, Kurt Boehm, Thomas Adrian Simpson, and Kanysha Williams, with Erica Aubrey, Zoë Bryant, Cicily Daniels, Christopher B. Portley, Christopher Michael Richardson, Chris Roberts, Brendon Schaefer, Corry West, and Curtis Wiley.
The piece explores Douglass’s rise from slavery to national prominence, and from forced illiteracy to the heights of literary and oratorical renown.
Video: “Let the Storm Come”
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Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars has announced updates to its 2022-23 season:
Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Sept. 20 – Oct. 2), directed by Monique Midgette
The Secret of My Success (Oct. 25 – Nov. 6), directed & choreographed by Dan Knechtges.
Mary Poppins (Dec. 6-24), directed & choreographed by Dan Knechtges.
Chicago (Feb. 7-19, 2023)
Legally Blonde (Apr. 11-23)
Rent (May 16-28)
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The Public Theater has announced casting for its FREE Shakespeare in the Park production of As You Like It, to run Aug. 10 – Sept. 11 (opening Aug. 30) at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre, adapted by Shaina Taub, directed by Laurie Woolery, with music & lyrics by Taub, and choreography by Billy Griffin.
Damion Allen (William), Tristan André (De Boys/Attendant), Ato Blankson-Wood (Orland0), Lori Brown-Niang (Agent/Puppet-deer), Briana Cabrera (Silvia), Darius de Haas (Duke Senior), Bianca Edwards (Phoebe), 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/Attendant), and Shaina Taub (Jaques), with Amar Atkins, Sean Michael Bruno, Danyel Fulton, Emily Gardner Xu Hall, Pierre Harmony, Trevor McGhie, Mike Millán, Kevin Tate, and Claudia Yanez.
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Video: “Ms Guidance,” Ep. 2, “The Importance of Being Jenny,” by James Ryan Caldwell, directed by Van Hansis & Melodie Sisk. (18:51)
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, Ashley Austin Morris, Amy Russ, Nikki Snelson, Kit Williamson, Marco Zunino, Michael Urie, and Elliotte Crowell (Jenny Bump).
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The Theater Hall of Fame has announced its 2022 inductees. The 2022 Gala Induction and Dinner will take p lace Mon. Nov. 14 at 7 PM ET at Broadway’s Gershwin Theater.
Inductees:
* Christine Ebersole – actor
* Frank Galai – director
* Bill Irwin – actor/writer
* Abe Jacob – actor/sound designer
* Lynn Nottage – playwright
* Suzan-Lori Parks – playwright
* Mandy Patinkin – actor
* Ntozake Shange – playwright
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Tom Kitt will present 2 special encore performances of his new solo concert, Reflections, on Mon. July 18 and Tues. July 26, both at 7 PM ET at NYC’s 54 Below.