Today’s Highlights:
The Constituent, world premiere by Joe Penhall, directed by Matthew Warchus, featuring James Corden, Anna Maxwell, and Zachary Hart, opens at London’s Old Vic.
Boys From the Blackstuff by James Graham, directed by Kate Wasserberg, featuring George Caple (Snowy/Kevin/Scotty), Dominic Carter (Molloy/Marley/Landlord/Catholic Priest/Policeman), Helen Carter (Miss Sutcliffe/Freda/Margaret), Aron Julius (Loggo), Nathan McMullen (Chrissie), Lauren O’Neil (Angie/Jean/Lawton/Student/Lollipop Lady), Jamie Peacock (Moss/Anglican Reverend), Barry Sloane (Yosser), and Mark womack (Dixie), with Liam Tobin. opens at London’s Garrick Theatre,
Burlesque the Musical, by Steven Antin & Kate Wetherhead, directed & choreographed by Nick Winston, featuring Jess Folley (Ali Rose), George Maguire (Vince), Billie-Kay (Sophia), B Terry (Georgie), Jess Qualter (Daphne), Yasmin Harrison (Brenda), Lily Wang (Fifi), and Hollie-Ann Lowe (summer), with Alessia McDermott, opens at the UK’s Manchester Opera House.
Alan Mingo Jr. begins his run as The Wiz in The Wiz at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre.
The Group Rep‘s The Ghee Ghee, world premiere by Suzy London, directed by Kathleen R. Delaney, featuring Diana Angelina (Barbara Kelly), Davino Buzzotta (Trevor Dickson), Mandy Fason (Margaret Kelly), Doug Haverty (Joel Mackson), Cierra Lundy (Angela Donaldson), Jason Madera (Dr. Bennett Kenilworth), Kevin Michael Moran (Kendrick Gold), Helen O’Brien (Roberta Link), Stevie Stern (Dr. Jennifer Atchison) and Cathy Diane Tomlin (Judge Dana Smythe), opens at North Hollywood’s Lonny Chapman Theatre.
Little Bear Ridge Road, world premiere by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Joe Mantello, featuring Laurie Metcalf (Sarah), John Drea (James/Kenny), Meighan (Paulette/Vicki), and Micah Stock (Ethan), begins previews at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
Cats: The Jellicle Ball, directed by Zhailon Levingston & Bill Rauch, featuring Jonathan Burke (Mungojerrie), Emma Sofia Caymares (Skimbleshanks), André De Shields (Old Deuteronomy,) Sydney James Harcourt (Rum Tum Tugger), Antwayn Hopper (Macavity), Shereen Pimentel ( Jellylorum), Nora Schell (Bustopher Jones), Garnet Williams (Bombalurina), Teddy Wilson Jr. (Sillabub), Xavier Reyes (Jennyanydots), Bebe Nicole Simpson (Demeter), and Daya Huesca (Rumpleteazer, with Tara Lashan Clinkscales, Frank Viveros, and Shelby Griswold, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Perelman Performing Arts Center.
Norm Lewis: Summertime (Special Tony Edition) concert, directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, closes at NYC’s 54 Below.
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Reviews for City Center Encores’ Titanic
New York Times (Jesse Green): Among the 1,500 people who died aboard R.M.S. Titanic on April 15, 1912, eight were musicians, playing through the ship’s last hours to solace themselves and their doomed companions. It seems only fitting, then, that among the many ways to love the splendid Encores! revival of Titanic, which opened on Tuesday at New York City Center, the best is as a tribute to the power of music to address the largest and gravest human emotions… Yeston ventriloquizes ragtime and early salon-style jazz. All of this is wound together in a seamless composition that could almost stand on its own… A focus on musical excellence is more than just a welcome return to the Encores! mission… in approaching Titanic, the director Anne Kauffman…has moved decisively back toward bare bones…
Theatermania (David Gordon): …Anne Kauffman’s magnificent new presentation of Maury Yeston and Peter Stone’s Tony-winning 1997 musical Titanic is both a repudiation of what Encores! has become and a reminder of what made the series so vital to begin with. Turns out, a modestly staged concert, emphasizing crystalline storytelling through song… Spectacle was the central focus of the original… Kauffman guides her gallery of contemporary musical-theater greats into shockingly lived-in performances that give new heft to Stone’s script, which is both funnier and more emotionally involving than I remembered…. everyone is perfectly cast.
New York Stage Review (Elysa Gardner): Director Anne Kauffman and a starry, supple cast breathe new life into the ’90s musical epic… certainly not unmarked by the self-seriousness and bombast its subject matter would seem to invite. But for those who missed its stint in Times Square, and haven’t spent much time with its score since (I’m guilty on both counts, I’ll admit), this new staging—which teams a sprawling, starry cast with a 30-piece orchestra—will prove nothing short of a revelation.
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2024 Drama Desk Awards
Click here for the complete list of winners.
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Jason Graae & Friends: The Second Annual Patricia Whiteman Award concert will take place Sun. July 28 at 7:30 PM at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club, with music direction by Gerald Sternbach.
Special guests TBA.
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Open Throat, adapted by Henry Hoke, will tun July 10 – 14 (opening July 11) at NYC’s Little Island, directed by Caitlin Ryan O’Connell.
Chris Perfetti & Joe Lampert (alternating as the Mountain Lion), with Marinda Anderson, Alex Hernandez, Layla Khoshnoudi, Ryan King, Susannah Perkins, and Steven Wendt.
The story of a queer and dangerously hungry mountain lion living in the drought-devastated land under the Hollywood sign. Feral and vulnerable, profound and playful, Open Throat explores identity, inequality, and our most predatory impulses.
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A screening of Noël Coward’s Present Laughter will take place Sunday, July 28 at 3 PM at UCLA’s James Bridges Theater, directed by Jonathan Munby.
Ian McKellen
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Craig Lucas, David Messé & Sean Hartley’s Prelude to a Kiss will run Sept. 10 – Oct. 19 at Milwaukee Rep.
Casting and creative team TBA.
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The Year Without A Summer, world premiere by Greer Dubois, will run June 28 – July 21 at North Hollywood’s Loft Ensemble, directed by Maia Luer & Daniel J. Parker.
Lemon Baardsen, Andrea Casamitjana, Isaac Deakyne, Silas Jean-Rox, Kirsten Jones, Bethany Koulias.
A peculiar 19th-century disaster, played out during 1816 when the weather in Europe and North America took a bizarre turn that resulted in widespread crop failures and even famine. The weather in 1816 was unprecedented. Spring arrived as usual. But then the seasons seemed to turn backward, as cold temperatures returned.
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Ain’t Done Bad, a hybrid theatrical dance experience conceived, directed & choreographed by Jakob Karr, will run July 9 – Sept. 1 (opening July 14) at the Signature Center.
Jakob Karr, Adrian Lee, Meguni Iwama, Ian Spring, Luke Qualls, Yusaku Komori, Jordan Lombardi, and Jashual Escover, with Caden Hunter and Madison O’Connor.
The powerful heartwarming story of coming out, falling in love, and finding one’s true voice as a queer person in the South. Told entirely through contemporary dance without a singe spoken word.
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The Summer Playwrights Festival will run July 12-21 at North Hollywood’s Road on Magnolia. Click the link for complete details.
Over 200 writers, directors, actors and technicians are volunteering their time to present 23 plays over the span of 10 days. The festival is now one of the largest staged reading festivals in the nation, with playwrights from across the country and around the world participating. Each reading is followed by a talk-back with the playwright and director.
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Presenters have been announced for the 2024 Tony Awards on Sun. June 16.
Presenters: Utkarsh Ambudkar, Nate Burleson, Cynthia Erivo, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Josh Gad, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Sean Hayes, Taraji P. Henson, Julianne Hough, Jennifer Hudson, Angelina Jolie, Nick Jonas, Idina Menzel, Ashley Park, Jim Parsons, Wendell Pierce, Ben Platt, Anthony Ramos, Andrew Rannells, Solomon Thomas, Taylor Tomlinson, Pete Townshend, Tamara Tunie, Adrienne Warren, Patrick Wilson, and Jeffrey Wright.
Performances: Stereophonic … Hell’s Kitchen … Illinoise … Suffs … The Outsiders … Water for Elephants … Cabaret … Merrily We Roll Along … and The Who’s Tommy.