Today’s Highlights:
Into the Woods, directed by Lear deBessonet, featuring Diane Phelan (Cinderella), Montego Glover (Witch), Stephanie J. Block (Baker’s Wife), Sebastion Arcelus (Baker), Gavin Creel (Cinderella’s Prince/Wolf), Cole Thompson (Jack), Katy Geraghty (Little Red Riding Hood), Nancy Opel (Cinderella’s Stepmother), Jason Forbach (Rapunzel’s Prince), Aymee Garcia (Jack’s Mother), David Patrick Kelly (Narrator), Josh Breckenridge (Cinderella’s Father), and Felicia Curry (Cinderlla’s Mother /Grandmother /Giant’s Wife), with Erica Durham, Eddie Lopez, Ximone Rose, Ellie Fishman, Marya Grandy, Paul Kreppel, and Sam Simahk, opens at LA’s Ahmanson Theatre.
The Ants, world premiere by Ramiz Monsef, directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh, featuring Hugo Armstrong (The Brain), Nicky Boulos (Nami), Megan Hill (Meredith), Jeremy Radin (The Pizza Guy), and Ryan Shrime (Shahid), opens at LA’s Geffen Playhouse.
Dr. Semmelweis, by Stephen Brown & Mark Rylance, directed by Tom Morris, featuring Mark Rylance (Ignaz Semmelweis), Roseanna Anderson (Marja Seidel/Baroness Maria-Teresa), Joshua Ben-Tovim (Hospital Porter/Death), Ewan Black (Franz Arneth), Chrissy Brooke (Lisa Elstein), Megumi Eda (Aiko), Suzy Halstead (Violet-May Blackledge), Felix Hayes (Ferdinand von Hebra), Pauline McLynn (Anna Müller), Jude Owusu (Jakob Kolletschka), Millie Thomas (Agnes Barta), Max Westwell (Hospital Porter/Death), Amanda Wilkin (Maria Semmelweis), Alan Williams (Johann Klein), and Daniel York Loh (Karl von Rokitansky), with Zoe Arshamian, Oxana Panchenko, Patricia Zhou, Helen Belbin, Jason Hogan, and Andrew McDonald, begins previews at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre.
Austen’s Pride: A New Musical of Pride and Prejudica in Concert, by Lindsay Warren Baker & Amanda Jacobs, directed by Igor Goldin, featuring Mamie Parris (Jane Austen), Olivia Hernandez (Elizabeth Bennet), Andrew Samonsky (Fitzwilliam Darcy), Etai Benson (Charles Bingley), Delphi Borich (Lydia Bennet), Kaitlyn Davidson (Mary Bennet), Katie Dixon (Kitty Bennet/Georgiana Darcy), Carson Elrod (Mar. Collins/Mr. Gardiner), Jason Gotay (George Wickham/Tom Lefroy), Marina Kondo (Carline Bingley/Mrs. Gardiner), Emilie Kouatchou (Jane Bennet), Michele Ragusa (Mrs. Bennet), and Beth Leavel (Lady Catherine de Bourgh), with Matt Gibson, Cameron Loyal, Angel Lozada, and Lucas Thompson, at 8 PM at Carnegie Hall.
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Reviews for the Public Theater’s Hamlet at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre:
NY Times (Jesse Green): For those who remember the 2019 Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing — as I do, fondly… you are immediately faced with what looks like a copy of the earlier show’s set… The facade is atilt, the S.U.V. tipped nose-first in a puddle, the Stacey Abrams for President banner torn down and in tatters. The flagpole bearing the Stars and Stripes sticks out of the ground at a precipitous angle, like a javelin that made a bad landing… It is full of insight and echoes for those already in the know, and features lovely songs (by Jason Michael Webb) and a few fine performances that anyone can enjoy. (Ato Blankson-Wood brings a vivid anger to the title role.) But this “Hamlet” has been placed in a frame that doesn’t match what the production actually delivers, leaving me glad to have seen it but wishing for something more congruent.
Theatermania (Kenji Fujishima): … [the] gestures toward topicality…set up expectations for a more conceptually intriguing take on Hamlet than what [Kenny] Leon ultimately seems to have in mind… If Leon could be said to have a take on this material, it’s in downplaying the play’s supernatural elements. Instead of opening with Hamlet’s father’s ghost’s initial visitation, this Hamlet dives right in with his funeral (with a quartet of vocalists singing “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye” from the 1975 film “Cooley High”)… “Leon’s” more consistently inspired than this Hamlet, which can’t quite escape the usual curse of bogging down in the second half, during the long stretch when Hamlet disappears from the stage.
New York Theatre (Jonathan Mandell): It’s evident as soon as John Douglas Thompson opens his mouth as King Claudius that director Kenny Leon’s production of Hamlet… makes an uncommon commitment to clarity of diction, without allowing the actors to sound self-consciously Shakespearean, or even British… Ato Blankson-Wood’s Hamlet and Lorraine Toussaint’s Gertrude similarly stand out, amid a generally splendid cast, for their crystalline rendition of the Bard’s pithy phrases… But the director aims not just to relay the meaning of Shakespeare’s language clearly. He also wants to use the tragedy – performed by a mostly Black cast — to illuminate African American life circa 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. That effort is nowhere near as clear…
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The world premiere of Kristin Scott Thomas’ Lyonesse will run Oct. 17 – Dec. 23 (opening Oct. 25) at the Harold Pinter Theatre, directed by Ian Rickson.
Kristin Scott Thomas (Elaine) and Lily James (Kate).
Elaine, a reclusive and talented actress, disappears in mysterious circimstances. 30 years later, she finally feels ready to tell her story – summoning Kate, a young film executive, to her remote Cornish home to assist with her glorious comeback. But who really controls the stories we tell and how we get to tell them. Will these women own their narrative, or will it be swept away from them at any given moment?
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Randy Rainbow for President Tour has announced its tour dates.
Click here for the complete schedule.
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Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre & Tricia Paoluccio’s Here You Come Again will run July 26 – Aug. 27 (opening Aug. 2) at CT’s Goodspeed, directed & choreographed by Barre, and music direction by Eugene Gwozdz.
Tricia Paoluccio (Dolly Parton) and Matthew Risch (Kevin)
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Jason Kravits: Off the Top, a completely improvised concert, will take place Fri. July 14 at PM at NYC’s Joe’s Pub.
A jaw-dropping evening of completely improvised music and comedy that you have to see to believe. Over the course of one exhilarating hour, Kravits uses audience suggestions pulled from a fishbowl to create an entire life story in song, with every bit of it – including every lyric and melody – made up on the spot!
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RIP: Actor Julian Sands has died at the age of 65.
Human remains were found by hikers earlier this week and were confirmed to be a match to Sands. He had been missing since Mid-January of this year.
According to a statement, his cause of death is TBA. Click here to read more.
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The Negro Ensemble Company’s production of Charles White’s Unentitled will run July 21 – Aug. 6 (opening July 22) at 59E59 Theaters, directed by Florante Galvez.
C. Kelly Wright, Justine Hall, Adrain Washington, Ron Scott, and Gil Tucker.
Set in late 2008 as Barack Obama makes the final push in his first presidential campaign, the play follows an upper-middle class African American family that must contend with internalized racism and class anxiety. Tensions rise between them after one suddenly loses a job and a truth from the past comes to light. As tempers flare while at the family’s Long Island vacation home, questions rise about what risks are worth betting history, tradition, and family on.
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Complete casting has been announced for Love Never Dies, which will run Aug. 21-22 at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane, directed by Shaun Kerrison.
Norm Lewis (Phantom), Celinde Schoenmaker (Christine), Matthew Seadon-Young (Raoul), Courtney Stapleton (Meg), Sally Dexter (Madame Giry), Nic Greenshields ((Squelch), Charles Brunton (Gangle), and Lucie-Mae Summer (Fleck), with Chloe Campbell, Alex Christian, Courtney George, Aoife Kenny, Alex Pinder, and Emily Ann Potter.
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Anne Nelson’s The Guys will run Sept. 10 & 11 at Theatre Aspen, directed by Scott Ellis.
Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy.
The play follows two individuals less that two week after the Sept. 11 attacks. New Yorkers are still in shock. One of them, and editor named Joan, receives an unexpected phone call on behalf of Nick, a fire captain who has lost most of his men in the attack. He’s looking for a writer to help him with the eulogies he must present at their memorial services. Nick and Joan spend a long afternoon together, recalling the fallen men through recounting their virtues and their foibles, and fashioning the stories into memorials of words. In the process, Nick and Joan discover the possibilities of friendship in each other and their shared love for the unconquerable spirit of the city. As they make their way through the emotional landscape of grief, they draw on humor, tango, the appreciation of craft in all its forms — and the enduring bonds of common humanity.
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Rent in Concert, with the National Symphony Orchestra, will run July 26-28 at the Kennedy Center, directed by Sammi Cannold and conducted by Steven Reinke.
Ali Stroker (Maureen), Myles Frost (Benny), Jimmie Herrod (Angel), and more TBA.
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Actress Kim Moore has filed a suit against the Broadway and national touring producers of Hadestown, citing wrongful termination due to Moore’s race, which Moore alleges was retaliation following complaints she made about the musical’s “hostile” working conditions.
The suit alleges that Moore was “fired” following backstage reports of a desire to prevent an all-Black Workers Chorus, which make up the musical’s ensemble. The complaint cites an email sent in November 2021 from choreographer David Neumann to the entire cast that “apologiz[ed] for the ‘white savior story[.]’” This seems to reflect that the musical’s creative team sought to avoid the optics of, within the show’s story, having an all-Black ensemble of workers who is saved by Orpheus, played by Reeve Carney (who is white). According to the suit, Moore complained to a production human resources representative about Neumann’s email.
Stay tuned for future updates…
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Susan Edwards Martin: Unlimited will take place Tues. July 27 at 8 PM at LA’s Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel, with music direction by Sam Kriger.
310-472-3330