Today’s Highlights:
To Kill a Mockingbird, directed by Bartlett Sher, featuring Rafe Spall (Atticus Finch), Harry Attwell (Mr. Cunningham/Boo Radley), Amanda Boxer (Mrs Henry Dubose), Poppy Lee Friar (Mayella Ewell), John Hastings (Bailiff), Simon Hepworth (Mr Roscoe/Dr Reynolds), Laura Howard (Miss Stephanie/Dill’s Mother), Lloyd Hutchinson (Link Deas), Gwyneth Keyworth (Scout Finch), Tom Mannion (Sheriff Heck Tate), David Moorst (Dill Harris), Pamela Nomvete (Calpurnia), and Jim Norton (Judge Taylor), opens at London’s Gielgud Theatre.
!Americano!, by Carrie Rodriguez, Jonathan Rosenberg & Fernanda Santo, directed by Michael Bernard, featuring Sean Ewing (Valdovinos), Legna Cedillo, Yassmin Alers, Johanna Carlisle-Zepeda, Joseph Paul Cavazos, Lucas Coatney, Devin Cortez, Juan Luis Espinal, Justin Figueroa, Ruben Eduardo Flores, Megan Elysa Fulmer, Henry Gendron, Anne-Lise Koyabe, Alessandro J. Lopez, Edgar Lopez, Carolina Miranda, Alex Paez, Ryan Reyes, Lannie Rubio, Nicole Paloma Sarro, Robbie Serrano, Maria Cristina Posada Slye, and Pablo Torres, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages.
Choir Boy, by Tarell Alvin McCraney, directed by Christopher D. Bettes, featuring Jarrett Anthony Bennett, Gilbert Domally, Denzel Fields, Israel Erron Ford, Allen Gilmore, Anthony Holiday, Malik James, Aaron James McKenzie, Darian Peer, Wildlin Pierrevil, and Walton Wilson, begins previews at Yale Rep.
Millennials Are Killing Musicals industry readings, by Nico Juber, directed by Ciara Renée, featuring Klea Blackhurst, Alex Boniello, Nicholas Edwards, Lauren Marcus, Olivia Puckett, Marissa Rosen, Nora Schell, and Nyla Watson, at 11 AM ET & 2 PM ET at NYC’s Open Jar Studios.
Disruption industry reading, by Andrew Stein, directed by Hersh Ellis, featuring Heidi Blickenstaff, David Wilson Barnes, Tina Benko, Victoire Charles, Avanthika Srinivasan, Paco Tolson, Sathya Sridharan, and Tommy Schrider, at 4 PM ET at NYC’s Open Jar Studios.
Ann Talman: The Shadow of Her Smile concert, directed by Lina Koutrakos, with music direction by Alex Rybeck, at 9:45 PM ET at 54 Below.
I’ll Be Seein’ Ya, by Jon Robin Baitz, directed by Robert Egan, featuring Sussan Deyhim, Justin Kirk, Christine Lahti, and Christopher Larkin, begins streaming at LA’s Center Theatre Group.
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Jason Kim, Helen Park & Max Vernon’s KPOP will begin previews Oct. 13 and open Nov. 20 at Circle in the Square, directed by Teddy Bergman, with choreography by Jennifer Weber, and music direction by Sujin
Kim-Ramsey.
Luna, and more TBA.
The story of global superstars putting everything on the line for a special one-night only concert, when one singer’s inner struggle threatens to dismantle one of the biggest labels in the industry. KOP is an all-consuming multimedia experience that explores the relentless discipline, raw talent, and commercial ambition behind the heart-thumping international phenomenon.
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Matt Bomer will play one of Leonard Bernstein’s lovers in the Netflix biopic, “Maestro,” co-written & directed by Bradley Cooper. The release date is TBA.
Bradley Cooper (Leonard Bernstein), Matt Bomer (as an as-yet identified gay lover of Bernstein), Carey Mulligan (Bernstein’s wife – Felicia Montealgre), and more TBA.
Bernstein never publicly confirmed he was gay. He left his wife for a male radio station manager in 1976, but returned to the marriage the next year to care for his wife after she was diagnosed with lung cancer. They had three children together. Bernstein died in 1990 at the age of 72. After his death it was revealed that his wife acknowledged he as gay and had several sexual relationships with men.
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Debbie Gravitte plus one: with Stephen Schwartz will take place Mon. Apr. 11 at 7 PM ET at NYC’s Birdland.
Sam Gravitte, Lindsay Pearce, and a surprise guest.
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Dear Evan Hansen will run June 29 – July 31 at LA’s Ahmanson Theatre.
Steven Christopher Anthony (Evan Hansen), Stephanie La Rochelle (Zoey Murphy), Jessica E. Sherman (Heidi Hansen), Claire Rankin (Cynthia Murphy), Nikhil Saboo (Connor Murphy), John Hemphill (Larry Murphy), Ciara Alyse Harris (Alana Beck), and Sam Primack (Evan Hansen alternate), with Alaina Anderson, Julian Diaz-Granados, Matthew Edward Kemp, and Daniel Robert Sullivan.
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Labyrinth Theatre‘s Barn Series will run Apr. 5-10 (all at 7 PM ET) at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters.
Sasha Ginger Hank (Apr. 5), by Mariana Carreño. In Hollywood, Florida, Sasha, Ginger, and Hank have just opened a bed and breakfast to pay for legal bills and multiple medications. The only problem is that the world is underwater. After an unexpected visitor coincides with their first guest, they must decide whether to stay or search for a better future.
The Traci Reyes Syndrome (Apr. 6), by Mel Nieves. Traci Reyes is a smart but temperamental inner city teen with a chip on her shoulder who doesn’t like to be stared at, and Carmen Baez, the brightest student in the school just got caught looking.
Dia Y Noche (Apr. 7), by David Anzuelo. Danny is a lower middle-class Chicano punk-rock kid covered in bruises who thinks he might be an artist. Martin is a Black upper-middle class band nerd who is gay and in the closet. Racism, sex, drugs, and music provide the harsh terrain of 1984 border city life i El Paso as these two youngsters attempt to make the leap towards adulthood.
The Naming of Small Losses (Apr. 8), by Sarah Nina Hayon. The piece asks LAB writers to explore what we’ve quietly lost in the new normal. The evening includes several short pieces and a short film.
Is There Even Porn in India? (Apr. 9), by Dipti Bramhandkar. Over 12 intense and intimate hours, two couples grapple with the reverberations of a single question asked by one to the other at and after party of a film pitch to investors. Indie filmmaker Charlie, and her editor husband, Peter, retreat to their Gowanus apartment trying to predict the outcome of the evening. Meanwhile in Tribeca, first-time producer, Sanjay, and his art dealer wife, Asha, discuss the event from their perspective. The question winds its way through each individual’s sense of self, their world views, and ultimately, their relationships, putting everything at risk.
Charna Riva (Apr. 10), by David Deblinger. It is election day morning in Nov. 2020 when David is informed by the ultra Orthodox Jewish (and Trump-supporting) older brother Ari, that their mother has passed away. Ari asks David to go be with the body, so it’s not alone. On the way, David encounters the spirit of his mother and must help her cross not the river Styx, but Sheepshead By. The three are facilitated not by a ferryman, but by a Lyft driver, to clash and struggle to understand what, for each of them, truly matters… before it’s too late.
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North Hollywood’s Loft Ensemble will present the world premiere of Travyz Santos Gatz’s The Concrete Jungle (A Chicano Horror Play), to run Apr. 8-23, directed by Mitch Rosander & Igancio Navarro.
Lemon Baardsen, Macedonia Bullington, Berenice Diaz, Kathleen Guevara, Sydney Jenkins, Jordan Klomp, Matt Lorenzo, and Alejandro Mungaray.
Based on Brecht’s In the Jungle of Cities, the play follows Jorge Garcia after he gets fired because a local businessman, Slink, arranges a shelf of books the way he knew them to be when growing up. From then on, Jorge and Slink find themselves distracted by a metaphorical boxing match while the city and the people around them change beyond recognition.
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Dreamgirls will run Apr. 13 – May 1 at Virginia Stage, directed by Anthony Stockard, with choreography by Zipporah Gatling, and music direction by Beau King.
Katelan Corprew (Deena Jones), ShaaNi Dent (Lorell Robinson), Amorise White (Effie Melody White), Zipporah Gatling (Michelle Morris/Stepp Sister), Michael Giamille (Jimmy Early), Khan’El (Curtis Taylor Jr.), Adam Moskowitz (C.C. White), Myles Whitaker (Marty), William Belvin (Tiny Joe Dixon), Michael Alston (Mr. Morgan/Jerry Dwight/Stage Manager), Keighton Bell (Tru-Tone), and Aniyah Blair-Young (Stepp Sister), with Shevette Bryant, Micah Cook, Corasha ‘Coco’ Dent, Anthony Faulkner, Juan Purdie, Mikayla Revell, Xavier Smith, and Anthony Mark Stockard.
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The complete cast of the Netflix prequel series to “Bridgerton” (title TBA), currently in the works for Netflix, has been announced.
India Amarteifio (Young Queen Charlotte), Corey Mylchreest (Young King George), Golda Rosheuvel (Queen Charlotte), Adjoa Andoh (Lady Agatha Danbury), Ruth Gemmell (Lady Violet Bridgerton), and Arsema Thomas (Lady Danbury).
The new series centers on Queen Charlotte’s rise to prominence and power. It tells the story how the young Queen’s marriage to King George sparked both a great love story and a societal shift, creating the world of the Ton inherited by the characters in “Bridgerton.”
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Music Director Rob Berman will step down following the 2022 Encores! season at NYC’s City Center.
Berman has been part of the Encores! Music Department since 2002, becoming the Music Director in 2008. In his 20+ year tenure, Berman worked with Jack Viertel on more than 30 productions, including Finian’s Rainbow, Anyone Can Whistle, Merrily We Roll Along, Lost in the Stars, Pipe Dream, The Most Happy Fella, Brigadoon, Mack & Mable, and many more. He has also conducted six original cast recordings of Encores! productions.
Berman’s final Encores! show as music director will be Into The Woods (May 4-15), with director Lear deBessonet on the special 2-week run. The final performance on May 15 will be dedicated to Berman, who will return in future seasons as a guest music director. His successor is TBA.
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NYC’s 92Y presents its Cabaret Conversations Spring 2022, all on Mondays at 7 PM ET.
Melissa Errico (Apr. 25)
Norm Lewis ( May 23)
Jeff Harner (June 27)