GRACE NOTES will return Monday, May 5
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Upcoming Highlights:
Thursday, May 1
The 78th annual Tony Award nominations have been announced: Click here for the complete list of nominees.
Giant, by Mark Rosenblatt, directed by Nicholas Hytner, featuring John Lithgow and Elliot Levey, opens at London’s Royal Court Theatre.
We Do the Same Thing Every Week, by Robert Leverett, directed by Liza Causer, featuirng Tora Alexander, Kate Budney, Justin Choi, Robert Leverett, Jessica Nesi, and Casey Worthington, opens at Off-Broadway’s A.R.T. (502 W. 53rd St.)
Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members, by Mara Véles Meléndez, directed by Javier Antonio González, featuring Christine Carmela Lolita) and Samora la Perdida (Receptionist), opens at Yale Rep.
Friday, May 2
The Apple Boys, by Jonothon Lyons & Ben Bonnema, directed by David Alpert, featuring DeShawn Bowens, Josh Breckenridge, John Mezzina, Rachel Kay, Jelani Remy, Emily Skeggs, and Teddy Yudain, opens at PA’s Buck’s County Playhouse.
Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Michael BaraKia, featuring Robert Cuccioli (Tevye), Joanna Glushak (Golde), Maria Noel Fallouh (Tzeitel/Gramma Tzeitel), Kristine Zbornik (Yente), Carolyn Demanelis (Shandel), E Ethan Flanagan (Avram), Amy Fritsche (Fruma-Sarah), Sasha Geisser (Chava/Fiddler), Michael Glavan (Fyedka), Addie Wisniewski (Shprintze), Michael Glavan (Fyedka), with Lester González, Matt Koenig, David Lenahan, Brendan Lowry, christina McSheffrey, Calder Meis, Marc Mortiz, Bebe Moss, Meredith Nelson, Adam Ortega, Avery Lamar Pope, Geoffrey Short, and many more, opens at Cleveland Playhouse.
The Spitfire Grill, by Fred Alley & James Alco, directed by Bonnie Hellman, featuring Lori Berg (Hannah Ferguson), Caitlin Gallogly (Shelby Thorpe), Gavin Michael Harris (Sheriff Joe Sutter), Hannah Howzdy (Percy Talbott), Ben Kientz (The Visitor), Spencer Rowe (Caleb Thorpe) and Treva Tegtmeier (Effy Krayneck), opens at LA’s Actors’ Co-op.
Roundabout Theatre‘s English, by Sanaz Toosi, directed by Knud Adams, featuring Tala Ashe (Elham), Ava Lalezarzadeh (Goli), Pooya Mohseni ((Roya), Marjan Neshat (Marjan), and Hadi Tabbal (Omid, closes at Broadway’s Todd Haims’ Theatre.
Saturday, May 3
Bonnie & Clyde, directed by J. Scott Lapp. featuring Ellie Smith (Bonnie), Russell Muzycka (Clyde), Brayden Handwerter Bolivar (Ted/Banker), Leland Burnett (Buck), Chance Cnallen (Young Clyde0, Amanda Dayhoff (Blanch), Joseph Fuqua (Sheriff/Charlie/Joe), Harper Ham (Young Bonnie), Kate Ponzio (Govener Ferguson), Chirstanna Rowader (Cumie/Trish), and Sarah Wolter (Emma Parker/Stella), opens at CA’s Rubicon Theatre.
Write of Spring (2025), world premiere a presentation of new one-act plays, opens at LA’s Write Act Rep.
Saving the Earth is a Filthy Business, by Joe Murphy & Joe Robertson, directed by Stephen Daldry & Justin Martin, featuring Stephen Kunken, closes at London’s SohoPlace.
Sunday May 4
The 40th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards presented at 7 PM at NYC’s NYU Skirball Center, hosted by Sarah Paulson & Wendell Pearse.
Fences, by August Wilson, directed by Yvette Freeman-Hartle, featuring Tamara Graham (Rose Maxson), Boise Holmes (Jim Bono), Corey Jones (Troy Maxson), Amari McCoy (Raynell Maxson), Matt Orduna (Gabriel), K.J. Powell (Cory Maxson), and Sean Samuels Lyons Maxson, opens at Laguna Playhouse.
Speakeasy Stage‘s JaJa’s African Hair Braiding, by Jocelyn Bioh, directed by Summer L. Williams, featuring Ashley Aldarondo, Dru Sky Berrian, Catia, MaConnia Chesser, Yasmeen Duncan, MarHadoo Effeh, Crystin Gilmore, Joshua Olumide, Hampton Richards, and Kwezi Shongwe, opens at Boston’s Calderwood Pavilion.
Last Call, by Peter Danish, directed by Gil Mehmert, featuring Helen Schneider (Bernstein) and Lucca Züchner (Karajan), closes at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages.
Fake It Until You Make It, by Larissa Fasthorse, directed by Michael John Garcés, featuring Noah Bean (theo), Eric Stanton Betts, Amy Brenneman (River), Brandon Delsid (Krys), Shyla Lefner (Wynona), and Burgandi Trejo Phoenix (Grace), with Josh Bywater, Aleisha Force, and Kenny Ramos, closes at DC’s Arena Stage.
Aristotle/Alexander, world premiere written & directed by Alex Lyras, featuring Andrew Byron (Aristotle), Nicholas Clary Alexander), John Kapelos (Isocrates), and Elyse Levesque (Queen Olympias), closes at at LA’s Company of Angels.
To Each Their Own, by Travis William, directed by Brooklyn Sample, featuring Jason Madera, James Lemire, Tabitha Trosen, and William Wilson, closes at LA’s Atwater Village Theatre.
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Reviews for Just in Time at Broadway’s Circle in the Square:
New York Times (Jesse Green): Groff is sensational as the ’60s “nightclub animal” in a Broadway jukebox bio-musical that doesn’t live up to its star… A rarity among male musical theater stars, he is thrilling not just sonically but also emotionally, all in one breath… And Darin, the self-described “nightclub animal” who bounced from bopper to crooner to quester to recluse, is a great fit for him… Groff’s voice is lovelier than Darin’s, rounder and healthier. But the Broadway and Brill Building songs Darin sang, some of which he wrote, offer the scale, the snap and the bravura opportunities that are more often, now as then, a diva’s birthright, not a divo’s… In other words, Groff is sensational…
Theatermania (Kenji Fujishima): …Jonathan Groff!” In the context of the bio-musical subgenre, this opening line of the new Bobby Darin musical Just in Time feels subversive. Instead of immediately presenting us with its star as Darin, book writers Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver have Groff introduce himself as our emcee, who will eventually play Darin after he serenades us with a couple of the crooner’s hits. It’s a startling opening salvo for a surprisingly entertaining show… t helps that Darin sports a genuinely interesting life story… the show breezes through the highs and lows of his personal life…
New York Theatre (Jonathan Mandell): …“Just in Time” was not, as far as I know, a signature song for Bobby Darin, and yet here it is the title for this jukebox musical about Darin’s life… There is some irony here, whether or not intentional. Later in this show, after Bobby Darin has landed his first hit, a silly little rock n roll novelty song in 1958 about taking a bath called “Splish Splash,” a reporter asks him: It’s a measure of how little in his biography there is to work with that the show holds off until nearly the end to reveal a big family secret, one that’s easily available in the most cursory bio of Darin online… But it’s fans of Jonathan Groff who are best served by the show – and those theatergoers who might discover Groff at the same time as Darin.
Time Out New York (Adam Feldman): …First things first: Just in Time is a helluva good time at the theater. It’s not just that, but that’s the baseline. Staged in a dazzling rush by Alex Timbers, the show summons the spirit of a 1960s concert at the Copacabana by the pop crooner Bobby Darin—as reincarnated by one of Broadway’s most winsome leading men, the radiant sweetie Jonathan Groff, who gives the performance his considerable all.
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2025 Tony Award Nominations:
Click here for the complete list of nominees.
Winners will be named at the June 8 Tony Awards ceremony, broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall beginning at 8 PM ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S.
Cynthia Erivo will host the evening.
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Frozen will run June 6-29 (opening June 7) at CA’s La Mirada Theatre, directed & choreographed by Dan Knechtges, with music direction by Brad Gardner.
Jenna Lea Rosen (Anna) and Cailen Fu (Elsa) Mark Ivy (Olaf), with Kennedy Kanagawa, Andrew A. Cano, Jared Gertner, Matliah Strawbridge, Isa Turner, and more TBA.
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Bob & Jean: A Love Story, by Robert Schenkkan, will run May 27 – June 15 (opening May 31) at the Bay Street Theatre, directed by Matt August.
Mary Mattison (Jean) and Scott Wentworth (Narrator).
At the center of Bob & Jean are two people navigating separation, war, and uncertainty, held together by words and a sense of something just out of reach. The result is both grounded and luminous—a story that reveals how connection can form before two people have even touched.
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Boston’s Commonwealth Shakespeare Company will present As You Like It on the Boston Commons July 23 – Aug. 10 (opening July 30), directed by Steven Maler.
Nora Eschenheimer (Rosalind), Michal Underhill (Orland), Maurice Emmanuel Parent (Duke Senior/Duke Frederick), John Kuntz (Touchstone), Joshua Olumide (Oliver), Remo Airaldi (Corin), Jared Groilo (Amiens), Paul Michael Valley (Jaques), Stephanie Burden (Phebe), Brooks Reeves (Adam/Sir Oliver Martext), Siobhán Carroll (Le Beau), Patrick Vincent Curran (Charles/William), Peter DiMaggio (Jaques de Boys), Clara Hevia (Celia), Cleveland Nicoll (Silvius), and Kandyce Whitteingham (Audrey).
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Ensemble Shakespeare Center will present Julius Caesar won Mon. May 12 at 7 PM at NYC’s Open Jar Studios (1601 Broadway, 11th Floor), directed by
Chloe Champken, Rob Hatzenbeller, Susannah Hoffman, Dennis Kear, Denis Lambert, Gerrard Lobo, Paul Marchegiani, Celeste Moratti, Ella Olesen, Joe Staton, and
Colleen Smith Wallnau.
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Ensemble Shakespeare Center‘s Julius Caesar, directed by Dylan Diehl, will take place at 7 PM at NYC’s Open Jar Studios (1601 Broadway, 11th Floor).
Chloe Champken, Rob Hatzenbeller, Susannah Hoffman, Dennis Kear, Denis Lambert, Gerrard Lobo, Paul Marchegiani, Celeste Moratti, Ella Olesen, Joe Staton, and
Colleen Smith Wallnau.
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Manhattan Theatre Club‘s Spring Gala 2025 will take place Mon. May 19 at 7 PM at NYC’s Cipriani, hosted by Bernadette Peters.
Performers and dditional information TBA.