Today’s Highlights:
Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert, directed by Jason Danieley, featuring Elizabeth Stanley (Mother), Nikki Renée Daniels (Sarah), A.J. Shively (Mother’s Younger Brother), David Harris (Father), and Klea Blackhurst (Emma Goldman). Alton Fitzgerald White (Coalhouse Walker Jr.), and more, opens at MA’s Tanglewood.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, directed by David Ruttuta, featuring Sarah Bockel (Carole King), Matthew Amira (Gerry Goffin), Taylor Aronson (Cynthia Weil), Ryan Farnsworth (Barry Mann), Suzanne Grodner (Genie Klein), Matt Loehr (Don Kirshner), and Briana Brooks as (Lucille/The Shirelles), with Anthony Cataldo, J. Daughtry (Nick/Low Righteous Brother), with D’Marreon Alexander and Tyler Michael Breeding, opens at ME’s Ogunquit Playhouse.
Ernest Shackleton Loves Me, by Joe DiPietro, Brendan Milburn, Val Vigoda & Ryan O’Connell, directed by Michael Unger, featuring Elisa Carlson (Kat) and Andrew Mueller (Ernest Shackleton), with Rae Robeson and Matt Miles, opens at Chicago’s Porchlight Music Theatre.
East West Players‘ On This Side of the World, world premiere by Noam Shapiro, directed by Noam Shapiro, featuring Steven-Adam Agdeppa, Zandi De Jesus, Michael C. Palma, Cassie Simone, Andrea Somera, Shaun Tuazon, Melvin Biteng, and Justine Rafael, begins previews at LA’s David Henry Hwang Theater.
NYC’s 92Y presents a performance & discussion of Kimberly Akimbo, moderated by James Lapine, and featuring cast members Victoria Clark, Justin Cooley, Steven Boyer, Alli Mauzey, Bonnie Milligan, Olivea Elease Hardy, Fernell Hogan, Michael Iskander, and Nina White, at 7:30 PM at Broadway’s Booth Theatre.
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The New York Drama Critics’ Circle has named Downstage and Leopoldstadt Best Plays for the 2022-23 season.
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Andrew Lloyd Webberm David Zippel & Emerald Fenell’s Bad Cinderella will close Sun. June 4 at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre, after 33 previews and 85 regular performances, directed by Laurence Connor.
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In the latest episode of “Theatre Countdown,” hosted by Ben Cameron & Asmeret Ghebremichal, Kevin Chamberlin shares his top 5 theatre memories of all time. Click here to listen.
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Jane Chambers’ Last Summer at Bluefish Cove will run June 14 – Aug. 27 (opening June 17) at the Fountain Theatre (link TBA), directed by Hannah Wolf.
Sarah Scott Davis, Tamika Katon-Donegal, Lindsay LaVanchy, Noelle Messier, Stephanie Pardi, Ann Sonneville, Stasha Surdyke and Ellen D. Williams.
Set in 1974, a group of queer women spend their summers together in a remote oceanfront town on Long Island. Their lesbian enclave is disrupted when Eva, a naïve straight woman recently separated from her husband, stumbles unaware into their circle and falls for the charming, tough-talking Lil. This heartfelt play, a landmark in lesbian history, is bursting with friendship, laughter, love and hope, bringing well-rounded, three-dimensional characters that transcend stereotypes and preconceptions to the stage.
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Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night will begin previews Mar. 19, 2024 and open Apr. 2 at the Wyndams Theatre, directed by Jeremy Herrin.
Brian Cox (James Tyrone), Patricia Clarkson (Mary Tyrone), Alex Lawther (Edmund), Daryl McCormack (James Jr.), and Louis Harland (Cathleen).
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NYC’s 92Y has announced its Midsummer Music Fest:
An Evening with Norm Lewis (July 11 at 7:30 PM). Click here.
Caleb Teicher & Veronica (July 13 at 7:30 PM). In person & online. Click here.
Swing-Dance Party (July 13 at 9 PM), featuring Charles Turner and Uptwon Swing, with Caleb Teicher, Nathan Bugh, and Gaby Cook. Click here.
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (July. 16 at 5 PM), with Vijay Iyer Trio. Link TBA.
Bill Charlap Trio (July 18 at 7:30 PM), with special guests Dee Dee Bridgewater and Nicholas Payton. Click here.
Jazz in July (July 20 at 7:30 PM), with Noriko Ueda & Carl Allen. Link TBA.
John Scofield, (July 25 at 7:30 PM) with Bill Charlap, Scott Colley, and Bill Stewart. Click here.
Bill Charlap (July 26 at 8:30 PM). Link TBA.
Jazz in July All-Star Jazz Party (July 27 at 7:30 PM), featuring Bill Charlap, John Pizzarelli, Renee Rosnes, Steve Wilson, Ken Peplowski, Jeremy Pelt, Nicole Glover, David Wong, and Dennis Mackrel. Click here.
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The National Theatre’s production of Oklahoma, starring Hugh Jackman, will be released in movie theaters around the globe for 2 days only: July 16 and 19. directed by Trevor Nunn, with choreography by Susan Stroman. Click here (then scroll up) to find a theater near you.
Maureen Lipman (Aunt Eller), Josefina Gabrielle (Laurie), Shuler Hensley (Jud Fry), Vicki Simon (Ado Annie), Jimmy Johnston (Will Parker) and Peter Polycarpou (Ali Hakim), and more…
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The world premiere of Deirdre Kinahan’s The Saviour will run July 1 – Aug. 13 (opening July 13) at Irish Rep, directed by Louise Lowe.
Marie Mullen and Jamie O’Neill
There’s a new man in Máire’s life. But some people aren’t happy. On the morning of her 67th birthday, Máire sits up in bed enjoying a cigarette. She has recently been swept off her feet by a stranger and hasn’t felt this alive in years, but a visit from her son with dark revelations challenges the euphoria.” The play was first broadcast online in 2021.
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“Being Mary Tyler Moore,” an HBO documentary film, starring James Adolphus, will premiere May 26 from 8-10 PM (check local listings) on HBO, and will then be available stream on HBO Max.
directors Rob Reiner, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and Jim Burrows… actors Ed Asner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lena Waithe, Phylicia Rashad, Bernadette Peters, and Joel Grey… writers and producers Allan Burns, James L. Brooks, Norman Lear, Debra Martin Chase, Treva Silverman, and Susan Silver… and Moore’s husband, Dr. S. Robert Levine.
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Nick Gillie’s The Darkness: Goddess Revealed, will run May 26 – June 17 at The Actors Gang, directed by Dwain Perry.
Nick Gillie
The piece is told through the perspective of three vastly different characters, all played by writer Nick Gillie: Glory Banks was a surgeon, Patrick Bartholomey was an outlaw, and Darrick Taylor was a Black Slave in the Mississippi cotton fields. As these characters enter the afterlife, their understanding of their own lives is utterly transformed in the presence of The Darkness, the infinite beauty of life and creation. In this space they see themselves surrounded by The We, ethereal beings who appear to the men as Black women and girls. The men believe The We have gathered to hear their life stories. They have not. The We await three of their own, three sacred beings played by Liza Cruzat, Raquel Rosser, and Erin Washington. When the men experience their final moments, their relationship to these sacred beings is revealed as we witness their union with the collective Spirit.
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Two Sisters and a Piano, written & directed by Nilo Cruz, will run June 3-25 at NJ’s Two River Theater.
Helen Cespedes (Sofia), Hiram Delgado (Victor Manuel/Militia Guard), Eden Espinosa (Marie Celia, and Jason Manuel Olazabal (Lieutenant Partuondo).
Although trapped under house arrest, novelist Maria Celia and her sister Sofia can still hear the rumors of shifting global politics growing in 1990s Havana. As they await changes for Cuba as well as changes to their situation, it’s uncertain whether freedom will come through government regime change, Maria Celia’s far-off husband, or the charismatic military officer who has begun insinuating himself into the sisters’ lives.”
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Utah’s Pioneer Theatre Company has announced its 2023 Play-by-Play Festival:
The Dust People (June 9 & 11), by Catherine Trieschmann, directed by Shelley Butler. In The Dust People, Johanna is a woman of the land, farming the same plot that’s been in her family for generations. When a young, idealistic couple with big ideas about sustainable energy and wind farms buys the farm next door, she’s convinced they and their ambitious eco-friendly plans won’t last. Their rural community is thrown into chaos by a murder, forcing every resident to reckon with the winds of change.
How Can I Help You? (June 10 & 11), by Kaaron Briscoe, directed by Lanise Antoine Shelley. When busy, working mom; Monica reaches out to her family to help her take care of the household duties, her husband (Greg) instead opts to outsource their contribution. Set in a sci-fi world where corporations touch every part of one’s life, the play explores what it means to be a “strong” Black woman.
Will It Go Round (June 10), by Matthew Ivan Bennett, directed by Alexandra Harbold. A cycle of short stories in civil rights from 1964 to 2020, each a snapshot of people’s lives in Utah. A mixed race couple is sent to the principal’s office. LGBT students fight for an after-school club. Old estranged classmates reunite after the murder of George Floyd and see how far apart—but still close—they are. A tapestry of scenes showing how far we’ve come, how far we haven’t, and why politics are always personal.