Today’s Highlights:
New York Rep‘s The Opposite of Love, by Ashley Griffin, directed by Rachel Klein, featuring Danny Gardner and Ashley Griffin, opens at Off-Broadway’s Royal Family Performing Arts Space.
Sandra, by David Cale & Matthew Dean Marsh, directed by Jared Mezzocchi, featuring Felicia Curry, opens at CT’s Theaterworks Hartford.
Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara‘s Alice, Formerly of Wonderland, world premiere by Mark Saltzman, directed by Jim Fall, featuring Matthew Greenwood (Caterpillar/Alfred Rowston), Margie Mays (Alice Liddell), Bree Murphy (Queen Victoria/Mrs. Pettigrew/Victor), Sam O’Byrne (Prince Leopold) Sawyer Patterson (Edward Brockett), and Brent Schindele (Dean Henry Liddell), begins previews at Santa Barbara’s New Vic.
Brian Justin Crum: Girlie in concert, at 8:30 PM at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club.
The Boston Pops‘ The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day concert (a musical journey of the final months of World War II in Europe), conducted by Keith Lockhart, featuring Kate Rockwell, Nicholas Rodriguez, Daniel Yearwood, and Shereen Ahmed, concludes at the Boston Symphony Hall.
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The 13th Annual Off Broadway Alliance Awards.
Click here for the complete list of winners.
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Gypsy will begin previews Nov. 21 and open Dec. 19 at the Majestic Theatre, directed by George C. Wolfe, with choreography by Camille A. Brown.
Audra McDonald (Rose) and more TBA.
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The 39 Steps, adapted by Patrick Barlow, will run Aug. 16 – Sept. 28 at the Trafalgar Theatre, directed by Nicola Samer.
Casting TBA.
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Attack on Titan: The Musical by Masafumi Hata & Kaori Miura, will run Oct. 11-13 at New York City Center, directed Miura.
Kurumu Okamiya (Eren Yeager), Sara Takatsuki (Mikasa Ackerman), Eito Konishi (Armin Arlert), Ryo Matsuda (Levi), and Takuro Ohno (Erwin Smith), with Shota Matsuda, Kazuaki Yasue, Yuuri Takahashi, Sena, Mitsu Murata, Takeshi Hayashino, Masanori Tomita, Mimi Maihane, Mitsuru Karahashi, Riona Tatemichi and more.
A century ago, the grotesque giants known as Titans appeared and consumed all but the last remnants of humanity. The survivors took refuge behind giant walls. Today, the threat of the Titans is a distant memory, and a boy named Eren Yeager yearns to explore the world beyond his current circumstances. What began as a childish dream, though, will become an all-too-real nightmare when the Titans return and humanity is once again on the brink of extinction.
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(read here): “From The Great Gatsby to The Wild Part: When Musicals Share the Same Source Material”
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Stephen Schwartz & Joseph Stein’s The Baker’s Wife will run July 6 – Sept. 14 (opening July 17) at the Menier Chocolate Factory, directed by Gordon Greenberg.
Lucie Jones (Genevieve), Clive Rowe (Baker), Bobbie Chambers (Niece), Mark Extance (The Teacher), Josefina Gabrielle (Denise), Jack Gardner (Philippe), Hana Ichijo (Niece), Michael Matus (Marquis), Robyn Rose (Niece), David Seadon-Young (Antoine), Matthew Seadon-Young (Priest), Joaquin Pedro Valdes (Dominique). Sutara Gayle (Therese), Norman Pace (Claude), Liam Tamne (Barnaby), and Finty Williams (Hortense) with Bart Lambert, David Pendlebury, and Annabelle Williams.
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David McDonald’s Ella The Ungovernable will run June 20 – July 7 (Thursdays – Sundays) at Theater for the New City, directed by David McDonald & Michele Baldwin.
Christian Neal
While living in Yonkers, Fitzgerald’s mother had died, leaving Ella, age 15, in the care of her reputedly abusive stepfather. She ended up living on the streets of Harlem, working as a lookout for a bordello. She was snapped up by the police and eventually sent up to a semi-prison–Hudson, NY’s, Training School For Girls–where she was incarcerated for almost a year before escaping back to Harlem. A few weeks later, a friend convinced her to perform at the first-ever Amateur Night at The Apollo Theater in Harlem. She won the contest singing a song based on a nursery rhyme, “A Tisket A Tasket,” which she said she had learned from her mother. Bandleader Chick Webb was in the audience and he hired her on the spot. She was eventually paroled by the State of New York to the Chick Webb Orchestra.
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Matthew Sklar, Chad Beguelin & Bob Martin’s The Prom will run July 26 – Aug. 11 at CT’s Sharon Playhouse, directed by Carl Andress.
Kate Baldwin (Dee Dee Allen), Danny Drewes (Trent Oliver), Hannah Jane Moore (Emma Nolan), Sophie Nassiri Morvillo (Alyssa Greene), Ryan Palmer (Sheldon Saperstein), Erick Pinnick (Tom Hawkins), Tracy Liz Miller (Mrs. Greene), John Scherer (Barry Glickman), and Savannah Stevenson (Angie), with . Zoe Benjamin, Anissa Greigo, Ethan Pugh, Nick Traficante, Erik Daughterman, Mackenzie Farrell, Melissa Goldberg, Jonathan Reyes, Gabi Roller, and Henrique Sobrinho. Local high school teen performers Jo Brinkerhoff, Richie Crane, Carlo Desy, Jakob Kerr-Lucero, Mollie Leonard, Tyler Rosenblum, Jessica Sonner, Mia Tonon, and and Molly Model.
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Video: Trailer for The Grapes of Wrath at London’s National Theatre, starring Cherry Jones.
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Simply Barbra: The Book Tour, starring Steven Brinberg, will make a stop on Mon. July 8 at 7:30 PM at Wakefield, RI’s Theatre By the Sea.
For over 25 years Steven Brinberg has performed SIMPLY BARBRA on stages across America, Australia and the U.K. SIMPLY BARBRA is a love letter to, and a comical look at, one of the greatest stars of our generation. You’ll hear classics including “People,” “Evergreen,” and “Second Hand Rose” so beautifully that if you close your eyes, you’ll swear you are listening to the diva herself.
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The national tour of Adam Rapp, Justin Levine & Jamestown revival’s The Outsiders will launch in Fall 2025 at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, directed by Danya Taymor, with music direction by Matt Hinkley.
Tour dates, casting, and additional information TBA. Click here for the Broadway website.
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The Negro Ensemble (link TBA) will present Charles Fuller’s Zooman and the Sign June 17 – July 7 at the American Theatre of Actors, directed by Phyllis Yvonne Stickney.
Wadiah Brown, Ashlee Danielle, Isaiah Joseph, Salif Kone, Isaiah Martinez, Benjamin Rowe, Constance Thompson and Reginald L. Wilson.
A twelve year old girl had been killed by a stray bullet from Zooman’s gun during a gang shootout. The title character — a young slum-shaped sociopath — became one of the signal individual dramatic creations of the American theater.
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David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face continues through June 23 at Boston’s Lyric Stage, directed by Ted Hewlett.
J.B. Barricklo (HYH), Michael Hissamoto (DHH), Alexander Holden (Marcus G. Dahlman), Jupiter Lé (Nwoaoc), Jenny S. Lee (Jane Krawkowski), and Mei Macquarrie (Leah Anne Cho)
An Asian-American playwright and activist gets tangled in a complicated and humorous web of lies as he struggles to win back his integrity.
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Muriel’s Wedding the Musical, by PJ Hogan, Kate Miller-Heidke & Keir Nuttall, will run April 10-May 10, 2025 at the UK’s Leicester’s Curve, directed by Simon Phillips, with choreography by Andrew Hallsworth.
Casting TBA.
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Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song, created, written & directed by Gerard Alessandrini, with music direction by Fred Barton, will run Aug. 23 – Dec. 1 (opening Sept. 12) at Theater555.
Chris Collins-Pisano and Jenny Lee Stern.