Today’s Highlights:
Dancing at Lughnasa, by Brian Friel, directed by Josie Rourke, featuring Siobhán McSweeney, Ardal O’Hanlon, Alison Oliver, Louisa Harland, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Bláithín Mac Gabhann, Justine Mitchell, Tom Riley, Sean Donegan, Lauren Farrell, George Turner, and Caitríona Williams, opens at London’s Olivier Theatre.
Plagues for the Plague Year, featuring the music & plays of Suzan-Lori Parks, directed & choreographed by Niegel Smith, performed by Edward Astor Chin, Rona Figueroa, Leland Fowler, Danyel Fulton, Greg Keller, Orville Mendoza, Lauren Molina, Joe Osheroff, Danea Osseni, Suzan Lori Parks, Nathan M. Ramsey, and Martin Solé, opens at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater.
God of Carnage, by Yasmina Reza, directed by Ryan Quinn, featuring Heidi Amrbruster (Veronica), Makha Mthembu (Annette), Adam Poss (Michael), and Elan Zafir (Alan), opens at Milwaukee Rep.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill, featuring Chauncy Thoms (Duke Theseus/King Operon), Yvonne Perry (Hippolyta/Queen Titania), Kyle Barvin (Puack), Kevin McGuire (Peter Quince), Oliver Wadsworth (Bottom), and David Girard (Egeus/Snug), Ethan Botwick (Lysander), Ellen Cribbs (Helena), Raya Malcolm (Hermia), Tamil Perisamy (Demetrius), John Romeo (Robin Starveling), Jovan Davis (Flute), Gabrielle Bazinet Douglas (Fairy), Josh DeMarco (Fairy), and Taylor Hoffman (Kafen Snout/Fairy), opens at Albany’s Capital Rep.
God of Carnage, by Yasmina Reza, directed by Nicholas Viselli, featuring Christiane Noll, David Burtka, Carey Cox, and Gabe Fazio, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row.
All That Jazz: A Kander and Ebb Cabaret, featuring Anita Gillette, Charles Busch, Lee Roy Reams, Jim Walton, and more, at 7:30 PM at Off-Broadway’s J2 Spotlight, hosted by Charles Kirsch.
An Evening with Megan Hilty concert, at 8 PM at Malibu’s Pepperdine University.
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Complete casting has been announced for Gary Kupper, Larry Marshak & Rose Caiola’s Rock and Roll Man, to run June 2 – Sept. 3 (opening June 21) at New World Stages, directed by Randal Myler, with choreography by Stephanie Klemons, and music direction by Dave Keyes.
Constantine Maroulis (Alan Freed), Joe Pantoliano (Morris Levy/Leo Mintz), Bob Ari (Hoover), Rodrick Covington (Little Richard), and Valisia LeKae (Lavern Baker), with Jamonte D. Bruten, Andy Christopher, AJ Davis, Autumn Guzzardi, Anna Hertel, Matthew Morgan, Dominique Scott, Eric B. Turner, Joe Barbara, Natalie Kaye Clater, Lawrence Dandridge, Chase Peacock, and Bronwyn Tarboton.
The musical takes place on the last day of Alan Freed’s life during a fever dream in which J. Edgar Hoover and Little Richard face off in a fantasy courtroom with Freed’s legacy on trial.
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Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars‘ 2023 Tommy Tune Awards will take place May 4, hosted by Michael James Scott.
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RIP: British actor Murray Melvin has died at the age of 90. In London, he appeared in The Phantom of the Opera, A Taste of Honey, Torchwood and Barry Lyndon.
In 1964, Murray appeared on Broadway in Oh, What a Lovely War! and The Solider’s Tale.
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The 2016 documentary “Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, a behind-the-scenes look into the original Broadway production of Merrily We Roll Along,” directed by Lonny Price, will be released May 23 on all major video-on-demand streaming platforms, where the film will be available for rent or purchase.
A Broadway revival is expected to open this Fall at the Hudson Theatre, with previews beginning Sept. 9 and continuing for 18 weeks (opening night TBA).
Daniel Radcliffe (Charley Kringas), Jonathan Groff (Franklin Shepard), Lindsay Mendez (Mary Flynn), Krystal Joy Brown (Gussie Carnegie), Katie Rose Clarke (Beth Shepard), and Reg Rogers (Joe Josephson), with Sherz Aletaha, Leana Rae Concepcion, Morgan Kirner, Corey Mach, Talia Robinson, Amanda Rose, Jamila Sabares-Klemm, Brian Sears, Evan Alexander Smith, Christian Strange, Koray Tarhan, Vishal Vaidya, Natalie Wachen, and Jacob Keith Watson.
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The world premiere of Harrison Harvey’s Jack Craddock is Having a Party will run May 12 – June 4 at the Moving Arts Theatre, directed by Rachel McBath.
Eric Patrick Harper, Sally Hughes, Andy Schirrmeister, and Morgan Thompson.
A comedy of contemporary manners set over the course of one turbulent evening. In an Austin, Texas apartment haunted by recent calamity, the unheralded homecoming of a mythic frat star heartthrob brings simmering tensions among a tangled group of friends and ex-lovers to a rolling boil.
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Matthew Sklar, Chad Beguelin & Bob Martin’s The Prom will run May 12-27 at Salt Lake City’s Pioneer Theatre Company, directed & choreographed by Karen Azenberg, and music direction by Phil Reno.
Anne Tolpegin (Dee Dee Allen), Josh Adamson (Trent Oliver), Bernard Dotson (Mr. Hawkins), Mia Cherise Hall (Alyssa Greene), Celeste Rose (Emma Nolan), Wendy Waring (Angie Dickinson), Erin Wilson (Mrs. Greene), and Branch Woodman (Barry Clickman), with Lucy Anders, Kyle Caress, Howard Kaye, Micki Martinez, JP Qualters, Lenny Daniel, Jordan Cruz, Evan Latta, Fynn White, Chelsea P. Freeman, Michael Hartman, Olivia Hellin, Jalen Michael Jones, Resa Mishina, Kennedy Perez, Lila Prince, Brynoch Rammell, Hannah Staudinger, and Weston Wright.
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Yale Rep has announced its 2023-24 season:
Wish You Were Here (Oct. 5-28), by Sanaz Toossi, directed by Sivan. The deeply human and humorous journey of a close-knit circle of girlfriends set during and in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution of 1979,
The Salvagers (Nov. 24 – Dec. 16), world premiere by David Rivers, directed by Mikael Burke. A powerful portrait of a father and son who learn how to navigate the path to second, third, and fourth chances in life.
Escaped Alone (Mar. 8-30, 2024), by Caryl Churchill, directed by Liz Diamond.. A genre-defying play of afternoon tea and catastrophe.
The Far Country (Apr. 26 – May 18), by Lloyd Suh, directed by Eric Ting. The intimate and epic passage of an unlikely family from rural China to San Francisco in the wake of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
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Initial casting has been announced for Everybody Rise! A Sondheim Celebration on Sun. July 30 at 7:30 PM at the Hollywood Bowl, conducted by Kevin Stites.
Patti LuPone, Sierra Boggess, Sutton Foster, and more TBA.
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The cast album for Broadway’s Shucked will be released May 5 digitally and June 9 on CD.
Video: “Somebody Will,” featuring Andrew Durand
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Gypsy will run Apr. 28 – June 18 at CT’s Goodspeed Musicals, directed by Jenn Thompson, with music direction by Adam Souza, choreography by Patricia Wilcox, and animal direction by Bill Berloni.
Judy McLane (Momma Rose), Talia Suskauer (Louise), Philip Hernandez (Herbie), Laura Sky Herman (Dainty June), Emily Jewel Hoder (Baby June), and Cameron Blake Miller (Baby Louise), with Gabriel Amato, Romelda Teron Benjamin, Kelly Margaret Berman, Amahri Edwards-Jones, Carlos Velasquez Escamilla, Thomas Goldbach V, Sunny Lauren Hoder, Victoria Huston-Elem, Edward Juvier, Meadow Nguy, Bianca Belle Palana, Maddie Robert, Ben Sears, Michael Starr, Geoffrey Wade, David Cochise Williams, Valerie Wright, Brianna Ascione Anthony DaSilva, and Chacha (Chowsie the dog).
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Virginia Stage has announced its 2023-24 season:
Fiddler on the Roof (Oct. 4-29),
A Merry Christmas Carol (Nov. 25 – Dec. 24), adapted by Mark Shanahan
A murder mystery TBA (Jan. 24 – Feb. 11, 2024)
Blues for an Alabama Sky (Mar. 6 – 24), by Pearl Cleage
The Three Musketeers (Apr. 17 – May 5), adapted by Ken Ludwig,
Lay It Down: The Music of the Everly Brothers (May 8-19), created by & starring Ben Hope and Eric Scott Anthony.
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Industry presentations of John Hodges & Geordy Wells, Francesca Peppiatt & Whit Cook’s Golden will take place Apr. 20 & 21 in NYC, directed by Madsie Flynn, with music direction by Robert Frost.
Major Attaway, Morgan Lynee Dudley, Kevin Massey, John-Michael Reese, Tsilala Brock, Michelle Dubby, Will Gallacher, Megan Masako Haley, Marina Kondo, Eric Leviton, Zonya Love, Aaron Michael Ray, Dustin Sullivan, and Kaila Wooten.
A retelling of the Rumplestiltskin fairytale.
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The world premiere of Justin Peck, Jackie Sibblies Drury & Sufjan Steven’s Illinois will run June 23 – July 2 at NY’s Annandale-on-Hudson’s Bard SummerScape, directed & choreographed by Justin Peck, with music direction by Nathan Koci.
Kara Chan, Ben Cook, Jeanette Delgado, Gaby Diaz, Tilly Evans-Krueger, Jonathan Fahoury, Jennifer Florentino, Brandt Martinez, Craig Salstein, Ahmad Simmons, Byron Tittle, and Ricky Ubeda.
Based on Sufian Steven’s 2005 concept album of the same name, the full-length work explores the albums’s portrayals of the American heartland.
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Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre has announced its 2023 Mainstage Summer season:
Double Helix (May 30 – June 18), by Madeline Myers, directed by Scott Schwartz. The remarkable true story of the brilliant and often-overlooked research scientist Rosalind Franklin.
Dial M For Murder (June 27 – July 23), adapted by Jeffery Hatcher, directed by Walter Bobbie.
Tales From the Guttenberg Bible (Aug. 1-20), by Steve Guttenberg, directed by David Saint. Four actors, 90 characters. A farcical, laugh-out-loud story, journeying from his family home on Long Island to the glamour of Hollywood.
Sammy & Me (Aug. 14-20), by Eric Jordan Young & Wendy Dann, starring Eric Jordan Young. The play investigates Young’s own obsession with Sammy Davis Jr., taking the audience on a whirlwind journey through Sammy’s life and his music.