Today’s Highlights:
Babes in Arms, world premiere adaptation by Douglas Carter Beane, directed by Beane, featuring Eric Siegle (Valentine LaMar), Aliza Ciara (Dolores Reynolds), Liat Shuflita (Baby Rose), Tia Karapalis (Billie Smith), Jeffrey Marc Atkins (Marshall Blackstone), GraceAnn Kontak (Mitzi), Joseph Monseur (Petey), Dan Kelley (Booker), Logan Schmucker (Lincoln), and M.L. Catwell (Gus), opens at NY’s Forestburgh Playhouse.
Allons Enfants! concert, with Steve Ross & Jean Brassard, at 7 PM ET at NYC’s Pangea.
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Chicago will resume performances Sept. 14 at the Ambassador Theatre.
Ana Villafañe (Roxie Hart), Bianca Marroquín (Velma Kelly), Lillias White (Matron Mama Morton), Raymond Bokhour (Amos Hart) and Ryan Lowe (Mary Sunshine), with David Bushman, Jennifer Dunne, Jessica Ernest, Jeff Gorti, Arian Keddell, Mary Claire King, Barrett Martin, Sharon Moore, Drew Nellessen, Celina Nightengale, Brian O’Brien, Denny Paschall, Angel Reda, Jermaine R. Rembert, Michael Scirrotto, Christine C. Smith, and Brian Spitulnik.
Casting for the role of Billy Flynn is TBA.
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Netflix has announced release dates for its entire Fall and Winter slate, both in theaters and streaming:
SEPTEMBER:
“Afterlife of the Party” (begins streaming 9/2), starring Victoria Justice.
“Worth” (begins streaming 9/3)
“Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali” (begins streaming 9/9)
“Kate” (in theaters and streaming 9/10)
“Worth” (begins streaming 9/3)
“Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali” (begins streaming 9/9)
“Kate” (in select theaters and streaming 9/10)
“Nightbooks” (begins streaming 9/15)
“Schumacher” (begins streaming 9/15)
“Intrusion” (begins streaming 9/22)
“The Starling” (in theaters 9/17, begins streaming 9/24)
“My Little Pony: A New Generation” (begins streaming 9/24)
“Sounds Like Love” (begins streaming 9/29)
“No One Gets Out Alive” (begins streaming 9/29)
OCTOBER
“The Guilt” (in theaters 9/24/begins streaming 10/1)
“Diana: The Musical” (begins streaming 10/1)
“There’s Someone Inside Your House” (begins streaming 10/6)
“Found” (begins streaming 10/20)
“Night Teeth” (begins streaming 10/20)
“Stuck Together (begins streaming 10/20)
“Army of Thieves” (begins streaming 10/29)
“Hypnotic” (begins streaming – date TBA)
“Fever Dream” (in select theaters & begins streaming – dates TBA)
NOVEMBER
“The Harder They Fall” (in select theaters 10/22, begins streaming 11/3)
“Love Hard” (begins streaming 11/5)
“Passing” (in select theaters 10/27, begins streaming 11/10)
“Red Notice (begins streaming 11/12)
“tick, tick…BOOM! (in select theaters 11/12, begins streaming 11/19)
“Bruised” (in select theaters 11/17, begins streaming 11/24
“Robin Robin” (begins streaming 11/24)
“14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible” (begins streaming 11/29)
“7 Prisoners” (in select theatres – date TBA, begins streaming – date TBA
“A Boy Called Christmas” (begins streaming – date TBA)
“A Castle for Christmas” (begins streaming – date TBA)
“The Princess Switch 3” (begins streaming – date TBA)
DECEMBER
“The Power of the Dog” (in select theater 11.17, begins streaming 12/1)
“Shaun The Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas” (begins streaming 12/3)
“The Unforgivable” (in select theaters 11/24, begins streaming 12/10)
“The Hand of God” (in select theaters 12/3, begins streaming 12/15)
“Don’t Look Up” (in select theaters 12/10, begins streaming 12/24)
“The Lost Daughter” (in select theaters 12/17, begins streaming 12/31)
“Back to the Outback” (begins streaming – date TBA)
“Mixtape” (begins streaming – date TBA)
“Single All the Way” (begins streaming – date TBA)
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As curtains come back up, the founding members of Black Theatre United (BTU), have announced the released of their historic New Deal For Broadway, which establishes industry-wide standards and reforms around Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Accessibility and Belonging (EDIAB), with a focus on Black individuals in theater. This document outlines both short-term reforms to be implemented in the next 1-3 years.
“The Broadway that opens in September 2021 will not be the same Broadway that closed in March 2020. For far too long, Black artists, theater makers and technicians in all areas of our industry have been subjected to systemic and interpersonal racism that has harmed their lives and careers and diminished us all,” reads the New Deal’s introduction. “This document memorializes our commitments—to our industry, to each other and to ourselves—arising from that summit process. We know that we must do better, and we commit to leaning into change.”
Founding Members (actors, directors, musicians, writers, technicians, producers, and stage management): Lisa Dawn Cave, Darius de Haas, Carin Ford, Capathia Jenkins, LaChanze, Kenny Leon, Norm Lewis, Audra McDonald, Michael McElroy, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Wendell Pierce, Billy Porter, Anna Deavere Smith, Allyson Tucker, Tamara Tunie, Lillias White, NaTasha Yvette Williams, Schele Williams and Vanessa Williams.
Highlights:
* Minimum wage for interns and the abolishment of unpaid internships.
* Appointment of a racial sensitivity coach for show that raise racial sensitivities.
* Directors and authors will never assemble an all-white creative team, regardless of the show’s subject matter.
* The Shubert Organization, The Nederlander Organization and Jujamcyn Theatres will each have at least one of their theater named after a Black artist (Jujamcyn Theatres already has the August Wilson Theatre, where Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s Pass Over is currently playing.
* The new deal states that any leader in the commercial theater industry who is not currently a signatory to the document but who agrees to its commitments may request to be added as a signatory by writing to Black Theatre United at newdeal@blacktheatreunited.com.
Click here to read the entire document.
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Hollywood’s Blank Theatre will present its next Living Room Series (a new play development program), to run Sept. 13 – Dec. 13, on Mondays at 8 PM PT.
Sk8er Boiz (Sept. 13), by Christopher S. Sullivan, directed by Kazu Takeda.
Les Freres (Sept. 27), by Sandra Daley-Sharif, directed by Christopher Burris.
Grand (Oct. 11), by Sophie Tegenu, directed by Kila Kitu.
Auntie’s (Nov. 1), by Cassandra Hsiao, directed by Angela Oh.
Great White (Nov. 15), by Deborah Yarchun, director TBA.
Moderation (Dec. 6), by Kevin Kautzman, directed by Christian Parker
Kill Shelter (Dec. 13), by Ashley Rose Wellman, directed by Christopher James Raymond
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Cynthia Erivo will star in the upcoming series “Steel,” written by Adam Gyngell and Fred Fernandez-Armesto, which will air on a platform TBA, directed by Francis Lawrence.
The drama is set in 1970s London. Erivo plays Madeline Crowe, a self-made woman who seizes control of her own destiny in a high-octane and dangerous profession dominated by her male colleagues. Crowe is the daughter of Nigerian immigrants driven by an insatiable hunger to win at all costs, is also beholden to her son as a single mother. through Steel we see how choices made by individuals desperate in pursuit of money and power shape the geopolitical landscape of our present, and how women like Crowe were the vanguard.
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Christy Altomare will replace Laura Osnes as Cinderella in Disney Princess – The Concert Tour, which will launch Nov. 1 at GA’s Macon City Auditorium.
Altomare joins Susan Egan, Courtney Reed and Aisha Jackson.
Click here for the complete tour schedule.
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Rachel Bay Jones has joined the cast of ABC’s “The Good Doctor.”
Details about Jones’ character will not be revealed until the Season 5 premiere on Sept. 27, when her character is set to debut.
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Complete casting has been announced for the return of the new production of Les Misérables, which will resume performances on Sept. 25 at the Sondheim Theatre (following previews that began Dec. 18, 2019).
Jon Robyns (Jean Valjean(, Bradley Jaden (Javert), Gerard Carey (Thénardier), Josefina Gabrielle (Madame Thénardier), Harry Apps (Marius), Chanice Alexander-Burnett (Fantine), Jordan Shaw (Enjolras), Charlie Burn (Cosette), and Sha Dessi (Eponine), with Kelly Agbowu, Emma Barr, Richard Carson, Cellen Chugg Jones, Rodney Earl Clarke, Danny Colligan, Matthew Dale, Matt Dempsey, Jessie Hart, Connor Jones, Jessica Joslin, Michael Kholwadia, Sarah Lark, Georgie Lovatt, Ellie Ann Lowe, Luke McCall, Leo Miles, Claire O’Leary, Kathy Peacock, Mark Pearce, Sam Peggs, Sake Wijers, Mared Williams, Phoebe Williams, and Samuel Wyn-Morris.
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National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene will present Barry Manilow & Bruce Sussman’s Harmony will run Mar. 23 – May 8, 2022 (opening Apr. 3) at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, directed & choreographed by Warren Carlyle.
Casting TBA.
The true story of the Comedian Harmonists, an ensemble of six young men in 1920s Germany who took the world by storm with their blend of sophisticated close harmonies and uproarious stage antics, until their inclusion of Jewish singers put them on a collision course with history.
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NYC’s Public Theater has announced that its Shakespeare in the Park production of Merry Wives, adapted by Jocelyn Bioh and directed by Saheem Ali, which continues through Sept. 18, will be filmed for PBS’ “Great Performance” series.
An air date is TBA.
Abena, Shola Adewusi, Bgenga Akinnagbe, Pascale Armand, MaYaa Boateng, Phillip James Brannon, Brandon E. Burton, Joshua Echebiri, Branden Lindsay, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, Jarvis D. Matthews, Jacob Ming-Trent, Jennifer Mogbock, Julan Rozzell Jr., Kyle Scatliff, David Ryan smith, and Susan Kelechi Watson
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Off-Broadway’s Signature Theatre has announced that the world premiere of Annie Baker’s Infinite Life, originally scheduled to begin performances on Oct. 5, has been postponed indefinitely.
The theater company cites “ongoing health and safety concerns” as the cause for the delay, adding that it will “continue, in discussion with artists, to evaluate on a case-by-case basis how to proceed with other programming planned for this season.”
The next play in the season lineup, Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 is still slated to begin a week later, on Oct. 12.
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The world premiere of Alix Sobler’s Hindsight will run Sept. 18 – Oct. 23 at the East Village’s Paradise Factory, directed by Aaron Rossini.
Alix Sobler, Andrea Abello, Craig Wesley Divino, Lynnette R. Freeman, Daniel Pearce, and Luis Vega.
As we’ve seen lately, gray areas can lead to confusion, disaster, and violence when it comes to the news and our politics. Where did it all begin. An intrepid playwright traces the problem back to 1987 and the abolishment of the Fairness Doctrine. But as she builds her case, the facts, historical characters, and her own memories refuse to cooperate. Is it possible to trace our problems as a nation back to one decision made in the 80s? And if so, is a play really the right place to unpack this conversation?