Today’s Highlights:
Rachel Tucker begins her run as Beverley, Annette, and others in Come From Away at Broadway’s Schoenfeld Theatre.
Anastasia, by Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty & Lynn Ahrens, directed by Darko Tresnjak, featuring Kyle Stone (Anya), Sam McLellan (Dmitry), Brandon Delgado (Gleb), Gerri Weagraff (Dowager Empress), Byran Seastrom (Vlad), Madeline Raube (Countess Lily), Taya Diggs & Marley Sophia (Little Anastasia), with Mikayla Agrella, Lance Timothy Barker, William Aaron Bishop, Harrison Drake, Thomas Henke, Dakota Hoar, Veronica Rae Jiao, Evin Johnson, Ceron Jones, Madeline Kendall, Lizzy Marie Legregin, Victoria Madden, Christian McQueen, Elizabeth Ritacco, Taylor Stranger, Sara Statler, Lauren Teyke, and Carly Haig, opens at Kansas City Starlight.
The Prom national tour, directed & choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, featuring Kaden Kearney (Emma), Kalyn West (Alyssa Greene), Courtney Balan (Dee Dee Allen), Patrick Wetzel (Barry Glickman), Emily Borromeo (Angie Dickinson), Bud Weber (Trent Oliver), Sinclair Mitchell (Mr. Hawkins), Ashanti J’Aria (Mrs. Greene), And Shavey Brown (Sheldon Saperstein), Gabrielle Beckford, Ashley Bruce, Maurice Dawkins, Jordan De Leon, James Caleb Grice, Megan Grosso, Marie Gutierrez, Chloe Rae Kehm, Braden Allen King, Brandon J. Large, Alexa Margo, Christopher McCrewell, Adriana Negron, Marcus Phillips, Lexie Plath, Zoë Brooke Reed, Thad Turner Wilson, and Josh Zacher, begins previews at LA’s Ahmanson Theatre.
The Color Purple, directed by Lili-Anne Brown, featuring Tracee Beazer (Shug Avery), Nasia Thomas (Nettie), Evan Tyrone Martin (Mister), Gilbert Domally (Harpo), Nichole Michelle Haskins (Sofia), and Anastacia McCleskey (Celie), Jade Jones (Standby for Sofia), with Jos N. Banks, Shantel Cribbs, Erica Durham, Duane Martin Foster, Damon J. Gillespie, Kennedy Holmes, Omega Jones, Sage Lee, Alicia Revé Like, Melanie Loren, Danea Osseni, Grant James Reynolds, Paris Porché Richardson, Amber Alexandrea Rose, Alexis Roston, Owen Scales, Rodney Thompson, Sean Walton, and Muny youth ensemble, closes at the St. Louis Muny.
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Reviews for the pre-Broadway run of The Devil Wears Prada at Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre:
Chicago Tribune (Chris Jones): …the main problem with the bland and hesitant new musical… under the direction of Anna D. Shapiro, is that it has not yet found the guts to follow that same track… Job one is the addition of more wit and irreverence to Wetherhead’s book and Shaina Taub’s lyrics… The show first has to deliver a more legitimate runway experience… Neither of the two leads, played by Beth Leavel and Taylor Iman Jones, have enough of their own distinct style… Notwithstanding a knockout ensemble of dancers, the show needs to be funnier, smoother and to move far more quickly… Both of the leads could, I think, be very good…
New York Post (Johnn Oleksinski): …The alarmingly un-fun and sluggish show with a score by Elton John and Shaina Taub is a dud about duds, and the worst screen-to-stage move in recent memory… Every song is lousy, and there is nothing here worth fixing. No convincing artistic effort has been made to reinterpret the film and book into something new that makes logical and compelling sense onstage… When the cinematic story is lifelessly put to music, it becomes mopey and slow; frumpy and boring; laughless and sterile… Miranda is a major hurdle for the musical because of how little she shares…Miranda has been turned into a supporting role…
Chicago Sun Times (Catey Sullivan): …runs the gamut from mildly diverting to mostly egregiously disappointing, the latter being its defining ethos…. this behind-the-scenes tale set at the world’s pre-eminent fashion magazine is more JCPenney clearance catalog than couture… One major problem with director Anna D. Shapiro’s staging of the musical…is its underwhelming sense of fashion… We never get a sense of Runway magazine, either… The office aesthetic is basic and generic, the fashions within resembling arts-and-crafts projects with little actual art…
Video: Clips
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Reviews for Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool at LA’s Mark Taper Forum:
LA Times (Charles McNulty): Mike Birbiglia is the kind of stand-up comedian your mother would want you to settle down and marry, if there were no eligible doctors, lawyers or bankers with a reasonably good sense of humor available…. he tells mild-mannered jokes that promise to keep a roof over your head, even if leaks and black mold are inevitably part of the act… Not since Joan Rivers joked about her gynecological checkups has a comic shared so much medical history… This kind of shtick is readily identifiable to anyone who sat in the bleachers in gym class with a doctor’s note… Birbiglia wears his neuroticism well.
Theatermania (Jonas Schwartz): Mike Birbiglia makes a triumphant return to the stage at the Mark Taper Forum with another intimate discussion in his disarming, everyman fashion… has the audience in stitches, laughing hysterically at the frailty of humanity. The Old Man and The Pool delves into the frustration an aging body… Birbiglia is a master storyteller. His delivery is relatable, and yet pinched enough to find the sardonic flavors… Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool may not make you feel better about the ticking time bomb that is your mortal body, but at least he reminds you that it’s a shared experience. It’s a cathartic laugh from a crowd battling mortality.
Entertainment Weekly (Yoland Machado): …Birbiglia is excellent at his craft, knowing when to guide the audience through an emotion and when to perfectly execute a gag that has slowly been building. The subtle set design is just effective enough to conjure the smell of that YMCA from his memory; it brings a quiet vividness that fits well with his narration… The Old Man and the Pool is casually endearing and witty…Birbiglia’s strength is his effortless delivery… You never feel like he’s performing a bit, but rather like you’re throwing back a beer with your funniest friend, a guy you’re meeting up with again for the first time in years. A lot has changed; nothing has changed.
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Lillias White will be the first female actor to play the role of Hermes in Hadestown, as of Sept. 13 at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
T. Oliver Reid (Hermes) will play his final performance on Sept. 4.
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in August:
“Original Cast Album: Company, 1970” documentary (available now on HBO Max).
“The Sandman” (available now on Netflix), featuring Tom Sturridge, John Cameron Mitchell, and Alexander Park
“Respect” (begins Aug. 10 on Paramount+), starring Jennifer Hudson, Audra McDonald, Hailey Kilgore, Heather Headley, Tituss Burgess, and Saycon Sengbloh.
“13: the Musical” (begins Aug. 12 on Netflix), by Jason Robert Brown, starring Debra Messing, Josh Peck, and Rhea Perlman.
“A League of Their Own” (begins Aug. 12 on Prime Video), starring Rosie O’Donnell, Robert Colindrez, Molly Ephraim, and Chanté Adams.
“Five Days at Memorial” (begins Aug. 12 on Apple TV+, starring Cherry Jones, Cornelius Smith Jr., Vera Farmiga, and Molly Hager. 
The new series follows the impact that Hurricane Katrina had on a hospital.
“South Park: The 25th Anniversary Concert” (begins Aug 14 on Paramount+)
“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” (begins Aug. 17 on Disney+), starring Tatiana Maslany.
“The Patient” (begins Aug. 30 on Hulu), starring David Alan Grier and Linda Emond. A new psychological thriller about a psychotherapist who is held prisoner by a serial killer with an unexpected request: to curb his murderous urges.
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DUETS: The Concert Series Volume 8, offering both live & livestreamed options, will take place Fri. Aug. 19 at 9:45 PM ET NYC’s 54 Below.
Maryanne Burr, Jordan Eagle, Al Gravina, Rose Hemingway, Katie Lemmen, Morgan Milone, Cariss Navarra, Mike Wartella, and Teal Wicks.
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Mark Wilding’s Our Man in Santiago will run Sept. 13 – Oct. 28 (opening Sept. 14) at the AMT Theater, directed by Charlie Mount.
Presciliana Esparolini, Nick McDow Musleh, George Tovar, Steve Nevil, and Michael Van Duzer.
A raucous political farce inspired by the true story of a spectacularly failed U.S. attempt to overthrow Chile’s democratically elected leader, Our Man In Santiago sees the CIA enlist an inexperienced agent to carry out a last-ditch, poorly conceived and wildly dangerous effort to hasten the 1973 Chilean coup d’état.
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Jane Lynch (Mrs. Brice) will now depart Broadway’s Funny Girl on Aug. 14, earlier than expected, at the August Wilson Theatre.
Standby Liz McCartney will take over the role Aug. 16 – Sept. 4, with Tovah Feldshuh beginning her run on Sept. 6.
According to Lynch, this latest development is only due to a strained schedule in light of a pre-planned August vacation, and her surprise Emmy nomination for “Only Murders in the Building,” with her category set to be awarded Sept. 1 in California.
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Ethan Lipton, Eben Levy, Ian M. Riggs & Vito Dieterle’s No Place to Go will run Aug. 30 – Oct. 15 at DC’s Signature Theatre, directed by Matthew Gardiner, with music direction by Riggs.
Bobby Smith (George), Tom Lagana (Jonah), Grant Langford (Sal), and Ian M. Riggs (Duke).
A dedicated corporate “information refiner” has learned that his company is moving to a cheaper, but very (very) remote, location and taking the jobs with it. Backed by a jazz band, this permanent part-timer must decide whether to go and uproot his family’s life or embark on an unknown venture.
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“The Cathedral” will open Sept. 2 at Film at Lincoln Center, written & directed by Ricky D’Ambrose.
Brian D’Arcy James, Monica Babaro, Mark Zeisler, Geraldine Singer, and William Bednar-Carter.
The film follows an only child’s account of an American family’s rise and fall over two decades.
Video: Trailer
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Adrienne Kennedy’s Ohio State Murders will begin previews Nov. 11 and open Dec. 8 at the James Earl Jones Theatre, directed by Kenny Leon.
Audra McDonald, and more TBA.
Writer Suzanne Alexander returns to her alma mater as a guest speaker to explore the violence in her works, and a dark mystery unravels, as we also look at the destructiveness of racism in our society.
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Amy Spanger in the Theatre will take place Mon. Aug. 22 at 8:30 PM ET at NYC’s Birdland, with music direction by Paul Masse.
Brian Shepard and Liz Casasola**********************
Video: Nova Y. Payton, Danielle J. Summons & Frenchie Davis perform the title song in The Color Purple in rehearsal at DC’s Signature Theatre.
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RIP: Actress Jennifer Butt has died at the age of 64 after a long illness.
Jennifer originated the role of Madame Thénardier in Les Misérables on Broadway in 1987, a role she later reprised on tour. She also appeared in The Women on Broadway in 2001, and played Jellylorum on the first national tour of Cats.
Jennifer appeared in several television series and TV movies, including “The Client,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Sabrina The Teenage Witch,” “Providence,” “The Ransom of Red Chief,” Howie Mandel’s “Sunny Skies,” and more.
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The world premiere of Lee Hall’s’s Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical will close Jan. 8, 2023 at London’s Lyric Theatre, directed by Clint Dyer, with choreography by Shelley Maxwell.
Arinzé Kene (Bob Marley), Michael Duke (alternate Bob Marley), Gabrielle Brooks (Rita Marley), Shanay Holmes (Cindy Breakspeare), Sophia Mackay (Judy Mowatt), Melissa Brown-Taylor (Marcia Griffiths/I Three), Jacade Simpson (Bunny Wailer), and Natey Jones (Peter Tosh).
The production will embark on a U.K. tour in 2023. Details TBA.
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Cat on a Hot Tin Roof will run Sept. 14 – Oct. 2 (opening Sept. 17) at Virginia Stage Company, directed by Khanisha Foster.
TBA.