Today’s Highlights:
A Bright New Boise, by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Oliver Butler, featuring Anna Baryshnikov (Anna), Ignacio Diaz-Silverio (Alex), Eva Kaminsky (Pauline), Peter Mark kendall (Will), and Angus O’Brien (Leroy), opens at Off-Broadway’s Signature Theatre.
The Labyrinth Theatre Company‘s 23rd annual Barn Series Free Reading Festival opens at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theatres.
First Lady of Song: Ella Fitzgerald, directed by Mark G. Meadow, featuring Ayo and Rochelle Rice, opens at DC’s Signature Theatre.
Secret Hour, world premiere by Jenny Stafford, directed by Margaret E. Hall, featuring Marina Shay (Professor Kate Gordon), Joshua David Robinson (Ben), and Whit K. Lee (Leaf), opens at Albany’s Capital Rep.
Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Grove development program, with Peter Siebert, Heather Ragusa, Paula Cole, Scott Gilmour, aClaire McKenzie, Mark Governor, Jessie Burton, Barnaby Race, Emily Saliers, Jesse J. Sanchez, Katy Parry, Jessica Simpson Jonatha Brooke, Geoffrery Naufts, Jake Bernstein, Melis Aker, Jonathan Brielle, Jeff Chambers, Jacinta Clusellas, Jennifer Lucy Cook, Lauren Du Pree, Jasmine Joshua, Patrick Lundquist, Beth Malone, Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako, Tatiana Pandiani, T.J. Peiffer, Lynn Rosen, Janet Roston, Marc Sambola, Shelby Solla, Mary Ann Stratton, Shea Sullivan, Melvin Tunstall III, and Pia Wilson, begins at CT’s Goodspeed Musicals.
“Try Not to Hold It Against Me: A Producer’s Life” book, written by Julian Schlossberg, released here, and on most platforms.
**********************
Off-Broadway’s Vineyard Theatre has announced it 40th Anniversary Gala, to take place Mon. Feb. 13 at 6 PM, directed by Leigh Silverman, with music direction by Dan Lipton.
Veanne Cox, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Brandon Victor Dixon, Coleman Domingo, Victor Garber, An Harada, David Harbour, Holly Hunter, Michael R. Jackson, Sam Rockwell, Deirdre O’Connell, Tina Satter, Emily Skinner, and Paula Vogel.
**********************
Sylvia Khoury’s Selling Kabul will run Feb. 21 – Apr. 2 at DC’s Signature Theatre, directed by Shadi Ghaheri.
Mazin Akar (Taroon), Neagheen Homaifar (Leyla), Yousof Sultani (Jawid), and Awesta Zarif (Afiya), with Raghad Almakhlouf and Ramtin Yaziri.
In 2013, a sister secretly shelters her translator brother from an increasingly powerful Taliban while he awaits the ever-delayed arrival of a promised American visa. On the eve of his son’s brith, the walls begin to close in, threatening him, her and everyone they love in a heart-racing exposé with devastating echoes to the present day. Breathtaking and unpredictable through the final curtain, the unflinching exploration exposes the human toll of American withdrawal.
**********************
Shaun Cassidy: The Magic of a Midnight Sky will run June 22-24 at NYC’s 54 Below.
A musical exploration of Shaun’s life, career, and family, in which he will offer a showbiz survival tale, sharing his life as a teen idol as well as affectionate memories of his parents, Jack Cassidy and Shirley Jones, and his late brother, David.
**********************
Eric Bogosian’s 1+1 will run Feb. 23 – Mar. 19 (opening Feb. 27) at the SoHo Playhouse, directed by Matt Okin.
Michael Gardiner, Katie North, and Daniel Yaiullo.
The play explores how a modern woman can still rise and fall at the whim of the men in her life. An unsuspecting aspiring actress in Los Angeles makes a seemingly innocent choice that lures her into the lucrative world of internet port, and her fate seems caught between the two men who couldn’t seem more opposite, yet might have more in common than first meets the eye…
**********************
Barry Wyner’s Calvin Berger will run Feb. 16 – Mar. 26 (opening Feb. 18) at Burbank’s Colony Theatre, directed by Richard Israel, with music direction by Anthony Lucca.
Corinne Miller, Jordan Quisno, Jasmine Sharma, and Franke A. Rodriguez.
Loosely based on the story of Cyrano de Bergerac, the musical is the contemporary and hilarious story of unrequited feelings, love notes, and physical insecurity among high school seniors. Smitten with the beautiful Rosanna, Calvin is paralyzed by self-doubt due to the size of his nose. No words of encouragement coming from his quirky best girlfriend Bret seem to help. Rosanna finds her head turned by the good-looking new student, Matt, who is painfully shy and unable to voice his mutual attraction to her. Hoping to forge a closer relationship to his love, Calvin offers to pen Matt’s eloquent love notes to Rosanna. As deceptions unravel and truths are revealed, Calvin is about to learn that sometimes what you’re looking for is right under you nose.
**********************
Kevin Puts & Greg Pierce’s “The Hours” will air on Fri. Mar. 17 at 9 PM on PBS (check local listings), as well as streaming on the PBS Video app, directed by Stephen Daldry.
Kelli O’Hara, Renée Fleming, and Joyce DiDonato, with Kathleen Kim, Sylvia D’Eramo, Denyce Graves, John Holiday, William Burden, Sean Panikkar, Kyle Ketelsen, and Brandon Cedel.
The pice follows three women: Virginia Woolf in 1920, in the process of writing “Mrs. Dalloway;” Laura Brown in 1949, who is reading it; and Clarissa Vaughn toward the end of the 20th century, who is seemingly living it.
**********************
CT’s Goodspeed Opera House has announced its 17th annual Festival of New Musicals, to run Mar. 17-19. Complete casting & creative teams TBA.
Double Helix staged reading (Mar. 17), by Madeline Myers, directed by Scott Schwartz, with music direction by Patrick Sulken. The play explores the life and struggles of scientist Rosalind Franklin, whose contribution to the discovery of DNA’s structure were look over by her male colleagues following her premature death.
The Great Emu War (Mar. 18), by Cal Silberstein & Paul Hodge, directed by Michael Fling. Remember that one time that the Australian government sent their army with machine guns to wage war on emus in Western Australia? Neither do most people…but when Edith, the headstrong warbler, and her flock begin to feed on the wheat of local farmers — the humans take up arms against Australia’s favorite feathered friends. Think of it as Cats, but with emus…and less dancing…and a plot.
Little Miss Perfect (Mar. 19), by Joriah Kwamé. The story of Noelle, a bi-racial teen navigating her senior year of high school, after her mom and stepdad invite a study abroad student to be her roommate. But when a classmate becomes the victim of systemic racism at her school, Noelle must decide whether she will be true to herself and an ally to her peers, of if she will settle for simply being ‘Little Miss Perfect.’
**********************
Video: Santino Fontana sings “I Know How It Ends” from The Violet Hour.
**********************
Audible Theater‘s Lucy, by Erica Schmidt, currently in previews, opens Feb. 6 and continues through Feb. 25 at Off-Broadway’s Minetta Lane Theatre, directed by Schmidt.
Brooke Bloom and Lyn Collins.
Mary, a busy mother who has recently hired the warm and promising Ashling as a nanny for her young children. But Mary soon feels that something is off. Is it Mary’s unstable troublemaker into her home?
**********************
Clint Holmes: Between The Moon and New York City: The Songs of Peter Allen will take place Wed. Feb. 1 at 7 PM at Las Vegas’ Myron’s Jazz Club, with music direction by Michael Orland.
**********************
Ensemble Theatre Company will present Sylvia Khoury’s Selling Kabul Feb. 2-19 (opening Feb. 4) at Santa Barbara’s New Vic, directed by Nike Doukas.
Rishan Dhamija (Taroon), Rishan Dhamija ( Taroon),
This nail-biting story of abiding family love centers on an Afghan man, Taroon, a former interpreter for the US military, in hiding from the Taliban in his sister’s home in Kabul, Afghanistan. As Taroon restlessly awaits news from the hospital on the birth of his first child, his family races to protect him from dangers lurking outside the apartment walls as he plans his escape with his wife and infant child.
**********************
Complete casting has been announced for the world premiere of Julia Izumi’s Regretfully, So the Birds Are, to run Mar. 22 – Apr. 30 (opening Apr. 11) at Playwrights Horizons, directed by Jenny Koons.
Sasha Diamon (Illy), Gibson Frazier (Cam the Snowman), Kristine Nielsen (Elinore), Sky Smith (Neel), Pearl Sun (Srey), and Shannon Tyo (Mora).
The farcical play follows adopted Asian American siblings Mora, Neel, and Illy on fantastical journeys to discover “who they are.” As the Whistler siblings navigate the unhinged reality of contemporary American life, they face a host of problems including arson, affairs, incest, and murder.
**********************
In celebration of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus 45th anniversary, the organization will present Disney PRIDE in Concert Mar. 16-17 at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall.
The two-act spectacular features new arrangements to over 40 classic and contemporary Disney songs from “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King,” “Beauty & the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “Hercules,” “Zootopia,” “Coco,” “Mary Poppins,” “Peter Pan,” and more…