Today’s Highlights:
Prejudice & Pride, newly adapted by Sam Wright & Nicholas Collet, directed by directed by Nicholas Collet, featuring Tim Ahlenius, Chris Arnone, Bridget Casad, PT Mahoney, Christian Thomas Owen, Margaret Shelby, Stefanie Stevens, Frani Talamantez-Witte, and Sam Wright, opens at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters.
Honky Tonk Angels, by Ted Swindley, directed & choreographed by Gary John La Rosa, featuring Erin Edelle (Angela), Elizabeth Nestlerode (Darlene), and Kara-Tameika Watkins (Sue Ellen), opens at Albany’s Capital Rep.
Bryce Pinkham (Dr. Orin Scrivello D.D.S.) returns to Little Shop of Horrors at Off-Broadway’s Westside Theatre.
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Complete casting has been announced for the world premiere of Stephen Sondheim & David Ives’ Here We Are, to run Sept. 28 – Jan. 7 (opening Oct. 22) at The Shed, directed by Joe Mantello, with choreography by Sam Pinkleton, and music direction by Alexander Gemignani.
Francois Battiste, Tracie Bennett, Bobby Cannavale, Micaela Diamond, Amber Gray, Jin Ha, Rachel Bay Jones, Denis O’Hare, Steven Pasquale, David Hyde Pierce, and Jeremy Shamos, with Bradley Dean, Adam Harrington, Bligh Voth, Adante Carter, Mehry Eslaminia, and Lindsay Nicole Chambers.
A couple is less than three hours married and on a train to New York City to celebrate their honeymoon. As they get closer to their destination, they banter over their families, fashion and the instution of marriage itself.
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The York Theatre Company has announced its Fall 2023 Musical in Mufti script-in-hand series, to take place at Off-Broadway’s Theater at St. Jean’s. Casting and additional information TBA.
18 Minutes of Fame (Aug. 28 at 7:30 PM & Aug. 19 at 1 PM), by Susan Morgenstern & Barbara Minkus, starring Minkus. While searching for fame throughout her life, Barbara found a lot more than she bargained for. In her delightfully engaging story, she shares an exceptional journey of love, life, difficult decisions, family dynamics and more.
How to Steal an Election: A Dirty Politics Musical (Aug. 26 – Sept. 3), by Oscar Brand & William F. Brown, directed by Joseph Hayward, with choreography by Victoria Casillo, and music direction by Miles Plant. Jazz Age President Calvin Coolidge materializes in the present day (that is, 1968). There he meets a couple of fervent young protesters, just back from the skull-cracking Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Disillusioned, these two protesters have no taste for the political machine. But what’s wrong with pragmatism, Coolidge wonders? What about learning to work within a corrupt system? Thus, Coolidge begins his history lesson, with vignettes and songs depicting cynical power grabs of yore.
The Lieutenant (Sept. 9-17), by Chuck Strand, Gene Curty, and Nitra McAuliffe. The show follows the passage of Lieutenant William Calley from raw recruit in the US Army through his 1971 court-martial for the infamous My Lai massacre of innocent civilians in 1968. The authors question the guilty verdict of a man who was tried first in the national media and later by a military tribunal, when militarism itself should perhaps shoulder the brunt of the blame.
Golden Rainbow (Sept. 23 – Oct. 1), by Walter Marks & Ernest Kinoy, directed by Stuart Ross. The jazzy, heartfelt story a single dad trying to achieve success in Las Vegas while raising his extremely bright and savvy son. His late wife’s sister arrives and tries to bring stability to the boy’s life, but unintentionally falls in love with her brother-in-law.
When We Get There (Oct. 7-15), by Robert P. Young III, Richard Lasser & Charlie Barnett. Black teenager Dawn inspires her mother Mary, Mary’s employer Rose, and Rose’s handyman Terrance to pile in Rose’s 1963 Buick Electra and drive to Selma to join Dr. Martin Luther King’s march. Green Book at the ready and hearts full of hope, the foursome heads south even as America remains hostile to its Black and Jewish citizens. Trouble will be encountered, secrets will be revealed, and a new understanding of what a family (and maybe a country) can be will be discovered.
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Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline will run Aug. 2-19 at Hollywood’s Art of Acting Studio, directed by Bryan Keith.
Lou Acosta, Jon Gentry, Fadhia Carmelle Marcelin, Nate Memba, Jennifer Sorenson, Ariana Sucar, and Omari Williams.
A deep look into the American educational system for underprivileged students. Nya is an inner-city high school teacher desperate to give her son opportunities that her students will never see. When a controversial incident at his upstate private school threatens to get him expelled, Nya must confront his rage and her own choices as a parent.
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Complete casting has been announced for the world premiere of Rob Zellers & Kent Gash’s Billy Strayhorn: Something to Live For, to run Sept. 19 – Oct. 8 at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, directed by Gash, with music direction by Matthew Whitaker.
Darius de Haas (Strayhorn), J.D. Mollison (Duke Ellington), Charl Brown (Aaron Bridgers), Keziah John-Paul (Lillian Strayhorn / Ivie Anderson), Arielle Roberts (Lena Horne / Billie Holiday, Richard McBride (Mercer Ellington), and Joseph McGranaghan (Lennie Hayton), with Saige Smith, Joseph Fedore, Tracy Dunbar and Taylor Collier.
The musical charts the life of openly gay jazz innovator and activist Billy Strayhorn and his collaborations with Duke Ellington.
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Lucie Arnaz: I GOT THE JOB! Songs From My Musical Past will run July 19-22 at NYC’s 54 Below, with music direction by Ron Abel.
A livestream option is available for July 22 only.
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Kansas City Actors Theatre will present Bess Wohl’s Grand Horizons Aug. 16 – Sept. 3 at the City Stage in Union Station, directed by Dennis D. Hennessy.
Amy Attaway, Craig Benton, Peggy Friesen, Matt Leisy, Victor Raider-Wexler, Jan Rogge, and Tanner Rose.
The play depicts the surprisingly amicable, and hilarious, end of Nancy and Bill’s 50-year marriage, their ensuing sexual escapades, and the fallout it causes within their family and retirement community.
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Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge will run Aug. 18 – Oct. 8 at Santa Monica’s Ruskin Group Theater, directed by Mike Reilly.
Ray Abruzzo (Eddie Carbone), Kim Chase (Beatrice), Aurora Leonard (Catherine), Brandon Lill (Rudulpho), Jesse Janzen (Marco), Sal Viscuso (Alfieri), Kevin Alain (Louis), Jamie Daniels (Mike), Aaron Marshall (Tony/Second Immigration Officer, Jeff Prater (First Immigration Officer), and Nicole Millar (Mrs. Lipari).
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27 Theater books for your Summer reading. Click here.
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Complete casting has been announced for the world premiere of Stephen Sondheim & David Ives’ Here We Are, to run Sept. 28 – Jan. 7, 2024 (opening Oct. 22) at The Shed, directed by Joe Mantello, with choreography by choreography by Sam Pinkleton. 
Sondheim described the show as unfinished shortly before his death. It’s unclear what has since been done to finished it.
Francois Battiste, Tracie Bennett, Bobby Cannavale, Micaela Diamond, Amber Gray, Jin Ha, Rachel Bay Jones, Denis O’Hare, Steven Pasquale, David Hyde Pierce, and Jeremy Shamos, with Bradley Dean, Adam Harrington, Bligh Voth, Adante Carter, Mehry Eslaminia, and Lindsay Nicole Chambers.
Sondheim revealed that the musical would be about “trying to find a place to have dinner. The first act would be inspired by Buñuel’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and the second on his The Exterminating Angel – two movies set at surreal dinner parties. The first half, said Steve, deals with interruptions to dinner, the second is about “people who have dinner and can’t leave,” which “is my cheerful view of the world today.”
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A Pre-Broadway invitation-only workshop of Jonathan Abrams The Heart of Rock & Roll, inspired by the music of Huey Lewis and the News, will take place Fri. Aug. 4 in NYC, directed by Gordon Greenberg, with choreography by Lorin Latarro, and music direction by Will Van Dyke.
Jonah Platt, Katie Rose Clarke, John Dossett, Tamika Lawrence, Manu Narayan, Billy Harrigan Tighe, Hailee Kaleem Wright, F. Michael Haynie, Nehal Joshi, Zachary Noah Piser, Josh Breckenridge, Oyoyo Joi, MiMi Scardulla, Dee Tomasetta, Lindsay Joan, Robert Pendilla, Drew Redington, Gabe Gibbs, Kaitlin Mesh, Harris Matthew Turner, and Jess LeProtto.
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The upcoming Off-Broadway transfer of London’s all-drag murder mystery Death Drop has postponed its engagement indefinitely. Previously scheduled to begin previews in June, the production subsequently announced a September 20 first preview at New World Stages.
The producers of the comedy are currently working to announce dates for the inaugural U.S. production. Ticket buyers should return to point of purchase for refunds.