Today’s Highlights:
A Little New Music conversation & song, featuring Zoe Sarnak, streams at 7 PM PT/10 PM ET here.
“Unsung with Gerry McIntyre” conversation, with special guest Michael R. Jackson, streams for FREE at 7 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s York Theatre.
Lights on the Radio Tower, by Emily Goodson & Kevin James Thornton, directed by Gabriel Barre, featuring Carrie Manolakos and Max Sangerman, concludes streaming here.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: On the Rocks, by Jim Bernhard
These show and song titles all mention diamonds. Fill in the missing words.
| 1, Diamond ____, play by Mae West | A. Studs |
| 2. ____Diamond, musical by Peter Allen, Harvey Fierstein, and Charles Suppon | B. Fields |
| 3. “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best ____,” song from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes | C. Friend |
| 4. “Diamonds in the ____,” song from Meet Me in St. Louis | D. Legs |
| 5. “My Diamond _____ of Girls,” song from Music Box Revue | E. She |
| 6. “Prowling ‘Round the Diamond _____,” song from Evangeline! | F. Rough |
| 7. “____Is A Diamond,” song from Evita | G. Horseshoe |
| 8.” ____Diamonds Rhinestone Glasses,” song from Rachel Lily Rosenbloom And Don’t You Ever Forget It | H. Lil |
| 9. 9. Diamond ____, musical by Jim Wann and Bland Simpson | I. Silver |
| 10. “Diamond in the ____,” song from Aladdin | J. Starlight |
Scroll down for the answers…
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“The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!” will air Sun. Sept. 26 (at 9 PM ET) on CBS (as well as on demand on Paramount+ and the CBS app).
The evening will kick off with the presentation of the 2020 annual Tony Awards at 7 PM ET live exclusively on Paramount+, and will include award presentations, performances and artistry of the 2019-20 season.
Click here for the complete list of nominees.
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Complete casting has been announced for Keenan Scott II’s Thoughts of a Colored Man, to run Oc.t 1 – Mar. 20, 2022 (opening Oct. 31) at the Golden Theatre, directed by Steve H. Broadnax III.
Dyllón Burnside, Bryan Terrell Clar, Da’Vinchi, Luke James, Forrest McClendon, and Keith David.
As the sun rises on a single day in the pulsing heart of Brooklyn, seven Black men are about to discover the extraordinary – together. The play blends spoken word, slam poetry, rhythm, and humor into a daringly universal new play.
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Video: Jim Caruso’s Cast Party variety show, with special guests Collen Ballinger, Chris Chavez, Richard Glazier, and Lucy Yeghiaryan. (1:16:02)
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Cambridge’s A.R.T. will present its Spring Celebration Sat. June 5 at 7:30 PM ET, hosted by Britney Mack.
Anna Deavere Smith, Sara Bareilles, Gavin Creel, Jack Noseworthy, Sergio Truillo, Todd Almond, Brandon Michael Nase, Claudia Rankine, Bill Rauch, and Julia Riew, Abbie Sage.
The theater reflects on the year that’s passed and celebrated what’s to come with unmissable sneak peeks of new work that will premiere in an upcoming season.
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Video: Chuck and Lilli Cooper sing “The Life”
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The world premiere of Jon Hartmere’s Once Upon A One More Time, featuring the songs of Britney Spears, will run Nov. 30 – Jan. 2, 2022 at DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, directed & choreographed by Keone & Mari Madrid.
Casting TBA.
Classic fairytale princesses gather for their fortnightly book club, longing for a new story. When a rogue fairy godmother drops “The Feminine Mystique” into their corsets laps, it spurs a royal revelation: there is more to life than bird-made dresses and true love’s kisses!
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Lynn Nottage & Miranda Haymon’s The Watering Hole will run June 22 – July 25 at the Signature Theatre, directed by Haymon.
An immersive theatrical installation which will activate nearly all of Signature’s spaces, from the lobby (a favorite Broadway meeting place) to the backstages and beyond. Physically-distanced audiences will move through a series of installations entirely curated by creatives of color. The multi-dimensional and multidisciplinary pieces disrupt traditional notion of theatre-making and challenge viewers to converse with what is most essential to us all, water. Excerpts will also be available online.
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NATCO (National Asian American Theatre Company) will present Caryl Churchill’s What If If Only, realized by Les Waters & Jared Mezzocchi, to livestream June 7-12 nightly at 7 PM ET.
Paul Juhn, Mia Katigbak, Kylie Kuioka, Jon Norman Schneider, and Bernard White.
The play contains harrowing insights, big heartbreaks, oceans of loneliness and grief, stillness and transmutation.
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Santa Barbara’s Ensemble Theatre Company has announced its 2021-22 season:
Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical (Oct. 7-24), by Janet Yates Vogt & Mark Friedman, directed by Jenny Sullivan, starring Linda Purl and Jason Graae. A personal and poignant musical story of the woman whose unparalleled talent and unbridled personality make her a legend.
The Wickhams (Dec. 2-19), part two of Lauren Gunderson & Margot Melcon’s trilogy of Christmas plays based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice, directed by Michael Butler,” Darcy and Elizabeth must now contend with hijinks amongst the staff, all while preparing for the family to visit.
Carmen Jones (Feb. 3020, 2022), by Oscar Hammerstein & George Bizet, directed by Jonathan Fox. Hammerstein’s version of Bizet’s opera.
American Son (Apr. 7-24), by Christopher Demon-Brown, directed by Jonathan Fox. This nail-biting story takes place in real time in the waiting room of a police station, in the middle of the night, where an African-American woman and her estranged husband eagerly await the news of their missing teenage song, who may have been picked up by the police.
Sleuth (June 9-26), by Anthony Shaffer, directed by Jenny Sullivan, featuring John Tufts and more TBA. Andrew Wyke, a wealthy author of detective novels and game aficionado, faces off against his wife’s love, Milo Tindle, a middle-class hair salon owner. When Wyke, who is seemingly content to split from his wife strikes an unusual deal with Tindle, it sets into motion a fierce game of one-upmanship between the tow, with the stakes growing increasingly higher.
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Melissa Errico: Ladies of the Playhouse will run June 3 (7:20 PMET) and June 4 (8 PM ET) at PA’s Bucks County Playhouse.
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Video: George Salazar sings “She Used To Be Mine”
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Manhattan Theatre Club presents its NYC Loves MTC gala, to stream Thurs. June 10 at 7 PM ET – June 14 at 7 PM ET.
Lewis Black, Gale A Brewer, Mark Brokaw, Blair Brown, David Cromer, Fiona Davis, Edie Falco, Darren Goldstein, Rupert Goold, James Graham, Anchuli Felicia King, Tom Kirdahy, Nathan Lane, Ayodele Maakheru, Junior Mack, Eden Marryshow, Bryonha Marie Parham, Debra Jo Rupp, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Benjamin Scheuer, Simon Stephens, R.L. Stine, Paco Tolson, Roma Torre, Meredith Vierira, Richard Wesley, Florian Zeller, and more TBA.
Additional information TBA.
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Carnegie Hall has announced its Summer 2021 season — Carnegie Hall Citywide (bringing free live concerts to all 5 boroughs from June – September):
Click here for the complete concert schedule.
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The Importance of being Earnest: Live in HD (Roundabout’s filmed Broadway production), directed by Brian Bedford, has been extended through June 30 at LA Theatre Works.
Brian Bedford (Lady Bracknell, Dana Ivey (Miss Prism), Paxton Whitehead (Rev. Canon Chausuble), David Furr (John Worthing), Santino Fontana (Algernon Moncreiff), Sara Topham (Gwendolen Fairfax), Charlotte Parry (Cecily Cardew), and Paul O’Brien (Lane).
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The Broadway Live Cinema Festival will run July 15 – Aug. 8 at the AMC Empire Theater in Times Square. 
Tickets go on sale here on June 7.
“Chicago,” “West Side Story,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” and “In The Heights.”
(for the in-cinema offerings): Kristin Hanggi, Jason Michael Webb, and many more TBA.
Sunny Hitt, Luis Salgado, and more TBA.
Each film will be presented in an immersive theatrical experience, where live performances by Broadway stars will be integrated into the classic Hollywood movie musicals. After the live cinema performance, audiences will be treated to exclusive access to 54 Below at the AMC Rooftop, where they can enjoy the outdoor after-party with top line talent curated by Feinstein’s’54 Beow. Performers TBA.
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Video: Adam Gwon’s “I Am Here,” a call to empower Asian-Americans by seeking a more just America for all, performed by George Takei, Ann Harada, Raymond J Lee, Ali Ewoldt, and Jose Llana.
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DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company has announced its 2021-22 season, Casting and additional information TBA.
The Amen Corner (Sept. 14-26), by James Baldwin.
Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski (Oct. 6-17), by Clark Young & Derek Goldman, directed by Goldman, starring David Strathairn.
Once Upon a One More Time (Nov. 30 – Jan. 2, 2022), by Jon Hartmere featuring the songs of Britney Spears. See next article for more information.
Our town (Feb. 17 – Mar. 20), directed by Alan Paul.
The Merchant of Venice (Mar. 22 – Apr. 17), directed by Arin Arbus, starring John Douglas Thompson (Shylock).
Much Ado About Nothing (Apr. 21 – May 22), directed by Simon Godwin.
Red Velvet (June 16 – July 27), by Lolita Chakrabarti, and directed by Jade King Carroll.
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The world premiere of Jon Hartmere’s Once Upon A One More Time, featuring the music of Britney Spears, will run Nov. 30 – Jan. 2, 2022) at DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, directed & choreographed by Keone & Mari Madrid.
Casting TBA.
Fairytale princesses gather for their fortnightly book club, longing for a new story. When a rogue fairy godmother drops “The Feminine Mystique” into their corseted laps, it spurs a royal revelation: there is more to life than bird-made dresses and true love’s kiss!
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NY’s Rhinebeck Writers Retreat will host the writing teams of 9 new musicals in development for in-person week-long residencies this summer, beginning June 17.
* The Lesson, by Avi Amon, Ty Defoe, and Nolan Doran. A fantastical queer re-imagining of Beethoven and Mozart meeting.
* Shoot for the Moon, by David Gomez & John-Michael Lyles. A forbidden love affair between prizefight Mercy Wheatley and poet Federico Garci Lorca.
* That’s All Folks, by Noel Carey & Scott Weinstein. A two-hander between an animator and his beloved character.
* Four Measures, by David Darrow & Kira Obolensky. Based on the”21 Grams Theory” and the experiments to prove the weight of the human soul.
* Mexodus, by Brian Quijada & Nygel D. Robinson. Enslaved people of the U.S. travel south on the Underground Railroad.
* Perpetual Sunshine & the Ghost Girls, by Sara Cooper & Lynne Shankel. The women factory workers who were poisoned by he United States Radium Corporation.
* Union: The Musical, by Amisho Baraka, Art Hooker, Justin Merrick, Gregory Thompson & Anasa Troutman. The 1968 Sanitation Worker’s Strike in Memphis.
* A House Without Windows, by Anna K. Jacobs & Anna Ziegler. The 1939 disappearance of former child prodigy Barbara Newhall Follett.
* Starstruck, by Beth Malone, Erin Ortman & Emily Saliers. A modern-day queer re-telling of Cyrano, set in Idaho.
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Cin Martinez’s Moonlighters will stream June 6-25 at TheaterWorks Hartford, directed by Jenn Thompson.
Janet Dacal, Herbert Newsome, Maribel Martinez, Julian Remulla, and Monica Rae Summers Gonzalez.
Something’s not quite right in the overworked offices of Social Services: the boss is hearing things, the referral officer is advocating for a murderer, long-time colleagues are at each other’s throats, and Nueva, the new recruit, is a casualty of the agency’s biggest failure. Nueva’s mission to improve a system that has lost its human touch unearths information that threatens an important new relationship and forces her to confront the cost of forgiveness.
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The stage-to-screen adaptation of J. T. Roger’s “Oslo” is now streaming on HBO and HBO Max, directed by Bartlett Sher,
Andrew Scott and Ruth Wilson.
A Norwegian couple (Mona, a foreign minister, and Terie Rod-Larsen, a sociologist) orchestrate a top-secret, high-level meetings between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which culminated in the signing of the historic 1993 Oslo Accords.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: On the Rocks
1-H. Diamond Lil – play by Mae West
2-D. Legs Diamond – musical by Peter Allen, Harvey Fierstein, and Charles Suppon
3-C. “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” – song from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
4-J. “Diamonds in the Starlight” – song from Meet Me in St. Louis
5-G. “My Diamond Horseshoe of Girls” – song from Music Box Revue
6-B. “Prowling ‘Round the Diamond Fields” – song from Evangeline
7-E. “She Is A Diamond” – song from Evita
8-I. “Silver Diamonds Rhinestone Glasses” – song from Rachel Lily Rossenbloom And Don’t You Ever Forget It
9-A. Diamond Studs, musical by Jim Wann and Bland Simpson
10-F. “Diamond in the Rough” – song from Aladdin