Today’s Highlights:
The Color Purple, directed by by Christopher D. Betts, featuring Kayla Davion (Celie), Tamyra Gray (Sugh Avery), Maiesha McQueen (Sofia), Gerald Caesar (Harpo), Danyel Fulton (Nettie), Justus A. Payne (Young Harpo/Young Adam), Danyel Fulton (Nettie), Jason Shavers (Ol Mister), Saige Smith (Squeak), Cassia Hawkins (Young Celie), Keirsten Hodgens (Jarene), Saniya Lavelle (Young Nettie), Brady D. Patsy (Pa/Buster), Carlwell K. Redmon (Grady), Tripp Taylor (Prison Guard/Bobby), Jennifer Leigh Warren (Doris), Akron Lanier Watson (Mister), Savannah Lee Birdsong (Darline), and Nazear N. Brown (Adam), with Melessie Clark, Aamar-Malik Culbreath, Samantha A. Nelson, and Chanel Stone, opens at Pittsburgh CLO.
Midnight in the Garden of Evil, world premiere by Jason Robert Brown & Taylor Mac, directed by Rob Ashford, featuring J. Harrison Ghee (The Lady Chablis), Tom Hewitt (Jim Williams), Sierra Boggess (Emma Dawes), Lance Roberts (Bobby Lewis), Austin Colby (Danny Hansford), Bailee Endebrock (Corrine Strong), Shanel Bailey (Lavella Cole), Jessica Molaskey (Alma Knox Carter), Brianna Buckley (Minerva), Mary Ernster (Serena Barnes/Dawn Avery), McKinley Carter (Vera Strong), Maya Bowles (Stacey Brown), DeMarius Copes (Jeremiah Jones), Sean Donovan (Luther Driggers), Jason Michael Evans (Colonel Atwood/Burt), Christopher Kelley (Bubbles/Gregory), Andre Terrell Malcolm (Josiah Domingo), Aaron James McKenzie (Jethro Myles), Wes Olivier (Jack the One-Eyed Jill), Kayla Marie Shipman (Millicent/Mary), and Rory Shirley (Stefanie Davis), with Calvin L. Cooper, Daryn Whitney Harrell, Kayla Kennedy, Jake DiMaggio Lopez, and Justin Thomas Rivers, begins previews at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.
Master Class, directed by Lisa Peterson, featuring Vicki Lewis, Stella Kim, Olivia Hernandez, Rodney Ingram, Brett Ryback, and Ben Rauch, begins previews at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre.
Musical Theatre Guild‘s Broadway Time Capsule 1996 concert, directed by Will Collyer & Susan Edwards Martin, featuring Eileen Barnett, Roger Befeler, Jennifer Bennett, Teri Bibb, Bryan Chesters, Will Collyer, Joshua Finkel, Tal Fox, Julie Garnye, Kim Huber, Maura Knowles, Ashley Linton, Susan Edwards Martin, Kevin Matsumoto, Tonoccus McClain, Dana Meller, Barbara Minkus, Chelsea Morgan Stock, Gabriel Navarro, Trance Thompson, Diane Vincent, Paul Wong, Robert Yacko, and David Zack, at 7 PM at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club.
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A Little Night Music in Concert will run June 27-29 at Lincoln Center, directed by Marc Bruni, with choreography by Josh Prince, and conducted by Jonathan Tunick.
Susan Graham, Cynthia Erivo, Marsha Mason, Ruthie Ann Miles, Ron Raines, Kerstin Anderson, Jonathan Christopher, Jason Gotay, Ellie Fishman, Jin Ha, Addie Harrington, Shuler Hensley, Samantha Hill, Andrea Jones-Sojola, and Ross Lekites.
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Darko Tresnjak & Oran Eldor’s Ask for the Moon will run July 19 – Aug. 11 (opening Aug. 7) at CT’s Goodspeed, directed by Tresnjak, with choreography by Karla Puno Garcia, and music direction by Ian Axness.
Jamison Stern (Schroeder/Persimmon?Misha/Grider), Luba Mason (Helene Huber), Ali Ewoldt (Clair), and Alex Dreschke (The Body Double).
Set sail on the Jewel of the Sea ocean liner with a scheming widow, a vengeful lawyer, and a volatile nurse. Enjoy the vocal stylings of Misha and Grisha, the squabbling Carpathian twins. Get the latest fashion tips from Persimmon De Vol, stylist par excellence. But only venture into the Poseidon Suite at your own peril… Madness and hilarity abound in a diabolical new musical comedy that is sure to make waves. Bon voyage!
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The 4th annual In the Works∼In the Woods will run Sept. 6-8 at NY’s Forestburgh Playhouse, featuring staged readings of new musicals. Casting and creative teams TBA.
Rebel Genius, by Matthew Punkett, directed by Noah Himmelstein. The play crashes physics and love into one another as Albert Einstein and Mileva Maric fall madly in love, risking everything to find a perfect theory of the universe. The show is a contemporary exploration into the heart of a genius torn between ambition and love.
Palimpsest, by Alix Sobler, directed by Kimberly Senior. A self-referential, meta-comedy about who gets to tell what story, what it means to create art based on real events, and what we owe each other when it comes to telling the truth.
Roja, by Jaime Lozana & Tommy Newman, directed by Florencia Cuenca. The play crashes physics and love into one another as Albert Einstein and Mileva Maric fall madly in love, risking everything to find a perfect theory of the universe. The show is a contemporary exploration into the heart of a genius torn between ambition and love.
I Want To Be Good (solo show), written & performed by Michael Mastro, directed by Jack Cummings III. In the summer of ’75, a quirky but enthusiastic small town altar boy with Broadway dreams struggles to balance two relationships: one with God, and the other with the superstar priest who’s just arrived at Sacred Heart Church.
Catskills Cab Lab returns with Sidney DuPont & Alyssa Payne. The life and legacy of icon Sammy Davis Jr.
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Concord Theatrical Recording has released the original cast recording of MCC Theater’s The Connector, by Jason Robert Brown. The album is now available on digital platforms worldwide.
Click here to stream or download the album, as well as purchase digital sheet music.
Scott Bakula, Max Crumm, Hannah Cruz, Ashley Pérez Flanagan, Danielle Lee Greaves, Mylinda Hull, Daniel Jenkins, Jessica Molaskey, Fergie Philippe, Eliseo Román, Ben Levi Ross, Ann Sanders, and Michael Winther.
The story of two talented young journalists: a fast-rising writer who must confront how far he’ll go for the ultimate scoop, and an editor who must decide how far she’ll go to stop him.
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Manhattan Theatre Club has announced 3 world premieres as part of its 2024-25 season:
Bad Kreyol (Fall 2024), by Dominique Morisseau, directed by Tiffany Nachole Greene. A world premiere about interrogating cultural identity and global impact. Simone, first generation Haitian-American, and her cousin Gigi, Haitian born and raised, reunite to honor their grandmother’s dying wish for them to reconnect. Simone’s pilgrimage back to her ancestral homeland forces both cousins to confront their differing world views.
We Had a World (begins 2025 — dates TBA), by Joshua Harmon, directed by Trip Cullman. A dying woman calls her grandson and asks him to write a play about their family. “But I want you to promise something,” she said. “Make it as bitter and vitriolic as possible.”
Dakar 2000 (begins 2025 — dates TBA), by Rajiv Joseph, directed by May Adrales. In Senegal on the eve of Y2K, an idealistic Peace Corps volunteer survives a mysterious car accident. An imposing State Department operative arrives at his hospital where she immediately takes command of the situation and his safety. Though they couldn’t be more different, they form an unlikely relationship. But when it becomes clear that they both have secrets, the volunteer is roped into a darker side of public service – one he can’t come back from
…and one more Broadway production TBA.
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Newsies will run July 12-28 (opens July 13) at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West, directed & choreographed byJeffry Denman, with music direction by Ryan O’Connell.
Dillon Klena (Jack Kelly), Monika Peña (Katherine Plummer), David Engel (Joseph Pulitzer), Dominique Kent (Medda Larkin), Tom Avery (Crutchie), Jaylen Baham (Davey), Colton Jackson Hutzley (Les), Taven Blanke (Race), Anthony Cannarella (Elmer), Skylar Gaines (Delancey), David Kirk Grant (Snyder), William Hartery (Jacoby/Roosevelt), Bill Ledesma (Mayor), Darnell Myers (Specs), Shiloh Orr (Seitz), Corey Rieger (Wiesel/Nunzio), Alex Riley (Bunsen), and more…
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Davóne Tines’ ROBESON will run June 26 – 29 (opening on June 27) on Little Island, directed by Zack Winokur.
Davóne Tines
Tines grapples with the legacy of a hero. Exploding the diverse and dynamic musical repertoire of Paul Robeson, Tines takes us on a trip from the stage of Carnegie Hall to a Moscow hotel room, in an attempt to understand an icon through his own words.
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RIP: Actress Donna Theodore died recently at the age of 82. Click here for her biography.