Today’s Highlights:
Guys & Dolls, directed by Nicholas Hytner, featuring Daniel Mays (Nathan Detroit), Andrew Richardson (Sky Masterson), Celinde Schoenmaker (Sarah Brown), Marisha Wallace (Miss Adelaide), Cedric Neal (Nicely-Nicely Johnson), Cornelius Clarke (Lieutenant Brannigan), Cameron Johnson (Big Jule), Anthony O’donnell (Arvide Abernathy), Mark Oxtoby (Benny Southstreet), Adam Pearce (Harry the Horse), Ryan Pidgen (Rusty Charlie), and Katy Secombe (General Cartwright), with Simon Anthony, Lydia Bannister, Kathryn Barnes, Callum Bell, Cindy Belliot, Petrelle Dias, Ike Fallon, Leslie Garcia Bowman, George Ioannides, Robbie McMillan, Perry O’Dea, Charlotte Scott, Tinovimbanashe Sibanda, Isabel Snaas, Sasha Wareham, and Dale White, opens at London’s Bridge Theatre.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, by Rachel Sheinkin, Jay Reiss & William Finn, directed by Colin Hanlon, featuring Ally Bonino (Rona Lisa Peretti), Jordan Matthew Brown (William Barfee), Lila Coogan (Olive Ostrovsky), Coleman Steele Cummings (Chip Tolentino), Angel Lin (Logainne Schwartzandgrubeniere), Sammy Pignalosa (Leaf Coneybear), Aaron Michael Ray (Mitch Mahoney), Kilty Reidy (Douglas Panch), and Sumi Yu (Marcy Park), with Izzy Figueroa and Gillian Hassert, opens at NJ’s George Street Playhouse.
Vineyard Theatre‘s White Girl in Danger, world premiere by Michael R. Jackson, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, featuring Liz Lark Brown (Diane W/Barbara W/Judith W), Kayla Davion (Florence), Latoya Edwards (Keesha Gibbs), Jennifer Fouché (Abilene), Morgan Siobhan Green (Carolline), Molly Hager (Megan White), Vincent Jamal Hooper (Tarik Blackwell), James Jackson, Jr. (Clarence), Tarra Conner Jones (Nell Gibbs), Alyse Alan Louis (Maegan Whithall), Lauren Marcus (Maegan Whitehead), and Eric William Morris (Matthew S/Scott M/ Zack Paul Gosselar), with LaDonna Burns, Melessie Clark, Alexis Cofield, Shane Donovan, Jon-Michael Reese, and Natalie Walker, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Tony Kiser Theatre.
Black Superhero, by Danny Lee Wynter, directed by Daniel Evans, featuring Ben Allen, Dyllón Burnside, Dominic Holmes, Eloka Ivo, Danny Lee Wynter, Ako Mitchel, and Rochenda Sandall, begins previews at London’s Royal Court Theatre.
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Reviews for The Coast Starlight at Off-Broadway’s Lincoln Center Theatre:
NY Times (Alexis Soloski): …A gentle, rueful play, directed with a steady and sympathetic hand by Tyne Rafaeli… Narrow, nimble, self-contained, the ride it offers is as smooth as it is wistful. Because Bunin…knows that any trip involves leaving something or someone behind… Mia Barron, in a brazen, audacious performance that earns midshow applause… Much of the play is written in the past conditional — “If I had told you,” “If I had known” — illuminating Bunin’s interest in the care that might have been tendered, the humanity that might have been shown if only the characters had been brave and vulnerable enough to reveal themselves to each other.
Theatermania (Zachary Stewart): [The play is] nice to have confirmation that I’m not the only person who forges imaginary relationships with my fellow train and airplane passengers… Dramatic potential overflows on Amtrak, and [playwright] Bunin takes full advantage in this achingly earnest, beautifully written drama about the trails we take and the paths we do not… a close examination of people in transition, not just from place to place, but between the status quo and what comes next… It’s partially an elegy for in-person society, an assertion that if we look up from our screens and pay attention, we can actually discern a lot about our fellow travelers.
New York Stage Review (Frank Sheck): …Nothing of any real consequence happens in The Coast Starlight, except that we get to know and thoroughly enjoy the company of its characters — who never get to know each other except in their imaginations… We learn this intimate information via monologues delivered by all of the characters and conversations that take place among them. Except, as we soon figure out, their interactions are all in their heads, as they imagine each other’s situations and what they might have said to each other if they had the nerve… t could all come across as very precious, the playful machinations of an omniscient playwright putting his characters through arbitrary paces. But it somehow works, thanks to the empathetic characterizations and resonant dialogue that makes all of the figures appealing.
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Reviews for How to Defend Yourself at Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop:
NY Times (Maya Phillips): … as the play progresses, almost exclusively in these defense classes, it feels as if the playwright is struggling to figure out where, and with whom, she should set the play’s highest stakes… For as much as the play aims to engage the audience in a fly-on-the-wall view of a group of people…it still neglects to provide the necessary context to make the pre-existing relationships and the character arcs feel real… Like the script, the direction occasionally taps into what makes these characters unique… The show’s stylistic breaks from reality — brief interludes of choreographed fighting or dance, like one character’s beautifully articulated dance to Beyoncé’s “Formation” — also bring color and vitality to the play…
Theatermania (Hayley Levitt): …[The play] questions the permanent consequences of a workplace indiscretion… stands out as the gold standard of plays about the murky sexual battleground that is the college campus…. directed beautifully in its New York premiere by Tony winner Rachel Chavkin, is surprisingly hilarious considering its dark subject matter… the play starts from the unblinking premise: “Your body is a weapon.” The urgent question that follows is how can a bunch of live grenades safely navigate the world?… Padilla brings authenticity and humor to these charged conversations while lacing them with subtle commentary about the role of race and class in the power imbalances that often infiltrate sex…
The Wrap (Thom Geler): … Lilana Padilla’s brilliantly nuanced How to Defend Yourself… Through sharp dialog laced with humor, Padilla creates a roomful of believable personalities… Padilla, who also co-directs with Rachel Chavkin and Steph Paul (the latter also choreographed the movement in the athletic self-defense workout sections), creates some indelible scenes in a smooth, fleet-footed 100 minutes, and pries grounded, naturalistic performances out of her young cast… boldly taps into foundational questions about the lack of clear direction for Gen Zers as they try to navigate their conflicting desire for intimate connection and self-preservation
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Sandy Rustin’s The Cottage will run July 7 – Oct. 29 (opening July 24) at the Hayes Theater, directed by Jason Alexander.
Eric McCormack, Laura Bell Bundy, Lilli Cooper, Alex Moffatt, Dana Steingold, and more TBA.
Inspired by Noël Coward, the play is set in the English countryside in 1923 as Sylvia decides to come clean with her affair to both her husband and her lover’s wife.
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Donald Harron & Norman Cambell’s Anne of Green Gables – The Musical and Matt Vinson & Matte O’Brien’s Anne of Green Gables: A New Musical has gone to court to keep it’s name.
Click here to read more.
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& 
Maestra Music’s Amplify 2023 live & livestream benefit concert, written, directed & hosted by Kate Baldwin, will take place Mon. Mar. 27 at 8 PM at NYC’s Chelsea Music Hall.
Kate Baldwin, Ellie Biron, Emily Borromeo, Kennedy Caughell, Tyler Hardwick, Bre Jackson, Gizel Jimeniz, Andy Kelso, Claire Kwon, Abby Mueller, Bryonha Marie Parham, Nicholas Rodriguez, Zoe Sarnak, Blake Stadnik, Katie Thompson, and Alysha Umphress.
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“Escaping Ohio,” based on the short film of the same name, written & directed by Jessica Michael Davis, is in development and will be released on a date TBA. 
Click here to learn more.
Jesica Michael Davis, Adam Pascal, Emily Bergl, Collin Kelly-Sordelet, Carolyn Kang, Alexandria Benford, Emma Elle Paterson, Kylie Victoria Edwards, Lacey Caroline, Jordan Isaia Benford, Emma Elle Paterson, Kylie Victoria Edwards, Lacey Caroline, Jordan Isaiah White, Johnny Manibusan, Jeffrey Weber, Ben Jaeger-Thomas, and Cadden Jones.
It’s the summer between high school graduation and the rest of their lives in a small town in Akron, Ohio, Torn between a life of love with her best friend and pursuing her desire to live an adventurous life and realize her full potential, Sam struggles to make a decision as she tries to resist society’s notion that we must have it all figured out.
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Monet’s Garden The Immersive Experience has extended its run though Apr. 16 at 3o Wall Street in NYC. Click here for more information.
Visitors are guided through experiential galleries on Monet’s life and new experiences of his cherished masterpieces, and is enhanced by aromas of lavender wafting in the air and the romanticism of classical music to serenade visitors with an educational and enlightening multi-language narration in the The Showroom.
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All Arts streaming platform and TV channel will present a staged reading of the premiere of “Dangerous Acts, a House Seats” special, on Tues. Mar. 21 at 9 PM ET here on TV, as well as on the All Arts app, directed by Phylicia Rashad.
The event explores the work of two prolific African American playwrights, Mary P. Burrill and Willis Richardson, performed by Howard University students.
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New York Theatre Workshop has indefinitely postponed its production Clare Barron’s new adaptation of Three Sisters, directed by Sam Gold.
The cast was to have starred Oscar Isaac and Greta Gerwig, but scheduling issues interfered.
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TheaterWorks USA‘s Dog Man: The Musical, by Devin Del Aguila & Brad Alexander, directed & choreographed by Jen Wineman, continues through Apr. 30 at New World Stages.
Jessica Michael Davis, Collin Kelly-Sordelet, Emily Gergl, Adam Palcal, DeShawn Bowens, L.R. Davidson, Martin Landry, Jamie LaVerdier, Marcus Montgomery, Brian Owen, Dan Rosales, Crystal Sha’nae, and Markia Nicole Smith.
Best buds George and Harold have been creating comics for years, but now that they’re in 5th grade, they figure it’s time to level up and write a musical based on their favorite character, Dog Man, the crime-biting sensation who is part dog, part man, and ALL HERO!! How hard could it be?
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Robin Gerber’s The Shot will run Apr. 6-23 at Long Branch’s New Jersey Rep, directed by Michelle Joyner.
Sharon Lawrence.
The play focuses on Former Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham and that part of her life that is hard to look at and understand. Before becoming a publisher, Katharine was an abused wife, derided in public and beaten in private by her husband, who had inherited The Washington Post newspaper from Katherine’s father.
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Lea Michele has joined the cast for the Ragtime Benefit Reunion Concert, in support of The Entertainment Community Fund, which will take place Mon. Mar. 27 at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre, directed by Santino Fontana. 
The concert is sold out, but click here for any last-minute changes.
Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Lea Michele, Peter Friedman, Kelli O’Hara, Mark Aldrich, Shaun Amyot, John D. Baker, Dara Paige Bloomfield, Sandra M. Bonitto, Mark Cassius, Jamie Chandler-Torns, Albert Christmas, Dioni Michelle Collins, Jim Corti, Pierce Cravens, Larry Daggett, Bernard Dotson, Roberta Duchak, Donna Dunmire, Adam Dyer, Duane Martin Foster, Patty Goble, Darlene Bel Grayson, Elisa Heinsohn, David Hess, Rosena Hill, Adam Hunter, Mark Jacoby, Anne Kanengeiser, Judy Kaye, Mary Sharon Komarek (Dziedzic), Joe Langworth, Joe Locarro, Dan Manning, Michael X. Martin, Mary McCandless, Allyson Tucker Mitchell, Anne L. Nathan, Monica Patton (Richards), Lynette Perry, Orgena Rose, Gordon Stanley, Steven Sutcliffe, Todd Thurston, Vanessa Townsell-Crisp, Rema Webb, Leon Williams, Bruce Winant, and Eric Jordan Young.