Today’s Highlights:
Vanya, radically adapted solo presentation by Simon Stephens, directed by Sam Yates, featuring Andrew Scott, opens at Off-Broadway’s Lucille Lortel Theatre.
The Last Five Years, directed by Whitney White, featuring Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren, begins previews at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre.
Boy George (Harold Zidler) returns to Moulin Rouge at Broadway’s Al Hirschfeld Theatre.
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Parade will run June 17 – July 12 at the Ahmanson Theatre, directed by Michael Arden.
Max Chernin (Leo Frank), Talia Suskauer (Lucille Frank), Griffin Binnicker (Tom Watson), Evan Harrington (Old Soldier/Judge Roan), Ramone Nelson (Jim Conley), Jack roden (Frankie Epps), Andrew Samonsky (Hugh Dorsey), Chris Shyer (Governor Slaton), Michael Tacconi (Britt Craig), Alison Ewing (Sally Salton), Olivia Goosman (Mary Phagan), Jenny Hickman (Mrs. Phagan), Oluchi Nwaokurie (Mrs. Phagan), Oluchi Waokorie (Angela), Robert Knight (Newt Lee), Rentiss E. Mouton (Riley), Danielle Lee Greaves (Minnie McKnightz), Ben Cherington (Officer Ivey), Emily Rose DeMartino (Essie), Bailee Endbrock (Monteen), Caroline Fairweather (Nurse), Trevor James (Young Soldier),Sophia Manicone (Iola Stover), Trista Moldovan (Nina Formby), Ethan Riordan (Mr. Turner), Brian Vaughn (Luther Rosser/Mr. Peavy), and Jason Simon (Det. Starnes), with William Bishop, Jerquintez A. Gipson, Brianna Javis, Benjamin Magnuson, Jodi Snyder, Eden Witvoet, and Jake Ziman.
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Lonne Elder III’s Ceremonies in Dark Old Men will run Apr. 11 – May 18 (opening Apr. 18) at Theatre at St. Clements, directed by Clinton Turner Davis.
Norm Lewis
It’s New York in the 1950s. Russell Parker, a ne’er-do-well barber and the widowed father of three adult children, spends his days playing checkers and reminiscing about his life in vaudeville as a song and dance man. His two sons, Theo and Bobby, are dreamers of a different sort – a pair of petty criminals looking for a “score” in the form of ill-conceived and dangerous bootlegging and numbers schemes. Russell’s daughter, Adele, the only gainfully employed member of the family, eventually threatens to walk out, refusing to work herself into an early grave like her mother. When Adele’s long-simmering resentments boil over and the boys’ criminal enterprise falls apart, tragic consequences ensue for the whole family.
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Othello, now in previews at Broadway’s Barrymore Theatre, starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, has broken the record for top-grossing play in Broadway history with a gross of $2,818,297.00 for eight performances.
The previous record was held by Harry Potter and the Cursed Child which grossed $2,718,488 for the week ending Dec 31, 2023.
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Mara Véles Meléndez’ Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members will run Apr. 25 – May 17 (opening May 1) at CT’s Yale Rep, directed by Javier Antonio González.
Christine Carmela (Lolita) and Samora la Perdida (Receptionist).
Early one morning, Lolita, a young Boricua trans woman, arrives at a suspicious (let’s say evil) Wall Street office with a mission: to take down all seven members of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board. Much to her surprise, the receptionist who welcomes her has, more than a story to tell, a show to put on. A revenge saga giving existential drag extravaganza, Mara Vélez Meléndez’s subversively funny play takes aim at the unelected officials who think they know what’s best for the people—and for our own bodies—and the elected ones who appoint them.
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Sadec 1965: A Love Story, written & performed by Flora Le will take place Fri. Apr. 11 at 7 PM at Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row.
Motorcycle Diaries” meets “Eat, Pray, Love” set in Vietnam.
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“MCC Theater’s Miscast: The Studio Sessions” will be available for streaming beginning Fri. Mar. 28, featuring new studio recordings of iconic performances from MISCAST through the years.
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Video: Eva Noblezada performs “Go the Distance,” from Hercules.
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All the Beauty in The World, written & performed by Patrick Bringley, will run Mar. 27 – May 18 (opening at Apr. 7) at Off-Broadway’s DR2 Theatre, directed by Dominic Dromgoole.
A portrait of one man’s life through a time of transition. While looking for somewhere to contemplate his life and heal from his brother’s death, Patrick quits his high-profile journalism career at The New Yorker and seeks refuge in the most beautiful place he can think of: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Through his job as a Museum Guard, Patrick starts his life anew, all while falling under the spell of the place and the people he meets there. As his connection to the art around him grows, so does Patrick, until he gradually emerges… transformed by all the beauty.
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Jim Barne and Kit Buchan’s Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) will run May 20 – June 29 at Cambridge’s A.R.T., directed by Tim Jackson.
Jim Barne and Kit Buchan.
A naïve and impossibly upbeat Brit, Dougal, has just landed in New York for his dad’s second wedding—the dad he’s never known. Robin, the sister of the bride, is at the airport to pick him up—and she’s late for work. Hungry for an adventure in the city he’s only seen in movies, Dougal hopes native New Yorker Robin will be his guide. Taking inspiration from traditional rom-coms, this “fresh, funny, ironic, and inventive” (The Observer) new musical balances life’s sweetness and struggle as Dougal and Robin discover the meaningful impact on each of their lives a stranger can make.
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Muse/Que 2025: Make Some Noise: Music and Stories of American Defiance and Hope will run Mar. 21-23 at the Mark Taper Forum, with music directed by Rachael Worby.
Brandon Victor Dixon and the DC6 Singers Collective.
For the first few decades of his career, Ray Charles electrified with his genius knack for blending gospel, blues, jazz, rock and soul. Then, in 1972, the ultimate musical trailblazer did something even he’d never done before: he infused his work with an anthemic message of empathy at a time when we really needed it. With his album “A Message from the People,” and its cornerstone reinterpretation of “America The Beautiful,” Charles expressed his own vision of America—confronting our contradictions and lighting a path back toward our ideals.
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Billy Barns’ Bash, in support of the Billy Barnes Foundation. will take place Sun. Apr. 27 at 1 Pm at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club, directed by Kay Cole, with music direction by Michael Orland.
Jason Graae
Owen Bakula, Eileen Barnett, Carly Hughes, Jane A. Johnston, Jackie Joseph, Maude Maggart, Mark Arthur Miller, Joanne O’Brien, Shawn Ryan, Todd Sherry, Mary VanArsdel and Jo Anne Worley.
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Harmony, the annual gala benefit for NYC’s Gay Men’s Chorus will take place Mon. Mar. 31 t 6:30 PM at the Edison Ballroom, hosted by Julie Halston.
George Takei, Seth Rudetsky & James Wesley Jackson, and Kelsey Louie.
Lea Salonga, Aaron J. Albano, Claybourne Elder, Daniel Reichard, and Jenn Colella.
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Ragtime will run Apr. 25 – June 15 (opening May 7) at CT’s Goodspeed Musicals, directed by Sara Edwards with choreography by Christopher Betts, and music direction by Adam Souza.
Mamie Parris (Mother), Michael Wordly (Coalhouse Walker Jr.), David R. Gordon (Tateh), Brennyn Lark (Sarah), Edward Watts (Father), Behr Marshall (Younger Brother), Sawyer Delaney (Little Boy),and Sofie Nesanelis (Little Girl), with Jordan Alexander, Shaunice Maudlyn Alexander, Mia Bergstrom, Tommy Betz, Jodi Bluestein, Yophi Adia Bost, Jonathan Cobrda, Jalyn Crosby, Joseph Fierberg, Mia Gerachis, Blair Goldberg, Nathan Haltiwanger, Benjamin H. Moore, Jeremiah Valentino Porter, Rory Shirley, Stephen Tewksbury, Matt Wall, Henry H. Miller, Xavier Turner, and Robin Louise Miller.
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An Evening with Stacy Keach will take place Sun. Apr. 13 at 6 PM at LA’s Theatre 40.
Mr. Keach will be interviewed by Maxwell Caulfield.
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The 2024 London production of Next to Normal will air Fri. May 9 at 9 PM on PBS, directed by Michael Longhurst.
Caissie Levy, Jamie Parker, Jack Wolfe, Eleanor Worthington-Cox, Trevor Dion Nicholas, and Jack Ofrecio.