Today’s Highlights:
Hamlet, starring Eddie Izzard, opens at Off-Broadway’s Orpheum Theatre.
Bathhouse.PPTX, world premiere written & directed by Chay Yew, featuring Sam Gonzalez (Presenter), Claudia Acosta (Chela), Manuel C. Alcazar (Daniel), Esteban Andres Cruz (Mx. Vazquez), Yonatan Gebeyehu (Shaun), and Gilbert Diego Sanchez (Carlos), opens at Off-Broadway’s The Flea.
Lempica, by Carson Kreitzer & Matt Gould, directed by Rachel Chavkin, featuring Eden Espinosa (Tamara de Lempicka), Amber Iman (Rafaela), Andrew Samonsky (Taduesz Lempi), George Abud (Marinetti), Natlalie Joy Johnson (Suzy Solidor), Zoe Glick (Kizette), Nathaniel Stamply (Baron), and Beth Leavel (Baroness), with Mariand Torres, Alex Aquilino, Lauren Blackman, Stephen Brower, Kyle Brown, Holli’ Conway, Abby Matsusaka, Jimin Moon, Khori Michelle Petinaud, Ximone Rose, Nicholas Ward, Veronica Fiaoni, Michael Milkanin, Mary Page Nance, and Julio Rey, begins previews at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre.
Long Day’s Journey Into Night, directed by Jeremy Herrin, featuring Brian Cox (James Tyrone), Patricia Clarkson (Mary Tyrone), Alex Lawther (Edmund), Daryl McCormack (James Jr.), and Louis Harland (Cathleen), begins previews at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre.
The Sons of Erin free reading, by Alicia Sheridan Le Fanu, directed by Nicola Murphy Dubey & Emily Lyon, featuring Max Baker, Desiree Baxter, Patrice Johnson Chevannes, Gilbert Cruz, Ethan Davenport, Dorothea Gloria, Cloteal Horne, Owen Laheen, Shane McNaughton, Sarah Street, Stephen Quinn, and Zoe Watkins, at 7 PM at Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep. 
required here.
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Reviews for An Enemy of the People at Broadway’s Circle in the Square:
NY Times (Jesse Green): Dissent is necessary to democracy, sure. But how much does it cost? That’s the fundamental question posed by Henrik Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People” — and, in highly dramatic fashion, by the preview I attended… How the satire becomes the tragedy is central to the power of Ibsen’s dramatic construction, overriding its occasional plot contrivances. To emphasize the transition, Gold begins with the warmth of gaslight and candlelight camaraderie… How the satire becomes the tragedy is central to the power of Ibsen’s dramatic construction, overriding its occasional plot contrivances…
Variety (Daniel D’Addario): At various points in An Enemy of the People, the Jeremy Strong-led production of Henrik Ibsen’s classic, the greatest entertainment comes from watching the faces opposite you. That’s not a critique of director Sam Gold’s work. It’s hard to think of a show that could put to better use the unique in-the-round structure of Circle in the Square Theatre than this one. In the story, society closes in on and consumes an innocent man; in the staging, we the audience are society… As adapted by playwright Amy Herzog, the script has been substantially altered… It’s a duel that pits earnestness against shamelessness — and if the outcome to that faceoff seems predictable from countless examples in our own world, it’s no less engaging to watch…
Hollywood Reporter (David Rooney): In a clever trick that pulls us into the community about to witness the spectacular downfall of the public figure crusading for truth at the center of An Enemy of the People, a bar descends from above during the pause between acts, with theatergoers filing onto the stage to be served shots of aquavit while musicians and singers perform traditional Norwegian songs…Sam Gold’s crackling production up to that point has been deceptively traditional, handsomely staged…with a first act that sets the scene for festering conflict in the warmth and cozy domesticity of Stockmann’s home, lit by oil lamps and trafficked by a steady flow of drop-in dinner guests. Unlike some of Gold’s revivals that have staged classic texts in modern dress, the setting here remains a small town in late 19th century Norway. But the issues stirred up by Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 drama have queasy echoes in contemporary America….
New York Daily News (Chris Jones): … there is some irony to the palpable frisson of excitement at Broadway’s Circle in the Square that accompanies the entrance of Jeremy Strong, the intense and phenomenally talented American actor who shot to fame on that TV show playing a neurotic narcissist, but who now essays a character with more in common with Bernie Sanders than a scion of Rupert Murdoch… Actually, Strong’s creation is most like the AIDS activist Larry Kramer, who didn’t give a darn which bathhouse owners he offended as he read the science and saw a deadly future… And it will come as no surprise that Strong, under the direction of Sam Gold, dives deep, way deep, into his waters….
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Original Theatre will present Adrian Lukis’ Being Mr. Wickham June 5-22 (opening June 10) at the Jermyn Street Theatre, directed by Guy Unsworth.
Adrian Lukis
The play explores one of Jane Austen’s most charmingly roguish characters. Set on the eve of George Wickham’s 60th birthday, he lifts the sheets on what happened 30 years on from where we left him to discover his own version of some famous literary events.
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Ben Platt: Live at the Palace will run May 28 – June 15 at NYC’s Palace Theatre, celebrating his upcoming album, “Honeymind,” directed by Michael Arden.
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Hair will run Apr. 16 – July 7 at DC’s Signature Theatre, directed by Matthew Gardiner, with choreography by Ashleigh King, and music direction by Angie Benson.
Jordon Dobson (Claude), Olivia Puckett (Sheila), and Mason Reeves (Berger), Susannah Blackwell (Lorrie), Patrick Leonardo Casimir (Walter), AlexDe Bard (Emmaaretta), Jamie Goodson (Suzannah/Mother), Caroline Graham (Crissy), Noah Israel (Woof), Amanda Lee (Dionne), Keenan McCarter (Steve/Father), Nolan Montgomery (Jonathan/Margaret Mead), Nora Palka (Jeanie), and Solomon Parker III (Hud), Gregeroy Twomey (Paul/Hubert), with Garvey X. Dobbins, Lily Gilan James, Nia Alyana Meeks, and Ethan Turbyfill.
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Video: Sky Lakota-Lynch performs “Stay Gold” from Broadway’s The Outsiders.
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Open Door Playhouse, which soffers plays in podcast form, will present Siobhán Donnellan’s Chasing Butterflies beginning Apr. 17, directed by Bernadette Armstrong.
Jane and David Calvillo.
A male nurse and a female retail worker meet on a park bench. As they get to know each other, they find they have more in common than they originally thought. The encounter freshens their respective outlooks.
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Boston’s Lyric Stage Company will present The Drowsy Chaperone Apr. 5 – May 12, directed & choreographed by Larry Sousa, with music direction by Matthew Stern.
Joy Clark, Yasmeen Duncan, Kristian Espiritu, Danny Feldman, Maureen Keiller, Mark Linehan, Cristhian Mancinas-García, Paul Melendy, Katie Pickett, Nick Potts, Ilyse Robbins, Kathy St. George, Carolyn Saxon, Damon Singletary, Jared Troilo, and Todd Yar.
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. Introducing Billy Barnes – A Benefit Concert for the Billy Barnes Foundation will take place Sun. Apr. 7 at 1 PM at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club, with music direction by Todd Schroder, and hosted by Bruce Vilanch. 
here. ($35 for cover + 2-items or brunch minimum).
Cortés Alexander, Eileen Barnett, Kay Cole, Nancy Dussault, Shelly Goldstein, Jane A. Johnston, Jackie Joseph, Roslyn Kind, Shawn Ryan, Todd Sherry, Joanne Tatham and Jo Anne Worley.
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Video: Graham Phillips, Talia Suskauer, and more, perform a new dance-infused Sunday in the Park with George at NJ’s Axelrod Performing Arts Center.
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Two readings of Andrew Stein’s Way Out East will take place Thurs. Mar. 21 at 11:30 AM & 3 PM at NYC’s Open Jar Studios, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt. wayouteastplay@gmail.com
Richard Topol, Maddie Corman, Ava Yaghmaie, MaYaa Boateng, and David T. Patterson.
A dark comedy set amidst the sunshine of August in a tiny beach enclave in the Hamptons, Way Out East delves into the lives of those who breathe the rarified air of privilege. As life appears close to perfect for these one percenters, a minor indiscretion spirals into a significant upheaval, forcing them to confront their assumptions about class and race in what becomes their worst summer ever.
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LA’s Center Theatre Group will present its CTG: The Gala 2024 on Sun. Apr. 28.
The event will showcase an excerpt from the show that started the theatre’s 27-year partnership, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, performed by dancers of his company, New Adventures, followed by an after party on Jerry Moss Plaza.
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Million Dollar Quartet will run Apr. 12-28 (opening Apr. 13) at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West, directed by Tim Seib, with music direction by David Lamoureux.
Will Riddle (Carl Perkins), David Lee Elkins (Johnny Cash), Garrett Forrestal (Jerry Lee Lewis), L J Benet (Elvis Presley), Summer Breer (Dyanne), Benny Lipson (Jay “Brother Jay” Perkins), Lonn Hayes (W.S. “Flude” Holland), and Adam Poole (Sam Phillips).