Today’s Highlights:
Manhattan Theatre Club‘s Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, directed by Matthew Bourne, featuring Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga, Jacob Dickey, Kevin Earley, Jasmine Forsberg, Kate Jennings Grant, Bonnie Langford, Beth Leavel, Gavin Lee, Jason Pennycooke, Joanna Riding, Jeremy Secomb, Kyle Selig, Maria Wirries, Daniel Yearwood, Paige Faure, Alexa Lopez, Greg Mills and Peter Neureuther, opens at Broadway’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
Theatre People, by Paul Slade Smith, directed by Mark Shanahan, featuring Joe Delafilield, Mia Dillon, Keir Dullea, Anne Keefe, and Michael McCormick, opens at CT’s Westport Country Playhouse.
**********************
Kimberly Belflower’s John Procter is the Villain, currently in previews, will open Apr. 14 at the Booth Theatre, directed by Danya Taymor
Sadi Sink (Shelby Holcomb), Nihar Duvvuri (Mason Adams), Gabriel Ebert (Carter Smith), Molly Griggs (Bailey Gallagher), Maggie Kuntz (Ive Watkins) Hatan Oliveras (Lee Turner), Morgan Scott (Nell Shaw), fina Strazza (Beth Powel), and Amalia Yoo (Ralynn Nix), with Noah Pacht, Fiona Robberson, Shian Tomlinson, Garrett Young, and Victoria Vourkoutiotis.
Five young women running on pop music, optimism, and fury, are about to shed light on some of the darkest secrets in their one stoplight town.
**********************
Goodspeed‘s Gala & Auction will take place Sat. May 17 at 3 PM.
Bill Berloni.
Creative team and cast TBA.
**********************
This year’s Fire Island Dance Festival, in support of Dancers Responding to AIDs, will run July 19 -20.
Click here for details.
**********************
LA’s Rogue Machine has extended its run of Sophie Swithinbank’s Bacon through Apr. 13, directed by Michael Matthews.
Wesley Guimarães (Mark) and Jack Lancaster (Darren).
This story takes an unflinching and unexpectedly humorous look at power and sexuality, through the dizzying lens of youth. Mark is new at school and too scared to make friends. Darren is out of control and too scary to make friends. Worlds apart, but more similar than they realize, the pair form a complex and manipulative relationship. Before they know it, they’re embarking on a dangerous experiment that will alter the course of their lives.
**********************
Theatre Rocks! will take place Sat. Apr. 5 at 8 PM at LA’s Theatre West.
Rock out to the music of 53 Trees featuring Grace Marquez and David P. Johnson; Bobby Bognar (acoustic); and Cat Chemist featuring Bobby Cox (acoustic).
**********************
DC’s Signature Theatre will present the annual Stephen Sondheim Award to Mandy Patinkin on Mon. Apr. 14 at The Anthem, directed by Matthew Gardiner.
Ben Platt, Nathan Gunn, Ángel Lozada, Tracy Lynn Olivera, and Awa Sal Secka.
**********************
CA’s La Mirada Theatre has announced its 2025-26 season:
Creative teams and casting TBA.
Come From Away (Sept. 19 — Oct. 2)
Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Oct. 31 – Nov. 23)
Sweeney Todd (Jan. 30 – Feb. 22, 2026)
Mean Girls (Apr. 10 – May 3)
Anastasia (June 5 – 28,):
**********************
The Actors’ Gang will present the world premiere of How to Fall Apr. 7 – May 3, written, directed & performed by Ron Campbell.
What kind of feelings does success engender? Usually Envy. Jealousy. Resentment. Whereas failure has the potential to elicit Compassion. Connection. Surprise. and perhaps most important: Empathy. And the reason we have empathy when we see someone fail is because we know. We know we are not alone.
**********************
Broadway Bound Gala will take place Fri. May 30 at Pittsburg CLO, which will include the premiere performance of Lisette Glodowski & Richard C. Walter’s Madame Clicquo.
Creative team and casting TBA
Set during the French revolution and Napoleonic era, this is the remarkable true story of a young woman who defied societal expectations to become one of the most powerful forces in the history of Champagne. In 1789, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin flees her boarding school as revolution engulfs France. A decade later, an arranged marriage to François Clicquot, the son of her father’s business rival, unexpectedly leads to an innovative partnership in winemaking. But when tragedy strikes, she faces an impossible choice – surrender to fate or risk everything to change the industry forever. With innovation, resilience, and a bold gamble that could make or break her legacy, she takes on the male-dominated world of Champagne, transforming the industry and securing her place in history.
**********************
The world premiere of How to Fail, written, directed & performed by Ron Campbell, will run Apr. 17 – May 7 at the Actors Gang Theatre.
Renowned actor, poet, co-founder of The Actors’ Gang and former Cirque du Soleil clown, Ron Campbell challenges the notion of perfection and celebrates the art of failing. Through a mix of stand-up comedy, poetry, history, and heartfelt confessionals, Campbell invites the audience to embrace imperfection in a world that often values success above all else. How to Fail is not just a show about failing—it’s a celebration of the rawness and vulnerability that comes with it.
**********************
Gingold Theatrical Group will present a scrip-in-hand performance of Noël Coward’s Hay Fever on Mon. Apr. 14 at 7 PM at Off-Broadway’s The Players, directed by Charles Andress.
Charles Busch (Judith Bliss), Thomas Hewitt (David Bliss), Evie Shuckman (Sorel Bliss), rodd Cyrus (Simon Bliss), Dan Domingues (Sandy Tyrell), Jennifer Van Dyck (Myra Aundel), David Staller (Richard Greatham), Jennifer Cody (Jackie Coryton), and Annie Golden (Clara).
The play follows the Bliss family, a group of eccentric and theatrical individueals, as the host four houseguests who are quickly overwhelmed by the family’s chaotic and self-absorbed behavior.
**********************
The Songbook Sundays concert series created and hosted by Deborah Grace Winer to celebrate the American Songbook, will continue Apr. 6 at 5 & 7:30 PM at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club, offering two performances celebrating the work of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, with music direction by Ted Rosenthal.
Debby Boonie, Nikki Renée Daniels, and Charles Turner.
**********************
Operation Mincemeat, by Mr. Cumming, Felix Hagan, Ms. Hodgson & Ms. Roberts has been extended through Feb. 15, 2026 at Broadway’s Golden Theatre.
David Cumming, Claire-Marie Hall, Natasha Hodgson, Jak Malone, and Zoë Roberts
It’s 1943, and the Allied Forces are on the ropes. Luckily, they’ve got a trick up their sleeve. Well, not up their sleeve, per se, but rather inside the pocket of a stolen corpse. Equal parts farce, thriller, and Ian Fleming-style spy caper (with an assist from Mr. Fleming himself), the play tells the wildly improbable and hilarious true story of the covert operation that turned the tide of WWII.
