Today’s Highlights:
Paolo Montalban (Florenz Ziegfeld) and Anne L. Nathan (Mrs. Strakosh), begin their runs in Funny Girl at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre.
According to the Chorus, by Arlene Hutton, directed by Chris Goutman, featuring Karen Ziemba (Audrey), Sofia Ayral-Hutton (Nicki), Dana Brooke (KJ), Joy Donze (Linda), Tabatha Gayle (Monica), Judy Hiller (Brenda), Brandon Jones (Peter), Ricki Lynée (Joyce), Kelly McCarty (Stacie), Kleo Mitrokostas (Jessica), Iraisa Ann Reilly (Mallory), and Will Sarratt (Van), with Kim Yancey Moore, Krista Grevas, and Olivia the Dog, opens at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theatres.
Hand to God, by Robert Askins, directed by Craig Wells, featuring Blake Kevin Dwyer (Timothy), Aleisha Force (Margery), Lea Madda (Jessica/Jolene), Kenny Stevenson (Pastor Greg), and Luke Wehner (Jason/Tyrone), opens at CA’s Coachella Valley Rep.
Death & Cold Cuts staged reading, by Garry Michael Kluger, directed by Arden Teresa Lewis, featuring Mary Elizabeth Somers, Amelia Vargas, Tammy Taylor, Anne Leyden, Ashley Taylor, Sardia Robinson, David Mingrino, and Liv Denevi, at 7:30 at LA’s Theatre West.
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NJ’s Paper Mill Playhouse (link TBA) has announced its 2023-24 season: Creative teams and casting TBA.
The Great Gatsby (Oct. 12 – Nov. 12), world premiere musical adaptation by Kait Kerrican, Jason Howland & Nathan Tysen, directed by Marc Bruni, with choreography by Dominique Kelley, and music direction by Daniel Edmonds.
Fiddler on the Roof (Dec. 6 – Jan. 7, 2024).
After Midnight (Jan. 31 – Feb. 25), conceived by Jack Viertel, featuring text by Langston Hughes & music by Duke Ellington, Jimmy McHugh, Harold Arlen, and more. 
The show will transport the audience to the Cotton Club of the Harlem Renaissance.
Gun & Powder (Apr. 4 – May 5), by Angelica Chéri & Ross Baum, directed by Stevie Walker-Webb. The musical is inspired by the true story of Mary and Martha Clarke, African American twin sisters who take extraordinary measures to settle their mother’s sharecropper debt and save her home.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (June 5-30), directed by Casey Hushion.
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& 
Kate Baldwin & Aaron Lazar: All for You will run Apr. 12-14 at 7 PM at 54 Below.
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Hansol Jung’s modern verse translation of Romeo and Juliet will transfer from NJ’s Two River Theater (which will run Apr. 8-30) to Off-Broadway’s Classic Stage Company (link TBA). Previews begin May 9, with an opening set for May 14), directed by Hansol Jung & Dustin Wills.
(All Asian-American): Purya Bedi (Friar Lawrence), Major Curda (Romeo), Jose Gamo (Mercutio), Bryan Lee Huynh (Capulet), Zion Jang (Benvolio), Mia Katigbak (Nurse), rob Kellogg (Paris/Tybalt), Dorcas Leung (Juliet), and Daniel Liu (Peter, Lady Capulet).
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Video: Idina Menzel performs as “Opera Man” in a salute to Adam Sandler.
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Hello Dolly will run June 2-3 at Buffalo’s Shea’s 710 Theater, directed by Drew Fornarola, with choreography by Jeanne Fornarola, and music direction by Alison d’Amato.
Michele Ragusa (Dolly), Ali Ewoldt (Irene Molloy), Kevin Zak (Cornelius), Lizzie Arnold , Gregory Gjurich, Jake Hayes, Melanie Klaja, Anthony Lazzaro, Jetaun Louis, Kayla McSorley, Marc Sacco, and more…
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The St. Louis Muny has announced its Summer 2023 season:
Casting and creative teams TBA.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (June 12-18)
Beauty and the Beast (June 22-30)
Chess (July 5-11)
West Side Story (July 15-21)
Little Shop of Horrors (July 25-31)
Rent (Aug. 4-10)
Sister Act (Aug. 14-20)
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John Forster in Concert: Too Clever by 20% will take place Apr. 16, 24 & May 1 (all at 7 PM) at NYC’s Don’t Tell Mama.
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Complete casting has been announced for Levi Holloway’s Grey House, to begin previews Apr. 29 and open May 30 at the Lyceum Theatre, directed by Joe Mantello.
Laurie Metcalf (Raleigh), Titiana Maslany (Max), Paul Sparks (Henry), Sophia Anne Caruso (Marlow), Millicent Simmonds (Bernie), Cyndi Coyne (The Ancient), Colby Kipnes (Squirrel), Alyssa Emily Marvin (A1656), and Eamon Patrick O’Connell (The Boy).
The play follows a couple whose car crashes on a mountain and subsequently seek shelter in an isolated cabin with somewhat unusual inhabitants. As the blizzard outside continues, the couple becomes less and less sure of what’s true and why a sound in the walls keeps getting louder.
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MA’s Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced the lineup for its 2023 summer season, which will include a series of cabarets, readings, and other special events, but will focus primarily on minimally staged productions.
Experiment Time (July 12-15), written by & starring Hasan Minhaj.
Laura Bennati in concert (July 16)
Main Stage Reading Series (dates, casting, and additional information TBA) will include Paris, ACTORS!, by Hamish Linklater, starring Linklater and Lily Rabe …… Three Sisters …… and The Pillowman, by Martin McDonagh.
Fridays@3 developmental reading series (dates, casting, and additional information TBA) will include Chapters of a Floating Life (by Clarence Coo, directed by Jennifer Chang) …… Plunder and Lightning (by Cindy Lou Johnson) …… Wipeout, by Aurora Real de Asua, directed by Maggie Burrows …… and one more reading TBA.
Cabaret Series (July 2022, July 27-29 & Aug. 3-5), curated by Christopher Fitzgerald.
and more TBA…
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A special lottery (enter HERE ) has been opened for tickets to the invitation-only final Broadway performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera on Sun. Apr. 16 at 5 PM at the Majestic Theatre.
The lottery is now open (see link above), and will accept entries (one per person) through Fri. Mar. 31 at 12 PM. Four rounds of verified winners will be chosen Apr. 3, 4, 5, and 6. Winners will be given the opportunity to purchase 1 or 2 rear mezzanine tickets at $99 each (including fees) within 24 hours.
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Video: Charlie Webb and the cast of Parade sin “The Old Red Hills of Home”
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Off-Broadway’s Classic Stage Company has announced its 2023-24 season:
I Can Get It For Your Wholesale (Fall 2023) by Harold Rome & Jerome Weidman, directed by Trip Cullman, starring Santino Fontana and Judy Kuhn. An unscrupulous shipping clerk in 1937 New York City does whatever it takes to get to the top.
Pericles (Winter 2024), presented by Fiasco Theatre, directed by Ben Steinfeld.
Wine in the Wilderness (Spring 2024), by Alice Childress, directed by LaChanze. Set against the backdrop of the 1964 Harlem riot, where fortune has smiled on artist Bill Jameson – his friends just introduced him to a model for the final piece of his triptych on Black womanhood. But this woman, Tomorrow Marie, is no mere muse, and she’s about to give Bill much more than he bargained for. Set against the backdrop of the 1964 Harlem riot.
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Drunk Musicals will run Mondays & Saturdays Apr. 10 – July 26 at NYC’s Green Room 42.
(first show): Roe Hartrampf, Julie James, Nick Cearley, Emma Degerstedt, Dean Cestari, Billie Aken-Tyers, and Kaylee MacKnight. Additional casting for future performances TBA.
Interactive concerts turn highlights from popular musicals into parody performances, with actors challenged to perform while drinking shots sent by audience members.
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The 2023 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has has been awarded to playwright Sarah Mantell, for her play In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot.
A play about queer aging, capitalism, campfires and falling in love as the world ends. Set on the precipice of the end of the world, world wracked by climate change, the play tells the story of a group of itinerant friends traveling together between warehouses, working night shifts and checking the address labels of the packages searching for people they’ve lost. The cast of seven consists of women, trans and nonbinary actors, all over 50.
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Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles will celebrate LGBT Pride Month with Disney PRIDE in Concert, which will take place June 24 (at 7 PM) & 25 (at 3 PM) at LA’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, directed & conducted by Ernest H. Harrison.