Today’s Highlights:
Passion, directed by Michael Strassen, starring Ruthie Henshall, (Fosca), Kelly Price (Clara), Dean John Wilson (Giorgio), Ray Shell (Doctor Tambourri), Juan Jackson (Count Ludovic/Lieutenant Barri), Tim Walton (Colonel Ricci), Steve Watts (Marjor Rizzolli/Fosca’s Father), Charlie Waddell (Seargeant Lombardi/Mistress, Danny Whitehead (Private Augenti/Young Fosca), and Adam Robert Lewis (Lieutenant Torasso/Fosca’s Mother, opens at London’s Hope Mill Theatre.
Grease, directed by Nikolai Foster, featuring Dan Partridge, Olivia Moore, Peter Andre, Jocasta Almgill, Paul French, Mary Moore, Jake Reynolds, Lizzie-Rose Esin-Kelly Damon Gould, Eloise Davies, Jessica Croll, Katie Lee, Ronan Burns, Corinna Powlesland, and Darren Bennett, opens at London’s Dominion Theatre.
Which Way to the Stage, world premiere by Ana Nogueria, directed by Mike Donahue, featuring Sas Goldberg, Max Jenkins, Evan Todd, and Michelle Veintimilla, opens at Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater.
Man of God, by Anna Ouyang Moench, directed by Maggie Burrows, featuring Shirley Chen (Samantha), Emma Galbraith (Jen), Erin Rae Li (Mimi), Albert Park (Pastor), and Ji-young Yoo (Kyung-Hwa, begins previews at LA’s Geffen Playhouse.
A Radical Invention of Shakespeare’s King Lear, directed by John Gould Rubin, featuring Joe Morton (King Lear), Mark Harelik (Gloucester), River Gallo (Cordelia/Fool), Zach Soloman (Edgar/King of France), Brie Eley (Regan), and Emily Swallow (Goneril), Rafel Jordan (Edmund), with Miguel Perez, Stanley Jackson, and Danielle Thorpe, begins previews at Beverly Hills’ The Wallis.
Ashley Loren (Satine), Derek Lena (Christian), Declan Bennett (Duke of Monroth), and Caleb Marshall-Villarreal (Santiago) conclude their runs in Moulin Rouge at Broadway’s Al Hirschfeld Theatre.
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2022 Tony Award nominations — Show by show. Click here.
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Provincetown Art House Theatre has announced its Summer 2022 Broadway@ concert series:
Zoe Lewis (May 27-28) with her mini-musical A Slice of PTown (30 years of songs and stories), with special guest Oya Crystal.
Melissa Ferrick (May 28)
Audra McDonald (May 29), with Seth Rudetsky
Rachel Bay Jones (June 25-26), with Seth Rudetsky.
Victoria Clark (July 1-2), with Seth Rudetsky
Bianca Del Rio‘s Unsanitized (July 3)
Christy Altomare (July 8-9), with Seth Rudetsky
Stephanie J. Block (July 10), with Seth Rudetsky.
Faith Prince & Jason Graae (July 17 & 18) in You & Me But Mostly Me!, with music direction by Alex Rybeck.
Roderick Ferguson (July 18) in Man Overboard, directed by Faith Prince.
Melissa Errico (July 22-23) offering No One Is Alone: Melissa Errico Remembers Stephen Sondheim, with music direction by Tedd Firth.
Donna McKechnie (July 30-31), with Seth Rudetsky.
Ann Hampton Callaway & Liz Callaway (Aug. 5-6), offering Broadway the Callaway, with music direction by Alex Rybeck.
Chita Rivera (Aug. 7)
Lillias White (Aug. 12-13), with Seth Rudetsky.
Sasha Velour (Aug. 14)
Edmund Bagnell (Aug. 19-20)
Indigo Girls (Aug. 21 at 6:30 & 9 PM ET)
Marilyn Maye (Aug. 23 – Sept. 3), offering 94: Of Course There’s More, with music direction by Tedd Firth.
Max von Essen (Aug. 26-27), with music direction by Billy Stritch.
Nicolas King (Sept. 3), with music direction by Tedd Firth.
Jessica Vosk (Sept. 4)
Daniel Shevlin (Sept. 9 & 10), with music direction by Lance Horne.
Hannah Corneau (Sept. 16 & 1 7), with music direction by Ross Baum.
Mauricio Martinez (Sept. 23-24), with music direction by Brian Nash.
Beth Malone (Sept. 30 – Oct. 1), with Seth Rudetsky.
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The Pajama Game will run June 2-19 (opening June 4) at San Francisco’s 42nd Street Moon, directed by Annie Potter, with choreography by Renee DeWeese, and music direction by Armando Fox.
Nicholas Yenson, Nicole Tung, Katherine Stein, Tiana Paulding, Ben Jones, Renee Deweese, Jesse Caldwell, Tony Conaty, Tracy Camp, Ashley Garlick, James Mayagoitia, Nick Nakashima, and Daniel Thomas.
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Off-Broadway’s York Theatre Company presents its Spring Benefit Concert, Marilyn in Maye, starring Marilyn Maye, on Mon. May 16 at 7:30 PM ET at Theatre at St. Jean’s, with music direction by Ted Firth.
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Aditya Putcha’s Mother Grace will run June 4-26 at Hollywood’s Stephanie Feury Studio, directed by Stephen Juhl.
Sydney Grey, Leslie Foumberg, Charlotte Frøyland, Julia Linger, Tristan Meyers, Linda Nile, Wade Oxford, Richard Page, and Christine Viviers.
Do you agree that God’s love can redeem us all – and do you think it’s a good thing?
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“Ian Herman – Images” is now available on MP3 here.
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Video: Highlights from Lond’s Old Friends, celebrating Stephen Sondheim, featuring Michael Ball, Helena Bonham Carter, Rob Brydon, Petula Clark, Rosalie Craig, Janie Dee, Judi Dench, Daniel Evans, Maria Friedman, Haydn Gwynne, Bonnie Langford, Damien Lewis, Julia McKenzie, Julian Ovendon, Bernadette Peters, Sian Phillips, Jon Robyns, Clive Rowe, Jenna Fussell, Imelda Staunton, Charlie Stemp, Gary Wilmot, and Michael D. Xaver. (4:14)
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A private staged industry reading of Nicholas Coster & Heather Reid’s Tinseltown Tiptoe will take place Fri. May 20 in Los Angeles, directed & choreographed by Spencer Liff, with orchestrations by Tom Kitt & Steve Sidwell.
Rena Strober (Dora), Peter Porte (Clifford), Erica Hanrahan (Suzy), Fatima El Bashir (May), Patrick Michael Ortiz (Mark), Clayton Farris (Keith), Greg North (Mason), and Julia Aks (Imogene), with Parissa Helen Koo, Paige Berkovitz, Luis Anduaga, and Michael Thomas Grant.
The musical is set in a fictional 1950s Hollywood. The old system is in tatters and television is taking over. In 1950 there were 3 million TV owners in the US, by the late 50s that number had swelled to 50 million. Against this background we meet Dora Gentry and Clifford Stone on the set of Dora’s variety television show. Dora is fighting to escape from the man who controls her career, studio head Mason Blackwell. Clifford is a rising star with the world at his feet, as long as the world doesn’t discover his secret. Together with their found family they fight to control their own destinies and find true happiness.
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Steve Ross: Cole Porter and Beyond will take place Thurs. June 16 at 8 PM PT at CA’s Coachella Valley Rep.
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Article: “Overlooked: Who Was Shut Out of the 2022 Tony Awards Nominations?”
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Try Not to Think About It, Alice Childress, world premiere written & directed by Chris Haas, will run May 13 – June 5 at North Hollywood’s Loft Ensemble.
Bridget Avildsen, Mace Bullington, Sean Durrie, Alex Frasier, Travyz Santos Gatz, Sydney Jenkins, Katy Laughlin, April Littlejohn, Max Marsh, Benjamin Marshall, Ignacio Navarro, Lex Nguyen, Sarah Nilsen, Natasha Renae Potts, Sarah Sommers, and Celin Celine Rosalie Zoppe.
A series of. miscommunications turns into a night of survival when a natural disaster Strikes the Hollywood Hills.
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The 2022 Pulitzer Prize winners:
Winner: Fat Ham, by James Ijames
Finalists: Sylvia Khoury (Selling Kabul) and Kristina Wong’s Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord).
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Upcoming London productions:
The Father and the Assassin (previews May 12, opens May 19 at the Olivier Theatre), by Anupama Chandrasekhar, directed by Indhu Rubasingham, featuring Sagar Arya, Ayesha Dharker, Shubham Saraf, and Peter Singh. The play traces Godse’ life over 30 years during India’s fight for independence: from devout follower of Mahatma Gandhi, through to his radicalization and their tragic final encounter.
Legally Blonde (May 13 – July 2) at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, directed by Lucy Moss, featuring Michael Ahomka Lindsay, Courtney Bowman, Lauren Drew, Vanessa Fisher, Isaac Hesketh, Nadine Higgin, Alžbeta Matyšáková, Eugene McCoy, Grace Mouat, Alistair Toovey, Hannah Yun Chamberlain.
The Glass Menagerie (opens May 23) at the Duke of York’s Theatre, directed by Jeremy Herrin, featuring Amy Adams, Paul Hilton, Tom Glynn-Carney, Lizzie Annis, and Victor Alli.
Britannicus (previews May 12, opens June 19 at the Olivier Theatre), adapted by Timberlake Wertenbaker, directed by Atri Banerjee, featuring Nathaniel Curtis, William Robinson, Sirine Saba, Hanna Khogali, Helena Lymbery, Nigel Barrett, Shyvonne Ahmmad. Agrippina – desperate to cling onto power – has ensured her son, Nero, is the Roman Emperor, in place of his half-brother and the rightful heir. But the corridors of power and Nero’s own obsession turn a once virtuous ruler into an oppressive tyrant.
The Still Room (previews June 1, opens June 3 at the Park Theatre), by Sally Rogers, directed by Nigel Douglas, featuring Zoe Brough, Jack Colgrave Hirst, Kate James, Jane Slavin, Chris Simmons, and Larner Taylor. Janice is a banquet waitress in a small, struggling hotel that is readying itself to host the ‘Miss North West’ competition in a bid to revive their floundering fortunes. In the still room, where the waiters wait, Janice also waits for her O Level results… if she gets less than four, her father says she has to move out. Bored to death and struggling to see how she can leave her home town, everything changes when a new waitress arrives. She is different to the other waiting staff, her confidence and bold ideas challenge Janice’s own perceptions of the world. So begins a chain of events that will change everything.
Mad House (opens June 15 at the Ambassadors Theatre, by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, starring David Harbour and Bill Pullman. In rural Pennsylvania, Michael has returned to his childhood home to look after his dying father. His siblings Ned and Pam soon arrive, determined to work out how much money Dad actually has left and how they’re getting their hands on it.
The Seagull (opens June 19 at the Harold Pinter Theatre), directed by Jamie Lloyd, featuring Emilia Clarke, Tom Rhys Harries, Daniel Monks, Sophie Wu, and Indira Varma.
101 Dalmatians (opens July 12 at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, directed by Timothy Sheader. Casting TBA.
Bad Jews (opens July 14 at the Arts Theatre, by Joshua Harmon. Director and cast TBA.
Anything Goes (returning production opens July 15 at the Barbican Theatre), directed by Kathleen Marshall, featuring Kerry Ellis, Denis Lawson, Simon Callow, Bonnie Langford, Samuel Edwards, Nicole-Lily Baisden, Carly Mercedes Dyer, and Haydn Oakley
Sister Act (opens July 19 at the Eventim Apollo), directed by Bill Buckhurst, featuring Beverley Knight, Jennifer Saunders, Keala Settle, Lesley Joseph, Clive Rowe, Lizzie Bea, Jeremy Secomb, Graham McDuff, Tricia Deighton, Lori Haley Fox, Damian Buhagiar, Tom Hopcroft, Bradley Judge, Tanya Edwards, Catherine Millsom, Anne Smith, Emma Ralston, Jermaine Woods, Michael Ward, and Caroline Bateson.
Identical (opens July 26 at the Nottingham Playhouse), by Stuart Paterson, George Stiles & Anthony Drew, directed by Trevor Nunn. Casting TBA. The twin-sational new musical based on Erich Kästner’s novel. The classic story of twin girls separated at birth, reunited by chance at a summer camp ten years later. In an attempt to get to know their parents and reconcile the two halves of their family, they decide to swap places and live each other’s lives.
Monster (Previews July 27 and opens July 29 at the Park Theatre, by Abigail Hood, directed by Kevin Tomlinson. Casting TBA. Glasgow. 2006. An abandoned playground. Troubled teenagers Kayleigh Grey and Zoe Douglas are flirting, playing dare and fantasizing about running away together to the Isle of Muck. Despite being warned to keep away, teacher Miss Hastie is inexplicably drawn into the two girl’s orbit of chaos and when Kayleigh’s mother, Hazel, attempts to keep her under her manipulative spell, the outcome is far worse than anyone could have ever anticipated.
Into the Woods (opens Aug. 19 at Theatre Royal Bath), directed by Terry Gillam & Leah Hausman. Casting TBA.
Antigone (opens Sept. 23 at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, by Inua Ellams, directed by Max Webster. Casting TBA.
The Caucasian Chalk Circle (opens Oct. 1 at the Rose Theatre, directed by Christopher Haydon. Casting TBA.
The Doctor (previews Sept. 29, opens Oct. 9 at the Duke of York’s Theatre, directed by Robert Icke, starring Juliet Stevenson. On an ordinary day, at a private hospital, a young woman fights for her life. A priest arrives to save her soul. Her doctor refuses him entry. In a divisive time, in a divided nation, a society takes sides.
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Happy Birthday, Judy Garland, starring Debbie Wileman, will run June 10-11 (both at 8:30 PM PT) at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club, with music direction by Ron Abel.