Today’s Highlights:
Manhattan Theatre Club‘s King James, by Rajiv Joseph, directed by Kenny Leon, featuring Glenn Davis (Shawn), Chris Perfetti (Matt), and Khloe Janel (DJ), opens at Off-Broadway’s NY City Center.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, directed by Georgie Rankcom, with gender-swapped leads, Gabrielle Friedman (J. Pierrpont Finch), Tracie Bennett (J.B. Biggley), Annie Aitken (Hedy LaRue), Taylor Bradshaw (Mr. Bert Bratt), Allie Daniel (Rosemary Pilkington), Elliot Gooch (Bud Frump), Grace Kanyamibwa (Miss Jones), Danny Lane (Mr. Twimble/Mr. Wally Womper) Milo McCarthy (Mr. Milton Gatch), and Verity Power (Smitty), with Michelle Visage (Narrator), opens at London’s Southwark Playhouse.
Sweeny Todd, directed by Sarna Lapine, featuring Nathaniel Stampley (Sweeney Todd), Bryonha Marie (Mrs. Lovett), Rayanne Gonzales (Begger Woman), Ian McEuen (Adolpho Pirelli), Katie Mariko Murray (Johanna), Christopher Michael Richardson (Beedle Bamford), Paul Scanlan (Anthony), Harrison Smith (Tobias), and John Leslie Wolfe (Judge Turpin), with Benjamin Lurye, Jimmy Mavrikes, Bob McDonald, Adelina Mitchell, Crystal Mosser, Lawrence Redmond, Katherine Riddle, Sarah Anne Sillers, Chani Wereley, Julia Wheeler Lennon, Rebecca Madeira, Dylan Toms, and Hank Kolnitz, opens at VA’s Signature Theatre.
Rent, directed by Ty Defoe, featuring Scott Redmond (Mark), Adrian Lopez (Roger), Teresa Zimmerman (Maureen), Simone Gundy (Joanne), Tomas Matos (Angel), Will Mann (Tom), Isabella De Souza Moore (Mimi), and Jamall Houston (Benjamin), with Kahlil Cabble, Dwayne Cook, Jack Gereski, Jayson Kolbicz, Stephanie Jones, Tyler Lewis, Miles Marmolejo, Dominick Pecikonis, Gemini Quintos, Sarah Sachi, Yasmyn Sumiyoshi, and Raven Justine Troup, opens at Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars.
Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month, Joe & Jill Biden welcome Jason Robert Brown, Ben Platt, and Micaela Diamond for a White House event, to begin streaming at 4 PM ET here.
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Tony Awards ceremony update: Tony Awards Productions has altered the upcoming awards ceremony to conform with requests made by the Writers Guild of America, the union announced last night. As a result, the WGA no longer has plans to picket the show.
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Matt DeAngelis, who lost his mother to breast cancer last year, will present The Janice Jam: Broadway Rocks for Breast Cancer, a benefit concert in support of the Phillis Newman’s Women’s Health Initiative, to take place Mon. June 5 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s Haswell Green’s (240 West 52nd St.)
Matt DeAngelis, Omar Cardona, Charity Angél Dawson, Christine Dwyer, Caitlin Houlahan, Emma Hunton, Brittney Johnson, Michele Mais, Javier Muñoz, Samantha Pauly, Talia Suskauer, Ryan Vona, T.3, Jim Hogan, Liam Fennecken, and Brendan Jacob Smith, with virtual appearances by Shoshana Bean, Gavin Creel, and Caissie Levy.
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A staged reading of Michael Heitzman & Ilene Reid’s GENIUS: A New Musical Comedy, will take place Fri. May 19 at ME’s Ogunquit Playshouse, directed by Heitzman, with music direction by Andrea Grody.
email GeniusTheMusicalComedy@gmail.com
Douglas Sills, Kevin Zak, Kara Lindsay, Beth Malone, Ashley Brown, Eddie Korbich, Francisca Muñoz, Ryah Nixon, Phillip Taratula, Jacob Gutierrez, Rob Colletti, Debra Cardona, Elíseo Román, Austin Colby, and Lara Hayhurst.
A hilarious romp set in the sixties, starring the most selfish, irresponsible charmer ever to moon an Oscar audience: Leander Starr, a Hollywood director in the tradition of Orson Welles, whose artistic aspirations soar as high as his cheeks bounce.
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Video: Evita in rehearsal at Cambridge’s A.R.T., directed by Sammi Cannold, featuring Shereen Pimentel (Eva Perón), Gabriel Burrafato (Magaldi), Omar Lopez0Cepero (Che), Caesar Samayoa (Perón), and Naomi Rose (Mistress).
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Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, newly adapted by Amy Herzog, will open in early 2024 (dates TBA) at the ___ Theatre, directed by Sam Gold.
Jeremy Strong, and more TBA.
Set in a small Norwegian spa town, An Enemy of the People follows the principled Doctor Thomas Stockmann as he attempts to alert the public that the spa’s water is poisoned. The resulting backlash to his revelation, borne out of society’s desperation for financial preservation, examines the morality of public outcry and the struggles shouldered by whistleblowers across time.
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Missionary Positions, written & performed by Dan Prevette, will run June 4-24 at the Zepher Theatre, directed by Jessica Lynn Johnson.
What the f*ck is up with Evangelicals? Good Question! Dan can help. Born to devout Christians who had committed their lives to the service of the Lord, Daniel was raised in Thailand, Cambodia, and Romania, with a few years in the United States thrown in to stay relatable. Growing up a member of a Pentecostal Church, he always believed his mission was clear – bring salvation to the lost. However, cracks start to form when a good, Christian boy starts feeling a little lost himself.
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National Black Theater‘s Black Mother Lost Daughter, by Fedna Jacquet, will run June 21-25 at the Flea Theater, directed by Stevie Walker-Webb.
Fedna Jacquet, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, Margaret Odette, and Tom O’Neil.
In an examination of the gap between justice and responsibility, Black Mother Lost Daughter follows Princess, a woman trying to keep the memory of her sister Queen alive after she is killed by police, as well as caring for their mother.
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Video: J. Harrison Ghee performs “You Coulda Knocked Me Over with a Feather from Broadway’s Some Like It Hot.
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RIP: Joaquin Romaguera, an operatic tenor best known for creating the role of Pirelli in Sweeney Todd, has died at the age of 90.
Outside of his multi-decade association with the NYCO, Mr. Romaguera performed with the Opera Society of Washington, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Opera, the Opera Company of Boston, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Baltimore Opera Company.
Born in Key West, Florida, Mr. Romaguera was a member of the New York City Opera company throughout the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, where he created roles in several NYCO world premieres, including The Dead Man in Hugo Weisgall’s Nine Rivers from Jordan, and Professor Risselberg in Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Most Important Man.
He returned to the musical theatre stage, this time Off-Broadway, in 1987, where his performance in Cole Porter’s Gay Divorce (Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical). Later that same year, he played Robinet in the musical Mademoiselle Colombe, before again returning to the opera stage. In 1994 he portrayed Mr. Lopez in Fiorello! for the first season of Encores! at the New York City Center. His final musical theatre performance came in 2000, when he portrayed Magaldi in Evita at Broadway Sacramento.
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Initial casting has been announced for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, to run Jun 12-18 at the St. Louis Muny, directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, with choreography by Patricia Wilcox, and music direction by Charlie Alterman.
Sara Sheperd (Carole King), Jarrod Spector (Barry Mann), Jackie Burns (Cynthia Weil), Steven Good (Gerry Goffin), Noah Weisberg (Don Kirshner), Sharon Hunter (Genie Klein), and more TBA.
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My son’s a Queer (But What Can You do), a solo play written & performed by Rob Madge, will receive special industry presentations May 23 & 24 at Off-Broadway’s Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre, directed by Luke Sheppard, and featuring songs by Pippa Cleary
The autobiographical solo show centers on Madge at age 12 as they attempt to create a full scale Disney parade in their house for their grandmother. Madge is non-binary.
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A film adaptation of Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie is currently in process, starring Cynthia Eriva.
The piece follows British defense lawyer Tessa who works her way from a working-class background to a rising star in the legal field. Often assigned to defend men accused of sexual assault, she dedicates her career to a system she believes in. But her whole world is thrown into question after she ends up in the witness stand.
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The world premiere of Kieron Barry’s Spy For Spy will run June 15 – July 2 (opening June 20) at Riverside Studios, directed by Jane Atkinson.
Olive Gray and Amy Lenox.
The play follows two women whose only thing in common is their love for each other. As Sarah and Molly move into together, meet families, breat up, fall in love, and all that’s in-between, the piece tells their story in a random new order of scenes every night. 
Six members of the audience will be asked to pick a song title from the bowl. Each relates to a scene, and the order picked will determine the order of scenes for the evening.