GRACE NOTES: Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Today’s Highlights:

Rose, by Martin Sherman, directed by Scott LeCrass, starring Maureen Lipman, opens at London’s Ambassadors Theatre.

Sutton Foster in concert opens at NYC’s Café Carlyle.

A Soldier’s Play, by Charles Fuller, directed by Kenny Leon, featuring Norm Lewis (Captain Richard Davenport), Eugene Lee (Sergeant Vernon C. Waters), Will Adams (Corporal Bernard Cobb), Sheldon D. Brown (Private C.J. Memphis), Malik Esoj Childs (Private Tony Smalls), William Connell (Captain Charles Taylor), Alex Michael Givens (Corporal Ellis), Matthew Goodrich (Captain Wilcox), Chattan Mayes Johnson (Lieutenant Byrd), Branden Davon Lindsay (Private Louis Henson), Tarik Lowe (Private First-Class Melvin Peterson), and Howard W. Overshown (Private James Wilkie), with Brandon Alvión, Ja’Quán Cole, Charles Evertt, Al’Jaleel McGhee, and Alex Ross, previews at LA’s Ahmanson Theatre.

Billy Crystal: “Mr. Saturday Night,” screening & conversation, with special guest Bette Middler, both live & livestreamed at 6 PM ET at NYC’s 92Y.

**********************

Reviews for Bees & Honey at Off-Broadway’s MCC Theatre:

NY Times (Naveen Kumar): What draws two lovers together may be more obvious than what keeps them in sync… In the case of Bees & Honey… eyes lock and hips swivel to the plucky guitar and eight-count beat of bachata. This Dominican style of music and dance, with its sensual cadence and professions of heartache, is a foundational metaphor in this boy-meets-girl two-hander… The slice-of-life naturalism of Bees & Honey, presented in partnership with the Sol Project, is more interested in capturing culturally specific detail than in breaking ground with an original plot… nearly every story development reflects an inevitable truism (sex lives dwindle, women get pregnant, elders require care). For a marital drama that runs two hours including an intermission, it feels light on substance and surprise…

Theatermania (Kenji Fujishima): … What’s most impressive about Bees & Honey is the way Del Carmen is able to develop both characters and evoke hot-button topical issues without lapsing into heavy-handedness. Johaira and Manuel always manage to come off as genuine human beings who are trying, however clumsily, to navigate the shifting social landscape around them and the emotional complications within. Martinez and Pacheco certainly make it easy to root for this couple: Martinez passionate and outspoken yet grounded in warmth for her partner, Pacheco persuasive in conveying masculine energy augmented by open-hearted sincerity. Director Melissa Crespo has surrounded her two lead performers with a very fine production…

Talkin’ Broadway (Kimberly Ramírez): …an intimate chronicle of a Dominican-American couple… Pacheco and Martinez deliver profoundly physical performances to express fierce attraction, deep devotion, and a playful willingness to compromise while ingrained habits and mounting family pressures reinforce their characters’ differences… Skillfully directed by Melissa Crespo, the play’s explosive two-person dialogue feels consistently activated by immediate, unseen identities… Boundaries overlain between public and private domains, family and community, and past and present, continually serve to sustain or challenge inherited and ingrained practices. While we anticipate a resolution for Manuel and Johaira, the play’s bold and ambiguous conclusion implies that the power to shape such futures lies within each individual–including we spectators.

**********************

2023 Chita Rivera Award winners. Click here for the complete list (scroll down)

**********************

MD’s Olney Theatre has announced its Summer 2023 concert season (performers TBA):

Better Off Dead (July 7), a Grateful Dead tribute concert
West Side Story (July 8 & 9)
Great Women of Jazz: Billie, Ella, Sarah, and Anita
One-Name Cabaret: Judy (July 15)
One-Name Cabaret: Whitney (Aug. 11)
Chita – The Rhythm of My Life (Sept. 3), with special guests TBA.
…and more TBA…

**********************

New casting has been announced for Titanique, beginning June 6 at the Daryl Roth Theatre, directed by Tye Blue, with choreography by Ellenore Scott. The production will continue through Jan. 7, 2024.

(all new) Nicole Parker (Celine Dion), Lindsay Heather Pearce (Rose), Michael Williams (Jack), Anthony Murphy (Victor Garber), and Brandon Contreras (Cal).

**********************

Video: Highlights from the Kennedy Center’s Spamalot, starring James Monroe Iglehart and Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer.

**********************

She Loves Me will run June 8-25 (opening June 10) at San Francisco’s 42nd Street Moon, directed by Peet Cocke, with choreography by Leslie Waggoner, and music direction by Daniel Thomas.

Marah Stelo (Amalia), Sophia Alawi (Ilona), Will Giammona (Kodaly), Riley McFarland (Georg), Nick Nakashima (Sipos), Roeen Nooran (Arpad), Jourdán Olivier-Verdé (Headwaiter), and Lee Strawn (Maraczek), with Milo Boland, Bekah Lynn Broas, Ben Chau-Chiu, Daniel Gilmer, Deborah Rosengaus, Monica Rose Slater.

**********************

The world premiere of Dan Perry’s Behind the Six will run June 2-25 at North Hollywood’s Loft Ensemble, directed by April Littlejohn.

Antwan Alexander II, Lemon Baardsen, Lara Blanco, Nathan Bock, Cassandra Carmona, Abram Connor, Travyz Santos Gatz, John Goodwin, Robert Jolly, Xavier LeFlore, Sean Alan Mazur, Alejandro Mungaray, Mitch Rosander, Matthew Scheel, and Kyle Wallen.

It’s 1947 in Hollywood. Nick has arrived on a bus to chase his dream — infiltrating the crime gang that murdered his brother. But he falls in love with a grifter partway through the con. Can Nick trust him or his heart?

**********************

MJ will begin previews Mar. 6, 2024 and open Mar. 27 at the Prince Edward Theatre, directed by Christopher Wheeldon. Casting and additional information TBA.

Myles Frost, and more TBA.

**********************

MD’s Olney Theatre has announced its Summer Concert Series:

Better Off Dead (July 7), with a Grateful Dead tribute band.

West Side Story in concert (July 8-9)

One-Name Cabarets: Judy (July 15), Barbra (July 22), and Whitney (Aug. 11)

Drag Shows (a series): Click here for the calendar.

Chita – The Rhythm of My Life (Sept. 3)

…and more TBA…

**********************

Notre Dame de Paris will run June 22 – July 9 at Lincoln Center‘s David H. Koch Theater, directed by Gilles Maheu, performed with English supertitles and a live orchestra.

Angelo Del Vecchio (Quasimodo), Elhaida Dani (Esmerelda), Daniel Lavoie (Frollo), Gian Marco Schiaretti (Gringoire), Jay (Clopin), Jérémy Amelin (Phoebus), and Alyzée Lalande (Fleur-de-Lys), with Robert Mariel, Jaime Bono, Eric Jetner, Philippe Tremblay, and Mike Lee, along with acrobats Jonathan Gajdane, Nathan Jones, Andrea Nevroz, Arek Szynal, Ivan Urbano, Lorenzo Arnouts, Antonio Balsamo, Giulia Barbone, Marina Barbone, Wilfried Bernard, Alessandra Berti, Rodolphe Duquesne, Giuseppe Marino, Gabriel Nabo, Alessia Papale, Sonia Picone, Valentin Piers, Anaïs Replumaz, Ivan Trimarchi, Vaia Venetis and Roberta Zegretti.

Video: Trailer

**********************

New Dramatists‘ 71st Annual Spring Luncheon will take place Tues. May 30 at 11:15 AM at the New York Marriott Marquis ballroom.

Suzan-Lori Parks

**********************

David Stuart Davies’ Sherlock Holmes: The Last Act will run June 15-24 at Hollywood’s Broadwater, directed by Gareth Armstrong.

Nigel Miles-Thomas

The play shows the man behind the myth, exposing the great detective’s fears and weaknesses, the devastating consequences of the dramas of his formative years, and, unexpectedly, his cutting sense of humor.

**********************

Video: Trailee for “The Color Purple” film, to be released Dec. 25.

**********************

The Public Theater will present The Comedy of Errors, adapted by Rebecca Martínez & Julián Mesri, for one performance at the theater prior to it 3-week tour of NY’s 5 borough. available on TodayTix.

Varín Ayala (Angelo/Egeon/Pinch), Danaya Esperanza (Adriana), Rebecca Jimenez (Understudy), Keren Lugo (Luciana), Alan Mendez (Understudy), Sara Ornelas (Troubadour), Gían Pérez (Dromio of Syracuse/Ephesus), Joel Perez (Antipholus of Syracuse/Ephesus), and Desireé Rodriguez (Courtesan/Emilia).

**********************

Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater will present its Summer Gala, Where Did We Go Right: A Celebration in Song & Scenes, on Sat. July 8 at 6:30 PM, directed by Will Pomerantz.