GRACE NOTES: Tuesday, May 30, 2023

 

Today’s Highlights:

  Grey House, by Levi Holloway, directed by Joe Mantello, featuring 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), opens at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre.

  The Shape of Things, by Neil LaBute, directed by Nicky Allpress, featuring Luke Newton and Amber Anderson, opens at London’s Park Theatre.

  Love Letters, directed b Ciarán O’Reilly, featuring Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti opens at Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep.

  Double Helix, world premiere by Madeline Myer, directed by Scott Schwartz, featuring Rosalind Franklin, begins previews at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre.

  New Dramatists’ 71st Annual Spring Luncheon, honoring Suzan-Lori Parks, at 11:15 AM at  NYC’s Marriott Marquis ballroom.

  “Musical Theatre Melodies” radio broadcast, celebrating Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Me and Juliet, from the original 1953 cast album (featuring  Isabel Bigley, Bill Hayes, Joan McCracken, Mark Dawson, Arthur Maxwell, and Bill Fortier), hosted by Rob Morrison,  airs 7-9 AM ET (4-6 AM PT) on 96.5 FM ET HERE, preceded by an interview with original star Bill Hayes. A podcast will be available HERE 15 min. after the conclusion of the broadcast.

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  GRACE NOTES Quiz:  Curtain Up! by Jim Bernhard

Match these opening lines with the musicals from which they come:

1.  (sung) “Good news, she’s dead!” A.  Gypsy
2.  (sung) “Sugar, sugar, sugar, butter, sugar, butter, sugar, butter, flour” B.  The Pajama Game
3.  “C’mon, Julie, it’s gettin’ late.” C.  Mame
4.  “Everybody, shut up!  All mothers, out! I don’t want a mother in the wings!” D.  Grease
5.  (sung) “I got the horse right here, the name is Paul Revere.” E.  Hair 
6. “This is a very serious drama. It’s kind of a problem play. It’s about Capital and Labor.” F. Wicked
7.  “Okay, let’s do the ballet combination one more time.” G.  Carousel
8.  “Golly, Agnes, New York is like a foreign country!” H.  Guys and Dolls
9.  (sung) “Sandy, can’t you see I’m in misery?” I.  Waitress
10. (sung) “When the moon is in the seventh house.” J . A Chorus Line

Scroll down for the answers…

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   The 2023 Fire Island Dance Festival, in support of BC/EFA, will  run  June 14-16 at NY’s Fire Island Pines, choreographed by Ahmad Joudeh, and hosted by Alan Cumming & Ari Shapiro.

Ahmad Joudeh, Jonathan Lee, Paul McGill, Juliano Nunes, David Parsons, Gabby Diaz, Taylor Stanley, Ray Mercer, Skyla Schreter, Skyla Schreter, and more TBA.

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  Complete casting has been announced for Everybody Rise! A Sondheim Celebration, to take place Sun. July 30 at the Hollywood Bowl, conducted by Kevin Stites.

 Patti LuPone, Sierra Boggess, Sutton Foster, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Skylar Astin, and Norm Lewis.

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  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 Daniel Thomas and music direction by Leslie Waggoner.

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

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  The world premiere of Greg Burdick’s Accomodation will run June 15 – July 9 (opening June 18) at the Odyssey Theatre, directed by Brandon Baer & Garrett Baer.

Sandy Bainum (Celeste Dawkins), Jacob Cherry (Michael Newsome), Sol Crespo (Ruth Lopez), Laura Niemi (Anne Roteman), and Massi Pregoni (Michael Newsome).

A concerned parent, whose son is in danger of failing one of his classes, schedules a conference with Celeste Dawkins, her son’s high school science teacher. When accused of not honoring the state and federal-mandated modifications required for her son’s different learning style, Dawkins loses her cool in an explosive tirade, provoking a high-stakes lawsuit against the school district. With her job on the line, Dawkins raises questions about the inherent risks of making special considerations for students claiming to have unique needs in her classroom, when the real world outside its walls doesn’t seem to care.

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  Gingold Theatre Group will present Shaw’s Man and Superman (in a script-in-hand performance) on Mon. June 19 at 7 PM at Off-Broadway’s Symphony Space, directed by David Staller.

  Dakin Matthews (Roebuck Ramsden (& The Statue), Carman Lacavita (Octcavius Robinson), Max Gordon Moore (John Tanner & Don Juan), Kate Hamill (Ann Whitefield (& Dona Ana), Christine Toy Johnson (Mrs. Whitefield), Olivia Kinter (Violet Robinson), Shawn Kuman Jain (Hector Malone),  Nick Wyman (Mr. Malone), and John-Andrew Morrison (Mendoza, The Devil).

  This colorful collection of characters do everything they can to both face and hide from their deepest desires and fears, fleeing across continents and even, in the dream act of Don Juan in Hell, to Hades for a chat with the Devil and back again. It’s a fast-paced verbal battle between hopeful humans about love, sex, money, life, and even eternity!

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The world premiere of Melissa Barak’s Memoryhouse will run June 15-17 at 7:30 PM at LA’s Broad Stage.

An abstract work composed of vignettes commemorating World War II and in particular, the Holocaust. Set to Max Richter’s powerful album of the same name, “Memoryhouse” will reflect on both the somber as well as more heroic moments that illuminate this period in human history.

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  New cast members have begun their runs in Cabaret at The Playhouse Theatre, directed by Rebecca Frecknall.

New Cast Members: Maude Apatow (Sally Bowles), Mason Alexander (Emcee), Beverly Klein (Fraulein Schneider), and Teddy Kempner (Herr Schultz).

Continuing Cast Members: Nathan Ives Moiba (Cliff Bradshaw), Danny Mahoney (Ernst Ludwig), and Michelle Bishop (Fraulein Kost) with Gabriela Benedetti, Emily Benjamin, Charles Croysdill, Laura Delany, Sally Frith, Matthew Gent, Ying Ue Li, Ela Lisondra, Chris O’Mara, Grant Neal, Hicaro Nicolai, Adam Taylor, Toby Turpin, Patrick Wilden, and Sophie Maria Wojna.

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   Rogue Machine will present Now or Later, by Christopher Shinn, to run June 15-25 at the Matrix Theatre, directed by Ann Bronston.

  Cherish Monique Duke, Brendan Farrell, Suzanne Ford, Samuel Garnett, George Kappaz, and Jack McKeever.

  It’s the night of the US presidential election and success is imminent for the Democratic Party. All is well until a revelation plunges the campaign into an international crisis. Women within the brittle fabric of a political family, the play exposes uncomfortable truths about politics, religion, bigotry, and freedom of expression.

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  The Dumb Waiter, by Harold Pinter, will take place for FREE on June 17 (10:30 PM), June 23 (5:30 PM) and June 25 (6 PM) at Hollywood’s McCadden Place Theater (link not available), directed by  Ryan Houlihan.
mmh@theatronproductions.com

  Ramon Suarza and Michael Martinez-Hamilton.

  On an autumn evening in Birmingham, England, two hitmen kill time by bantering about the news, sports, and bickering over semantics in a mysterious basement as they wait for their target to arrive. When eerie events occur, their perception of reality wanes and they meet their fate.

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  The world premiere of Thaddeus Nagey & Tim Poulin’s Because it’s Sunny in LA (Especially on Skid Row)  will run on various dates June 3-24 at Hollywood’s Hudson Backstage, directed by Karesa, McElheny, with music direction by Garth Herberg, and choreography by Ellie Rodriguez.
  Alikhan Lochin (Abbott), Lorinda Hawkins Smith (Costella), Thadeus Nagey (James), Betzi Marroquin (Mother), Veve Melendrez (Vanessa), and emelle (Carmen), with  Iron Donato and Adam Kreindel

The show is also a benefit for local shelters and centers that assist in alleviating poverty and homelessness.

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  GRACE NOTES Quiz answers:  Curtain Up!

1-F.   (sung) Good news, she’s dead! …  Wicked

2-I.   (sung) Sugar, sugar, sugar, butter, sugar, butter, sugar, butter, flour … Waitress

3-G.   C’mon, Julie, it’s gettin’ late … Carousel

4-A.   Everybody, shut up!  All mothers, out! I don’t want a mother in the wings! … Gypsy

5-H.  (sung) I got the horse right here, the name is Paul Revere …   Guys and Dolls

6-B.  This is a very serious drama. It’s kind of a problem play. It’s about Capital and Labor …  The Pajama Game

7-J.  Okay, let’s do the ballet combination one more time …   A Chorus Line

8-C.   Golly, Agnes, New York is like a foreign country! … Mame

9-D.  (sung) Sandy, can’t you see I’m in misery. … Grease

10-E.  (sung) When the moon is in the seventh house … Hair

 


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