Today’s Highlights:
Melissa Li and Kit Yan in concert, opens at Lincoln Center‘s Clare Tow Theater.
NAATCO‘s Romeo and Juliet, with a modern verse translation by Hansol Jung, directed by Jung & Dustin Wills, featuring Purva Bedi, Major Curda, jose Gamo, Brian Lee Huynh, Zion Jang, Mia Katigbak, Rob Kellogg, Dorcas Leung, and Daniel Liu, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Lynn F. Angelson Theater.
Millennials Are Killing Musicals developmental production, by Nico Juber, directed by Ciara Renée, featuring Max Crumm (Nate/Atlas), Tiffany Engen (Jake’s Mom), Jakeim Hart (Dylan), Diana Huey (Katrina), Sheri Sanders (Nana Marie), Jae W.B. (Luna), and Brinie Wallace (Pacifica), with Jessie Alagna and Kathel Griffin, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Theatre 71 (152 W. 71st St.)
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2023 New York Drama Critics Circle Award winners.
Click here for the complete list.
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Boston’s 2023 Elliot Norton Award winners.
Click here for the complete list.
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Sanaz Toossi’s English has won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The play centers on a group of adults in Iran preparing for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) in an “English Only” classroom.
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Nico Juber’s Millenials Are Killing Musicals, currently in previews, will open May 15 and continue through May 28 at Theatre 71 (152 W. 71st St.), directed by Ciara Renee, with choreography by Sarah Parker, and music supervision by Ted Arthur.
Kristolyn Lloyd (Brenda), Max Crumm (Nate/Atlas), Jakeim Hart (Dylan(, Tiffany Engen (Jake’s Mom), Brinie Wallace (Pacifica), Diana Huey (Katrina), Sheri Sanders (Nana Marie), and Jae W.B. (Luna), with Jessie Alagna and Kathel Griffin.
Brenda is a single and struggling millennial mom who wants to be as good at “adulting” as other moms on social media and the seemingly perfect mom of her daughter’s classmate. Just when she’s ready to take on the challenge, Brenda’s younger sister and social media influencer Katrina shows up on her doorstep eight months pregnant.
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A one-night-only premiere performance of Tom André Previn & Tom Stoppard’s Penelope will take place Sat. June 10 at PM at 7:30 PM LA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Renée Fleming (Penelope)
The piece takes the audience into the mind of the mythic heroine, waiting years on end for her beloved husband’s return from war and standing strong against a hundred suitors.
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A new theater podcast, “The Present Stage: Conversations with Theater Writers” has launched its 2-episode premiere here, focusing on Robert Horn.
New episodes will stream on Fridays on all platforms.
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Initial casting has been announced for Little Shop of Horrors, to run July 25-31 at the St. Louis Muny, directed by Maggie Burrows, with choreography by William Carlos Angulo, and music direction by Andrew Graham.
Robin De Jesús (Seymour), Patti Murin (Audrey), Michael McGrath (Mr. Mushnik), Ryan Vasquez (Orin Scrivello), and Nicholas Ward (Voice of Audrey II), with more TBA.
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Open Fist Theatre Company (link TBA) will present Barry Keating & Stuart Ross’ Starmites June 2 – July 8 at LA’s Atwater Village Theatre, directed by Scott Peterman, with choreography by Becca Sweitzer.
Talia Gloster (Elianor), Bradley Sharper (Space Punk), Rieves Bowers (Starmite), Alex Hogy (Starmite), Jasper Wong (Starmite), Brendan Mulally (Shak Graa), and Cat Davis (Diva), with Elle Engelman, Lindsey Moore Ford, Sarah Martellaro, Sophie Oda, and Jack David Sharpe.
The zany tale of earthling Eleanor, a shy teenager who dreams her way into a comic book quest to save the galaxy. Eleanor teams up with Space Punk, the Starmites, and a lizard man name Trinkulus to fight the evil Shak Graa and The Banshees – weird women with dangerous hair-dos – led by Diva.
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Paul Gordon’s The Gospel According to Heather will run June 14 – July 9 (opening June 22) at Amas Musical Theatre, directed & choreographed by Rachel Klein, with music direction by Jonathan Bauerfeld.
Katey Sagal, Lauren Elder, Badia Farha, Maria Habeeb, Darron Hayes, Jeremy Kushnier, Maya Lagerstam, Wayne Wilson, and Brittany Nicole Williams, with Armando Gutierrez, Georgia Kate Haege, Sarita Amani Nash, and Zach Rand.
Heather Krebs just wants a boyfriend. But how can she even navigate her way through high school if she might be the New Messiah? A small town in Ohio grapples with politics, religion and teenage romance in this eclectic pop musical.
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Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre has announced its Music Mondays Concert Series (all at 8 PM):
Derrick Davis (July 10)
Julie Benko (July 17)
Isaac Mizrahi (Aug. 7)
Melissa Errico (Aug. 21)
Charlie Parker Celebration – Bird Lives!, featuring Randy Brecker (Aug. 28)
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NJ’s McCarter Theater has announced its 2023-24 season:
Bulrusher (Sept. 13 – Oct. 7), by Eisa Davis, directed by Nicole A. Watson. The play follows a multiracial girl growing up in the Bay Area in 1955, who finds she has a gift for clairvoyance.
The Woman in Black (Oct. 13-29), by Susan Hill, adapted by Stephen Mallatratt, directed by Robin Herford. The mystery sees a visit to an estate on the fog-covered English countryside and a tragedy that continues to haunt all who visit.
Caroline, or Change (Mar. 6-24, 2024), directed by Lili-Anne Brown.
Choice (May 8 – June 2), by Winnie Holzman, directed by Sarah Rasmussen. A journalist researches a story that could reframe how we think about the right to choose, a project that forces her to examine her own life.
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The Act II opening of Bad Cinderella, The Ball,” will stream live from Broadway’s Imperial Theatre beginning at 8:30 PM ET tonight on the production’s YouTube channel.
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Aleksey Igudesman’s The Music Critic will launch its national tour Oct. 17 at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall. Click here for more information and tour dates.
John Malkovich
A music critic batters, insults, and laughs at the music of composers like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Schumann, and more, whose works premiered to jeers and negative press for performers and composer alike.
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(audio click here): Broadway’s Sweeney Todd cast performs “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”
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Verdi’s Otello will run May 13 – June 4 at LA Opera, conducted by James Conlon.
Russell Thomas (Othello), Rachel Willis-Sørensen (Desdemona), Igor Golovatenk (Iago), Anthony Ciaramitaro (Cassio), Sarah Saturnino (Emilia), Morris Robinson (Lodovico), Anthony León (Roderigo), Alan Williams (Montano), and Ryan Wolfe (Herald).
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Chicago Shakespeare Theatre has announced its 2023-24 season:
Twelfth Night (Oct. 25 – Nov. 26), directed by Tyrone Phillips.
Islander (Nov. 29 – Dec. 17), by Amy Draper, Stewart Melton & Finn Anderson, directed by Draper. A magical journey to transcend loss, recover hope, and find community.
Illinois (Jan. 12-28, 2024), by Justin Peck & Jackie Sibblies Drury.
Richard III (Feb. 2 – Mar. 3), directed by Edward Hall, starring Katy Sullivan (Richard III).
Judgement Day (Apr. 23 – May 26), world premiere by Rob Ulin, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, starring Jason Alexander. In order to avoid eternal damnation, a selfish, morally bankrupt lawyer seeks help from a Catholic priest who has issues of his own. Together they set out to solve timeless questions of Western philosophy—morality, faith, human nature—as they form an unlikely bond in this cheeky comedy.
The Enigmatist (May 29 – June 30), created by & starring David Kwong. An immersive experience of puzzles and illusions.
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Rebecca Luker, who passed away in Dec. 2020 from ALS, took the stage at NYC’s Symphony Space to perform 18 songs written especially for her as part of a project known as The Rebecca Luker Songbook.
On Monday, May 22, a concert titled The Rebecca Luker Songbook: A Benefit Concert will take place at 8 PM at NYC’s Symphony Space, directed by Annette Jolles, with music direction by Joseph Thalken. A portion of the proceeds from the event will be donated to Project ALS.
Julie Benko, Mikaela Bennett, Andréa Burns, Carolee Carmello, Nikki Renée Daniels, Laura Darrell, Ali Ewoldt, Marina Kondo, Emilie Kouatchou, Bryce Pinkham, Scarlet Strallen, Jessica Vosk, and Sally Wilfert.
The evening will premiere songs by Carmel Dean, Scott Eyerly, Jenny Giering, Mike Heitzman, Ilene Reid, Henry Krieger, Andrew Lippa, David Loud, Joshua Rosenblum, Sam Willmott, and more. Attendees can expect to hear 24 songs from “The Rebecca Luker Songbook,” a collection of over 80 compositions inspired by and written especially for Luker.
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Murder on the Links, world premiere written & directed by Steven Dietz, will run May 31 – June 18 (opening June 4) at Laguna Playhouse.
Kim Morgan Dean (Captain Hastings), Jennifer Erdmann (Woman One), Brian Mackey (Man Two), Jessica Mosher (Woman Two), Omri Schein (Hercule Poirot), and Matthew Salazar-Thompson (Man One).
Something’s afoul on the private golf course at Merlinville-Sur-Mer, namely the body of Hercule Poirot’s newest client! The fames Belgian detective arrive to solve one of Agatha Christie’s most intricate whodunits. Of course, there are the host of usual – and – unusual suspects. The characters navigate the twists and turns of this lively and fun adaptation.