Today’s Highlights:
The Wiz, directed by Schele Williams, featuring Nichelle Lewis (Dorothy), Deborah Cox (Glinda), Melody A. Betts (Aunt Em / Evillene), Kyle Ramar Freeman (Lion), Phillip Johnson Richardson (Tinman), Avery Wilson (Scarecrow), and Wayne Brady (The Wiz), with Maya Bowles, Shayla Alayre Caldwell, Jay Copeland, Allyson Kaye Daniel, Judith Franklin, Michael Samarie George, Collin Heyward, Amber Jackson, Olivia Jackson, Christina Jones, Polanco Jones, Kolby Kindle, Mariah Lyttle, Kareem Marsh, Anthony Murphy, Cristina Rae, Matthew Sims Jr, Avilon Trust Tate, Keenan D. Washington, and Timothy Wilson, opens at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre.
Suffs, by Shaina Taub, directed by Leigh Silverman, featuring Shaina Taub (Alice Paul), Nikki M. James (Ida B. Wells, Jenn Colella (Carrie Chapman Catt), Grace McLean (President Woodrow Wilson), Hannah Cruz (Inez Milholland), Kim Blanck (Ruza Wenclawska), Anastacia McCleskey (Mary Church Terrell), Ally Bonino (Lucy Burns), Tsilala Brock (Dudley Malone), Nadia Dandashi (Doris Stevens), and Emily Skinner (Alva Belmont/Phoebe Burn), with Hawley Gould, Jaygee Macapugay, Laila Drew, Dana Costello, Ada Westfall, Christine Heesung Hwang, Kirsten Scott, Housso Semon, and D’Kaylah Unique Whitley, opens at Broadway’s Music Box Theatre.
Here There are Blueberries, by Moisés Kaufman & Amanda Gronich, directed by Kaufman, featuring Scott Barrow, Nemuna Ceesay, Kathleen Chalfant, Noah Keyishian, Jonathan Raviv, Erika Rose, Anna Shafer, Elizabeth Stahlmann, Charlie Thurston, and Grant Varjas, opens at Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood, directed by Rob Ruggiero, featuring Lenny Wolpe (Chairman/William Cartwright), Liz McCartney (Princess Puffer/Angela Prysock), Mamie Parris (Alice Nutting), Paul Adams Schaefer (Jasper/Clive Paget), Levin Valayil (Neville Landless/Victor Grinstead), Riley Noland (Rosa Bud/Jetta Juriansz), Paul Slade Smith (Crisparkle/Cedric Moncreiff), David Beach (Durdles/Master Nick Cricker), Marcus Montgomery (Deputy/Mister Nick Cricker), and Jamie LaVerdier (Bazzard/Phillip Bax), with Jon Cooper, Benjamin Howes, Albert Jennings, Miyuki Miyagi, Jacqueline Petroccia, Jesse Swimm, Natalie Welch, Megan Arseneau and Noah Rubeck, opens at CT’s Goodspeed.
Blues for an Alabama Sky, by Pearl Cleage, directed by Jerrell L. Henderson, featuring Tarina J. Bradshaw (Angel Allen), Kendrix Brown (Leland Cunningham), Rachel Fobbs (Delia Patterson), James T. Lane (Guy Jacobs), and Gregory Warren (Sam Thomas), opens at Virginia Stage.
Tartuffe, directed by Richard Baird, featuring Kandis Chappell (Mme. Pernelle), Shanté Deloach (Mariane), Rogelio Douglas III (Damis), Bo Foxworth (Orgon), Katie Karel (Dorine), Melanie Lora (Elmire), Kate Rose Reynolds (Flipote/Police Officer/Laurent), Bruce Turk (Tartuffe), Jared Van Heel (Valere/M. Loyal), and Christopher M. Williams (Cleante), begins previews at Laguna Playhouse.
MasterVoices‘ The Grapes of Wrath concert presentation, by Ricky Ian Gordon & Michael Korie, directed & conducted by Ted Sperling, featuring Kyle Oliver (Tom Joad), Margaret Lattimore (Ma Joad), Nathan Gunn (Pa Joad), Bryonha Marie (Mae), Mikaela Bennett (Rose of Sharon), Victor Starsky (Jim Casy), Malcolm MacKenzie (Uncle John), Schyler Vargas (Connie Rivers), Christian Pursell (Noah), and John Brancy (Al), at 7:30 PM at Carnegie Hall.
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending Apr. 14:
Click here for the complete analysis.
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New York City Ballet has announced its Spring 2024 season, all performed at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater.
All Balanchine (Apr. 23 – May 5)
Masters at Work (Apr. 26 – May 12)
Spring Gala (May 2)
Classic NYCCB (May 3-16)
Classic NYCCB II (May 8-26)
All Stravinsky (May 10-25)
Contemporary Choreography I (May 14, 18, 22, 25)
Contemporary Choreography II (May 5, 19,21, 23, 24)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (May 28 – June 2)
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Broadway Podcast Network will present the first Broadway Pod Fest live from NYC’s Museum of Broadway on Sun. Apr. 21 at 11:55 AM live from NYC’s Museum of Broadway. 
on the link above.
with Jon Jon Briones, Isa Briones, Marla Mindelle, Contantine Rousouli, Eric Ulloa, Anna K. Jacobs, Kait Kerrigan, Nathan Tysen, and more TBA.
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Distractions at the Crash Site: Short Plays by Steve Yockey will run May 1 – June 1 (opening May 2) at Hollywood’s Theatre of NOTE, directed by Ryan Bergmann.
Lisa Clifton, Krista Conti, Henry Cruz, Cat Davis, Grace Eboigbe, Sierra Marcks, Ron Morehouse, Trevor Olsen, Gabby Sanalitro, and Joel Scher, with Rebecca Light.
Detectives with an evening of short works full of intimate little stories told on a very big, very bold scale. It’s simple everyday problems colliding with the most bizarre spectacle! Whether it’s deadly space debris, a blood spattered chorus or a man literally called to save the world, what constitutes “normal” is forever in question.
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The world premiere of Ashley Robinson, Dan Gillespie Sells & Shakina’s 5 & Dime, based on the film “Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean,’” will run June 18 – July 13 (opening June 21) at Theatre Works Silicon Valley (link TBA), directed by Giovanna Sardelli.
Casting TBA.
Set in a ramshackle Texas town in the 1970s, 5 & Dime follows a group of friends as they celebrate the 20th reunion of their James Dean fan club. As they look back on their younger days, a familiar stranger threatens to uncover deep-seated truths about family, community, and forging your own path.
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A musical stage adaptation of the film “Crazy Rich Asians” is in development, by Helen Park (score), Leah Nanako Winkler (book), Amanda Green (lyrics) and Tat Tong (lyrics). Jon M. Chu will direct.
A premiere date, casting, and additional information TBA.
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Romeo and Juliet will open this Fall (dates TBA) at a theatre TBA, directed by Sam Gold. Click here for the show’s website.
Kit Connor (Romeo), Rachel Zegler (Juliet), with more TBA.
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Open Door Playhouse will present Bara Swain’s The Queen of Carbon which will debut May 21, directed by Rachel Berney Needleman
Gloria Tsai and Felipe Figueroa
Lizzy is nine months pregnant and is due to give birth on Mother’s Day. Lizzy wants to name the new baby Mildred, after trailblazing scientist Mildred Dresselhaus, who was known as The Queen of Carbon. Lizzy’s husband Danny has other ideas.
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The Ambassador Theatre Group has re-branded as ATG Entertainment, part of the company’s shift beyond theatre operation into developing and producing work.
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Red Bull Theater will present Bill Cain’s God’s Spies Tues. Apr. 23 at 7:30 PM at the Sheen Center, directed by Nathan Winkelstein.
Zainab Jah, Zachary Lopez Roa, and Nick Westrate.
What do you write after you have written the world’s greatest play? Hopefully, not another Timon of Athens. Fortunately for Shakespeare, he is caught in the middle of the pandemic of 1603 and theaters are closed for a year. The plague opens his eyes to the mysteries of life and death when he is quarantined with a young Puritan lawyer and a mature streetwise prostitute. Will Shakespeare thrive creatively? Will his follow up play be as disappointing as his last? Or will he write his masterpiece?
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RIP: Costume designer Carrie F. Robbins, whose 30-plus productions on Broadway ran the gamut from the poodle skirts of Grease (1972) to the shimmering gowns of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (2009) to the nuns’ habits in Agnes of God (1983), died on April 12 at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan at the age of 81.
Broadway credits: Leda and the Little Swan by Amber Gascoigne, a play that closed on Broadway before its scheduled opening at the Cort Theatre in 1968. Robbins rebounded with a Broadway revival of You Can’t Take It With You the following year, and The Good Woman of Setzuan in 1970, and Grease, which ran eight years. Other Broadway credits include The Plough and the Stars, The Iceman Cometh, The Beggar’s Opera, The Crucible, Macbeth, An Enemy of the People, The Time of Your Life, Bertolt Brecht’s Happy End, which introduced a young Meryl Streep, Yentl, The First, The Octette Bridge Club, Raggedy Ann, The Boys of Winter, A Class Act, and The Shadow Box.
In London’s West End, she designed costumes for Sweet Bird of Youth starring Lauren Bacall. Robbins was nominated for two Tony Awards, for Grease and Over Here!, and received four Drama Desk Awards. She also received the Irene Sharaf Award for Sustained Excellence in 2012 from the Theatre Development Fund and the Ruth Morley Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women.
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92Y on Broadway: Back to the Future – Performance and conversation will take place Thurs. Apr. 25 at 8 PM at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre. 
here.
Roger Bart, Casey Likes, John Rando, Glen Ballard and Bob Gale.
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Waitress will run May 9 – June 8 at ME’s Ogunquit Playhouse, directed by Abbey O’Brien.
Desi Oakley (Jenna), Jimmy ray Bennett (Cal), Matt DeAngelis (Earl), Ben Jacoby (Dr. Pomatter), Gizel Jiménez (Dawn), Kennedy Kanagawa (Ogie), Maiesha McQueen (Becky), and Cleavant Dirricks (Joe), with Matthew Curiano, Daniela Durbin, Sam Hartley, Renee Jackson, Andrew Burton Kelley, Gabriella Marzetta, Thabitha Moruthane, Julia Rippon, Jake Urban, Chelsea Williams, and Evelyn Woodman.