Today’s Highlights:
Anything Goes, directed & choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, featuring Sutton Foster (Reno Sweeny), Robert Lindsay (Moonface Martin), Felicity Kendal (Evangeline Harcourt), Gary Wilmot (Elisha Whitney), Samuel Edwards (Billy Crocker), Nicole-Lily Baisden (Hope Harcourt), Haydn Oakley (Lord Evelyn Oakleigh), and Carly Mercedes Dyer (Erma Latour), with Jon Chew, Clive Hayward, Alistair So, Marc Akinfolarin, Simon Anthony, Georgie Ashford, Vivien Carter, Natalie Chua, Eamonn Cox, Jordan Crouch, Frances Dee, Charlene Ford, Selina Hamilton, Maddie Harper, Michael Lin, Robbie McMillan, Tom Partridge, Jack Wilcox, Alexandra Wright, George Beet, Gabrielle Cocca, Emily Ormiston, and Liam Wrate, opens at London’s Barbican Theatre.
Little Girl Blue: The Nina Simone Musical, written by Laiona Michelle & Devanand Janki, starring Laiona Michelle, opens outdoors at CT’s Goodspeed Musicals.
South Pacific, directed by Daniel Evans, featuring Julian Ovenden (Emile), Ghina Back (Nellie), Joanna Ampil (Bloody Mary), Keir Charles (Luther Billis), Rob Houchen (Lt. Cable), and Sera Maehara (Liat), with Troy Abesamis, Lindsay Atherton, Carl Au, Rosanna Bates, David Birrell, Leslie Garcia Bowman, Taylor Bradshaw, Bobbie Chambers, Charlotte Coggin, Danny Collins, Oliver Edward, Sergio Giacomelli, Shailan Cohil, Adrian Grove, Zack Guest, Cameron Bernard Jones Amanda Lindgren, Matthe Maddison, Melissa Nettleford, Rachel Jayne Picar, Kate Playdon, Pierce Rogan, Clancy Ryan, Charlie Waddell, and James Wilkinson-Jones, begins streaming on various dates at the UK’s Chichester Theatre.
Semblance, written & directed by Whitney White, featuring Nikiya Mathis, opens in person & streaming at Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop.
Lincoln Center Theatre‘s Pass Over, by Antoinette Chinonye Nwanda, directed by Danya Taymor, featuring Jon Michael Hill, Namir Smallwood, and Gabriel Ebert, begins previews at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre.
Bree Loudermilk & Friends concert, with special guests Kait Kerrigan, Krystina Alabado, Zach Altman, Charity Angél Dawson, Zoe Jensen, Kait Kerrigan, Danny Harris Kornfeld, Danny Harris Kornfeld, Sav Souza, and Cory Wade, at 9 PM ET at 54 Below.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “He was a first-rate actor in second-rate parts.” ~ Charles Macready on John Kemble
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Video: Stars in the House, a “Love Boat” encore reunion, with special guests Gavid MacLeod, Fred Grandy, Ted Lange, Bernie Kopell, Lauren Tewes, Jill Whelan, Charo, and Jack Jones. (1:48:21)
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Casting has been announced for the limited return of Waitress, to run Sept. 2 – Jan. 9, 2022 at the Barrymore Theatre.
Sara Bareilles (Jenna Hunterson — Sept. 2 – Oct. 17 only), Eric Anderson (Cal), Charity Angel Dawson (Becky), Christopher Fitzgerald (Ogie), Drew Gehling (Dr. Pomatter), Caitlin Houlahan (Dawn), Dakin Matthews (Joe), and Joe Tippet (Earl), with Tryone Davis Jr., Matt DeAngelis, Andrew Fitch, Henry Gottfried, Molly Jobe, Emily Koch, Max Kumangai, Anastacia McCleskey, and Stephanie Torns, with more TBA.
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“American Masters – Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It” will air Tues. Oct. 5 at 9 PM on PBS (check local listings).
Gloria Estefan, Morgan Freeman, Mitzi Gaynor, Whoopi Goldberg, Eva Longoria, Justina Machado, Terrence McNally, Karen Olivo, Norman Lear, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The film explores Moreno’s rich, decades-long career using vérité footage of Moreno today, archival footage of her roles and appearances, re-enactments of her childhood, animation, and interviews with Moreno, those close to her, and performers she influenced.
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Video: New trailer for Amazon’s “Cinderella,” with Camila Cabello (Cinderella), Idina Menzel (Stepmother), Billy Porter (Fairy Godparent), Minnie Driver (Queen Beatrice), Pierce Brosnan (King Rowan), Maddie Baillio & Charlotte Spencer (Stepsisters), Missy Elliott (Town Crier), Fra Fee (Hench), and James Corden, John Mulaney & Romesh Ranganathan (Mice/Footmen).
The film will premiere Sept. 2.
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The world premiere of travis tate’s Queen of the Night will run Aug. 10 – Sept. 4 at VT’s Dorset Theatre Festival, directed by Raz Golden.
Danny Johnson and Leland Fowler.
Recently divorced Stephen and his millennial son, Ty, set out on a camping trip to their old stomping grounds in southeastern Texas. As an important family event approaches, father and son attempt to survive the woods, and one another, braving the bears and reckoning with the wilderness of their past. Despite low cell signals and high emotions, the two characters try their best to connect.
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Jocelyn Bioh’s Nollywood Dreams will run Oct. 21 – Nov. 28 (opening Nov. 11) at MCC Theater, directed by Saheem Ali.
(all returning from the 202o production which was postponed due to the pandemic): Abena, Charlie Hudson III, Nana Mensah, Sandra Okuboyejo, Ade Otukoya, and Emana Rachelle.
It’s the 1990s and in Lagos, Nigeria, the Nollywood film industry is exploding and taking the world by storm. Ayamma dreams of stardom while working at her parent’s travel agency alongside her lovable and celebrity-obsessed sister, Dede. When Ayamma lands an audition for a few film by Gbenga Ezie, Nigeria’s hottest director, she comes head-to-head with Gbenga’s former leading lady, Fayola. Tensions flare just as sparks start flying between Ayamma, the aspiring ingénue, and Wale, Nollywood’s biggest heartthrob.
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One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga concert plays its finale on Thur. Aug. 5 at 8 PM at Radio City Music Hall.
Sadly, this will be the duo’s final concert, due to Bennett’s diagnosis of dementia.
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Ghostlight Records and NJ’s Two River Theater will release the world premiere cast album of Joe’s Iconis’ Love in Hate Nation (from the theater’s 2019 production) this Fall (date & link TBA).
Sydney Farley (Gloria “Ya Ya” Meeks), Amina Faye (Susannah Son), Jasmine Forsberg (Brenda “Rat” Ratowski), Lauren Marcus (Miss Asp), Kelly McIntyre (Sheila Nail), Lena Skeele (Dorothy Donaldson), Emerson Mae Smith (Kitty Minx), Ryan Vona (The Guy), and Tatiana Wechsler (Judith Ramone).
A turbulent rock romance set in a 1960s Juvie Hall, the musical uses classic “bad girl” movies as the inspiration for the story of young people caught between eras of a changing America. Sixteen-year-old Susannah Son is carted off to the National Reformatory for Girls to get her head put on straight. There she meets the aggressively incorrigible Sheila Nail, and a relationship forms which leads to an all-out “revolution in the institution.” .
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LA’s Theatre West presents These: Our Actors, a video series of Shakespeare monologues, directed by Nick McDow Musleh.
Act One: A Dream of Passion, featuring Seemah Wilder, Sara Shearer, Robert Christophe, Benjamin Scuglia, and Sandra Tucker.
Act Two: This Insubstantial Pageant, featuring Dianne Travis, Suzanne Collins, Maria Kress, Jill Jones, and Joe Nassi.
Act Three: The World May Witness, featuring Emily Unnasch, Nick McDow Musleh, Paula K. Long, Mary Elizabeth Somers, and Michael Van Duzer.
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The world premiere of Sarah Rose Kearns’ adaptation of Jocelyn Bioh’s Persuasion will run Sept. 11 – Oct. 31 (opening Sept. 21) at MCC Theater, directed by Eric Tucker.
Sarah Rose Kearns, Rajesh Bose, Caroline Grogan, Nandita Shenoy, Jamie Smithson, Randolph Curtis Rand, Shaun Bennet Fauntleroy, Claire Hsu, Annabel Capper, and Yonatan Gebeyehu.
A shy English spinster in the post Napoleonic era sees to win back the love of the man she rejected eight years before.
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Video: Trailer for Amazon Prime’s “Annette,” starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard.
Set in Los Angeles, Adam Driver stars as a stand-up comedian with a fierce sense of humor who falls in love with Ann, a world-renowned opera singer. Under the spotlight, they form a passionate and glamorous couple. With the birth of their first child, Annette, a mysterious little girl with an exceptional destiny, their lives are turned upside down.
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“The Show Must Go On” documentary, written & directed by Dori Berinstein, will take place Mon. Aug. 9 at 6:30 PM ET at Broadway’s Majestic Theatre, in support of The Actors Fund.
Sierra Boggess, Ariana DeBose, Ali Ewoldt, Shereen Pimentel, Adrienne Warren, Isa Antonetti, Courtney Bassett, Rebecca Hargrove, Joomin Hwang, Emile Kouatchou, Adam Richardson, Joseph DePietro, Luke Grooms, Ayaka Kamei, Eric Anthony López, and Curt Olds.
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The world premiere of Lavina Jadhwani’s The Sitayana (Or “How to Make an Exit”) will run in person Sept. 25-27, with livestream shows running through Oct. 17 at East West Players, directed by Reena Dutt.
Nikita Chaudhry, Sheetal Gandhi, and Minita Gandhi.
An artful transposition of the Hindu epic The Ramayana told from Sita’s point of view. Part epic tale, part coming of age story, this is the ultimate breakup play.
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Rajiv Joseph’s Letters of Suresh will run Sept. 14 – Oct. 24 (opening Oct. 4) at Second Stage (Tony Kiser Theatre), directed by May Adrales.
Ali Ahn, Ramiz Monsef, Kellie Overbey, and Thom Sesma.
A companion piece to Joseph’s 2008 play Animals Out of Paper, the play “reveals intimate mysteries through a series of letters between strangers, friends, daughter, and lovers — many with little in common but a hunger for human connection. Sending their hopes and dreams across oceans and years, they seek peace in one another while dreaming of a city once consumed by the scourge of war.