Today’s Highlights:
MJ The Musical national tour, directed & choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, featuring Roman Banks (MJ). Jamaal Fields-Green (MJ Alternate), Brandon Lee Harris (Michael), Josiah Benson (Little Michael), Ethan Joseph (Little Michael), Devin Bowles (Joseph Jackson/Rob), Mary Kate Moore (Rachel), J. Daughtry (Berry Gordy/Nick), Josh A. Dawson (Tito Jackson/Quincy Jones), Jaylen Lyndon Hunter (Little Marlon), Matt Loehr (Dave), Da’Von T. Moody (Alejandro) Anastasia Talley (Katherine Jackson/Kate), Jacobi Kai (Jermaine Jackson), Jay McKenzie (Jackie Jackson), and Malcolm Miles Young (Randy Jackson, with JoJo Carmichael, Croix DiIenno, Kellie Drobnick, Kyle DuPree, Zuri Noelle Ford, Jahir L. Hipps, Rajané Katurah, Jordan Markus, Matteo Marretta, Janayé McAlpine, Kendrick Mitchell, Chelsea Mitchell-Bonsu, Zion Mikhail Pradier, Ayla Stackhouse, and Charles P. Way, opens at LA’s Pantages Theatre.
“Maestro,” the Leonard Bernstein bio-pic starring Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan, begins streaming on Netflix.
Lisa Howard’s Holiday Special concert, directed by Richard Jay Alexander, closes at NYC’s 54 Below.
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending Dec. 17.
Click here for the complete analysis.
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Additional casting has been announced for Encores!s Jelly’s Last Jam, by George C. Wolfe, Jelly Roll Morton, Susan Birkenhead & Luther Henderson, will run Feb. 21 – Mar. 3 at New York City Center, directed by Robert O’Hara, with choreography by Edgar Godineaux, and music direction by Jason Michael Webb.
Joaquina Kalukango (Anita), Billy Porter (Chimney Man), Nicholas Christopher (Jelly Roll Morton), John Clay III (Jack the Bear), Tiffany Mann (Miss Mamie), and Leslie Uggams (Gran Mimi), with Mamie Duncan-Gibbs (Hunnie), Stepahnie Pope Lofgren (Hunnie), and Allison M. Williams (Hunnie).
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tick, tick…BOOM! will run Jan. 26 – Feb. 4, 2024 at the Kennedy Center, directed by Neil Patrick Harris, with choreography by Paul McGill, and music direction by Ben Cohn.
Brandon Uranowitz (Jon), Denée Benton (Susan), Grey Henson (Michael), and more TBA.
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Video: Joy Huerta & Benjamin Velez, creators of Real Women Have Curves, currently running at Cambridge’s A.R.T., discuss their journey with the musical.
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Complete casting has been announced for Between Two Knees, by The 1491s, to run Feb. 3-24, 2024 (opening Feb. 13) at the Perelman Performing Arts Center, directed by Eric Ting.
Rachel Crowl, Derek Garza, Justin Gauthier, Shyla Lefner, Wotko Long, James Ryen, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, and Sheila Tousey with Irma-Estel Laguerre, Jessica Ranville, John Scott-Richardson, Kholan Studi, Ryan Anthony Williams.
The bold comedy takes a hard look at the effects of systemic oppression long after textbooks typically stop teaching Native history.
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Musical Theatre Guild‘s concert presentation of Duane Poole’s Live, Laugh, Love – A Sondheim Celebration will take place in two locations, directed by Lewis Wilkenfeld, with music direction by Michael Collum & Brad Ellis, and hosted by Jason Graae.
Thurs. Jan. 18 at 2 PM at Rancho Mirage’s Helene Galen PAC. 
here.
Sun. Jan. 21 at 7 PM at Burbank’s Colony Theatre. here.
Eydie Alyson, Eileen Barnett, Jennifer Bennett, Doug Carfrae, Barbara Carlton Heart, Will Colyer, Susan Edward Martin, Melissa Fahn, Joshua Finkle, Tal Fox, Julie Garnyé, Ron Christopher Jones, Melissa Lyons Caldretti, Tonoccus, McClain, Kevin C. McMahon, Dana Meller, Lisa Picotte, Glenn Rosenblum, Brent Schindele, Leslie Stevens, Mary VanArsdel, Paul Wong, Robert Yacko, and David Zack.
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Complete casting has been announced for Sarah Gancher’s Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy will run Jan. 25 – Feb. 25, 2024 (opening Feb. 8) at the Vineyard Theatre, directed by Darko Tresnjak.
Christine Lahti (Ljuba), Renata Friedman (Masha), Haskell King (Egor), John Lavelle (Steve), and Hadi Tabbal (Nikolai).
The play takes place at St. Petersburg’s infamous (real-life) Internet Research Agency, where workers manipulate social media to advance Russia’s agenda, in 2016, before the US presidential election.
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Alice Childress’ Trouble in Mind will run Jan. 12 – Feb. 4 (opening Jan. 14) at Boston’s Lyric Stage, directed by Dawn M. Simmons.
Barlow Adamson, Patrice Jean-Baptiste, Allison Beauregard, Kadahj Bennett, McConnia Chesser, Davron Monroe, Bill Mootos, James Turner, and Robert Walsh.
It’s 1955, and after enduring indignities and lost opportunities, Wiletta Mayer, a seasoned Black actress, is finally making her Broadway debut. Written by a white playwright, her star vehicle is the allegedly progressive “Chaos in Belleville,” which turns out to be anything but. Leading a cast of both younger and experienced actors, Wiletta challenges not only the soft racism of her white director but also the veiled prejudice that limits her aspirations and success. With warmth, humor, and sharp insight, this moving backstage look at identity and stereotypes cracks open searing truths about the American theater that remain heartbreakingly contemporary.
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Audio. Listen to the title song from London’s studio cast album of Diva: Live From Hell!
The musical is a riff on show business films like “All About Eve” and “Sunset Boulevard.” Diva follows high school drama club president and perennial school play star Desmond Channing who finds his teenage stardom threatened by the arrival of hotshot New York transfer Evan Harris. We meet Channing as he’s stuck in the seventh circle of hell, performing a cabaret act that recounts how he got there with a sliver of hope that he might one day break free of his eternal, campy torment.
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Additional casting has been announced for New York City Center‘s Encore’s Jelly’s Last Jam, by George C. Wolfe, Jelly Roll Morton & Susan Birkenhead (plus musical adaptation and additional music by Luther Henderson), to run Feb. 21 – Mar. 3, directed by Robert O’Hara, with choreography by Edgar Godineaux, tap choreography by Dormeshia, and music direction by Jason Michael Webb.
Joaquina Kalukango, Billy Porter, Nicholas Christopher (Jelly Roll Morton_, John Clay III (Jack the Bear), Tiffany Mann (Miss Mamie), Leslie Uggams (Gran Mimi), Mamie Duncan-Gibbs (Hunny), Stephanie Pope Lofgren (Hunny), and Allison M. Williams (Honny).
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East West Players will present Lisa Sanaye Dring’s Kairos Apr. 4-28, 2024 (opening Apr. 7) at the David Henry Hwang Theater, directed by TBA.
Casting TBA.
The story of two people falling in love during a tectonic shift in society. Their nascent relationship is tested by the advent of Prometheus, a procedure that grants immortality to a select few. What happens to commitment, meaning and care when linear time breaks open?
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Manhattan Theatre Club has announced complete casting for the world premiere of John Patrick Shanley’s Brooklyn Laundry, which will begin previews Feb. 6, 2024 and open Feb. 28 at New York City Center Stage I, directed by Shanley.
Cecily Strong (Fran), David Zayas (Owen), Florencia Lozano (Trish), and Andrea Syglowski (Susie).
Sometimes big things start from little things; in this case, a bag of laundry. Shanley’s latest is about three sisters and a guy who runs a laundry in Brooklyn, and the sometimes savage tricks life plays on them. Tragic and funny by turns, this story will remind you what is important in life… and the sorrow and joy of fully embracing adulthood.
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The 2024 L.A. Writers’ Workshop Festival, which offers audiences the opportunity to experience 6 brand new plays, will run Jan. 26-28, 2024 at LA’s Kirk Douglas Theatre.
Alien Girls by Amy Berryman
Pigeonhole by Jasmine Sharma
Help, But Better, by Inda Craig-Galván
Brother Gary, by Ramiz Monsef
malcreados, by christopher oscar peña
Teresa by Issac Gómez.
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Complete casting has been announced for The 1491’s Between Two Knees, to run Feb. 3-24 (opening Feb. 13) at the Perelman Performing Arts Center, directed by Eric Ting, with choreography by Ty Defoe.
Rachel Crowl, Derek Garza, Justin Gauthier, Shyla Lefner, Wotko Long, James Ryen, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, and Sheila Tousey, with Irma-Estel Laguerre, Jessica Ranville, John Scott-Richardson, Kholan Studi, and Ryan Anthony Williams.
A comedy about American history by the intertribal sketch comedy troupe the 1491s. The play takes a hard look at the effects of systemic oppression by centering on one family’s story of love, loss, and resilience spanning the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee, forced re-education at Indian boarding schools, World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, and the American Indian Movement occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973.