Today’s Highlights:
Sunset Boulevard, directed by Sammi Cannold, featuring Stephanie J. Block (Norma Desmond), Derek Klena (Joe Gillis), Auli’j Cravalho (Betty Schaefer), Nathan Gunn (Max von Mayerling), Michael Maliakel (Artie Green), Kevin Pariseau (Sheldrake), Tyley Ross (Manfred), and Paul Schoeffler (Cecil B. DeMille), with David André, Lauren Blackman, Julio Catano-Yee, Colin Cunliffe, Haile Ferrier, Emily Harvey, Wonza Johnson, Aubrie Knapp, Ryland Marbutt, Lance Roberts, Maria Cristina Posada Slye, and Kristin Yancy, opens at The Kennedy Center.
Big Fish, by John August & Andrew Lippa, directed by Henry Godinez, featuring Alexander Gemignani (Edward Bloom), Heidi Kettenring (Sandra Bloom), Michael Kurowski (Will), and William Daly & Archer Geye (alternating as Young Will/Will’s Son), with Lydia Burke, Brandon Dahlquist, Lucy Godinez, Christopher Kale Jones, Emma Rosenthal, Allison Sill, Ayana Strutz, and Jonah D. Winston, and understudies Emily Ann Brooks, Andres Enriquez, Andrew Greiche, Sam Alan Johnson, Darryl D’Angelo Jones, and Jenny McPherson, opens at Chicago’s Marriott Theatre.
The First Deep Breath, by Lee Edward Colston II, directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, featuring Opa Adeyemo (AJ), Lee Edward Colston II (Abdul-Malik), Brandon Mendez Homes (Leslie Carter), Ella Joyce (Ruth Jones), Deanna Reed-Foster (Pearl Thomas), Candace Thomas (Dee-Dee), Tony Todd (Paster Albert Melvin Jones III), and Keith A. Wallace (Tyree Fisher), begins previews at LA’s Geffen Playhouse.
Clint Holmes: Between The Moon and New York City: The Songs of Peter Allen concert, with music direction by Michael Orland, at 7 PM at Las Vegas’ Myron’s Jazz Club.
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending Jan. 29.
Click here for the complete analysis.
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“Try Not to Hold It Against Me: A Producers’ Life,” a new memoir from Julian Schlossberg is now available on Amazon and all platforms.
A one-of-a-kind autobiography by one of entertainment’s true insiders. Written with engaging humor and self-deprecation, the book gives readers a behind-the-scenes pass to Cannes and Las Vegas, the lives and homes of the stars, and rarely seen but crucial work of the producer in the midst of it all. Schlossberg takes us through the trials and triumphs of workd and play in his roles on Broadway, Off-Broadway, film and TV producer, a radio & TV host, and documentarian.
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The world premiere of Julia Izumi’s Regretfully, So the Birds Are will run Mar. 22 – Apr. 30 (opening Apr. 11) at Playwrights Horizons, directed by Jenny Koons.
Sasha Diamon (Illy), Gibson Frazier (Cam the Snowman), Kristine Nielsen (Elinore), Sky Smith (Neel), Pearl Sun (Srey), and Shannon Tyo (Mora).
The story of three adopted Asian American siblings. Arson, affairs, incest and murder are only the beginning of problems for the Whistler siblings. Mora’s got to find her birth mother, Neel’s got to find himself, and Illy’s got to keep her piece of the sky – but the birds have other plans. A wild, farcical tragedy that gleefully flips the human quest for self-discovery on its head.
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Ensemble Theatre Company will present Sylvia Khoury’s Selling Kabul Feb. 2-19 (opening Feb. 4) at Santa Barbara’s New Vic, directed by Nike Doukas.
Rishan Dhamija (Taroon), Nitya Vidyasagar (Afiya), Beejan Land (Jawid), and Christine Mirzayan (Leyla).
This nail-biting story of abiding family love centers on an Afghan man, Taroon, a former interpreter for the US military, in hiding from the Taliban in his sister’s home in Kabul, Afghanistan. As Taroon restlessly awaits news from the hospital on the birth of his first child, his family races to protect him from dangers lurking outside the apartment wall as he plans his escape with his wife and infant child.
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Lane McLeod Jackson’s Kingfish will run Feb. 15 – Mar. 5 at Theatre Under St. Marks, directed by & starring Tyler Riley.
Casting TBA.
A wild ride combining dark humor, dueling egos, miracles, and even a shot at redemption.
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An all-new production of Peter Pan, with a new book by Larissa Fasthorse, will open in Dec. at Saint Paul’s Ordway Center, directed by Lonnie Price.
Dates, casting, creative team, and additional information TBA. Click here for initial tour dates.
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Complete casting has been announced for Winnie the Pooh the Musical, to begin previews Mar. 17 and open Mar. 26 at the Riverside Studios, created and directed by Jonathan Rockefeller.
Jake Bazel (Winnie the Pooh), Laura Bacon, Harry Boyd, Alex Cardall, Lottie Grogan, and Robbie Noonan.
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MA’s Barrington Stage has announced additional information about its 2023 season. Casting and creative teams TBA.
The Happiest Man On Earth (May 24 – June 17), world premiere by Mark S. Germain.
Cabaret (June 14 – July 8), directed by Alan Paul.
tiny father (July 1-23), by Mike Lee, directed by Moritz van Stuelpnagel.
Blues for an Alabama Sky (July 18 – Aug. 5), by Pearl Cleage.
Faith Healer (Aug. 1-27), by Brian Friel.
A New Brain (Aug. 16 – Sept. 9), directed by joe Calarco.
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Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theatre will present both live & livestream options for a reading of Jean Racine’s Phèdre on Mon. Feb. 20 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s Florence Gould Hall, directed by Lanise Antoine Shelley. The livestream option will then continue on-demand through Feb. 26.
Jennifer Ehle, David Strathairn, Stephanie Berry, Mister Fitzgerald, Allen Gilmore, Jacqueline Nwabueze, AhDream Smith, and Sarin Monae West.
Secret yearning unleashed, ruinous deceits perpetrated, scandalous familial dysfunction displayed…isn’t it astonishing what loneliness can do to a person? One a model mother and devoted wife, Phèdre finds her resolve destroyed as her desire for he maturing stepson becomes inescapable and all-consuming.
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The world premiere of Adrienne Kennedy’s Etta & Ella on the Upper West Side will run Feb. 23-25 at REDCAT, directed by Monty Cole.
Sarahjeen Francois (Etta), Tori Danner (Ella), and Wesley T. Jones (Troupe).
Etta and Ella Harrison are talented academics on the Upper West Side – as well as her sisters and rivals. After a lifetime of competition, they are on the verge of destroying each other.
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Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced the winner of the Clarence 2023 Coo Award is L. Arnold Weissberger for his play Chapters of a Floating Life.
Two couples from China try to make ends meet in New York City in the wake of the Second World War. One husband and wife live uptown, obsessed with a past of poetry, painting, and gardens. Another pair face the day-to-day reality of keeping a Chinatown restaurant in business. Their worlds, previously separated by class and education, converge when the two women find each other in Central Park and fall under the spell of the Chinese language.
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Michael Orland Open Mic Night will take place Thurs. Feb. 2 from 6-9 PM at Oscar’s Palm Springs.
Debbie Gravitte
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Ossie Davis’ Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch in late summer 2023, with dates and a theatre TBA, directed by Kenny Leon.
Leslie Odom Jr. and more TBA.
Purlie, a traveling preacher, returns to his Georgia hometown to save the local church and the cotton pickers working on Ol’ Cap’n Cotchiepee’s plantation.
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The world premiere of La Darrion Williams’ Katrina continues through Feb. 19 at Hollywood’s Loft Ensemble, directed by Jazmine Nichelle.
Antwan Alexander II, Cassandra Carmona, John Goodwin, Zenarra James, and Jessica Perkins.
When two desperate strangers find themselves trapped in an abandoned hospital on the verge of collapse during Hurricane Katrina, they must remember how they got there before they can get out.
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A reunion concert of Ragtime will take place Mon. Mar. 27 at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre, in support of The Entertainment Community Fund, directed by Stafford Arima, with music direction by James Moore.
Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Peter Friedman, Kelli O’Hara, Mark Aldrich, Shaun Amyot, John D. Baker, Dara Paige Bloomfield, Sandra M. Bonitto, Mark Cassius, Jamie Chandler-Torns, Albert Christmas, Dioni Michelle Collins, Jim Corti, Pierce Cravens, Larry Daggett, Bernard Dotson, Roberta Duchak, Donna Dunmire, Adam Dyer, Duane Martin Foster, Patty Goble, Darlene Bel Grayson, Elisa Heinsohn, David Hess, Rosena Hill, Adam Hunter, Mark Jacoby, Anne Kanengeiser, Judy Kaye, Mary Sharon Komarek (Dziedzic), Joe Langworth, Joe Locarro, Dan Manning, Michael X. Martin, Mary McCandless, Allyson Tucker Mitchell, Anne L. Nathan, Monica Patton (Richards), Lynette Perry, Orgena Rose, Gordon Stanley, Steven Sutcliffe, Todd Thurston, Vanessa Townsell-Crisp, Rema Webb, Leon Williams, Bruce Winant, and Eric Jordan Young.
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Steppin’ Out with Ben Vereen will take place Feb. 24 & 25, both at 8:30 PM, at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club.