Today’s Highlights
Laura & Linda Benanti: Mother Knows Best concert opens at NYC’s 54 Below.
Claybourne Elder: If the Stars Were Mine concert at 8:30 PM at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club.
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending July 13.
Click here for the complete analysis
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Ted Sweindly’s Honky Tonk Angels will run July 30 – Aug. 17 (opening Aug. 3) at CA’s Laguna Playhouse, directed by David Ellenstein, with music direction John Massey, and choreography by Jill Gorrie.
Darcy Rose Byrnes (Darlene), Alexandra Melrose (Angela), and Shelley Regner (Su Ellen).
This feel-good, boot stompin’ musical celebrates the enduring power of music and friendship. Armed with only their dreams and a bus ticket, three sassy gals leave their thankless lives behind and head to Nashville to become country music singers. Revisit dozens of pop-country favorites like “Stand By Your Man,” “Ode To Billy Joe”, “Delta Dawn,” and many more.
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(Listen here): Rachel Zegler performs “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” recorded live at the London Paladium.
Click here for more about the production.
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Charles Kirsch will present a live & live streamed concert version of N. Richard Nash, lyrics by Carolyn Leigh & Cy Coleman’s Wildcat on Mon. July 28 at 7 PM at NYC’s 54 Below, with music direction by Michael Lavine.
Marilu Henner, Eve Plumb, Ilene Graff, John Bolton, Seth Sikes, Luba Mason, Lenny Wolpe, and many more.
The story is set in 1912. It follows Wildcat “Wildy” Jackson and her sister Jane. They arrive in Centavo City with hopes of finding oil. Wildy persuades Joe Dynamite, a skilled crew foreman, to help her, despite lacking capital and experience. Their adventures and a developing romance result in their oil venture’s success. The musical concludes with a triumphant gusher.
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Video: Highlights from Evita, which will run July 18-24 at the St. Louis Muny.
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Virginia Stage has announced its 2025/26 season:
Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Sept. 23 – 21), directed by Professor Anthony Mark Stockard.
Emma (Oct. 22 – Nov. 9), directed by Tom Quaintance.
Wait Until Dark, (Jan. 28 – Feb. 15), by Frederick Knott, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Mar. 11 – 29, 2026), directed & choreographed by Billy Bustamante.
Malcolm X & Redd Foxx Washing dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem (Apr. 8-26) , directed by Dexter J. Singleton.
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LA Opera‘s West Side Story will run Sept. 20 – Oct. 12 LA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, directed by Francesca Zambello, and conducted by James Conlon.
Gabriella Reyes (Maria), Duke Kim (Tony), Amanda Castro (Anita), Taylor Harley (Riff), Yurel Echezarreta (Bernardo), Juan Posada (Chino), David Prottas (Action), and Daniella (Rosalia).
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Jack Viertel’s After Midnight will run Aug. 4-24 at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre Company, directed by Jay Santos.
Yusef Seevers, Porscha Shaw, Nalica Hennings , Nehemiah Hooks, Nicholas Japaul Bernard, Trina Mills, Madison Willis, Brian Davis, Iris Beaumier and Jason Holley, with Savannah Cooper, Alysha Morgan, Stanley Martin, and Lamont Brown.
Immerse yourself in the sultry, swingin’ Jazz Age of the Harlem Renaissance, where the Cotton Club is the place to be! Infused with the iconic tunes of Duke Ellington, Dorothy Fields, Harold Arlen, and more.
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. David West Read & May Martin’s & Juliet will run Aug. 13 – Sept. 7 (opening Aug. 15) at the Ahmanson Theatre, directed by Luke Sheppard, with choreography by Jennifer Weber.
Rachel Simone Webb IJuliet), Paul-Gordan Jansen (Lance), Teal Wicks (Anne Hathaway, Corey Mach (Shakespeare), Nick Drake (May), Kathryn Allison (Andelique ), Kathryn Allison (Angélique), Michael Canu (Romeo), Michal Canu (Romeo), and Leite Cardoso (François), with Naima Alakham, Camille Brooks, Nella Cole, Lois Ellise, Ishmael Gonzalez, Kenneth Onesimus Goubran, Shelby Griswold, Christopher Robert Hanford, Jourdan Ibe, Josh Jordan, Nicole Lamb, Yoshi Maysonet, Usman Ali Mughal, Jaydon Nget, Kyra Smith, and Francisco Thurston.
& Juliet, flips the script on the greatest love story ever told, imagining what would happen next if Juliet hadn’t ended it all over Romeo, and got a second chance at life and love—on her own terms.
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Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles will run July 25 – Aug, 31 (weekends only) at North Hollywoods’ Group Rep (1000 Burbank Blvd), directed by Brent
Beerman.
Kathi Chaplar (Debbie, Jill, Lisa), Amy Earhart (Heidi), Amy Goldring (April, Betsy, Becky), Hudson Long (Peter), Michelle McGregor (Molly, Fran, Clara, Denise), Maxwell
Oliver (Chris, Mark, TV Attendant, Waiter, Ray), Alex Scyocurka (Scoop), and Amy
Shaughnessy (Susan).
A perspective and funny play about an art historian and her friends, male and female,
gay and straight, who mature from the wild ‘60s to the wilder ‘80s as they search for
political, professional and personal fulfillment and enlightenment. It explores
women’s struggle for independence, respect and recognition in a post-1960’s world.
Heidi goes on a journey of becoming confident in her identity as a single woman.
Witty, insightful and poignant, this is Wendy Wasserstein’s most popular play.
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Alan Janes’ The Buddy Holly Story continues through July 27 at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West, directed & choreographed by Keith Andrews.
Will Riddle, with Will Riddle (Buddy Holly), Justin Mariel Boyd (trumpet player Tyrone), Will Riddle (Buddy Holly) and Justin Mariel Boyd (Tyrone), with Trent Mills, Elizabeth Curtain, Mia Sempertegui, David Kirk Grant, Janaya Mahealani Jones, Chase Ramsey, Ryan DeNardo, and Lauren Han.
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Jazz in July continues through July 16 at NYC’s N2NY.
Click the link above for the complete schedule.
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A reading of Nicky Silver’s The Food Chain will take place Sun. July 27 at 3 PM at LA’s Theater West, directed by Michael Van Duzer.
Matthew Gademske, Samantha Gregory, Amy Simon, and Michael Van Duzer.
A sex comedy with adult content. Some parents may consider it inappropriate for those under 13 years of age. Amanda and Ford are a just-married couple. Serge and Otto are former gay lovers. This unlikely quartet has more in common than they realize. Uniting them, is Bea, a telephone crisis counselor with surprising connections to them all. For all of Bea’s apparent neuroses, she may hold the key to unraveling the other characters’ problems.