Today’s Highlights:
Relax. … let go … let fly…
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending July 26.
Click here for the complete analysis.
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Merrily We Roll Along will run Aug. 25 – Nov. 1 at DC’s Signature Theatre, directed by Matthew Gardiner.
Jason Gotay (Franklin Shepard), Melanie Field (Mary Flynn), and Jake Loewenthal (Charly Kringas).
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Ain’t Too Proud continues through Aug. 2 at the St. Louis Muny, directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge.
James T. Lane (Otis Williams), Nick Rashad Burroughs (David Ruffin), Jawan M. Jackson (Melvin Franklin), Elijah Ahmad Lewis (Eddie Kendricks), Daniel Yearwood (Paul Williams), with Joseph Anthony Byrd, Robert Crenshaw, E.J. Hamilton, Tyler Hardwick, NaTonia Monét, Aramie Payton, Steve Rosen, TJ Staten Jr., Nasia Thomas, Galen J. Williams, and Candice Marie Woods.
Video: Highlights from opening night.
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David Zax’s Aftermath will begin previews Oct. 19 and open Oct. 24 at A.R.T./NY’s Mezzanine Theatre, directed by Colton Pometta.
Danny Kornfeld, Steven Skybell,Jill Stern, and Awesta Zarife.
Aftermath follows 28-year-old journalist Josh Goldman, who has returned home after being taken captive while chasing a breaking story. The play explores the complexities of global conflict, personal convictions, and family dynamics.
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Little Shop of Horrors will run Sept. 18 – Oct. 11 (opening Sept.19) at CA’s La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, directed by Michael Matthews.
Grace Stockdale (Audrey),Thomas Hobson (Seymour Krelborn), Jay Brian Winnick (Mr. Mushnik), Travis Joe Dixon (Orin Scrivello, DDS), Joslynn Cortes (Crystal), Janaya Mahealani Jones (Ronnette), Marisa Moenho (Chiffon), Wilkie Ferguson III (The Voice of Audrey II), and “The Puppeteer” is Betsy Zajko, withNick Lunetta, Erich Schroeder, Matthew Taylor Smith, and Rianny Vasquez.
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Video Go inside the sitzprobe for London’s Death Note: The Musical.
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Hope Clarke, Tony-nominated stage and screen choreographer, died July 23 at the age of 85.
Perhaps best known for earning a Tony nomination choreographing the Jelly Roll Morton jukebox biomusical Jelly’s Last Jam in 1992, Hope Clarke was born in Washington, D.C. March 23, 1941. She would begin her career as a dancer, serving in the principal companies of both the Katherine Dunham Company and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and appearing on Broadway in such musicals as West Side Story, Purlie, Hallelujah Baby!, and Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope. On screen, she would play memorable roles in 1977’s A Piece of the Action and 1996’s Basquiat, along with making guest appearances on TV’s “Hill Street Blues”, “Sex and the City”, and The Jeffersons.
But it was as a director and choreographer where Ms. Clarke made her largest impact. Jelly’s Last Jam, her Broadway debut as a choreographer, was far and away the biggest hit of her career, earning her a Tony nomination, a Joseph Calloway Award, a Drama-Logue Award, and an NAACP Image Award. She would go on to choreograph The Tempest; Caroline, or Change; and A Free Man of Color on the Main Stem, and in 1995, Clarke became the first African American (and first Black woman) to direct and choreograph a major staging of Porgy and Bess, for Houston Grand Opera.
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Jekyll & Hyde in Concert! will take place Sept. 5 at 7 PM at NYCs 54 Below, directed & hosted by Scott Siegel.
Ben Jones, Luba Mason Christiane Noll, and more TBA.
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Private industry readings of Rebecca Salzhauer’s Krav Maga in the Temple Basement Starting this Sunday, Bagels to Follow will be presented July 29 & 30 in New York City, directed by Rosie Glen-Lambert.
Ari’el Stachel Julia Lester, Natalie , Amir Arison, Bob Ari, and Max Wolkowitz.
The play follows the members of Temple Beth Shalom, who decide to start a krav maga training group in the wake of an attack on their synagogue. But when self-defense itself gets dangerous, the group has to grapple with what it means to be safe—and how far they’ll go to ensure that they feel protected.
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Broadway Under the Stars will take place Sat. Aug. 15 at Huntington NY’s Chapin Rainbow Stage, directed by Billy Recce.
Caroline Bowman, Kuhoo Verma, Alex Joseph Grayson, and Jacob Solomon.
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Merrily We Roll Along will run Aug. 25 – Nov. 1 at Virginia’s Signature Theatre, directed by& choreographed by Matthew Gardiner.
Jason Gotay (Franklin Shepard), Melanie Field ( Mary Flynn), and Jake Loewenthal Charley Kringas), Kerstin Anderson (Beth Spencer), Maria Rizzo (Gussie Carneige), James Whalen (Joe Josephson), and Neal Gaensehals (Frank Jr.), Joel Ashur (Jerome), Ben Beckley (Terry/Mr. Spencer), Lindsay Nicole Chambers (Scotty/Mrs. Spencer), Eric Easter (Ru), Jonah Ho’okano ( Tyler, Stephen Russell), Murray (Bunker), Beatrice Owens (Dory), Sarah Anne Sillers (KT), and Alondra Trinidad-Colon (Meg), with Austin Anderson, Kimberly Camacho, Sophia Early, Max von Kolnitz Henry Hampton Bedford.
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The stage adaptation of the “Purple Rain” movie-musical, with a new book by Peter Duchan, will begin previews Mar. 12, 2027 and open Apr. 12 at the Majestic Theatre, directed by Saheem Ali, with choreography by Ebony Williams.
TBA.
An original story of an up-and-coming Minneapolis rock musician. The movie was a hit with audiences upon release, though it is the film’s soundtrack—which comprises nine songs written and performed by Prince—that has been the most enduring. His work on the songs and score earned Prince Grammy and Academy Awards, and the album has since been certified 13-times Platinum. Prince died in 2016.
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Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Steven Maler, continues through Aug. 9 at the Boston Commons.
Michael Broadhurst (Flute), Annika Burley (Helena), Meghan Carey (Hermia), Nick Cearley( Puck/Philostrate), Nora Eschenheimer (Hippolyta/Titania), De’Lon Grant (Theseus/Oberon), Jack Greenberg ( Demetrius), Jaime José Hernández (Lysander), Karen MacDonald (Quince), Paul Melendy (Bottom), Brooks Reeves (Egeus/Starveling), Patrick Curran (Snout), Nicolas Bolton (Mustardseed), Evan Danyliw (Moth), Bella Grace Harris (Fairy), Alex Leondedis (Snug), Dani Grace Nissen (Peaseblossom), and Alexandra White (Cobweb).