Today’s Highlights:
The Seagull, newly adapted by Anya Riess, directed by Jamie Lloyd, featuring Emilia Clare (Nina), Tom Rhys Harries (Trigorin), Daniel Monks (Konstantin), Indira Varma (Arkadina), and Sophie Wu (Masha), opens at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre.
Next to Normal, a 60-minute reimagining, directed by Simon Pittman, featuring Alice Ripley (Diana Goodman) and Adam Pascal (Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine), with Andy Señor Jr., Jade Laurel, Eloi Gomez, and Lewis Edgar, opens at Festival Grec de Barcelona.
The Kite Runner, adapted by Matthew Spangler, directed by Giles Croft, featuring Amir Arison (Amir), Faran Tahir (Baba), Danish Farooqui (Wali/Doctor), Azita Ghanizada (Soraya), Joe Joeseph (Merchant/Russian Soldier), Dariush Kashani (Rahim Kahan), Beejan Land (Kanmal/Zaman), Amir Malaklou (Assef), Eric Sirakian (Hassan/Sohrab), Houshang Touzie (General Taheri), and Evan Zes (Ali/Farid), with Christine Mirzayan and Salar Nader, begins previews at Broadway’s Hayes Theatre.
Follies, directed by Bill English, featuring Natascia Diaz (Sally Durant Plummer), Samantha Rose Cárdenas (Young Sally), Maureen McVerry (Phyllis Rogers Stone), Danielle Cheiken (Young Phyllis), Ryan Drummond (Buddy Plummer), Chachi Delgado (Young Buddy), Chris Vettel (Benjamin Stone), Cameron La Brie (Young Benjamin), Cindy Goldfield (Carlotta Campion), Lucinda Hitchcock Cone (Hattie Walker), Jill Slyter (Solange LaFitte), Caroline Louise Altman (Stella Deems), Louis Parnell (Dimitri Weismann), Frederick Winthrop (Roscoe), Eiko Yamamoto (Emily Whitman), and Rene Collins (Theodore Whitman), with Emily Corbo, Anthony Maglio, Catrina Manahan, and Anne Warque, begins previews at the San Francisco Playhouse.
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending July 3. Click here for the complete analysis.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “Imagination is a quality given a man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is.” ~ Oscar Wilde
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Justin Vivian Bond, Zack Winokur & Anthony Roth Costanzo’s Only An Octave Apart will run Sept. 28 – Oct. 22 (opening Sept. 30) at Wilton’s Music Hall, directed by Winokur, with music direction by Daniel Schlosberg.
Anthony Roth Costanza and Justin Vivian Bond
A joyous and surprising musical fantasia, reveling in everything strange and beautiful in the coexistence of contrasts – from Purcell’s 17th century aria “Dido’s Lament,” to Dido’s early 2000 hit “White Flag,” from “Autumn Leaves” to “The Waters of March.”
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The 2022 Theater Hall of Fame inductees have been announced. An induction ceremony will be held Nov. 14 at Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre. Additional information TBA.
Inductees: Playwrights Lynn Nottage and Suzan-Lori Parks; actors Christine Ebersole, Bill Irwin, and Mandy Patinkin; director Frank Galati; sound pioneer Abe Jacob; and, posthumously, playwright Ntozake Shange.
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Skeleton Rep will present Emily Rose Simons & Emily Claire Schmitt’s The Inconvenient Miracle: A Mysterious Birth Musical Aug. 11-27 at The Episcopal Actors’ Guild, directed by Ria T. DiLullo.
Nicola Barrett, Deijah Faulkner, Bella Anaya Hathorne, Morgan Misk, Ellen Orchid, Karen Joy Pangantihon, Samantha Streich, and Cecilia Vanti.
When Abigail, the most popular girl at school and a self-described prophet, declares that Vanessa Rosales, the lone atheist, will the next Virgin Mary, Vanessa responds by punching Abigail in the face. This lands her in detention with Sister Florence, the last remaining nun on campus, who has been begging God for any sign of His existence. Vanessa may be the miracle Florence is looking for, but not in the way of either of them expected.
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North Hollywood’s Road Theatre Company has announced its Summer Playwrights Festival, to run July 7-17, featuring readings of 20 plays in 11 days.
Click here for the complete schedule and additional information (on the site, scroll down and click the yellow down arrow to access the complete schedule of readings).
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The world premiere of Duncan Sheik & Kyle Jarrow’s Noir, filmed live on stage, is now streaming on demand through July 18 at Houston’s Alley Theatre, directed by Darko Tresnjak, with choreography by Karla Puno Garcia.
Christy Altomare, Adam Kantor, and Morgan Marcell, with David Guzman, Clifton Samuels, Voltaire Wade-Green, and Sinclair Daniel.
A heartbroken and reclusive man finds comfort in his radio until his new neighbors, a couple, move into the apartment next door. The lives of the three become entangled in a dangerous way as his eavesdropping turns from entertainment to obsession, bringing the noir film genre to the stage.
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Jersey Boys will run July 15 – Aug. 21 at Albany’s Capital Rep, directed by Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill, with choreography by Freddy Ramirez, and music direction by Todd Olson.
Justin Scott Brown (Tommy DeVito), Brian Michael Henry (Nick Massi), Jeffrey Kringer (Bob Gaudio), Evan Jay Newman (Frankie Valli), Nick Anastasia (Franki Valli 2/ Joey Pesci), and Shayne David Cameris (Bob Crewe), with Josh DeMarco, Madalyn “Maddy” Montgomery, Shannon Rafferty, Nicole Zelka, Morgan Smith, and Jake Goodman.
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Win an Audible Theater Membership. The grand prize: One Audible Premium Plus Annual Gift Membership, worth $149.50.
here (scroll down). Deadline is July 8 at 9 PM ET.
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LA’s IAMA Theatre Company will present FREE staged readings of four new plays July 28 -31 at LA’s Atwater Village Theater. Casting TBA.
When I Say You Are Killing Me (July 28 at 8 PM PT), by Karyn Peyton, directed by Emily Moler. A documentary theater solo show told in monologues. A queer playwright uses real-life tapes and journal entries to piece together past, present and future events involving the film producer who groomed her over the course of five years when she was in her twenties.
the fishes and the birds (July 29 at 8 PM PT), by Sowmya Ashokkumar, directed by Rebecca Wear. A play about grief rituals and talking seagulls: Madhuri is tasked to shepherd her dead mother’s soul to heaven, but is unsure if she will be successful due to their complicated relationship.
Breathless (July 30 at 8 PM PT), by Daysha Veronica. Black college student Jah time-travels back to the slavery era in place of an ancestor trying to escape the plantation. There, he is forced to confront a timeless question for Black people in this country: where are we most safe?
No One Wants To Work Anymore (July 31 at 8 PM PT), by Dylan Schifrin, directed by Lee Kasper. In this fevered, musical interrogation of hustle culture, burnout and the growing anti-work movement, six new hires at a mysterious mega-corporation must complete an unconventional onboarding process: trek through Antarctia, don’t freeze to death, and build up a managerial skill set along the way.
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Sweeney Todd will run July 16-22 at the St. Louis Muny, directed by Rob Ruggiero and music direction by James Moore.
Ben Davis (Sweeney Todd), Carmen Cusack (Mrs. Lovett), Robert Cuccioli (Judge Turpin), Jake Boyd (Anthony Hope), Lincoln Clauss (Tobias), Stephen Wallem (Beadle), Julie Hanson (Beggar Woman), Riley Noland (Johanna), and Hernando Umana (Pirelli), with Lee H. Alexander, Nick Berninger, Leah Berry, Patrick Blindauer, Brandon S. Chu, Rheaume Crenshaw, Steve Czarnecki, J.D. Daw, Delaney Guer, Michelle Beth Herman, Omega Jones, Beth Kirkpatric, Debby Lennon, Jonelle Margallo, Jacqueline Petroccia, Tim Quartier, Grant James Reynolds, Liz Shivener, Nicklaus Smith, Celia Snow, Veronica Stern, April Strelinger, Pirce Waldman, and Andy Zapata.
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Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day will run Sept. 6 – Oct. 31 at The Old Vic, directed by Katy Rudd.
Helen Hunt, and more TBA.
A satire on the quest for consensus set against the backdrop of a mumps outbreak at a progressive private elementary school in California in 2017 – the central question of “to vaccinate” or “not to vaccinate” taking a whole new meaning in a post-pandemic world.
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Alan Menken will be honored with the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award at the Annual Hollywood in Vienna Gala, which will take place Sept. 23 & 24 at the Vienna Concert Hall, as well as stream on Disney+.
Adam Jacobs, Trevor Dion Nicholas, Celinde Schoenmaker, Christine Allado, and Bongiwe Happiness Malugna, and more TBA.
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The world premiere of Peter Lefcourt’s Remembering the Future has changed its production dates. The play will now begin previews July 16, open July 23, and close Aug. 21 at LA’s Odyssey Theatre, directed by Terri Hanauer.
Michael Corbett, Fatima El-Bashir, David Jahn, Andrew Neaves, and Tarina Pouncy.
What would your 18-year-old self say to your 58-year-old self it had the opportunity? How would that person judge the life you are living? This question hangs over this world premiere comedy that deals with love, life, and the tinted prism of memory. Two sets of actors, representing the same couple at two different ages, meet for dinner after not seeing each other for nearly 40 years. There’s a lot of water under the bridge with both having unresolved feelings about the past. Is it too late to change direction? Can they? Should they?
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Video: Chita Rivera and Cynthia Erivo honor West Side Story during PBS’s “A Capital Fourth.” (1:35:40)
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Candrice Jones’ FLEX continues through July 17 at the Arkansas New Play Festival at TheatreSquared, directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg.
Coda Boyce, Alaina Kai, Chester, Na’Tosha De ‘Von, Hailey Elizabeth, Justin Ryan, and Cherene Snow.
The story of a girls’ high school basketball team from Plainnole, Arkansas. It’s 1997, and the women of the Lady Train team are inspired by the successes of the WNBA. The play celebrates the fierce athleticism of women’s basketball with all the adrenaline and swagger of a four-quarter game.
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Netflix’s screen adaptation of “Matilda The Musical” will open Oct. 5 at the London Film Festival, directed by Matthew Warchus.
Emma Thompson (Mrs. Trunchbull), Lashana Lynch (Miss Honey), Sindhu Vee (Mrs. Phelps), Stephen Graham (Mr. Wormwood), Andrea Riseborough (Mrs. Wormwood, and newcomer Alisha Weir (Matilda)
A U.S. debut on Netflix will follow during this holiday season (date TBA).
Video: Trailer
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The 2017 West End production of Annie will embark on a new UK tour on Feb. 25, 023 at the Leicester Curve Theatre, directed by Nikolai Foster, with choreography by Nick Winston. Click here for the tour schedule.
Casting TBA.