Today’s Highlights
Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom, by Aedín Moloney & Colum McCann, directed by John Keating, featuring Aedín Moloney, opens at Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep.
Mad House, by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, starring David Harbour and Bill Pullman, opens at London’s Ambassadors Theatre.
May We All: A New Country Musical, by Troy Britton Johnson, Todd Johnson & Eric Pfeffinger, directed by Shelley Butler, featuring Lauren Pritchard, Heidi Blickenstaff, Brandon Ellis, Elliot Robinson, Zuri Ford, Patty Lohr, Matt Manuel, Bligh Voth, Patsy Detroit, Ryan Link, Miles Aubrey, Peri Barnhill, Chelsea “Solace” Hough, Mary Kate Hughes, Ashlyn Inman, Josh Jordan, Calvin Malone, Noah Pelty, and Macy Watts, opens at the Tennessee PAC.
Pretty Woman tour, directed & choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, featuring Adam Pascal (Edward Lewis), Olivia Valli (Vivian Ward), Jessica Crouch (Kit De Luca), Kyle Taylor Parker (Happy Man/Mr. Thompson, and Matthew Stock (Philip Sutckey), with Nella Cole, Michael Dalke, Nico DeJesus, Christian Douglas, Danny Drewes, Alex Gibbs, Em Hadick, Joshua Kenneth Allen Johnson, Chris Manuel, Alexa Xioufaridou Moster, Kaylee Olson, Amma Osei, Jonathan Ritter, Becca Suskauer, Kelsee Sweigard, Matthew Vincent Taylor, Brent Thiessen, Bria J. Williams, and Imani Pearl Williams, begins previews at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre.
**********************
GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “It’s one of the tragic ironies of the theatre that only one man in it can count on steady work – the night watchman.” ~ Tallulah Bankhead
**********************
Broadway Grosses for the week ending June 12. Click here for the complete analysis (scroll down).
**********************
Martyna Majok’s Sanctuary City will run July 8 – Aug. 14 at CA’s Berkeley Rep, directed by David Mendizábal.
Hernán Angulo, María Victoria Martinez, and Kim Fischer.
The story of two DREAMers negotiating the promise of safety, and the weight of responsibility in America.
**********************
Casting has been announced for John Dempsey & Dana P. Rowe’s The Witches of Eastwick concert presentation, to take place Mon. June 20 at 7 PM GMT at London’s Sondheim Theatre, directed by original cast member Maria Friedman.
John Partridge (Darryl Van Horne), Carry Hope Fletcher (Sukie), Natasha J Barnes (Alexandra), Laura Pitt-Pulford (Jane), Claire Moore (Felicia Gabriel), Nathan Amzi (Clyde Gabriel), Alfie Friedman (Michael Spofford), and Chrissie Bhima (Jennifer Gabriel), with Lydia Bannister, Isabel Canning, Aoife Dunn, Christopher Howell, Emma Knudsen, Martin McCarthy, Benjamin Mundy, Emily Ooi, Joshua Robinson, Rachel Spurrell, and Rafe Watts.
**********************
Hershey Felder: Chopin in Paris will run July 5-24 at Beverly Hills’ The Wallis, directed by Joel Zwick.
**********************
Off-Broadway’s Public Theater has announced its 2022-23 season:
Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge (Sept. 24 – Oct. 16), by April Matthis & Greig Sargeant, with Elevator Repair Service, directed by John Collins, featuring Daphne Gaines, Gavin Price, Greig Sargeant, Christopher-Rashee Stevenson, and Ben Williams. In 1965, two of American’s intellectual giants were invited to debate whether “the American Dream is at the expense of the American Negro.”
A Raisin in the Sun (Sept. 27 – Nov. 6), by Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Robert O’Hara.
Where We Belong (Oct. 28 – Nov. 27), written by & starring Madeline Sayet, directed by Mei Ann Teo. In 2015, Mohegan theatre-maker Madeline Sayet moved to England to pursue a PhD in Shakespeare, grappling with the question of what it means to remain or leave as the Brexit nations that have failed to reckon with their ongoing roles in colonialism, she find comfort in the journeys of her Native ancestors who had crossed the ocean in the 1700s to help her people.
Plays for the Plague Year (Nov. 4-27), world premiere by Susan-Lori Parks, directed by Niegel Smith. During the pandemic, Parks picked up her pen and set out to write a play every day, which resulted in a breathtaking chronicle of our collective experience throughout the troubling days and nights that followed.
Under the Radar Festival (Jan. 4-22, 2023). This year’s festival will reflect the enormous changes in the field of live theatre and performances since 2020.
The Harder They Come (Winter 2023), world premiere by Suzan-Lori Parks, with Trevor Rhone, including songs by Jimmy Cliff, directed by Tony Tacone, co-directed by Serio Trujillo, with choreography by Edgar Godineax, Music Supervision by Kenny Seymour. The story of Ivan, a young singer who arrives in Kingston, Jamaica eager to become a star. After falling in love and cutting a record deal with a powerful music mogul, Ivan soon learns that the game is rigged, and he becomes increasingly defiant, he finds himself in a battle that threatens not only his life but the very fabric of Jamaican society.
Dark Disabled Stories (Winter 2023), world premiere by Ryan J. Haddad, directed by Jordan Fein. Haddad’s newest autobiographical play is a series of unforgiving vignettes about the strangers he encounters while navigating a city (and world) not built for his walker and cerebral palsy.
Good Bones (Spring 2023), world premiere by James Ijames, directed by Saheem Ali. A work opportunity to revitalize the blighted neighborhood she grew up in has led Aisha and her chef husband Travis to buy and renovate a charming old house. But as everyone knows, renovation is expensive and stressful – both for buildings and the communities that surround them. Aisha’s young contractor Earl grew up in the area, too, but his memories are of. more than just dangerous streets and hollowed-out homes. When their purely professional relationship gives way to heated debate about who gets to stay and who has to go, Aisha is forced to reckon with the choices she’s made and to get ahead, and the painful, joyful complicated ghosts that haunt her dreams…and her dream house.
Shadowland (Spring 2023), world premiere by Erika Dickerson-Despenza, directed by Candis C. Jones. Magalee and her daughter Ruth are faced with the question of legacy when Ruth coaxes Magalee to sell their historic family-owned business as Hurricane Katrina begins her ruin. The play is the first installment of a 10-play cycle.
**********************
The Kyiv City Ballet has announced its Fall U.S. tour, which marks the company’s first U.S. performances ever. 
The tour is not yet completely funded. Click here to donate.
The U.S. tour will include:
A full-length Swan Lake (with choreography by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov & Ivan Kozlov).
A second mixed repertory program of three ballets: Thoughts (choreography by Vladyslav Dobshynskyi), a contemporary ballet, Tribute to Peace (choreography Ekaterina & IvanKozlov), and Men of Kyiv (choreography by Pavlo Virsky), a contemporary Ukranian folk dance.
**********************
Steven Levenson’s If I Forget will run July 20 – Sept. 10 (opening July 23) at the Fountain Theatre, directed by Jason Alexander.
Leo Marks (Michael Fischer), Síle Bermingham (Ellen Fischer), Valerie Perri (Holly), Samantha Klein, (Sharon), Jerry Weil (Howard), Jacob Zelonky (Joey), and Matt Gottlieb (Lou Fischer).
Playwright Levenson crafted his play from conversations with his own family to write this play that explores the lasting impact of the Holocaust on a Jewish family at the beginning of the 21st century. Set in the years following the dissolution of the Oslo Peace Accord between Israel and Palestine, the play is a funny, powerful tale about a family – and a culture – at odds with itself. With each family member committed to their own version of a family history, the siblings clash over everything from Michael’s controversial book to whether they should sell the family business.
**********************
Joshua Harmon, Sarah Silverman & Adam Schlesinger’s The Bedwetter, has been extended again, now through July 10 at Off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theater Company, directed by Anne Kauffman.
Due to scheduling conflicts, the production’s final week (July 5-10) will include some cast replacements:
* Jessica Vosk will replace Caissie Levy (Beth Ann)
* Elizabeth Ward Land will replace Bebe Neuwirth (Nana)
**********************
Theatre on Film and Tape’s 2019 “The Creative Process: Interview with Angela Lansbury” will stream for free on Mon. July 11 at 5:30 PM ET here.
**********************
The world premiere of Donja R. Love’s Soft has been extended through July 10 at MCC Theatre, directed by Whitney White.
Leon Addison Brown (Mr. Cartwright), Biko Esisen-Martin (Mr. Isaiah), Dharon Jones (Antoine), Essence Lotus (Dee), Travis Raeburn (Bashir), Shakur Tolliver (Kevin), Dario Vazquez (Jamal), and Ed Ventura (Eddie).
Flowers are in full bloom – in Mr. Isaiah’s classroom, in the halls of the correctional boarding school where he teaches, and in the depths of his students’ imaginations. After one boy dies, Mr. Isaiah is committed to saving the students he teaches from a world that tries to crush their softness.
**********************
Fernanda Coppel’s King Liz will run July 12 – Aug. 14 (opening July 21) at the Geffen Playhouse, directed by Jesca Prudencio.
Sabrina Sloan (Liz Rico), Evan Morris Reiser (Freddie Luna), Ray Abruzzo (Mr. Candy), Oscar Best (Coach Jones), Nancy Linari (Barbara Flowers), and Michelle Ortiz (Gabby Fuentes).
Powerful sports agent Liz Rico represents NBA superstars. Freddie Luna is a high school basketball player with once-in-a-generation talent and a troubled past. Liz has a chance to sign Freddie, a move that could move her career in a male-dominated industry to the next level. But as accusations towards Freddie begin to come out, Liz is faced with a choice: save Freddie’s career or save her own.
**********************
The world premiere of Sarah Schulman’s The Lady Hamlet will run June 27 – July 21 at MA’s Provincetown Theater, directed by David Drake.
Jennifer Van Dyck, Kate Levy, John Schuman, Anne Stott, Laura Scribner, and Brandon Cordeiro.
Set in 1920s New York City, we watch a duel of divas in a battle to see who will be the first – and best – female Hamlet on Broadway. But which lady will win the offstage hand of fair Ohpelia?
**********************
The New York City Center Encores! has announced its late 2022 – 2023 season: Mary-Mitchell Campbell will be the new Encores! music director, stepping in as Rob Berman leaves the post following a 21-year tenure.
Parade (Nov. 1-6), directed by Michael Arden, and starring Micaela Diamond and Ben Platt.
The Light in the Piazza (Feb. 1-5, 2023),
Dear World (Mar. 15-19), directed & choreographed by Josh Rhodes, starring Donna Murphy (Countess Aurelia).
Oliver (May 3-14), directed by Lear deBessonet.
**********************
NYC’s The Museum of Broadway (145 West 45th St.) will open its doors for the first time on Nov. 14. Join for FREE! Click here for more information.
here. A portion of the proceeds will go to BC/EFA.
Video: Sneak peek at the museum’s offering, which will highlight more than 500 individual productions from the 1700s to the present.
The team of curators for The Museum of Broadway is headed by Ben West and also includes Jennifer Ashley Tepper, John Kenrick, Faye Armon-Troncoso, Lisa Zinni, and Michael McDonald.
**********************
Jenn Colella has announced her engagement to partner Mo Mullen.
A wedding date has not been reported
**********************
Off-Broadway’s New Ohio Theatre continues streaming Talene Monahon’s Jane Anger or The Lamentable Comedie of JANE ANGER, that Cunning Woman, and Also of Willy Shakespeare and his Peasant Companion, Francis, Yes and also of Anne Hathaway (also a Woman) Who Tried Very Hard through June 26, with single viewing or 48-hour rental options, directed by Jess Chayes.
Michael Urie (Shakespeare), Amelia Workman (Jane Anger), Ryan Spahn (Francis), and Talene Monahon (Anne Hathaway).
The comedy centers on The Bard – stuck in quarantine during the plague with a bad case of writer’s block – and the titular cunning woman who climbs through the window and changes history. The work (billed as a Jacobean feminist revenge comedy) is inspired by Jane Anger, author of the pamphlet “Her Protection for Women,” published in London in 1889.