Today’s Highlights:
Master Harold and Boys, by Athol Fugard, directed by Gilbert McCauley, featuring Nick Apostolina (Hally), L. Peter Callender (Sam), and Phumzile Sojola (Willie), begins on-demand streaming at Syracuse Stage.
Under Milkwood, by Dylan Thomas, directed by Lindsey Turner, featuring Michael Sheen, Karl Johnson, and Siân Phillips, begins previews at London’s Oliver Theatre.
seven methods of killing kylie jenner, by Jasmine Lee-Jones, directed by Milli Bhatia, featuring Tia Bannon and Leanne Henlon, begins previews in person at London’s Royal Court Theatre.
Spamalot, directed by BT McNicholl, featuring Charles Shaughnessy (King Arthur), Mariand Torres (Lady of the Lake), Marc Ginsburg (Sir Lancelot), Daniel A. Lopez (Sir Galahad), Josh Grisetti (Sir Robin), Dwelyan David (Sir Bedevere), Nic Rouleau (The Historian), and Jennifer Cody (Patsy), with Maya Kazzaz, Larkin Reilly, Jacob Robert-Miller, Michael Olaribigbe, Mackenzie Perpich, and Celina Nightengale, begins previews at ME’s Ogunquit Playhouse.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “Actors are only honest hypocrites.” ~ William Hazlitt.
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Video: Stars in the House, with guest host Brenda Braxton, and special guests Bianca Marroquin and Gabriela Garcia. (59:59)
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A NYC developmental reading of Phil Kenny & Reston Williams’ Alice in Neverland will take place today. Note: Creative team not reported.
Christy Altomare, Heath Saunders, Will Swenson, Megan Masako Haley, Alistair Brammer, and Timothy Hughes, with M. Chase Grant, Kurt Hellerich, Claire Wilkins Kenny, Lisa Larsen Mack, Beatirz Melo, Ryan Simmons, Scout Smith, Matt Walker, Kim Williams and Clotile Yanna.
A sequel to one of the most beloved stories of all time, and a prequel to another.
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Echo Theater Company has announced its 2021-22 season, with all performances taking place at the Atwater Village Theatre.
Poor Clare (Sept. 11 – Oct. 18), world premiere by Chiara Atick, directed by Alanza Dietze. Clare is just a regular noblewoman living in medieval Italy, trying out hairstyles and waiting to get marries… until a man named Francis starts ranting in the courtyard.
Ascension (Sept. 23 – Oct. 18), world premiere by Darrly G. Watson, directed by Ahmed Best. Rebel suffers from amnesia. She’s trapped inside a long, narrow box. Nobody knows she’s in there… nobody but you. For some strange reason, your mind and her mind are psychically linked, and only you can help her escape.
Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies (Mar. 12 – Apr. 18, 2022), by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm, directed by Ahmed Best. Marquis and Tru are both 14-year-old black boys, but they exist in two totally different worlds. Marquis a book smart preschooler living in the affluent suburb of Achievement Heights, while Tru is a street savvy kid from deep within the inner city of Baltimore. Their worlds overlap one day in a holding cell.
Continuity (July 16 – Aug. 22), by Bess Wohl, directed by Lindsay Allbaugh. On a soundstage in a desert in New Mexico meant to look like a melting ice sheet in Greenland, things are running way behind schedule. As over-qualified-but-under-recognized director Maria tries to salvage her big-budget thriller about climate change and eco-terrorism, he cast and screenwriter waste precious minutes of daylight with behind-the-scenes drama.
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The York Theatre Company (link TBA) has announced its Fall 2021 Season, which will take place at the theatre’s temporary home at Theatre at St. Jeans (184 E. 76th Street).
York’s 50th Anniversary Concert Celebration (Sept. 20)
Blue Roses concert presentation (Oct. 18 at 7 PM ET), by Mimi Turque & Nancy Ford, directed by Austin Pendleton, with music direction by Nancy Ford based on The Glass Menagerie., featuring Anita Gillette, Piper Goodeve, Jeff Kready, and Howard McGillin.
2021 Oscar Hammerstein Award (Nov. 1 at 6 PM ET) presented to Richard Maltby and David Shire for lifetime achievement in the musical theatre, at the Edison Ballroom.
Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood (Nov. 23 – Jan. 2, 2022, opening Dec. 2), conceived, directed & choreographed by Randy Skinner, with a book by Barry Kleinbort, and music direction by David Hancock Turner.
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Glendale’s Musical Theatre Guild will present a conversation with Stephanie J. Block on Sat. June 26 at 6 PM PT, hosted by Jason Graae, with Jennifer Shelton.
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The world premiere of John Logan’s Swept Away will begin performances on Jan. 9, 2022 at Berkeley Rep, directed by Michael Mayer, with choreography by David Neumann.
John Gallagher, Stark Sands, Wayne Duvall, and Adrian Blake Enscoe, with Taurean Everett, Dan Gleason, Ebrin Stanley, Jacob Keith Watson, and Nikita Burshteyn.
Video: The title song from the new musical.
Set in 1888 off the coast of New Bedford, MA. When violent storm sinks their whaling ship, the four surviving souls – a young man in search of adventure, his older brother who has sworn to protect him, a captain at the end of a long career at sea, and a wordly first mate who has fallen from grace – each face a reckoning: How far will I go to stay alive? And can I live with the consequences?
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The Atlantic Theatre Company has announced its 2021-22 season:
The Last of the Love Letters (Aug. 26 – Sept. 26, opening Sept. 13), world premiere by Ngozi Anyanwu, directed by Patricia McGregor. Two people contemplate the thing they love most and whether to stick it out or to leave it behind. To stay. Or to go. That is the question. The Last of the Love Letters is just that: a plea and a painful goodbye wrapped into one.
Kimberly Akimbo (Nov. 25 – Dec. 26, opening Dec. 8), world premiere by David Lindsay-Abaire & Jeanine Tesori, directed by Jessica Stone, with choreography by Danny Mefford. Kim is a bright and funny Jersey teen, who happens to look like a 72-year-old lady. And yet her aging disease my be the least of her problems. Forced to maneuver family secrets, borderline personalities, and possible felony charges, Kim is determined to find happiness in a world where not even time is on her side.
Shhhhh (Jan. 12 – Feb. 13, 2022, opening Jan. 24), world premiere written, directed by, and starring Clare Barron. Penny flirts at a morbid anatomy museum. Kyle tells stories of dismemberment. Sally turns you on with tea and biscuits, and Shareen prepares a mysterious potion. a study in kink, trauma, please, and revenge…
English (Feb. 3 – Mar. 13, opening Feb. 22), by Sanaz Toossi. “English Only.” This is the mantra that rules one classroom in Iran, where 4 adult students are preparing for the TOEFL – The Test of English as a Foreign Language. Chasing fluency through a maze of word games, listening exercises, and show-and-tell sessions, they hope that one day, English will make them whole. But it might me splitting them each in half.
The Bedwetter (Apr. 30 – June 19, opening May 23), world premiere by Joshua Harmon, Sarah Silverman & Adam Schlesinger, directed by Anne Kauffman, with choreography by Bryon Easley. Meet Sarah. She’s funny. She’s dirty, She’s 10. And she’s got a secret that you’ll never guess (unless you read the title).
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LA Opera has announced its 2021-22 season:
MAINSTAGE OPERAS:
Il Trovatore (Sept. 18 – Oct. 10) Details
Tannhäuser (Oct. 16 – Nov. 6) Details
Cinderella (Nov. 20 – Dec. 12) Details
St. Matthew Passion (Mar. 12-27, 2022) Details
Aida (May 21 – June 12) Details
CONCERTS & OFF-GRAND PERFORMANCES
Get Out with Live Orchestra (Oct. 9-21) Details
Alcina (Nov. 2-5) Details
Javier Camarena in Recital (Mar. 31 – Apr. 2) Details
In Our Daughter’s Eyes (Apr. 13-27), world premiere starring Du Yun and Nathan Gunn. Details
The Brightness of Light (June 18), by Kevin Putts, starring Renee Fleming and Rod Gilfry. Details
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Berkeley Rep has announced its 2021-22 season:
the ripple, the wave that carried me home (starts Oct. 1), world premiere by Christina Anderson, directed by Miranda Haymon. Janice’s childhood was steeped in her parents’ activism as they fought for the integration of public swimming pools in 1960s Kansas and taught scores of Black children to swim. But Janice later steps away from her parent’ politics and stars her own life and family far away – until she’s pressed into speaking at a ceremony honoring her father.
Wintertime (starts Nov. 12) by Charles L Me, directed by Les Waters. Members of a gloriously eccentric family arrive at their summer house in the winter woods for a supposedly secret rendezvous – and soon bodies collide, doors slam, dishes fly, and everyone’s perfect plans go fantastically awry.
Swept Away (starts Jan. 9, 2022), by John Logan & the Avett Brothers, directed by Michael Mayer. 1888, off the coast of New Bedford, MA. When a violent storm sinks their whaling ship, the 4 surviving souls – a young man in search of adventure, his older brother who has sworn to protect him, a captain at the end of a long career at sea, and a worldly first make who has fallen from grace — each face a reckoning: How far will I go to stay alive? And can I live with the consequences?
Goddess (begins Mar. 19), by Saheem Ali, Michael Thurber, Jocelyn Bioh, and Mkhululi Z. Mabja, directed by Ali. A young man returns home to Mombasa, Kenya to marry his fiancée and step into his family’s political dynasty. But when he visits Moto Moto – a steamy afro-jazz club and the stomping grounds of his youth – he finds himself drawn to a mysterious new singer.
Octet (begins Apr. 20), by Dave Malloy, directed by Annie Tippe. Eight internet-obsessed people meet in real life to share their stories and wrestle their demons, using nothing but a pitch pipe and the transcendent quality of their analog, a cappella voices. With witty lyrics, shimmering harmonies, and virtuosic solos, Octet sings of connection, redemption, hope – and how we can truly be present with each other.
Cambodian Rock Band (begins June 3), by Lauren Yee & Dengue Fever, directed by Chay Yew. This darkly funny, electric new play with music tells the story of a Khmer Rouge survivor returning to Cambodia for the first time in 30 years, as his daughter prepares to prosecute one of Cambodia’s most infamous war criminals.
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Echo Theater Company has announced its 25th Birthday Celebration, which will stream Thurs. July 1 at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET, featuring 25 monologues by 25 playwrights.
Boni B. Alvarez, Bekah Brunstetter, Jessica Goldberg, Hilly Hicks Jr., David Ives, David Lindsay-Abaire, Sarah Ruhl, and more.
Enrico Colantoni, Marin Hinkle, Brent Jennings, Megan Ketch, Hamish Linklater, James Tupper, and more.