Today’s Highlights:
Corsicana, by Will Arbery, directed by Sam Gold, featuring Jamie Brewer (Ginny), Will Dagger (Christopher), Deirdre O’Connell (Justice), and Harold Surratt (Lot), opens at Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons.
Life After, by Britta Johnson, directed by Annie Tippe, featuring Samantha Williams (Alice), Paul Alexander Nolan (Frank), Lucy Panush (Hannah), Bryonha Marie Parham (Beth), Jen Sese (Mrs. Hopkins), Skyler Volpe (Kate), Chelsea Williams (Fury), Lauryn Hobbs (Fury), and Ashley Pérez Flanagan (Fury), opens at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.
& Juliet, pre-Broadway engagement, by David West Read & Max Martin, directed by Luke Sheppard, featuring Lorna Courtney (Juliet), Jackson Walker (Romeo), Paulo Szot (Lance), Betsy Wolf (Anne Hathaway), Stark Sands (Shakespeare), Justin David Sullivan (May), Melanie La Barrie (Nurse), and Philippe Arroyo (Francois), with Brandon Antonio, Nico De Jesus, Nicholas Edwards, Katy Geraghty, Virgil Gadson, Bobby “Pocket” Horner, Joomin Hwang, Michael Iván Carrier, Alaina Vi T. Maderal, Daniel J. Maldonado, Joe Moeller, Brittany Nicholas, Veronica Otim, Jasmine Rafel, Matt Raffy, Teirnan Tunnicliffe, and Rachel Webb, opens at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre.
Camelot, directed by Matt Kunkel, featuring Robert Petkoff (Arthur), Shereen Pimentel (Guenevere), Brandon Chu (Lancelot), Evan Ruggiero (Sir Dinadan), Daryl Tofa (Sir Lionel), Sarah Quinn Taylor (Sir Sagramore), Riley Carter Adams (Tom of Warwick), and Barrett Riggins (Mordred/Squire Dap), with Harris Milgrim, Trenay Caruthers, Kelly Berman, Jack Brewer, Trenay Caruthers, Sydney Chow, Jacob Guzman, Maggie Kuntz, Kiara Lee, Sage Lee, Nathaniel Mahone, Melissa Hunter McCann, Evan Kinnane, Spencer Davis Milford, Harris Milgrim, Brendon Stimson, and Kristin Yancy, opens at the St. Louis Muny.
Yellow Face, by David Henry Hwang, directed by Telly Leung, featuring Hansel Tan (DDH), Pascal Pastrana (Marcus), Alan Ariano (HYH/others), Liam Yates (Announcer/others), Brook North (Stuart Ostro/others), Ali Evarts (Jane/others), and Kylie Robinson (Leah Anne Cho/others), with Tedd Szeto, Ada Change, and Gul Allen, opens at Theatre Raleigh.
A Toast to Harvey: Celebrating the Life and Career of Harvey Evans concert, directed by Lawrence Leritz, featuring Joel Grey, Jim Brochu, Anita Gillette, Kurt Peterson, Marianne Tatum, Penny Worth, and Dancers Over 40, at 7 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Triad Theatre.
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending June 19. Click here for the complete analysis.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “If you really want to help the American theater, don’t be an actress, darling. Be an audience.” ~ Tallulah Bankhead
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The Broadway production of Company will close July 31 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, after 32 previews and 268 regular performances.
The production received 5 Tony Awards: Best Musical Revival, Best Director (Marianne Elliott), Best Featured Actress in a musical (Patti LuPone), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Matt Doyle), and Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Bunny Christie).
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Will Arbery’s Corsicana continues through July 10 at Playwrights Horizons, directed by Sam Gold.
Jamie Brewer (Ginny), Will Dagger (Christopher), Deirdre O’Connell (Justice), and Harold Surratt (Lot).
In Corsicana, a small city in Texas, a woman with Down syndrome named Ginny and her half-brother Christopher are unmoored in the wake of their mother’s death. Their close family friend, Justice, introduces them to a local artist named Lot, a recluse and outsider, hoping that he and Ginny can make a song together. That that’ll help somehow. In this restless quartet about care-taking and car-giving, in which the very fabric of reality is up for debate, the play charts the quiet, particular contracts of the heart that forge a new family.
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Red Bull Theater presents its Short New Play Festival: Alchemy on Mon. July 11 at 7:30 PM ET at NYC’s Sheen Center, directed by Vivienne Benesch and Nathan Winkelstein. Casting TBA.
And There Shall Be No More Tears, by Montana Cypress. As the U.S. Cavalry approaches, a Medicine Man rushes to concoct a remedy to save his people.
With Visible Breath, by Larissa FastHorse. Inspired by one of the oldest stories of the L/D/Nakota people, Pté Sán Winyan has been sent from the spiritual world to Earth on a quest to help the people who will be known as the Oceti Sakowin.
Another Part of the Green Room, by Debra Fried. Orson Welles, in the figure of Mercury, finds a trio of Elizabethan actors who have magically transformed into the very roles they play (within the play) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and recruits them for his 1937 Mercury Theatre production of Faustus.
Cancel Me, by Stephen Adly Guirgis. An ancient King summons a long ago banished Alchemist to transmutate his greatest and worst possession – his son.
Vulgar Gold, by Kevin P. Joyce. Bitter Rosetta uses an alchemical elixir to seduce her sister’s husband with chaotic results.
Make Gold of That, by Nic Martorelli & Justin Muschong. A Man arrives for his appointment with a modern Alchemist, where he meets other customers with the items they want the Alchemist to transmute into the most valuable resource in the world: Time.
Medusa Prays, by Zoë Rhulen. Medusa, having just turned her most recent lover to stone, begs Athena to reverse her curse.
Prosperita, by Elaine Romero. Prosperita has the unique gift of folding and understanding both time and war. Her inner transformation calls her to action as she prepares herself to intervene in a most brutal war.
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Industry readings of John Riley & Kate Queen’s A Girl I Know will take place today and tomorrow in NYC, directed by Jamibeth Margolis. Industry members interested in attending, please email RSVP@johnrileymusic.com.
Roe Hartrampf, Chloe Lowery, Sean Thompson, Stephanie Lynne Mason, Michael Patrick Ryan, and Maria Lawson.
Jeni, a beautiful masseuse, can’t stop murdering cheating men until she meets a suicidal client who thinks he can fix her.
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Due to Covid breakouts in the company, Timothy Allen, Elyssa Samsel & Kate Anderson’s Between the Lines will now open July 11 at Off-Broadway’s Tony Kiser Theatre, directed by Jeff Calhoun.
Arielle Jacobs (Deliah), Jake David Smith (Prince Oliver), Vicki Lewis (Ms. Winx/Jessamyn Jacobs/Mrs. Brown/Kyrie), Hillary Fisher (Allie/Princess Seraphima), Will Burton (Frump/Ryan), Jerusha Cavasos (Janice/Marina), John Rapson (Dr. Ducharme/Rapskulio), Wren Rivera (Jules/Ondine), Sean Stack (Martin/Troll/Dad/Delivery Person), and Julia Murney (Grace/Queen Maureen), with Heather Ayers, Dan Hoy, Martin Landry, and Aubrey Matalon.
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Article: 20 books for your Summer reading.
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Lauren Hynek, Elizabeth Martin & Linda Woolverton’s animated film “Spellbound,” with a score by Alan Menken & Glenn Slater, is currently in development, directed by Vicky Jenson. A release date is TBA.
Rachel Zegler, Nathan Lane, André De Shields, Jordan Fisher, Jenifer Lewis, John Lithgow, Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, and more…
Ellian seeks out The Oracles of the Sun and Moon, to break the spell on her parents and the kingdom. Throughout her journey, Ellian meets several characters who help her, including Callan, a young nomad.
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Broadway Showstoppers: Musicals of the 70s will take place Thurs. June 23 at 7 PM at CA’s Coachella Valley Rep, hosted by Glen Rosenblum.
Ilene Graff
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Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy, directed by Kent Gash, continues through July 24 at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre.
La Shawn Banks, Sheldon D. Brown, Richard David, William Dick, Gilbert Domally, Tyler Hardwick, and Samuel B. Jackson. Samuel B. Jackson.
Video: Teaser
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The Pianist, adapted & directed by Emily Mann, will have an invitation-only NYC development reading on June 23. Email Producers@ThePianistPlay.com.
Santino Fontana, Richard Topol, Georgia Warner, Claire Beckman, Arielle Goldman, Paul Spera, Addison Finley, Jordan Lage, Robert David Grant, and Tina Benko.
The piece is based on the memoir by Polish-Jewish painter and composer Wladyslaw Szpilman, who survived Nazi-occupied Warsaw in World War II. Prior to the war, Szpilman – an acclaimed pianist and composer – enjoys a happy life as a Polish citizen. But then the Nazis invade Poland, Szpilman and his family find their lives disintegrating as the Nazis progressively tighten their hold on Warsaw. Eventually Szpilman finds himself alone, his family taken to the Nazi death camps, as he turns to his music to keep his hope, and himself, alive.
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Broadway Sings Unplugged: Whitney Houston, originally scheduled for Aug. 13, will now take place Sat. Aug. 8, at 8 PM ET at NYC’s Sony Hall, directed by Corey Mach, with music direction by Joshua Stephen Kartes.
Shoshana Bean, Aisha Jackson, Alex Newell, Kathryn Allison, Nick Rashad Burroughs, Ben Fankhauser, Amber Iman, Aisha Jackson, Corey Mach, Stephanie Torns, Raena White, Angela Birchett, Kayla Davion, Charity Angél Dawson, Kerie René Fuller, and Raena White.
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Industry readings of Chris Recker, Ben Moss & Tony Oblen’s Don’t Call Me John! will take place June 23 & 24 at NYC’s Open Jar Studios, directed by Christine O’Grady, with music direction by Ben Boss. For more information, click here.
Jeannette Bayardelle, Sean Allan, Alexandra Socha, Ben Moss, Stephen Carlile, Jeigh Madius, and Cheryl Stern, with Angel Lozada, Barrie Lobo McLain, Onyie Nwachukwu, and Alan Wiggins.
Set in 1969, the musical comedy concerns Bernie Taylor, hired to write an industrial musical for Liberty Bathrooms (America’s leading toilet manufacturer), and her co-writer, industrial musical veteran Peter Broman, who only seems interested in salvaging his own career.