Today’s Highlights:
Encore‘s The Life, by Cy Coleman, Ira Gasman & David Newman, directed by Billy Porter, featuring Jelani Alladin (Lou), Alexandra Grey (Queen), Antwayn Hopper (Memphis), Mykal Kilgore (Young JoJo), Ledisi (Sonja), Erika Olson (Mary), Destan Owens (Old Jojo), and Ken Robinson (Fleetwood), with Joe Beauregard, Angela Brydon, Tyler Eisenreich, Asmeret Ghebremichael, Semhar Ghebremichael, Jeff Gorti, Albert Guerzon, Heather Lang, Nathan Lucrezio, Tiffany Mann, LaQuet Sharnell Pringle, Devin L. Roberts, MiMi Scardulla, and Tanairi Vazquez, opens at NY City Center.
Straight Line Crazy, world premiere by David Hare, directed by Nicholas Hytner, featuring Ralph Fiennes, Alisha Bailey, Samuel Barnett, David Bromley, Al Coppola, Siobhán Cullen, Ian Kirkby, Alana Maria, Dani Moseley, Guy Paul, Helen Schlesinger, Mary Stillwaggon Stewart, and Danny Webb, begins previews at London’s Bridge Theatre.
The Gin Game, directed by Jenny Sullivan, featuring JoBeth Williams and Joe Spano, begins previews at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre.
A.D. 16, by Bekah Brunstetter & Cinco Paul, directed by Stephen Brackett, featuring Phoenix Best (Mary Magalene), Ben Fankhauser (Jesus). Kelli Blackwell (Diana), Alan H. Green (Jacob), Jade Jones (Jessica), Jared Loftin (Nicholas), Calvin McCullough (Matthias), Adelina Mitchell (Ruth), Christian Montgomery (Bartimaeus), Da’Von Moody (Simeon), and Chani Wereley (Esther), with Alex De Bard, Sylvern Groomes, RJ Pavel, John Sygar, Kanysha Williams, Tiffany Ly Royster, and Chris Urquiaga, begins streaming at MD’s Olney Theatre.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “Every writer is a frustrated actor who recites his lines in the hidden auditorium of his skull.” ~ Rod Serling
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending Mar. 13.
20 shows played 153 performances at 84.94% capacity.
Total attendance: 168,999
Total Gross: $22,375,926
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A concert presentation of Nico Juber’s Millennials Are Killing Musicals will take place Mon. Apr. 4 at 9:30 PM ET at 54 Below, directed by Ciara Renée, with music direction by Jane Cardona.
Klea Blackhurst, Alex Boniello, Nicholas Edwards, Lauren Marcus, Olivia Puckett, Marissa Rosen, Nora Schell, and Nyla Watson.
An entirely original, irreverently funny, and heartfelt musical about the Millennial existential crisis, motherhood, and stereotypes that define a generation. Meet Brenda: a quirky, stressed-out, single mom who hates her job, longs to be a writer, and can’t help but compare herself to the seemingly perfect “Jake’s Mom” at school. Brenda is finally ready for love and creativity in her life when her #influencer sister Katrina shows up eight months pregnant, completely unprepared for motherhood. Torn between two men, juggling an opinionated mother and in increasingly unstable Katrina, Brenda must learn how to break her self-destructive patterns and live filter-free so she can achiever her dreams.
Industry readings will take place Mar. 31 in NYC.
Click here to learn more about the musical.
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Houston’s Theater Under the Stars has announced its 2022-23 season. Creative teams and casting TBA.
Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Sept. 20 – Oct. 2), directed by Monique Midgette.
The Griswolds’ Broadway Vacation (Oct. 25 – Nov. 6), world premiere by David Rossmer & Steven Rosen, directed & choreographed by Donna Feore. They’ve been to Wally World, they’ve been to Vegas, and now the Griswolds are going to… Broadway!
Mary Poppins (Dec. 6-24), directed & choreographed by Dan Knechtges.
9 to 5 (Jan. 31 – Feb. 12, 2023)
Waitress (Mar. 28 – Apr. 9) national tour, directed by Diane Paulus
Rent (May 16-28)
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San Francisco’s 42nd Street Moon has announced it 2022 Annual Gala, which will take place Sat. Apr. 9 at 5 PM PT at the Gateway Theatre, hosted by Jason Graae & Klea Blackhurst.
Performers TBA.
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. Off-Broadway’s York Theatre has announced an invitation-only presentation of Joseph Church & Jeff Bienstock’s Pants! The Jimmy Pants Musical on March 17 & 18, directed & choreographed by Bill Castellino, with music direction by Jeff Bienstock.
Major Attaway, Jim Conroy, Lorna Courtney, Jamie Laverdiere, Lauren Marcus, Michael Notardonato, Lili Thomas, John Wascavage, and Stuart Zagnit.
A zany, loving satire of bio-jukebox musicals. It’s both a comical nod to the current epidemic of jukebox shows and an homage to the entertainment value and joy that they bring to audiences.
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Broadway By The Year: The New Wave will take place Mon. Mar. 21 at 8 PM ET at NYC’s Town Hall, written, hosted & directed by Scott Siegel.
Lin Manuel Miranda, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Bobby Lopez, Jeff Marx, Lisa Lambert, and Greg Morrison.
Joe Iconis and Family, Sara Neimietz, Danny Gardner, Gunhild Carling, Quentin Earl Darrington, Jenny Lee Stern, Ben Jones, Jeanine Bruen, Adan Gallegos, The Broadway by the Year Chorus (led by Tyler McCall), and The Broadway by the Year Dance Troupe.
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Einstein! Celebrating 100 Years of General Relativity, written & performed by Jack Fry will take place Tues. Mar. 22 at Santa Monica Playhouse, directed by Tom Blomquist.
Einstein comes back from the beyond. Frustrated that no one has heard the real science history behind General Relativity, Albert takes us back to Berlin in 1914 where he is sent sideways in a world crumbling around him due to The Great War, a science establishment that doesn’t believe him, those that do try to wrestle the theory away from him. He is being isolated for his pacifist views, has a wife who won’t give him a divorce, faces a huge scientific backlash, anti-Semitism, a 10-year-old son fighting for his affections, and finally a nervous breakdown that lay him bed-ridden for two months.
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Video: Deven Kolluri performs “She Loves Me” at DC’s Signature Theatre. Scroll down.
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Complete casting has been announced for the world premiere of Zoe Sarnak & Emily Kazmarek’s Afterwords, to run Apr. 29 – May 21 at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, with choreography by Ebony Williams, and music supervision by Matt Perri.
Andi Alhadeff (Kali), Mari Nelson (Lydia), Brandon O’Neill (Jimmy), Saxton Jay Walker (Franklin), Kirsten deLohr Helland (Kali’s Voice 1), Kerstin Anderson (Simone), Anastacia McClesky (Jo), Timothy Michael Keller (Kali’s Voice 2), Ashley Menestrina & Cara Diaz (The Process).
A breathtaking story about the power of art to heal, the musical fuses pop, rock, and modern indie-folk to create a revelatory and soulful new score. Notes scribbled on paper, the stroke of a paintbrush against a canvas, a growing melody played on the piano… this is the story of the art we make from the love that shapes us. Following the sudden loss of their mother, sisters Kali and Simone find themselves once again living in their childhood home together. When they decide to rent out the attic, into their lives walks Jo, a war reporter lost in her own grief. As the women share their stories they discover unexpected truths, helping each other pass through their struggles and a dazzling mosaic of intersecting lives reveals itself.
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MA’s Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced its Summer 2022 season:
Most Happy in Concert (July 13 – Aug. 7), a concert presentation of The Most Happy Fella, conceived & directed by Daniel Fish, with choreography by Jawole Jo Willa Zillar.
Man of God (July 5-16), by Anna Ouyang Moench, directed by Maggie Burrows. Chaos ensues when four teenage girls on a mission trip to Bangkok discover a camera hidden by their pastor in their hotel bathroom. Do they leave it to God or take matters into their own hands?
We Are Continuous (Aug. 2-14), world premiere by Harrison David Rivers, directed by Tyler Thomas. Simon and his mother, Ora, have always been close. She’s been his champion, his defender, and his friend. But when a life-changing secret comes to light, can their bond survive?
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Video: Highlights from Prospect Theater Company’s Notes From Now.
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Complete casting has been announced for Pearl Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky, to run Apr. 6 – May 8 (opening Apr. 13) at the Mark Taper Forum, directed by Phylicia Rashad.
Joe Holt, Nija Okoro, Dennis Pearson, Greg Alverez Reid, and Kim Steele.
Angel is a free-spirited Cotton Club singer who’s out of luck but never out of dreams. Guy is a costume designer waiting for Josephine Baker to invite him to join her in Paris. Delia, a young activist, is trying to give the women of Harlem a choice about their future. Sam a prominent physician, is either delivering babies or out at the club letting the good times roll. And Leland, who recently arrived in Harlem from Alabama, is haunted by the wide-open skies and lost love he left behind. The lives and dreams of these men and women converge with passion and politics as the art and celebration of the Harlem Renaissance give way to the harsh realities of the Great Depression.
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& Lyrics & Lyricists: David Loud: Facing the Music will run Mar. 19-21 at NYC’s 92Y, hosted by David Loud, directed by Noah Racey, with music direction by Paul Staroba.
Heidi Blickenstaff, Laura Darrell, David Garrison, Jason Gotay, and Matthew Scott.