Today’s Highlights:
“How Nice of You to Ask” podcast, by Rich Rubin, directed by Bernadette Armstrong, featuring Joyce Hananel (Mavis) and Matthew Scott Montgomery (Alan), released on Open-Door Playhouse.
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Reviews for Teeth at Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons:
NY Times (Jesse Green): So unexpected, contrarian and maximalist are the musicals of Michael R. Jackson that I spend a lot of time between them wondering what he’ll do next… Now, in collaboration with Anna K. Jacobs, comes the remix, Teeth. It too is a show about faith and shame, but as experienced by an alpha white girl in the most biting ways. Literally… it is a parable set in motion by a young woman’s discovery of vaginal incisors that spring shut when sexual violence is done to her… Well, if you don’t want to see bloody amputated penises, why come to the theater?… The low satire, mostly in the setup, is the more successful tactic. It offers a winking subversiveness and plenty of laughs, especially in the catchy pop-rock tunes with their sharp, smutty rhymes…
Theatermania (Zachary Stewart): At first glance, Teeth doesn’t appear to be natural source material for a musical… but Anna K. Jacobs (book and music) and Michael R. Jackson (book and lyrics) scooped it up and turned it into the brilliant must-see musical now making its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons… Jackson’s lyrics consistently provoke guffaws and gasps from the audience, while Jacobs’s pop-infused music straddles the thin line between hormonal adolescence and religious ecstasy. The script efficiently condenses Lichtenstein’s screenplay while making some smart changes that raise the stakes so that this isn’t just the story of one woman with an extraordinary vagina, but the overture to a world war between the sexes…
Time Out (Adam Feldman): …Anna K. Jacobs and Michael R. Jackson’s Teeth, a dark and sharp new musical comedy adapted from Mitchell Lichtenstein’s cult 2007 fright flick… Directed unflinchingly by Sarah Benson… the vagina dentata trope is not only about protection; it may also represent a psychological extension of men’s anxiety about emasculation, a literalization of their panic about powerful women… Jacobs’s music and Jackson’s lyrics give the story range… the songs are consistently varied and clever, with different voices for each character…
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending Mar. 17.
Click here for the complete analysis.
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An industry reading of Andrew Stein’s Way Out East will take place Thurs. Mar. 21 at NYC’s Open Jar Studios, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt. 
& 
: WayOutEastPlay@gamail.com
Richard Topol, Maddie Corman, Ava Yaghmale, MaYaa Boareng, and David T. Patterson.
The dark comedy centers on a group of one-percenters enjoying a sunny August in the Hamptons until a minor indiscretion forces them all to confront their own assumptions about race and class.
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Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater will present its Summer Gala on Sat. July 6. Additional information TBA.
Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka, Dr. Georgette Grier-Key, and auctioneer Richard Kind.
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LA’s Geffen Playhouse has announced its 2024-25 season:
The Brothers Size (Aug. 14 – Sept. 8), by Tarell Alvin McCraney, directed by Bijan Sheibani. Drawing from the rich tradition of the Yoruba people of West Africa, The Brothers Size is a modern-day fable about two brothers in the Deep South.
Dragon Lady (Sept. 4 – Oct. 6), written & performed by Sara Porkalob, directed by Andrew Russell. On the eve of her 60th birthday, Maria Porkalob Sr. fires up her new karaoke machine to regale her granddaughter Sara with her astonishing life story.
Waiting for Godot (Nov. 6 – Dec. 5), directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett.
Noises Off (Jan. 29 – Mar. 2, 2025), directed by Anna D. Shapiro.
Furlough’s Paradise (Apr. 16 – May 18), by a.k. payne, directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden. Cousins Sade and Mina used to be inseparable. Now leading very different lives, they return to their childhood town for the funeral of their mother and aunt.
The Reservoir (June 18 – July 20), world premiere by Jake Brasch, directed by Shelley Butler. Josh’s life is a mess. He’s come home to Denver from NYU to get his life together, but can’t manage to stay sober. Desperate for camaraderie, he decides to bring his four loveable grandparents on his road to recovery.
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The Janice Jam: Broadway for Breast Cancer (in support of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation) will take place Mon. May 13 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s Haswell Green’s (249 W. 52nd St.), with music direction by Jacob Yates.
Omar Jose Cardona, Jackie Cox, Matt DeAngelis, Lissa DeGuzman, Christine Dwyer, John Gallagher Jr., Justin Quarini, Morgan James, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Caissie Levy, Talia Suskauer, Rayn Vona, Nik Walker, and more TBA.
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Donald Margulies’ Dinner with Friends will run Apr. 4-28 (opening Apr. 5) at the Zephyr Theatre, directed by Peter Allas.
Jack Esformes, Marieh Delfino, Leith Burke, and Amy Motta, with Chala Savino, and Rick Segall.
The story about two married couples who have been best friends for years and their relationship with each other and time.
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Ben West’s “The American Musical: Evolution of an Art Form” will be released Apr. 1 on most platforms.
The book traces the musical’s creative journey from its 19th-century beginnings to its 21st-century present, shedding new light on a myriad of authors, directors, and craftspeople who worked to create the art form. West also actively addresses the form’s often overlooked female and African-American artists, providing an in-depth accounting of such outside influences as minstrelsy, vaudeville, nightclubs, and burlesque.
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LA’s Center Theatre Group will present CTG: The Gala 2024 on Sun. Apr. 28 at 5 PM at the Mark Taper Forum, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center.
Lea Salonga
Additional information TBA.
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Video: McKenzie Kurtz performs The Heart of Rock and Roll‘s ‘ “It Hit Me Like a Hammer”
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Boston’s Huntington Theatre has announced its 2024-25 season:
Leopoldstadt (Sept. 12 – Oct. 13), by Tom Stoppard, directed by Carey Perloff. A stirring and epic story of love, family, and enduring bravery. In Vienna, the heart of European culture at the rise of the 20th century, two brothers have conflicting visions of prosperity – both for their family and the Jewish people – a tension that will echo through the generations that follow.
Sojourners (Oct. 31 – Dec. 1), by Mfoniso Udofia, directed by Dawn M. Simmons. Marriage, migration, and the pursuit of education collide when a young and brilliant Nigerian couple arrives in Houston, looking to earn their degrees and bring insights back to their home country. But when Abasiama discovers that her husband has been seduced by Motown records and American culture, she has to choose between the Nigerian Dream and her obligations as a matriarch.
The Grove (Feb. 7 – Mar. 9, 2025), by Mfoniso Udofia, directed by Awoye Timpo. A family homecoming, asking what it means to draw on the wisdom and beauty of our ancestors when the bonds of family are stretched to the limit. Abasiama’s eldest daughter Adiaha wants to become a writer to make her family proud, but at her graduation party, she has to choose: fulfill her parents’ desires to settle with a traditional Nigerian man, or stay true to her own romantic match.
Don’t Eat the Mangos (Mar. 26 – Apr. 27), by Ricardo Pérez González, directed by David Mendizábal. A wickedly funny tragedy which of the playwright, which portrays life on his home island of Puerto Rico with compassion and humor through the saga of three sisters living just outside San Juan. As a hurricane approaches the beautiful island, secrets and ugly truths are revealed that cause the sisters to wrestle with how to stay true to their familia and homeland – and seek a satisfying revenge.
The Light in the Piazza, (May 8 – June 15), directed by Loretta Greco.
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The Entertainment Community Fund has announced its 2024 Gala on Mon. Apr. 8 at NYC’s Marriott Marquis, with 6 PM cocktails, followed by a 7 PM dinner and tribute.
Sonia Friedman, Seth Macfarlane, and the Warner Bros. Television Group.
Annette Bening, Maria Friedman, Liz Gillies, and more TBA.
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The Fire Island Dance Festival will run July 19-21 at Fire Island Pines, in support of Dancers Responding to AIDS.
Additional information TBA. Click here for current information.
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The national tour of Bob Gale, Alan Silvestri & Glen Ballard’s Back to the Future has announced initial casting. The tour, directed by John Rando, will launch at Cleveland’s Playhouse Square. Click here for tour dates and additional information.
Don Stephenson (Doc Brown), Caden Brauch (Marty McFly), and more TBA.