GRACE NOTES: Wednesday, May 10, 2023

 

Today’s Highlights:

  Gypsy, directed by Jenn Thompson, featuring Judy McLane (Rose), Talia Suskauer (Louise), Philip Hernandez (Herbie), Laura Sky Herman (Dainty June), Emily Jewel Hoder (Baby June), Cameron Blake Miller (Baby Louise), with Gabriel Amato, Romelda Teron Benjamin, Kelly Margaret Berman, Amahri Edwards-Jones, Carlos Velasquez Escammilla, Thomas Goldbach V, Sunny Lauren Hoder, Victoria Huston-Elem, Edward Juvier, Meadow Nguy, Bianca Belle Palana, Maddie Robert, Ben Sears, Michael Starr, Geoffrey Wade, David Cochise Williams, and Valerie Wright, opens at CT’s Goodspeed.

  Speakeasy Stage‘s The Prom, directed by Paul Daigneault, featuring Mary Callanan, Johnny Kuntz,  Amy Barker,Emily Cochrane, Abriel Coleman, Nate Haydel, Tori Heinlein, Liesie Kelly, Meagan Lewis-Michelson, Nolan Montgomery, Brogan Nelson, Nicholas Joseph C. Ochoa, Nina Osso, Anthony Pires, Jr., Victor Carrillo Tracey, Jared Troilo, and Lisa Yuen, opens at Boston’s Calderwood Pavilion.

  Brokeback Mountain, play by Ashley Robinson, directed by Jonathan Butterell, featuring Mike Faist (Jack), Lucas Hedges (Ennis), Emily Fairn (Alma), Paul Hickey (Older Ennis), and Martin Marquez (Joe/BillJack’e Father), with Rob Alexander-Adams, Tom Mahy, and Sophie Reid, begins previews at London’s @sohoplace.

Asolo Rep‘s Man of La Mancha, directed by Peter Rothstein, featuring Mauricio Martínez (Miguel de Cervantes/Don Quixote), Aaron De Jesus (Sancho), Janely Rodriguez (Aldonza), Reese Britts (Anselmo/The Barber), Sydney Chow (Antonia/Fermina), Javier Ignacio (Pedro), C. Mingo Long (The Governor/The Innkeeper), Brian Kim McCormick (Paco/The Padre), Cathy Newman (Maria/The Housekeeper), Rodolfo Nieto (The Duke/Jose/Dr. Carrasco), Edward Staudenmayer (The Captain/Tenorio), Peter S. Raimondo (The Custodian/Juan), Sydney Story (Summoned Person), and Jerald Wheat (The Guard), with Bevin Bell-Hall, Christian Douglass, Pedro Ka’Awaloa, Celena Vera Morgan, and Robert Quiles, begins previews at Sarasota’s FSU Center for the Performing Arts.

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  Broadway Grosses for the week ending May 7.  Click here for the complete analysis.

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 “Being Mary Tyler Moore” will debut May 26 on HBO and HBO Max, directed by James Adolphus.

Interviewees: Rob Reiner, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Jim Burrows, Ed Asner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lena Waithe, Phylicia Rashad, Bernadette Peters, Joel Grey, writers and producers Allan Burns, James L. Brooks, Norman Lear, Debra Martin Chase, Treva Silverman, and Susan Silver…. along with Moore’s husband Dr. S. Robert Levine.

  The piece examines Mary’s Emmy-winning career as well as her private life, weaving Moore’s personal narrative with her professional accomplishments, as well as highlighting the impact she had on generations of women.

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  “Sami,” the final 10-episode TV project featuring the late Cindy Williams is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

  Kerry O’Malley, Sami Staitman, and Cindy Williams, with cameos by Karen Ziemba, Brad Oscar, Liz Larsen, Walter Willison, Lee Roy Reams, Charles Busch, Jason Graae, Allie Trim, Michael Lavine, Emerson Steele, Sal Viviano, Alet Taylor, Andgel Red, and more.

  The series follows the adventures of Sami Sherman, an aspiring actor trying to make it on Broadway. Each episode features an original song.

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  The world premiere of Deirdre Kinahan’s The Saviour will run July 1 – Aug. 13 (opening July 13) at Irish Rep, directed by Louise Lowe.

  Marie Mullen and Jamie O’Neill.

There’s a new man in Maáre’s life. But some people aren’t happy. On the morning of her 67th birthday, Máire sits up in bed enjoying a cigarette. She has recently been swept off her feet by a stranger and hasn’t felt this alive in years, but a visit from her son with dark revelations challenges the euphoria.

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  Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night will begin previews Mar. 19, 2024 and open Apr. 2 at the Wyndham’s Theatre, directed by Jeremy Herrin.

  Brian Cox (James Tyrone), Patricia Clarkson (Mary Tyrone), Alex Lawther (Edmund), Daryl McCormack (James Jr.), and Louis Harland (Cathleen).

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  Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop will run June 6 – July 9 (0pening June 15) at the Geffen Playhouse, directed by Patricia McGregor.

 Jon Michael Hill (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) and Amanda Warren (Camae).
  It’s April 3, 1968 and Martin Luther King, Jr. returns to the Lorraine Motel after delivering his history-altering “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. When he orders room service, a young maid arrives with a revelation that calls Dr. King to confront unwelcome truths. As a lightning storm rages outside, the legacy of America’s most revered civil rights leader is laid bare to reveal his profound humanity. A single night’s reckoning with racism, righteousness, and the rocky path toward justice, The Mountaintop imagines what Dr. King’s last night on Earth could have been.

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  Stefano Massini’s The Lehman Trilogy will run June 13 – July 16 at Boston’s Huntington Theatre, directed by Carey Perloff.

  Firdous Bamji (Mayer Lehman), Joshua David Robinson (Emanuel Lehman),  Steven Skybell (Henry Lehman), and Joe LaRocca (Musician).

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   Jonathan Hogue’s Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical will stream for one night only on Sat. May 27 at 7 & 10 PM ET on Stellar Live.

(original Off-Broadway cast): Jamir Brown (Lucas), Shawn Smith (Hopper, Jeremiah Garcia (Dustin), Caroline Huerta (Joyce/Will), Jeffrey Laughrun (Mike), Garrett Paladin (Steve/Jonathan/Harley Seger (Eleven/Nancy), and SLee (Barb).

  Video: Trailer

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  International City Theatre will present George Brant’s Into the Breeches! June 7-25 (opening June 9) at CA’s Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, directed by Brian Shnipper.

  Meghan Andrews (Maggie), Nicholas Hormann (Ellsworth Snow), Leslie Stevens (Celeste Fielding), Emillie Doering (Grace), and Brooke Olivia Gatto (June), Sydney A. Mason (Ida Green), Holly Jeanne (Winifred), and Lee James (Stuart Lasker).

A hilarious and moving story about what happens when we’re all in it together. With all the male members of its company fighting overseas, it looks like Long Beach’s Oberon Playhouse must cancel the 1942 season opener: an ambitious combination of Shakespeare’s Henry IV and Henry V known as of The Henriad. But Maggie isn’t ready to give up so easily. Can the show be pulled off without the men? Sweetened by comedic and tender moments, the women soldier their way through rehearsals, longing for word from their missing loved ones while finding humor and heart in their endeavor.

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  Elizabeth Dement’s No Place Like Gandersheim will run May 20 – June 25 at the Skylight Theatre, directed by Randee Trabitz.

  Jamey Hood (Roz), Lauren Gaw (Madlen/Thea), and Charrell Mack (Theophanu/Kaya/Via).

  Roz is everybody’s most passionate theater friend, constantly promoting her next play. What makes her special? She was born in medieval times and might just be the first ever woman playwright. After presenting her new brazen sex comedy to the most important critic of all—the Roman Emperor—and getting panned, Roz is catapulted into a time-warping journey through contemporary, though still medieval, Hollywood. From “me too” to “times up” to the metaverse and beyond, Roz begins to understand that home is where the art is.

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  Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons has announced its 2023-24 season:

  Stereophonic (Oct.dates TBA), world premiere by David Adjmi, with songs by Will Butler.   The play is set in a music studio in the mid-1970s as a rock band’s rise to stardom brings pressures that might spell its downfall.

  Amusements (Nov. dates TBA), written & performed by Ikechukwu Ufomadu. The finest amusements Ufomadu can muster.

  School Pictures (Nov. dates TBA), written & performed by Milo Cramer, directed by Morgan Green. Faith hates reading, Jane lost her flashcards, and Javier sees no point in studying because of climate change. This playful collection of poem-songs, written and performed by Milo Cramer – a former tutor – paints intimate portraits of ten NYC students fighting to get into competitive schools. School Pictures is a charming musical journal of keen observations which builds to a sweeping meditation on inequality, learning, parenting, and the cruelty of puberty.

  Teeth (Feb. 2024, dates TBA), by Michael R. Jackson & Anna K. Jacobs, directed by Sarah Benson, with choreography by Raja Feather Kelly.  Based on the the 2007 horror comedy film of the same name, the play follows evangelical Christian teenager Dawn O’Keefe, whose body bites back when men try to violate her.

  Staff Meal (April 2024), world premiere by Abe Koogler, directed by Morgan Green. The comedy focuses on a group of solitary city folk are searching for connection and comfort as the world falls apart. Set in a mysterious restaurant, a group of servers is trying to keep the friendly service and tasty food coming—at least until the restaurant is no longer a safe haven at closing time.

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  Video:  Clips of the Tony nominees for Best Musical

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  Ensemble Theatre Company will present Theresa Rebeck’s Seared June 8 – 25 (opening June 10) at Santa Barbara’s New Vic, directed by Jonathan Fox.

Ronald Auguste (Rodney). Andrew Elvis Miller (Harry), and Angela Sauer (Emily).

A brilliant, hot-headed chef scores a mention in a food magazine with his signature scallops, and his business partner finally sees profits within reach. The only problem: recreating masterpieces for the masses.This hilarious and insightful new play asks us to consider where art ends and commerce begins. 

 


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