Today’s Highlights:
American Ballet Theatre’s Uniting in Movement begins streaming at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
“Drama” book, by David Rockwell & Bruce Mau, released in hard copy here.
Stars in the House, celebrating David Katz‘s 21st birthday, with surprise special guests, streams at 8 PM ET here.
The Kander & Ebb Years concert, which includes songs from Chicago, Cabaret, Flora, The Red Menace, and Kiss of the Spiderwoman, featuring Beth Leavel, Ute Lemper, Tony Yazbeck, Natascia Diaz, and Danny Gardner, concludes streaming here.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “There is one aspect of acting which I absolutely revere. That is that performance has got to occupy three dimensions — space, time, and silence. You occupy those three all the time, which makes the craft of acting unique, and the most challenging of all the arts.” ~ Athol Fugard
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Broadway shows resuming performances on Sept. 14 (tickets for all 3 are available now):
Hamilton
Wicked
The Lion King
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Manhattan Theatre Club will stream its 2019 production of Bekah Brunstetter’s The Cake on Thurs. May 13 at 12 PM ET, directed by Lynne Meadow. I will post the link on May 13.
Debra Jo Rupp, Marinda Anderson, Genevieve Angelson, and Dan Daily.
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The Public Theater presents Abigail Browde & Michael Silverstone’s A Thousand Ways (Part Two): An Encounter June 8 – Aug. 13, which will take place in several locations at the theater.
The piece brings together new pairs of strangers to share physical space in the creation of a private piece of theater. Seated in an empty room, at opposite ends of a table, and separate by a pane of plexiglass, participants follow prompts on a set of notecards, venturing together into cinematically vivid bouts of imagination. The experience invites us to reconsider, in real time, what we think we know about a person – including ourselves – at a moment when virtual interactions have flattened our co-existences.
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Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ An Octoroon will run June 11 – Sept. 19 (opening June 18) at the Fountain Theatre (outdoor space), directed by Judith Moreland.
Matthew Hancock, Rob Nagle, Hazel Lozano, Mara Klein, Vanessa Claire Stewart, Leea Ayers, Kacie Rogers, and Pam Trotter.
A brutal satire on racial stereotypes in a funny and profoundly tragic whirlwind of images and dialogue that forces audiences to look at, laugh at, and be shattered by America’s racist history.
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Aladdin will resume performances Sept. 28 at the New Amsterdam Theatre.
Casting TBA.
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A short film presentation of Adam Guettel’s song cycle Myths and Hymns will conclude on Wed. May 26 at 6:30 PM ET here, conducted by Ted Firth.
Kelli O’Hara, Jennifer Holliday, Mykal Kilgore, Theresa McCarthy, Anthony Roth Constanzo, Miles Mykkanen, Larry Owens, and Nicholas Phan.
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A concept album of Johanna Telander’s Kalevala: The Musical will be released in August (date TBA).
Ramin Karimloo, Alice Ripley, Jewelle Blackman, Marina Pires, Natalie Toro, Kay Trinidad, Amanda Yachechak, Brandon Contreras, Johanna Telander, Kristi Roosmaa, Madison Claire Parks, Omer Shàish, Quentin Garzón, and Reeta Vestman, with Angeline Mirenda, Ari Aaron, Brittany Rodin, Clay Christopher, Courtney Cheatham, Eppi Ursin, Elana Raomos Pascullo, Jade Rosenberg, Janine Colletti, Joey Boover, John Koski, Marc Christopher, Markus Kaitila, Marshall Ross, Mikael Haavisto, Nicholas Leung, Nicole Corris, Noel Houle-von Behren, Olivia Valli, Petra Jasmiina Haapamäki, Rebekkah Vega-Romero, and Stephen Velasquez.
The musical, set to a lush score of ethereal yet powerful pop, folk, world music, and jazz, follows two children on their epic fantasy adventure through an ancient haunted forest. They discover the healing power of near-forgotten music on their quest to help Spirits of Nature find the lost Spirit of Man.
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The Hollywood Bowl has announced its 2021 Summer Season, which will run July 3 – Sept. 28.
Kool & the Gang. opening fireworks spectacular (July 4)
Cynthia Erivo (July 30)
“The Princess Bride” (July 31) world premiere live performance of Mark Knopfler’s score.
Christina Aguilera (July 16-17)
Ledisi singing Nina Simone (July 24)
H.E.R. (Aug. 13-14)
Singalong Sound of Music (Aug. 21)
John Williams (Sept. 3-5)
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood” screening & score (Sept. 10)
“Black Panther” score (Sept. 10-12)
James Blake (Sept. 25)
…. and much more…
No new subscriptions will be offered this year, due to the initial reduction in capacity. Those who already hold Bowl subscriptions can renew them now.
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Mark Saltzman’s Romeo & Bernadette: A Musical Tale of Verona and Brooklyn, which played Off-Broadway prior to the pandemic, is planning a Broadway transfer in Spring 2022, directed & choreographed by Justin Ross Cohen.
Dates, casting and additional information TBA. Click here for a link to the show, and here for videos.
With music adapted from classic Italian melodies, the show is a spoof of Romeo and Juliet, where Romeo, in 1960 Brooklyn, finds his Juliet in the form of Bernadette, the beautiful, foul-mouthed daughter of a crime family.
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Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside will stream May 13-16 at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, directed by Robert Falls.
Mary Beth Fisher and John Drea.
Creative writing professor Bella values her solitude, but finds herself opening up to Christopher, a reclusive mysterious freshman with lofty literary aspirations. As the two connect beyond the classroom, Bella realizes she must ask Christopher for an impossible favor. Their story unfolds to a stunning conclusion, blurring the lines between fiction, friendship, and endings.
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20 & Under Sing 20 & Over: Act II, in support of The Actors Fund, will stream Sat. May 22 at 8 PM ET here, with music direction by Jorden Amir.
Beth Leavel, Joshua Dela Cruz, Ali Ewoldt, Catherine Brunell, Paige Davis, Joshua Franklin, Liana Hunt, Sasha Hutchings, Kara Lindsay, Ashley Spencer, NaTasha Yvette Williams, Leisa Brescia, David Caddick, Clare Halse, Kimberly Grigsby, John Kander, Diane Paulus, Randy Zuckerberg, with Lexi Bentinganan, Victory Brinker, Gracie Bryant, Chloe Cheers, Mariangeli Collado, Erin Engleman, Kaileigh Fiorillo, Mia Cherise Hall, Ty-Gabriel Jones, Hayden Poe, J.P. Ross, and more TBA.
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The Woman in Black, adapted by Stephen Mallatratt, will return to the Fortune Theatre on Sept. 7, directed by Robin Herford.
Stuart Fox (Arthur Kipps) and Matthew Spencer (The Actor)
The story of a lawyer obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over his family by the specter of a “Woman in Black.” He engages a young actor to help him tell his story and exorcise the fear that grips his soul. It begins innocently enough, but as they delve further into his darkest memories, they find themselves caught up in a world of eerie marshes and moaning winds.
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MJ: The Musical, by Lynn Nottage, recently slated to begin performances in September, will now begin previews Dec. 6 and open Feb. 1, 2022 at the Neil Simon Theatre, directed & choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, with music direction by Jason Michael Webb.
Ephraim Sykes (Michael Jackson) and more TBA.
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An Evening with Sally Mayes will run May 27-28 at PA’s Bucks County Playhouse.
The concert will take a journey with this consummate entertainer through the many phases of a life well lived.
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Lincoln Center’s I Dream a Dream That Dreams Back at Me, a site-specific Juneteenth celebration, will take place Sat. June 19 at 7 PM ET, and will unfold in 4 distinct parts of the Lincoln Center campus.
Free tickets will be available two weeks before the event on 
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Little Shop of Horrors will resume performances Sept. 21 – Jan. 2, 2022 at the Westside Theatre, directed by Michael Mayer, choreography by Ellenore Scott, and music supervision by Will Van Dyke.
Casting TBA.
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Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig will stream on Thurs. May 20 at 8 PM ET (and available through May 24) at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, directed by Anna D. Shapiro.
Kathryn Hahn (Gorgeous), Lisa Edelstein (Sara), Tracee Chimo Pallero (Pfeni), Jason Alexander, John Behlmann, Chris Perfetti, Kathryn Newton, and James Urbaniak.
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Broadway’s Future Songbook Series will stream Mon. May 24 at 5:30 PM ET here, hosted by John Znidarsic & Mindi Dickstein. This concert is the season finale.
The concert will feature music & lyrics by the 2021 class of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.
& 
Alex Becker, Clare Bierman, Dahlak Brathwaite, Zane Bridwell, Carrie Caffrey, Katherine Catusciello, Alstrael Evans, Spencer Grubbe, Katie Hazdovac, Erika Ji, Anastasia Dextrene S. Johnson, William Karras, Bela Kawalec, Kerry Kazmierowicz Trimm, Earl Marrows, Maggie Moe, Erica Molfetto, Sam Norman, Eliza Randall, Mikey Rosenbaum, Yuri Shibata, Andrew Strano, Brooke Trumm, and Joshua Vranas.
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Jersey Boys will resume performances on Nov. 15 at New World Stages.
Casting TBA.