Today’s Highlights:
The Wizard and I: Liz Callaway Sings Stephen Schwartz concert, with with music directed by Alex Rybeck opens at NYC’s 54 Below.
The Light in the Piazza, directed by Loretta Greco, featuring Emily Skinner (Margaret Johnson), Sarah-Anne Martinez (Clara Johnson), Joshua Grosso (Fabrizio Naccarelli), William Michals (Signor Naccarelli), Rebecca Pitcher (Signora Naccarelli), Alexander Ross (Giuseppe Naccarelli), Rebekah Rae Robles (Franca Naccarelli), and Rob Richardson (Roy Johnson, with Kate Fitzgerald, Russell Garrett, Daniel A. Lopez, Sherée Marcelle, Morgan Mastrangelo, Sarah Oakes Muirhead, Nick Sulfaro, David Rosenthal,Tamara Ryan, Yuma Feldman, Millie Grace Gibson, Elsa Hancock-Happ, Mary Niederkorn, and Odin Veg, opens at Boston’s Huntington Theatre.
A Dolls House, Part 2, by Lucas Hnath, directed by Jennifer Chang, featuring Elizabeth Reaser(Nora), Jason Butler Harner (Torvald), Kimberly Scott (Anne Marie), Kahyun Kim (Emmy), and Adam J. Smith (Torvald understudy), begins previews at CA’s Pasadena Playhouse.
“The Craft of Acting: Brian Cox,“ interviewed by Isaac Buttler, at 6 PM at Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse.
Simply Barbra: Funny Lady 50th Anniversary Salute concert, starring Steven Brinberg, at 7 PM at NYC’s Laurie Beechman Theatre.
**********************
Broadway Grosses for the week ending May 11.
Click here for the complete analysis.
***********************
Charles Busch & Friends will present Enid Bagnold’s The Chalk Garden on Mon. May 19 at 1 PM at Off-Broadway’s The Players (16 Gramercy Park South). Director TBA. RSVP required HERE.
Charles Busch, Christopher Borg, Emma Geer, Kate Hampton, David Staller, Jennifer Van Dyck, Jonathan Walker, and surprise guests!
Mrs. St. Maugham hires Miss Madrigal as a governess and household companion for the grandaughter, Laurel, a disturbed teenager, Laurel, who has a history of driving away previevious governess, is determined to expose Miss Madrigal’s secret, which she believes to be scandalous. Miss Madrigal, in turn, tries to help laurel understand the consequences of her behanior and the true nature of her mother’s absence. The play explores the secred world of childhood, with bothLaurel and Miss Madrigal grappling with their own pasts and the secrets they carry.
***********************
Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends has added a final extension, now through June 29, at Broadway’s Manhattan Theatre Club. directed by Matthew Bourne.
Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga, Jacob Dickey, Kyle Selig, Jasmine Forsberg, Kate Jennings Grant, David Harris, Bonnie Langford, Beth Leavel, Gavin Lee, Jason Pennycooke, Joanna Riding, Jeremy Secomb, Maria Wirries, and Daniel Yearwood, with Kevin Earley, Paige Faure, Alexa Lopez, and Peter Neureuther.
***********************
Hamlet will run May 28 – July 6 (opening June 4) at the Mark Taper Forum, directed by Robert O’Hara.
Patrick Ball (Hamlet), Coral Peña (Ophelia), Gina Torres (Gertrude), James T. Alfred (Head Attendant), Joe Chrest Detective Fortinbras), Fidel Gomez (Gravedigger), Ty Molbak (Laertes /Rosencrantz), Ramiz Monsef (Polonius,) Jakeem Powell (Horatio), Ariel Shafir (Claudius), Jaime Lincoln Smith (First Player /Attendant), and Daniel Zuhlke (Guildenstern.
***********************
The 2025 Chita Rivera Awards will take place Mon. May 19 at the NYU Skirball Center (566 LaGuardia Place).
All proceeds benefit the NYC Dance Alliance Foundation College Scholarship Program (which awards college scholarships to talented teenagers).
***********************
(in person & online) A concert presentation & discussion of Ted Chapin, Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver’s Just in Time, will take place Sun. May 18 at NYC’s 92NY, moderated by Ted Chapin.
Jonathan Groff, Andrew Resnick, & choreographer Shannon Lewis.
Jonathan Groff, Alex Timbers, Andrew Resnick, and Shannon Lewis.
Hear the cast and Ted Chapin talk about bringing the show to Broadway, coming full circle to the stage where the finger snapping began, and why Darin’s story remains as compelling and unforgettable as his songs. The musical tracks the history of Bobby Darin from his childhood and early career to his tragic death at age 37.
***********************
Vanessa Williams in Concert will take place Sat. May 17 at 8 PM at NYC’s St. George Theatre (in Staten Island).
***********************
The entire cast recording of Warren Leight & Isaac Oliver’s Just in Time, starring Idina Menzel, is now available to listen here.
The show begins with Darin’s childhood, highlighting his struggles with illness and his determination to live life to the fullest through music.
***********************
DC’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company will present its Pride Plays 2025, to run June 3-6, which celebrates the rich tapestry of LGBTQIA+ experiences through the power of live theater. Casting TBA.
Pony (June 3 & 5), by Sylvan Oslwald, directed by Will Davis. When Pony, a formerly incarcerated trans guy, moves to a small rural town to start a new life, he quickly becomes entangled with its isolated community. He starts to fall for a waitress who is obsessed with a local murder; his social worker doesn’t understand him; and he is pursued by a young trans man who thinks Pony could be the father he always wanted. Amid this whirlwind of fear and desire, Pony must find the strength to confront the stories he’s been told about masculinity, violence, and self-worth.
The Normal Heart (June 4 & 6), by Larry Kramer, directed by Zhailon Levingston.
Novios (June 3 & 5), by Arturo Luiz Soria, directed by Danilo Gambini. A motley crew of cooks hurl insults, grab ass, and compete to be the most macho en el calor of a gringo’s kitchen, but when a new dishwasher arrives rupturing the haze of machismo and sparking a love affair with Luiz, the youngest amongst them, Gallo, the head chef and guardian to Luiz, must do what she can to wrangle the men before the train goes off the rails, jeopardizing her whole operation.
The Hotel/Makeda – a Baltimore Cycle Play (June 4 & 6), by Lady Dane Firueroa Edidi, directed by Ibi Owolabi. Nearly a decade after World War II, Genieve Adams has made The Hotel Makeda one of Baltimore’s most celebrated destinations. But, even with all of its success, family secrets, the legacy of slavery, and familiar regret threaten to tear it apart. Can Gen protect her family and her business or will she be consumed by the shifting alliances of those she holds most dear. The Hotel/ Makeda: A Baltimore Cycle Play examines a business woman’s life as she navigates love, history, family, and systemic pressures and it invites us to reflect on what exactly do we mean by the American Dream.
Fear & Wonder (Jun3 & 5), by Jason Tseng, directed by Emily Hartford. In a forbidden love story, Jabez and Ryan, two boys of color navigate a Christian summer camp together in the early 2000s. Their friendship quickly grows into a budding romance that they try to keep alive after returning home. Challenged by their parents, the hazards of landline phones, and their faith, they are forced to secrecy. Finding solace in each other and their shared love of music, theology, and Harry Potter; the reality of living in between two worlds threaten to keep them apart as they navigate their blossoming queer identities and teenage angst in their conservative faith communities.
Mother Mary (June 4 & 6), by KJ Moran Velz, directed by Charlotte La Nasa. Taxi driver Jo Cruz knows the streets of Boston like the back of her hand, but no road map can prepare her for meeting Mary O’Sullivan, a Catholic school teacher with a boyfriend and a strict Irish mother. Despite rising tensions between their Irish and Puerto Rican communities, Mary and Jo start connecting over daily rides to work – sharing hot dogs, library books, and a lineage of islands under Catholic and colonial rule. But their new friendship takes a turn when Mary asks Jo to take her on a risky road trip where there’s no going back. A new romcom about choice, the women who choose, and the sinners and saints that make Boston home.
**********************
Playbill has offered free Broadway Quizzes here. Enjoy.