Today’s Highlights:
John Gallagher in concert opens at Lincoln Center‘s Claire Tow Theater.
TheComeuppance, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Eric Ting, featuring Brittany Bradford (Ursula), Caleb Eberhardt (Emilio), Susannah Flood (Caitlin), Bobby Moreno (Francisco), and Shannon Tyo ( Maryana), opens at Off-Broadway’s Signature Theatre.
Once On This Island, directed by Ola Ince, featuring Gabrielle Brook (Ti Moune), Stephenson Ardern-Sodje (Daniel), Courtney-Mae Briggs (Andrea), Jonathon Grant (Armand), Emilie Louise Israel (Erzulie), Chris Jarman (Tonton), Anelisa Lamola (Asaka), Natasha Magigi (Mama Euralie,) Ashley Samuels (Agwe), and Lejaun Sheppard (Papa Ge), with Bernadette Bangura, Hanna Dimtsu, Nay-Nay, Cassandra Lee, Cherece Richards, Mikel Sylvanus, and Marco Titus. The role of Young Ti Moune is shared by Janai Bartlett, Lexi Kowlessar, Nesisa Mhindu, Kirsten Muzvuru, Nielle Springer, and Olivia St Louis, opens at London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
42nd Street, directed by Jonathan Church, featuring Ruthie Henshall (Dorothy Brock), Adam Garcia (Julian Marsh),Josefina Gabrielle (Maggie Jones), Les Dennis (Bert Barry), Nicole-Lily Baisden (Peggy Sawyer), Sam Lips (Billy Lawlor), and Michael Praed (Pat Denning), with Erica-Jayne Alden, George Beet, Charlie Bishop, Kevin Brewis, Olly Christopher, Briana Craig, Jordan Crouch, Rhianna Dorris, Ashleigh Graham, Alyn Hawke, Aimee Hodnett, Connor Hughes, Deja Linton, Sarah-Marie Maxwell, Greta McKinnon, Ben Middleton, Benjamin Mundy, Anthony Ofoegbu, and Jessica Wright, opens at London’s Leicester Curve Theatre.
Wet Brain, world premiere by John J. Caswell, Jr., directed by Dustin Wills, featuring Frankie J. Alverez (Ron), Ceci Fernández (Angelina), Florencia Lozano (Mona), Julio Monge (Joe), and Arturo Luis Soria (Ricky), begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons.
Evita, directed by Sammi Cannold, featuring Shereen Pimentel (Eva Perón), Gabriel Burrafato (Magaldi), Omar Lopez-Cepero (Che), Caesar Samayoa (Perón), and Naomi Rose (Mistress), with Martín Almiron, Julian Alvarez, Adrienne Balducci, Leah Barsky, bianca Bulgarelli, Camila Cardona (Melody Celatti, Estaben Domenichini, rebecca Eichenberger, Sean Ewim, Nicole Fernandez-Coffaro, David Michael Garry, Eddie Gutierrez, Eric Anthony Lopez, Jonatan Lujan, Caleb Marshall-villarreal, Ilda Mason, Jeremiah Valentino Porter, Leonay Shepherd, Maria Cristina Posada Slye, Sky Vaux Fuller, Marissa Barragán, Mathew Bautista, Isabella Lopez, Miguel Angel Vasquez, and Jeniysys Oliver-Joseph, begins previews at Cambridge’s A.R.T.
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Reviews for Manhattan Theatre Club’s King James at Off-Broadway’s New York City Center:
NY Times (): …It takes a while to figure out if Rajiv Joseph’s latest play, King James — centered on two fans of the N.B.A. legend LeBron James — is actually about basketball… Similarly, like an imperfect play on the court, the plot travels quite a bit before making its shot. But with two emotionally precise performances agilely directed by Kenny Leon…revealing a touching examination of male friendship and the powerful social currents beneath it… A two-hander will almost always let the meat (be it sports, play dates or Idina Menzel obsessions) fall off as its thematic bones reveal themselves and, across those four scenes, James eventually takes his place as the catalyst for the duo’s deeper bond. But, however well acted, the interactions Joseph creates for them during the first act (2004 and 2010) are just a little too slight in their significance, leaving most of the show’s heft to the sturdier second act…
Theatermania (Pete Hempstead): In Rajiv Joseph’s outstanding new buddy comedy, King James, two lonely men become friends when they discover that they’re both passionate about basketball, and in particular about the career of LeBron James. Out of that simple premise, Joseph has created one of the funniest and most moving plays about friendship in years, with two dynamite performances from Glenn Davis and Abbott Elementary’s Chris Perfetti as a couple of guys from different backgrounds whose friendship plays like a cordial — and sometimes not so cordial — game of one-on-one. Basketball fans will love Joseph’s insidery jokes, but even if (like me) you don’t follow the game all that much, King James is a must-see…
New York Theatre Guide (Amelia Merrill): There is a debate in King James, the play by Rajiv Joseph now running with Manhattan Theatre Club, over whether the greatest basketball player of all time is LeBron James, to whom the play pays tribute, or Michael Jordan. Their arguments, at least when it comes to basketball and its stars, are inconsequential, held for argument’s sake and not imparting much meaning on their characters’ journeys. Unfortunately, none of their other conversations — about jobs and money, about dreams and ambition, about social norms and expectations — impart much meaning either… Like the rest of the play, however, this engagement with basketball is surface-level.
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending May 14. Click here for the complete analysis.
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2023 Outer Critics Circle Award winners. Click here for the complete list.
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The Crucible will run June 7 – Sept. 2 (opening June 15) at the Gielgud Theatre, directed by Lyndsey Turner.
Milly Alcock (Abigail Proctor), Caitlin Fitzgerald (Elisabeth Proctor), Brian Gleeson (John Proctor), Ron Cook (Giles Corey), Risayo Akinade (Danforth), with David Ahmad, Zoë Aldrich, Stephanie Beattie, Raphael Bushay, Henry Everett, Nick Fletcher, Colin Haigh, Nadine Higgin, Gracie McGonigal, Alastair Parker, Joy Tan, and Tilly Tremayne. Completing the cast will be Christopher Birch, Lucy Brindle, Grace Farrell, Chyna-Rose Frederick, Miya James, Ebony Jonelle, Tama Phethean, Amy Snudden, Nia Towle, and Samuel Townsend.
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VA’s Signature Theatre has announced its 2023-24 season:
The Bridges of Madison County (Aug. 8 – Sept. 17), directed by Ethan Heard, with choreography by Kelly Crandall d’Amboise, and. music direction by Laura Berquist.
King of the Yees (Sept. 12 – Oct. 22), by Lauren Yee, directed by jennifer Chang. 
The play is sparked by the disappearance of Lauren’s father and the quest she embarks upon to find him.
Ragtime (Oct. 24 – Jan. 7, 2024), re-imagined & directed by Matthew Gardiner, with choreography Ashleigh King, and music direction by Jon Kalbfleisch.
Private Jones (Feb. 6 – Mar. 6), world premiere written & directed by Marshall Pailet. Inspired by a true story of a deaf Welsh sniper in World War I. Young Gomer Jones hides his hearing loss and enlists in the army.
Penelope (Mar. 5-Apr. 21), byAlex Bechtel, Grace McLean & Eva Steinmetz, directed by Steinmetz. Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, takes the microphone to chronicle those 20 years waiting in Ithaca.
Hair (Apr. 15 – July 17), directed by Matthew Gardiner, with choreography by Rickey Tripp.
Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (May 21 – July 7), by Jeff Augustin & The Bengsons, directed by Timothy Douglas, with music direction by Rob MOrrison. A son recreates the cross-country trip his Haitian immigrant parents took before he was born.
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Broadway World‘s 20th Anniversary Celebration Concert will take place Sun. May 21 at 8 PM at NYC’s Sony Hall, directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, with choreography by Baayork Lee & Kyle Garvin, with music direction by Kevin Stites, and hosted by Chita Rivera & Richard Ridge.
Nick Adams, Shoshana Bean, Laura Benanti, Liz Callaway, Mario Cantone, Jenn Colella, Kurt Domoney, Eden Espinosa, Myles Frost, Debbie Gibson, Olivia Hardy, Brittney Johnson, Constantine Maroulis, Hugh Panaro, Donna McKechnie, Orfeh, Randy Rainbow, Seth Rudetsky, Marc Shaiman, Christopher Sieber, Blair St. Clair, Paulo Szot, Elizabeth Teeter, Natalie Toro, Jessica Vosk, and Josh Walden, along with some special surprises.
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Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop has announced its 2023-24 season: Dates and casting TBA.
The Refuge Plays, world premiere by Nathan Alan Davis, directed by Patricia McGregor. Late at night, deep in the woods of southern Illinois, a ghost tells Gail she will die within the next 24 hours. So begins The Refuge Plays, an intergenerational saga that follows a single Black family over 70 years. Merry Me, world premiere by Hansol Jung, directed by Leigh Silverman. An an intoxicating queer cocktail of restoration comedy and the Greeks, served with a heavy garnish of ridiculous. On an island not far away from the vulnerable coasts of the enemy state, a mysterious blackout has left the Navy restless and itching for action. Lieutenant Shane Horne has occupied her time satisfying the libidinous needs of all the women on the base-including the jealous general’s wife. But her own merries will not… come. Meanwhile a famed Angel re-descends to amend her previous prophesy, sending the Navy’s psychiatrist on an epic quest to save humanity. Will the general discover the affair? Will the earth be saved? Will they ever be merry enough? I love you so much I could die, world premiere by Mona Pirnot, directed by Lucas Hnath. Part concert, part play, intricate and intimate, wry and tender, elemental and wholly unforgettable. Through monologues performed by a computer and songs performed by the playwright, NYTW, the piece wrestles with the private and unspeakable in a very public way. Here There Are Blueberries, by Moisés Kaufman & Amanda Gronich, directed by Kaufman. In 2007, a mysterious album featuring Nazi-era photographs arrived at the desk of a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum archivist. As curators unraveled the shocking truth behind the images, the album soon made headlines and ignited a debate that reverberated far beyond the museum walls. Based on real events.**********************
RIP: Howard Jones, Broadway Musical Coordinator, has died.
Joines’ credits as a Broadway Musical Coordinator include: Beetlejuice, Company, A Christmas Carol, The Prom, Mean Girls, Bandstand, Groundhog Day, Cirque du Soleil Paramour, Allegiance, Finding Neverland, Side Show, Bullets Over Broadway, Aladdin, Matilda The Musical, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Scandalous, Chaplin, Ghost The Musical, Promises, Promises, Bye Bye Birdie, Grease, The Times They Are A-Changin’, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and many more.
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Christopher Shinn’s Now or Later will run June 15-17 at the Matrix Theatre, directed by Ann Bronston.
Cherish Monique Duke, Brendan Farrell, Suzanne Ford, Samuel Garnett, George Kappaz, and Jack McKeever.
It’s the night of the US presidential election and success is imminent for the Democratic Party. All is well until a revelation plunges the campaign into an international crisis. Woven within the brittle fabric of a political family, the play exposes uncomfortable truths about politics, religion, bigotry, and freedom of expression.
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Principal casting has been announced for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, to run June 12-18 at the St. Louis Muny, directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, with choreography by Patricia Wilcox, and music direction by Charlie Alterman.
Sarah Sheperd (Carole King), Jackie Burns (Cynthia Weil), Jarrod Spector (Barry Mann), Steven Good (Gerry Goffin), Noah Weisberg (Don Kirshner), and Sharon Hunter (Genie Klein), with more TBA.
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Theatre Aspen has announced complete casting for its 2023 Summer season:
Beautiful (June 22 – July 8), directed & choreographed by Joyce Chittick, featuring Julia Knitel (Carole King), Sara King (Cynthia Weil), Miles Jacoby (Gerry Goffin), and Barrett Riggins (Barry Mann), with Dan Renaughty, Nina Gabianelli, Trey McCoy (Danea Osseni, Kyshawn Lane, Dori Waymer, and Correy West.
Summer Cabaret Series (July 2, 6, & 13). Click here for the complete schedule.
Doubt (July 14-29), directed by Jenn Thompson, featuring Karen Ziemba (Sister Aloysius), Jessie Shelton (Sister James, and Jeremy Beck (Father Flynn.
Rent (Aug. 4-26), directed by Andy Señor Jr., featuring Natalie Caruncho, featuring Michael Lepore (Mark Cohen), Liam Pearce (Roger Davis), Chabely Ponce (Mimi Marquez), Jaye Alexander (Tom Collins), Ojobayo Lyons (Benjamin Coffin III), Madison Deadman (Maureen Johnson), Jordan Alexander (Angel Dumott Schunard), and Jenny Mollet (Joanne Jefferson), with Chaunice Maudlyn Alexander, Matthew Carter, Lauren Horgan, Nate Promkul, Dominique Lawson, Natalie Leonard, and Jake Swain
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Complete casting has been announced for Crazy for You, to begin previews June 24 and open July 3 at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, directed & choreographed by Susan Stroman.
Charlie Stemp (Bobby), Carly Anderson (Polly), Tom Edden (Bela Zangler), Natalie Kassanga (Irene Roth), Mathew Craig (Lank Hawkins), Duncan Smith (Everett Baker), Marilyn Cutts (Lottie Child), Sam Harrison (Eugene Fodor), Rina Fatania (Patricia Fodor), and Jack Wilcox (Standby Bobby Child), with. Kayleigh Thadani, Kate Parr, Lila Anderson, Harriet Samuel-Gray, Imogen Bowtell, Laura Hills, Ella Valentine, Tara Yasmin, Marc Akinfolarin, Lucas Koch, Philip Bertioli, Jason Battersby, Ashley-Jordon Packer, Nicholas Duncan, Nathan Elwick, Liam Wrate, Joshua Nkemdilim, Nell Martin, Bradley Trevethan, Bethan Downing, Ryan Jupp, Jinny Gould, and George Bray.