Today’s Highlights:
A Soldier’s Play, by Charles Fuller, directed by Kenny Leon, featuring Norm Lewis (Captain Richard Davenport), Eugene Lee (Sergeant Vernon C. Waters), Will Adams (Corporal Bernard Cobb), Sheldon D. Brown (Private C.J. Memphis), Malik Esoj Childs (Private Tony Smalls), William Connell (Captain Charles Taylor), Alex Michael Givens (Corporal Ellis), Matthew Goodrich (Captain Wilcox), Chattan Mayes Johnson (Lieutenant Byrd), Branden Davon Lindsay (Private Louis Henson), Tarik Lowe (Private First-Class Melvin Peterson), and Howard W. Overshown (Private James Wilkie), with Brandon Alvión, Ja’Quán Cole, Charles Evertt, Al’Jaleel McGhee, and Alex Ross, opens at LA’s Ahmanson Theatre.
The Shape of Things, by Neil LaBute, directed by Nicky Allpress, featuring Luke Newton and Amber Anderson, begins previews at London’s Park Theatre.
AZUL: A Bilingual Musical concert reading, by Tatiana Pandiana, Melis Aker & Jacinta Clusella, directed by Florencia Cuenca, featuring Katerina McCrimmon, Robi Hager, Ana Villafañe, Joel Perez, Martín Solá, Henry Gainza, and Florencia Cuenca, at 9:30 PM at Off-Broadway’s Joe’s Pub.
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending May 21. Click here for the complete analysis.
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Tony Awards update: This year’s Tony Awards will be fully unscripted. Ariana DeBose is reportedly still slated to host, but she will not be speaking from a script prepared and filed prior to the strike, nor will she perform an opening number written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who was reportedly quick to rescind his work for the broadcast when the strike was called on May 2.
Tony organizers had reportedly planned on using high-profile actors and politicians to make the case for a strike waver from WGA, but it was WGA members who also write for Broadway that actually brought the reversal into life. Amongst those involved in the campaign were 2023 Tony nominee Martyna Majok, Jeremy O. Harris, Tony Kushner, and David Henry Hwang—all of whom have written both for Broadway and Hollywood. All four were painfully aware of what the loss of the Tony broadcast could mean for an industry still struggling to make a post-pandemic comeback, and reportedly urged union leaders to allow the broadcast to continue.
Luckily, the notion of an unscripted Tony Awards seems to have placated all parties. WGA has seen a groundswell in support from the Broadway community, with actors and writers joining picket lines in solidarity. Finding a way to let this year’s Tonys happen was about more than planning a ceremony without WGA writers. Without WGA approval, any possible ceremony would likely have been missing lots of Broadway notables, who would have hesitated to cross the picket line to attend the event. Luckily, Broadway’s brightest will now be able to attend the Tonys without any concerns.
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The world premiere of The Artist, adapted by Lindsey Ferrentino & Drew McOnie will run May 11 – June 9, 2024 at Theatre Royal Plymouth, directed & choreographed by Drew McOnie.
Casting TBA.
The piece follows silent movie icon George Valentin and aspiring actor Peppy Miller. While her star is about to rise, his might just be about to flicker into insignificance with the arrival of the Talkies.
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The National Memorial Day Concert will air Sun. May 28 at 8 PM on PBS (check local listings), conducted by Jack Everly, and hosted by Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinies.
Trace Adkins, S. Epatha Merkerson, Megan Hilty, John Slattery, Dulé Hill, Yolanda Adams, Jo Dee Messina, Mary McCormack, The War and Treaty, Chosen Jacobs, and Phillip Phillips.
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A workshop reading of Walter Marks & Ernest Kinoy’s Golden Rainbow will take place Tues. May 30 at 3 PM at NYC’s Alvin Ailey Dance Center, directed by Stuart Ross, and music direction by Paul Staroba. 
stuartharrisross@gmail.
Jonathan Brody, Nick Cearley, Robert Cuccioli, Jillian Louis, Benjamin Pajak, Lucas Pastrana, Jasmine Overbaugh, Matthew Scott, Teal Wicks, and Virginia Woodruff.
A no-nonsense realist arrives to save her nephew Allie from his father’s irresponsible and hedonistic ways. Based on the hit Broadway comedy A Hole in the Head.
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Pasadena Playhouse will be the recipient of the 2023 Regional Theatre Tony Award.
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Peter Pan Goes Wrong has extended its run through July 23 at Broadway’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
Harry Kershaw, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields, Chris Leask, Ellie Morris, Charlie Russell, Greg Tannahill, and Nancy Zamit, with Matthew Cavendish, Bianca Horn, Ryan Vincent Anderson, Stephen James Anthony, and Brenann Stacker.
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Summer Stock, adapted by Cheri Steinkellner, will run July 7 – Aug. 27 (opening July 26) at CT’s Goodspeed, directed & choreographed by Dona Feore.
Danielle Wade (Jane Falbury), Corbin Bleu (Joe Ross, Arianna Rosario (Gloria Falbury), Gilbert L. Bailey II (Phil Filmore), Stephen Lee Anderson (Lt. Henry Pop Falbury), Veanne Cox (Margaret Wingate), Will Roland (Orville Wingate), and J. Anthony Crane (Montgomery Leach), with Erika, Ronnie S. Bowman Jr., Emily Kelley, Francesca M. Mancuso, Tommy Martinez, Corinne Munsch, Gretory North, Kaylee Olson, Jack Sippel, Cayel Tregeagle, Nicholas Cunha, and Kennedy Perez.
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Barry Manilow in Concert will run May 31 – June 4 at Radio City Music Hall.
The Comedian Harmonists (from the upcoming Broadway production of Harmony) Sean Bell, Danny Kornfeld, Zal Owen, Eric Peters, Blake Roman, and Steven Telsey.
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Video: Alex Newell performs “Independently Owned” (from Broadway’s Shucked)
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Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters has announced its Summer 2023 season:
East to Edinburgh Festival (July 11-20). A unique showcase of 13 New York shows headed to Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Prejudice and Pride (July 13 -Aug. 20), by Sam Wright & Nicholas Collet. The hapless Longborn boys have exhausted all the employment options of East Tennessee and must now marry rich before they lose the family farm. Luckily “a young single woman in possession of a good fortune” has just moved into the ranch next door and brought along ridiculously wealthy songstress Darcy Fitzwilliams, not that banjo-picking Bennett Longborn would stoop to woo her for any amount of money.
Unentitled (July 21 – Aug. 6), by Charles White, directed by Florante Galvez, Set in the heady days of late 2008, with the Obama campaign as a backdrop, an upper-middle class African American family wrestles internalized racism, class anxiety, and each other when a sudden job loss and a revelation about their shared past threaten to upend their comfortable lives. Tempers and tensions boil over at a cherished Long Island vacation home that becomes the focal point of an intense family drama.
A Eulogy for Roman (Aug. 8-27), written & performed by Brendan George, directed by Peter Charney. Meet Milo, a nervous young man who shares the stage with an urn. But things aren’t as dark as they seem. Milo is trying to give a eulogy for his friend Roman, but the ceremony proves unexpectedly difficult, and attendees are voluntarily enlisted to help him complete the memorial. Together, they celebrate life, confront death, and make a promise of their own.
SMALL (Aug. 12 – Sept. 2), written & performed by Robert Montano, directed by Jessi D. Hill. Bobby is a small kid from Long Island with a big dream. Soon he’s galloping headlong into the strange, obsessive world of professional horse racing. But the track is as dangerous as it is exciting, full of colorful characters and powerful beasts. The jockeys and their associates form a makeshift brotherhood even as they wrestle with the extremes of their sport. But will Bobby outgrow his dream or be consumed by it?
Dig (Sept. 2 – Oct. 22), written & directed by Theresa Rebeck. Roger is content to hide from the world in his failing plant shop until Megan enters the picture and throws his carefully ordered life of leaves and stems into pure chaos. Humor and emotions fly as Megan’s desire for change clashes with Roger’s stubbornness and as other people – and their pesky views – keep barging in.
Cross That River (Sept. 13 – Oct. 8), by Allan & Pat Harris, directed by Regge Life. The unsettled West of the 1860s provides a new life and new dreams for Blue, a run-away slave, who escapes to Texas to become one of America’s first Black Cowboys. This compelling tale of freedom integrates fiction with historical fact, and each song presents a different page in this complicated chapter of American History.
Friends with Amenities (Sept. 14-30), written & performed by Ahsan Ali & Lisa Jill Anderson, directed by Sarah Norris. Ali has problems. So does Natalie. Ali speaks Urdu. Natalie speaks Kardashian. Surviving in New York City is never simple. These two NYC transplants dissect the relative chaos of their lives on a single night in an empty Brooklyn apartment. Misunderstandings of language, culture, and life experience threaten to spill over as Ali and Natalie interrogate and challenge each other’s assumptions about their lives and try to stumble drunkenly towards common ground.
The Pool Plays 3.0 (Oct. 8-28): Three playwrights. Three plays. One remarkable. plays span space and time, taking audiences from Brooklyn, to Delhi, to Berlin; from 1850, to the 1940s, to 2023 as three diverse playwrights bring their vastly different perspectives into one collective dramatic space experience.
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Lindsay Warren Baker & Amanda Jacobs’ Austen’s Pride in concert will take place Thurs. June 29 at 8 PM at Carnegie Hall, directed by Igor Goldin, with music direction by Matt Perri, and choreography by Lisa Shriver.
Performers TBA.
Austen’s Pride springs to life when the author explores the world of her novel. As the compelling love story of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy unfolds, Jane Austen learns to see both the story and herself in a new light.
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Complete casting has been announced for the world premiere of Ramiz Monsef’s The Ants, to run June 20 – July 30 (opening June 29) at the Geffen Playhouse, directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh.
Hugo Armstrong (The Brain), Nicky Boulos (Nami), Megan Hill (Meredith), Jeremy Radin (The Pizza Guy), and Ryan Shrime (Shahid).
A breathtaking house on a hill — complete with the most state-of-the-art security that excessive wealth can buy — should feel like a refuge for Nami, whose recent firing and eviction have forced him to crash at his brother and sister-in-law’s luxury home. But on this dark and fateful night, a violent uprising outside leaves the three trapped in what they think is an impenetrable fortress. A horror play infused with darkly humorous social commentary, The Ants asks why we spend so much money protecting ourselves instead of investing in our shared humanity.
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The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles will presents its 2023 Gala on Sun. June 25 at LA’s Walt Disney Concert Hall immediately following its 3 PM performance of Disney PRIDE in Concert, which is a multimedia musical celebration featuring GMCLA’s 200 singers, a 25-piece orchestra and stunning video projections, with almost 50 songs from over 20 beloved Disney films and the Disney Parks.
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Jane Chamber’s Last Summer at Bluefish Cove will run June 14 – Aug. 27 at the Fountain Theatre, directed by Hannah Wolfe.
Sarah Scott Davis, Allison Husko, Tamika Katon-Donegal, Lindsay LaVanchy, Noelle Messier, Stephanie Pardi, Anne Sonneville, Sasha Surdyke, and Ellen D. Williams.
Set in 1974, a group of queer women spend their summers together in a remote oceanfront town on Long Island. Their lesbian enclave is disrupted when Eva, a naïve straight woman recently separated from her husband, stumbles unaware into their circle and falls for the charming, tough-talking Lil.