Today’s Highlights:
The Actors, by Ronnie Larsen, directed by Stuart Meltzer, featuring Jason Guy, Jeni Hacker, Ronnie Larsen, Allen Lewis Rickman, and Gabriell Salgado, opens at Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row.
Lay It Down: The Music of the Everly Brothers, written by & starring Eric Anthony & Ben Hope, opens at Virginia Stage.
The Fires, written & directed by Raja Feather Kelly, featuring Beau Badu (Eli), Sheldon Best (Sam), Phillip James Brannon (Jay), Janelle McDermoth (Rowan), Ronald Peet (George/Sean/Kayne), Jon-Michael Reese (Maurice), Jason Beasey (Billy/Reggie), and Michelle Wilson (Leslie), begins previews at Off-Broadway’s SoHo Rep.
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending May 5.
Click here for the complete analysis.
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The 2024 Chita Rivera Awards ceremony will take place Mon. May 20 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 La Guardia Place).
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New York Rep will present the world premiere of Ashley Griffin’s The Opposite of Love, to run May 28 – June 15 (opening May 30) at the Royal Family Performing Arts Space. directed by Rachel Klein.
Danny Gardner and Ashley Griffin.
An intimate story about a down on his luck hustler and a trust fund baby who form an unlikely bond when she hires him to help overcome her sexual trauma. Can this unexpected connection transcend their darker inclinations in a world where love is a commodity?
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Waitress will run July 30 – Aug. 5 at the St. Louis Muny, directed by Lili-Anne Brown, with Choreographer Chloe O. Davis and Music Direction by Andra Velis Simon.
Jessica Vosk (Jenna), Devin Desantis (Dr. Pomatter), Lissa deGuzman (Dawn), Nicole Michelle Haskins (Becky), Ken Page (Joe), Ben Crawford (Earl), John D. Winston (Cal), Troy Iwata (Ogie), and more TBA.
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Pittsburgh CLO has announced initial casting for its 2024 season:
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (May 17 – June 30), featuring Gabrielle Lee (Billie Holiday).
West Side Story (June 11-16), featuring Sabina Collazo (Maria) and Spencer LaRue (Tony).
The Color Purple (June 25-30), featuring Kayla Davion (Celie) and Tamayra Gray (Shug Avery).
The Music Man (July 9-14), featuring Nikki Renée Daniels (Marion Paroo) and Charles Esten (Harold Hill).
Young Frankenstein (July 19 – Sept. 1), featuring Dan Deluca (Dr. Frederick Frankenstein) and Tim Hartman (The Monster).
Seussical (July 30 – Aug. 4), featuring Beth Malone (Cat in the Hat).
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The world premiere of Cinco Paul’s Schmidgdoon! will run Jan. 31 – Feb. 9, 2025 at DC’s Kennedy Center, directed & choreographed by Christopher Gattelli.
Casting TBA.
The musical will follow the plot of the TV show’s first season, which saw a couple, struggling to save their relationship, who suddenly find themselves in Schmigadoon, a magical world populated with characters, plots, songs, and dance numbers inspired by Golden Age musicals like Oklahoma!, The Music Man, and Carousel. Audiences can expect to hear Paul’s songs from the series—including the Emmy-winning “Corn Puddin’,” plus new tunes.
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Ayad Akhtar’s MCNEAL will run Sept. 5 – Nov. 24 (opening Sept. 30) at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, directed by Bartlett Sher.
Robert Downey Jr. (McNeal) and more TBA.
Good writers borrow, great writers steal. Jacob McNeal is a great writer, one of our greatest, a perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. But McNeal also has an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with Artificial Intelligence. MCNEAL is a startling and wickedly smart examination of the inescapable humanity – and increasing inhumanity – of the stories we tell.
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Manhattan Theatre Club‘s Spring Gala 2024 will take place Mon. May 20 at 7 PM at NYC’s Cipriani 42nd Street, directed by TBA, with music direction by Jason Michael Webb.
Performers, additional creative team, and special guests TBA.
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A reading of James Hindman & Jeffrey Lodin’s The Pin-Up Girls will take place Mon. May 20 at 3 & 6:30 PM at Off-Broadway’s Pearl Studios, directed by Kerry Butler, with music direction by Lodin. 
boxoffice@yorktheatre.org.
Sara Glancy, Jillian Louis, Gina Milo, and Barrett Riggins.
While singing at a local VFW Hall, Leanne and her friends discover a cache of wartime letters stretching backover a century. Inspired by what they’vefound-funny, romantic, and heartbreaking-the ladies decide to put on ashow that celebrates the guys and gals who’ve fought for our country and the music that has kept them going,from the Andrews Sisters to Beyoncé, from World War One to Afghanistan.
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Ventura Live! will run May 11 – June 15 at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre, offering one-night and short-run concerts, jam Sessions, new play readings, magic nights, comedy, and much more.
Click the link above for the complete schedule of events.
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The 2024 Chita Rivera Awards will take place Mon. May 20 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.
Debbie Allen, Corbin Bleu, Kristin Chenoweth, Anthony Crivello, Joel Grey, Bebe Neuwirth, Brooke Shields, and Ben Vereen.
All proceeds of the Chita Rivera Awards benefit the NYC Dance Alliance Foundation Scholarship Program. This year, all funding and proceeds will support the creation of a new Chita Rivera Training Scholarship.
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Donald Rupe’s From Here will run June 27 – Aug. 11 at the Signature Theatre, directed by TBA.
Blake Aburn (Daniel), Becca Southworth (Becca), Omar Cardona (Ricky), and more TBA.
Set in 2016, From Here tells the story of Daniel, a 30-something gay man on his journey through life, love, and family when the horrific shooting at Pulse Nightclub changes his hometown, and him, forever.
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Lindsey Ferrentino’s Ugly Lies the Bone will run Jun 8 – 30 at Hollywood’s McCaddden Place Theatre, as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, directed by Lulenoxx.
Gabrielle Archambault, Sheer Aviram, Carver Folkes, Suni M!, and Hans Heilmann.
The play deals with the life of Jess, a soldier returning home from her third tour in Afghanistan, scarred both physically and emotionally by the horrors of war. With severe burns from an IED explosion and PTSD from the trauma she experienced at war, Jess embarks on a journey of rehabilitation and self-discovery. Through the innovative use of Virtual Reality therapy, she navigates the challenges of her new reality, confronting the changes in her hometown and reconnecting with loved ones who struggle to understand her pain.
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Cast changes have been announced for Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre.
(beginning June 3): Rhea Norwood (Sally Bowles) and Layton Williams (Emcee)
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Renaissance Theatre Company will present Donald Rupe’s From Here June 27 – Aug. 11 at the Signature Theatre, directed by TBA.
Blake Aburn (Daniel), Becca Southworth (Becca), Omar Cardona (Ricky), and more TBA.
Set in 2016, From Here tells the story of Daniel, a 30-something gay man whose hometown and life changes forever after the horrific shooting at Pulse Nightclub.
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Octavio Soli’s Mother Road will run June 14 – July 21 at CA’s Berkeley Rep, directed by David Mendizábal.
James Carpenter (William Joad) and Emilio Garcia-Sanchez (Martín Jodes), with Cher Alvarez, Scott Coopwood, Daniel Duque-Estrada, Branden Davon Lindsay, Marilet Martinez, Michael Moreland Milligan, Lindsay Rico, Kenny Scott, Benny Wayne Sully, Angel Villalobos, Courtney Walsh, and Kenneth Watkins.
William Joad has no heir to bequeath the family farm to, until he learns about Martín Jodes, a young Mexican American migrant worker descended from Steinbeck’s protagonist Tom Joad. In a reversal of the Joads’ mythic journey, William and Martín embark on a road trip from California’s migrant farm camps back to Oklahoma, where they reckon with their brutal pasts and forge an unlikely bond.