Today’s Highlights:
Private Lives, directed by Christopher Luscombe, featuring Nigel Havers (Elyot), Patricia Hodge (Amanda), Dugald Bruce-Lockhart, and Natalie Walker, opens at London’s Ambassadors Theatre.
Prayer for the French Republic, by Joshua Harmon, directed by Loretta Greco, featuring Amy Resnick (Marcelle Salomon Benhamou), Barzin Akhavan (Charles Benhamou), Carly Zien (Elodie Benhamou), Joshua Chessin-Yudin (Daniel Benhamou), Tony Estrella (Patrick Benhamou), Talia Sulla (Molly), Will Lyman (Pierre Salomon), Will Lyman (Pierre Salomon/Marcelle/Patrick’s Father), Phyllis Kay (Irma Salomon), Peter Van Wagner (Adolphe Salomon), Jaren Troilo (Lucien Salomon), and Jesse Kodama (Young Pierre Salomon), with Fady Demian, Josephine Elwood, David Kelly, Zach Kelley, Adrianne Krstansky, and Nael Nacer, opens at Boston’s Huntington Theatre.
Bulrusher, by Eisa Davis, directed by Nicole A. Watson, featuring Jordan Tyson (Bulrusher), Shyla Lefner (Madame), Jeorge Bennett Watson (Logger), Cyndii Johnson (Vera), Rob Kellogg (Boy), and Jamie LaVerdiere (Schoolch), with Jamella Cross, Kyla Tucaya Garcia, David Everett Moore, and Brennan Pickman-Thoon, opens at NJ’s McCarter Theatre Center.
Run Bambi Run, world premiere by Eric Simonson & Gordon Gano, directed by Mark Clements, featuring John Carlin (Joe/Lawyer), Matt Daniels (Breier), Sarah Gliko (Christine/Gale), Douglas Goodhart (ira/Eisenberg), Armando Gutierrez (Fred), Tommy Hahn (Kraemer/Tom), Jessica Kantorowitz (Judy), Ian Littleworth (Nick/Stu), Megan Loomis (Virginia/Sean), Ken Allen Neely (Peterson), Erika Olson (Laurie), and Lucas Papaelias (Horenberger), begins previews at Milwaukee Rep.
**********************
Broadway Grosses for the week ending Sept. 10. Click here for the complete analysis.
**********************
My Favorite Things: The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert will take place Tues. Dec. 12 at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, directed by Christopher Gattelli.
Performers TBA.
**********************
RIP: Tom Helm, Broadway music director, died on Aug. 11 at his home in New York City.
Tom was raised in Smithville, MO, where he began piano lessons in second grade. After he was quickly identified as a musical phenom, He soon started studying at the Conservatory of Music in Kansas City and eventually earned a degree in piano performance from the University of Missouri- Kansas City.
Tom began his career at the Equity Library Theater in New York City and quickly became a respected and loved musical director, conductor and musical supervisor. He prided himself on his work with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera where he served as Music Director for over 20 seasons.
In addition, Tom also conducted the Broadway productions Brigadoon, Les Miserables, and Me and My Girl and oversaw the National Tours of Cats and Me and My Girl. He conducted at the Tonys and Kennedy Center Honors, worked as a voice coach for many stars, and leant his artistry to a number of Broadway Cast Recordings. His perfect pitch and demand for quality was only matched by his kindness to his musicians and actors. His professional legacy is one of warm, fond memories filled with hilarious anecdotes.
**********************
The Public Theater has announced the world premiere of Alicia Keys & Kristoffer Diaz’s Hell’s Kitchen, to run Oct. 24 – Dec. 23 (opening Nov. 19), directed by Michael Greif, with choreography by Camillie A. Brown, and music supervision by Adam Blackstone. FREE tickets for the performance on Tues. Oct. 24 will be available on Today Tix Oct. 19 – 23.
Shoshana Bean (Jersey), Chad Carstarphen (Ray), Brandon Victor Dixon (Davis), Vanessa Ferguson (Tiny), Crystal Monee Hall (Crystal), Jakeim Hart (Q), Chris Lee (Knuck), Jackie Leon (Jessica), Kecia Lewis (Miss Liza Jane), Maleah Joi Moon (Ali), Mariand Torres (Maria, (Understudy), and Lamont Walker II (Riq), with Reid Clarke, Chloe O. Davis, Nico DeJesus, Timothy L. Edwards, Desmond Sean Ellington, Badia Farha, David A. Guzman, Gianna Harris, Raechelle Manalo, Jade Milan, Onyxx Noel, Susan Oliveras, Sarah Parker, William Roberson, Niki Saludez, Donna Vivino.
In a cramped apartment hanging off the side of Times Square, 17-year-old Ali is desperate to get her piece of the New York dream. Ali’s mother is just as determined to protect her daughter from the same mistakes she made. When Ali falls for a talented young drummer, both mother and daughter must face hard truths about race, defiance, and growing up. Ali feels trapped, until the sound of a neighbor playing piano opens the door to an unexpected friendship and a radically different future.
**********************
Jerry Mayer’s Jews R 2 Much Fun! will return Oct. 7 – Nov. 12 to the Santa Monica Playhouse, directed by Chris DeCarlo.
Evelyn Rudie, Paul Linke, Tara Brown, Patrick Censoplano, Jamie Gallo and Chris DeCarlo.
Jewish Stanley and Catholic Kathy meet, fall in love, and get ready to present their upcoming nuptials to the family. Little do they know that their fathers, Jewish Marvin and Catholic Chris, once boyhood besties, are now bitterest enemies. Will Stanley and Kathy make it to the altar with blessings or curses? A match made in heaven or in hell?
**********************
Carson Dreitzer & Matt Gould’s Lempicka will open Spring 2024 at a Broadway theatre TBA, directed by Rachel Chavkin, and choreography by Raja Feather Kelly.
Casting TBA.
Amidst the violence of the Russian Revolution, a young painter named Tamara de Lempicka and her aristocrat husband are forced to abandon their luxurious lifestyle and flee to the dubious safety of Paris. Relying on her raw talent and relentless ambition, Tamara claws her way from penniless refugee to in-demand portraitist, earning a place among Parisian high society. Her world is upended once again when she meets Rafaela, a free spirit from the city slums, who introduces Tamara to a new world of decadence and passion. Torn between her new muse and her husband, fighting to leave her mark on an ever-changing world, Tamara must discover the depths of her own strength to survive.
Video: Highlights from the La Jolla Playhouse production.
**********************
The world premiere of Idris Goodwin’s Parental Advisory: a breakbeat play will run Sept. 26 – Oct. 29 (opening Sept. 29) at Milwaukee Rep, directed by Kyle Haden.
Amire Abdullah (The MC) and Marvin Quijada (Timeless).
A high-energy play where two Hip-Hop artists mix slick beats and rhymes with important questions about censorship and expression in popular music. This engaging new play – half DJ jam session, half TED Talk – uses wit, humor and the uncanny powers of the Wu-Tang Clan to enter a conversation on parenting, identity and survival. At what age is it appropriate to introduce our children to music, life and an uncertain world – however controversial it may be?
**********************
Scott Brown & Anthony King’s Gutenberg! The Musical! will run Sept. 15 – Jan. 28, 2024 (opening Oct. 12) at the James Earl Jones Theatre, directed by Alex Timbers.
Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells
A pair of aspiring playwrights perform a backers’ audition for their new project – a big, splashy musical about printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg. With an unending supply of enthusiasm, Bud and Doug sing all the songs and play all the parts in their crass historical epic, with the hope that one of the producers in attendance will give them a Broadway contract – fulfilling their ill-advised dreams.
General rush (limited number of $40 tickets at the box office), digital lottery, and standing room policies begin Sept. 15. The box office opens Tuesdays-Saturdays at 10 AM.
Digital Lottery: rush.telecharge.com, with entries opening at 12 AM, one day before the performance. Winners will be drawn that same morning at 10 AM ET and then later that afternoon at 3 PM ET. Winners may buy up to two tickets at $45 each, subject to availability.
Standing Room: When performances are sold out, standing room tickets will be available for $40 per ticket only at the Jones Theatre box office. Limit of two tickets per person, subject to availability.
**********************
A concert presentation of Bobby Cronin’s Daybreak will take place Sun. Oct. 8 at 7 PM at Off-Broadway’s Laurie Beechman Theatre, directed by L. Morgan Lee.
Casting TBA.
**********************
Tarell Alvin McCraney has been named artistic director for Geffen Playhouse, beginning with the 2024-24 season.
Every Brilliant Thing (current production, through Oct. 15), by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe, directed by Colm Summers, featuring Daniel K. Isaac.
The Engagement Party (Oct. 4 – Nov. 5), by Samuel Baum, directed by Darko Tresnjak, featuring Richard Bekins, Bella Heathcote, Brian Lee Huynh, Mark Jacobson, Wendie Malick, Brian Patrick Murphy, Jonah Platt nad Lauren Worsham. The champagne is on ice, the hors d’oeuvres are perfectly arranged, and the table is exquisitely set. At a swank Park Avenue apartment, a young couple is celebrating their engagement with an intimate gathering of family and friends. When a glass of wine is spilled, the night takes an unexpected turn, unleashing a spiraling sequence of events and revelations that will irrevocably change their lives.
Potus: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive (Jan. 17 – Feb. 18, 2024), by Selina Filliner, directed by Jennifer Chambers. Casting TBA.
Black Cypress Bayou (Feb. 7 – Mar. 17, 2024), by Selina Fillinger, directed by Jennifer Chambers. A derogatory comment, a summit gone awry, an anal abscess—it’s a bad day at the White House. When the President unwittingly spins a PR nightmare into a global crisis, it inevitably falls on the seven women he relies on most to clean up the mess. Take a raucous romp through the halls of the West Wing in a riotous and irreverent farce about the men who hold the power vs. the women who get the job done.
Fat Ham (Mar. 27 – Apr. 28), by James Ijames, directed by Saheem Ali. Casting TBA. Meet Juicy, a young, queer Black man with a Shakespearean-sized dilemma. When the ghost of his dead father shows up at his family’s BBQ wedding reception demanding his murder be avenged, does the poetic and sensitive Juicy have it in him to do the deed, or will he “to thine own self be true?” See what the New York Times calls “a hilarious yet profound tragedy smothered in comedy,” in this Pulitzer Prize–winning take on Hamlet, direct from Broadway to L.A.
The Hope Theory (Apr. 25 – June 9), world premiere written & performed by Helder Guimarães, directed by Frank Marshall. As a Portuguese immigrant, storyteller, and sleight-of-hand magician, Helder Guimarães arrived in America at age 29. Wide-eyed and full of ideas, he discovers a fascinating puzzle of cultural and professional challenges to solve while he tries to build a home.
Tiny Father (June 12 – July 14), by Mike Lew, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel. Casting TBA. When a “friends with benefits” relationship unexpectedly results in the early arrival of a baby girl, Daniel must choose between being a biological parent or becoming a father. With the help of a no-nonsense night nurse, the new dad learns to navigate the protocols and frustrations of NICU life on his uncertain path to parenthood in this funny and heartfelt new play where growth is measured in more than grams.
**********************
Rick Elice’s Water for Elephants will begin previews Feb. 24, 2024 and open Mar. 21 at the Imperial Theatre, directed by Jessica Stone.
Casting TBA.
After losing what matters most, a young man jumps a moving train unsure of where the road will take him and finds a new home with the remarkable crew of a traveling circus, and a life—and love—beyond his wildest dreams. Seen through the eyes of his older self, his adventure becomes a poignant reminder that if you choose the ride, life can begin again at any age.
Video: Highlights from the Alliance Theatre production.
**********************
Audra McDonald: Musings Through Music with Andy Einhorn will take place Oct. 12 & 13 at NYC’s 92NY.
**********************
Jersey Boys (replacing Fiddler on the Roof), will run Apr. 19 – May 12, 2024 (opening Apr. 20) at CA’s La Mirada Theatre, directed by T.J. Dawsoon.
Casting and additional information TBA.