Today’s Highlights:
The Imaginary Invalid, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher, directed by Jesse Berger, featuring Mark Linn-Baker, Sarah Stiles, Arnie Burton, Russell Daniels, Manoel Felciano, Emilie Kouatchou, Emily Swallow, and John Yi, opens at 2 & 7 Off-Broadway’s New World Stages.
2025 TitleWave: New Works Festival opens at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre.
Lyrics & Lyricists: Louder Than Words: The Songs and Legacy of Jonathan Larson Concert, with special guests Julian Hornik, Michael R. Jackson, Anna K. Jacobs, Daniel and Patrick Lazour, Zoe Sarnak & Shaina Taub, featuring Adam Kantor, L Morgan Lee, DeMone Seraphin, Rotana Tarazbouni, and Keaton Whittaker, closes at NYC’s 92Y.
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GRACE NOTES 
: Hey, Guys by Jim Bernhard
Put the right guys’ names in the missing blanks.
| 1. “____, ____, please have mercy” | A. Bill |
| 2. “____ is an asshole” | B. Ephraim |
| 3. “And I know ____and I are part of them all” | C. Henry |
| 4. “Just you wait, ____….” | D, Joe |
| 5. “The fire’s ____” | E. John |
| 6. “Sit down, ____” | F. Jud |
| 7. “Poor ____ is dead’ | G. Lewis |
| 8. “And I decided to join the human race, and ____, I want you to give me away” | H. Nathan |
| 9. “Why, it’s good old reliable ____…” | I. Percy |
| 10. “But along came ____, an ordinary guy” | J. Tom |
Scroll down for the answers…
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2025 Drama Desk Awards winners:
Click here for the complete list of winners.
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Emmanuelle Mattana’s Trophy Boys will run June 5 – July 26 (opening June 24) at MCC Theatre, directed by Danya Taymor.
Emmanuelle Mattna (Owen), Terry Hu (David), Louisa Jacobson Jared), and Esco Jouléy (Scott).
In a culture set on punishing and criticizing men for just existing, the Trophy Boys prepare for the final debate of their undefeated high school careers. Going up against their sister school, they get a debate topic so weighted there’s no way they could possibly win—or could they? What begins as a riotously funny satire turns into a sharp exploration of power and privilege, from high school to the highest circles of political influence.
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Leslie Odom, Jr. in concert will take place Wed. Aug. 13 at 7:30 PM at CA’s Cerrritos Center for the Performing Arts.
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Project Shaw will present a script-in-hand performance of The Importance of Being Earnest on Mon. June 23 at 7 PM at Off-Broadway’s The Players (16 Gramercy Park South), directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge.
Reynaldo Piniella (John Worlthin), Keshav Moodliar (Algernon Moncrieff), David Shih (Rev Canon Chausble DD), Daniel Marcus (Merriman/Lane), Veanne Cox (Lady Bracknell), Delphi Borich (Hon Gwendolen Fairfax), Kimberly Immanuel (Cecily Cardew), and Dana Scurlock (Miss Prism).
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Yale Rep has announced its 2025-26 season:
Spunk (Oct. 3-25), byNora Neale Hurston, directed by Tamilla Woodard. A play with music, adapted by Hurston from her own short story in 1935. A tall, handsome stranger strolls into town looking for work. With undeniable charisma and divine musicianship, Spunk sets tongues to wagging with admiration and envy. The laws of man, the power of hoodoo, and the divinity of love all collide when he locks eyes with Evalina, already married to the local conjurer’s son.
Hedda Gabler (Nov. 28 – Dec. 20), directed by James Bundy.
ha ha, ha, ha, ha ha (Jan. 20 – Feb. 7, 2026), created & performed by Julia Masli, directed by Kim Noble. Every performance will be entirely different based on audience participation. Tell Julia your problems and she will help from January 4–20.
Rhinoceros (Mar. 6 – 28), adapted by Frank Galati, directed by Liz Diamond. spectacular tale of an ordinary Sunday that turns into a surreal standoff between neighbors.
Furlough’s Paradise (Apr. 24 – May 16), by a.k. payne, directed by abigal jean-baptiste. An ordinary Sunday in a small French town. Berenger and his friend enjoy a drink on a café terrace. Suddenly a rhinoceros charges across the square, crushing everything in its path. A drunken dream… or…? As neighbors and friends begin sprouting hides and horns, the shy, shambolic Berenger must make a choice: take a stand against—or join—the rampaging herd. Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros is his tragicomic cri de cœur, imploring each of us to resist the call to fall in line.
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Nassim Soleimanpour’s ECHO: (Every cold-hearted Oxygen) will run June 27 – July 5 at at the Royal Court Theatre, directed by Omar Elerian.
Lolly Adefope, Milly Alcock, James Corden, Mel Goiedroye, Daniel Kaluuya, Nish Kumar, Simon McBurney, Reece Shearsmith, Juliet Stevenson, and Dominic West.
the play is about home and belonging, where a different performer takes to the stage each night to perform a script they’ve never seen before.
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JOY: A New True Musical, by Joy Mangano, Ken Davenport & Ann Narie Milazzo, will begin previews June 21 and open July 20 at Off-Broadway’s Laura Pels Theatre, directed by Lorin Latarro, with choreography by Joshua Bergasse.
Betsy Wolfe (Joy Mangano), Betsy wolfe (Joy), Jill Abramovitz (Toots), Honor Blue Savage (Christie), Charl Brown (Dan), Adam Grubber (Rudy), and Mauricio Martínez (Tony), begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Laura Pels Theatre.
An uplifting work based on the true story of entrepreneur and inventor Joy Mangano. Her journey—also told in the 2015 film JOY, starring Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence—now comes to life on stage. From single motherhood and financial struggles to building a business empire, Joy’s story epitomizes the power of resilience and determination, an inspiring celebration of a woman who never gave up and redefined the American Dream!
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Your Name Means Dream, written & directed by José Rivera, will run June 3 – July 6 at Theater Works Hartford.
Sara Koviak (Stacy) and Anne O’Sullivan (Aislin)
We’re in the not-too-distant future. Aislin is old and isolated in her messy New York City walk-up. She pines for a simpler, analog past when her son sends a sensational new caretaker who is not quite human…but she’s getting there.
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A House Full of Flies, written & directed by WillieAn Gissendanner, will run June 19 – July 6 at Theater for the New City.
WillieAnn Gissendanner (as Savannah), Kai Brown, Marcia Hopson, Sania Hyatt, Lola Lukas, Obinna Nwako, Aubrey Smith, Bill Tatum, Douglas Walker and Scott Williams.
Set in a small town in Georgia across two turbulent eras, 1937 and the early 1990s, The play weaves a haunting narrative of misunderstanding, delusion, deceit, and ego–fueled by religious dogma and racist mythology– that have heartbreaking consequences. At the heart of the story is Savannah Holster, a Black American Christian woman who is a widow. She lives by her wits and presents her grown children as siblings, possibly to obscure her age. She is emotionally scarred by racist humiliations her family suffered in her childhood. From her kitchen table, she runs a faith-based healing practice, finding meaning and control in her strict religiosity. Her fraught relationship with her daughter, Deirdre, simmers with unresolved tension. She shares her home with her adult son, named Prayer, who is devoted to his controlling mother and defends their home fiercely.
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GRACE NOTES Answers: Hey, Guys
1-I. “Percy, Percy, please have mercy” – The Boy Friend
2-G. “Lewis is an asshole” – Pippin
3-J. “And I know Tom and I are part of them all” – The King and I
4-C. “Just you wait, Henry….” – My Fair Lady
5-D. “The fire’s Joe” – Paint Your Wagon
6-E. “Sit down, John” – 1776
7-F. “Poor Jud is dead’ – Oklahoma!
8-B. “And I decided to join the human race, and Ephraim, I want you to give me away” – Hello, Dolly!
9-H. “Why, it’s good old reliable Nathan…” – Guys and Dolls
10-A. “But along came Bill, an ordinary guy” – Show Boat
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