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Have a glorious Memorial Day holiday. GRACE NOTES returns on Tues. May 28.
This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, May 24
* GAYFESTNYC‘s Moonlight and Love Songs, by Steven C. Sickles, featuring Nick Bailey, DH Johnson, Kathryn Markey, Gerald McCullouch, Robert Meksin, Corey Richmond Skaggs and Christine Verleny, opens at Off-Broadway’s June Havoc Theatre.
* A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featuring Michelle Terry, John Light, Huss Garbiya, Tala Gouveia, Tom Lawrence, Christopher Logan, Molly Logan, Fergal McElherron, Edward Peel, Pearce Quigley, Stephanie Racine and Matthew Tennyson, begins previews at London’s Shakespeare’s Globe.
* Jeff Arch, Ben Toth and Sam Forman’s Sleepless in Seattle – The Musical, featuring Tim Martin Gleason, Joe West, Chandra Lee Schwartz, Sabrina Sloan, Sachin Bhatt, Terron Brooks, Todd Buonopane, Jay Donnell, Cynthia Ferrer, Charissa Hogeland, Katharine Leonard, Robert Mammana, Teya Patt, Adam Silver, Yuka Takara, Lowe Taylor and Carter Thomas, begins previews at Pasadena Playhouse.
* Sarah Ruhl’s Dear Elizabeth, starring Mary Beth Fisher and Tom Nelis, begins previews at Berkeley Rep.
* Charlie Rosen’s Broadway Big Band concert, featuring Nick Blaemire, Jason Robert Brown, Ariana DeBose, Santino Fontana and Monet Julia Sabel, at 11 PM at 54 Below.
Saturday, May 25
* South Pacific, featuring Rob Gallagher, Kim Carson, David McDonald, Amy Jo Phillips, Peter Carrier, opens at Northport, NY’s Engeman Theater.
* Stephen Sach’s Heart Song, featuring Pamela Dunlap, Tamlyn Tomita, Juanita Jennings, Andrea Dantas, Mindy Krasner, Elissa Kyriacou,Sherrie Lewandowski and Norma Maldonado, opens at LA’s Fountain Theatre.
* The Guardsman, by Ferenc Molnár, adapted by Richard Nelson, featuring Finn Wittrock, Sarah Wayne Callies and Shuler Hensley, begins previews at The Kennedy Center.
* The West End Men concert, starring Lee Mead, with special guest Kerry Ellis, begins previews at London’s Vaudeville Theatre.
* The Winslow Boy, featuring Henry Goodman, Sia Berkeley, Deborah Findlay, Naomi Frederick, Nick Hendrix, Stephen Joseph, Wendy Nottingham, Charlie Rowe, Peter Sullivan, Richard Teverson and Jay Villiers, closes at London’s Old Vic.
* Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing, starring Suranne Jones, closes at the West End’s Arts Theatre.
* John Hartmere and Damon Intrabartolo’s Bare, featuring Ross William Wild, Michael Vinsen, Lilly-Jane Young, Melanie Greaney, Dale Evans, Liam Ross-Mills, Rosanna Yeo, Fia Houston-Hamilton, Natalie Chua, Dan Krikler, Dean John Wilson, Jordan Lee Davies, Yvette Robinson, Hannah Levane and Matt Harrop, closes at the UK’s Union Theatre.
* Wendy Beckett’s Love Therapy, featuring David Bishins, Christopher Burns, Alison Fraser, Margot White and Janet Zarish, closes at Off-Broadway’s DR2 Theatre.
* Laura Benanti in concert closes at 54 Below.
Sunday, May 26
* “Behind the Candelabra” film, starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, with Dan Aykroyd, Scott Bakula, Rob Lowe, Tom Papa, Paul Reiser, Cheyenne Jackson and Debbie Reynolds, debuts at 9 PM on HBO (check local listings).
* Sondheim Unplugged concert, featuring Joy Franz, Hunter Herdlicka, Ann Morrison, Jim Brochu, Vivan Reed, Julie Reyburn and Lucia Spina, at 7 PM at 54 Below.
* Judy Kuhn in concert at 7 PM at Hudson, NY’s Club Helsinki.
* Kyle Dean Massey concludes his run as Fiyero in Wicked at Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre.
* Tanya Barfield’s The Call, featuring Kelly AuCoin, Kerry Butler, Eisa Davis, Crystal A. Dickinson and Russell G. Jones, closes at Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons.
* LAByrinth Theater Company‘s A Family for All Occasions, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, featuring Jeffrey DeMunn, William Jackson Harper, Justine Lupe, Deirdre O’Connell and Charlie Saxton, closes at Off-Broadway’s Bank Street Theatre.
* Other Desert Cities, featuring Larry Bryggman, Emily Donahoe, Scott Drummond and Martha Hackett, closes at DC’s Arena Stage.
* Washington National Opera’s Show Boat, featuring Andriana Chuchman and Jennifer Holloway (Magnolia), Michael Todd Simpson and Rod Gilfry (Gaylord Ravenal), Alyson Cambridge and Talise Trevigne (Julie), Morris Robinson and Soloman Howard (Joe), Angela Renée Simpson and Gwendolyn Brown (Queenie), Bernie Yvon (Frank), Kate Loprest (Ellie), Lara Teeter and Wynn Harmon (Captain Andy) and Mary-Pat Green and Cindy Gold (Parthy), closes at the Kennedy Center.
* Sense & Sensibility The Musical, featuring Stephanie Rothenberg, Mary Michael Patterson, Nick Verina, Jeremiah James, Robert Petkoff, Ed Dixon, Ruth Gottschall and Joanna Glushak, closes at Denver Center Theatre Company.
* Steel Magnolias, featuring Elyse Mirto, Teri Ralston, Alyson Lindsay Schuster, Joanna Strapp, Von Rae Wood and Stephanie Zimbalist, closes at Laguna Playhouse.
* Spamalot, featuring Tom Hewitt, Jonathan Hammond, Brian Sears, Brian Shepard Kevin Covert, Jeremy Webb, Adam Monley and Janine DiVita, closes at Houston’s TUTS.
* Parade, featuring Caitlin Humphreys, Harrison White, Jeanette Dawson, Jeff Skowron, Jordan Lamoureux, Norman Large, Robert Yacko, Rufus Bonds Jr., Valerie Rose Lohman and Zach Ford, closes at Fullerton CA’s Plummer Auditorium.
* Hello Again closes at Kansas City, MO’s Spinning Tree Theatre.
* The Beaux’ Stratagem, featuring Abby Craden, Deborah Strang, Apollo Dukakis, Freddy Douglas, Alison Elliott, Alan Blumenfeld, Robertson Dean, Joel Swetow, Luke Peckinpaugh, Time Winters, Blake Ellis and Malia Wright, closes at Pasadena’s A Noise Within.
Monday, May 27
* The Pop Show: Tribute to Elton John concert, featuring Len Cariou, Christopher Jackson, Kyle Dean Massey, Leslie McDonel, Natalie Douglas, Van Hughes, Jarrod Spector and Daniel Quadrino, at 7 PM at NYC’s Birdland.
* Popesical in Concert: You Choose the Pope concert, featuring Patti Murin, Marshal Kennedy Carolan, Lindsay Nicole Chambers, Madeleine Doherty, Natalie Charle Ellis, David Perlman, Tally Sessions and Jason Michael Snow, at 7 PM at Joe’s Pub.
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Reviews for Murder Ballad at Off-Broadway’s Union Square Theatre:
NY Times (Ben Brantley): ”If anything, Murder Ballad is more entertaining than it was before. This is partly because its downtown theater is more suited to a story that reaches its climax in a trendy club on Lafayette Street.”
NY Daily News (Joe Dziemianowicz): ”The rock-infused fable about fidelity by Julia Jordan (book and lyrics) and Juliana Nash (music and lyrics) premiered last fall at Manhattan Theatre Club. On Wednesday, 30 blocks south at the Union Square Theatre, the show reopened. It remains hot and sweaty, energetic and intriguing, rough and ragged.”
NY Post (Elisabeth Vincentelli): ”Murder Ballad isn’t ground-breaking, but that’s not its mission. This is a solid, well-crafted effort that revarnishes the old love-triangle premise. And Juliana Nash’s muscular-yet-melodic score uses rock better than most musicals.”
Variety (Marilyn Stasio): “I love you, I hate you, I’ll kill you. That’s the lurid premise of Murder Ballad, the hot and sticky rock opera that made auds sweat when it opened six months ago at Manhattan Theater Club’s studio space. Reconfigured for a commercial transfer in a larger theater, this hot-blooded property written by Julia Jordan and set to music by Juliana Nash still steams up the room with its violent tabloid tale of illicit love, lust and betrayal. The immersive staging adds to the drama by dangling the possibility that one of the battling lovers might land in your lap.”
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Video: Hilarious outtakes from the Vanya and Sonia commercial.
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Off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theater Company has announced its 2013-14 season:
* Women or Nothing (Aug. 28 – Oct. 16), world premiere by Ethan Coen, directed by David Cromer. ”Women or Nothing is a comedy about two women so desperate to have a child that one of them will even sleep with a man. Who the man is, what he thinks is going on, what the women think about what he thinks, and what the mother of one of the women reveals about her own colorful past—it all defies belief. Why then does it all make sense?”
* The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Jan. -Feb.), by Alan Sillitoe, adapted by Roy Williams. “In this stage adaptation of Alan Sillitoe’s classic short story, award-winning British playwright Roy Williams brings the young, defiant Colin Smith into the 21st century. Colin, with few prospects in life, finds himself in a prison school for criminal activity. He turns to long distance running as an escape, only to have the school exploit him for his talent, offering him a possible way out. Will he run his race for them, or for his independence?”
* The Threepenny Opera (Mar.-Apr.), directed by Martha Clarke
* Between Riverside and Crazy… (May-June), world premiere by Stephen Adly Guirgis. “The Feds want them busted, the Landlord wants them out, and the Church wants them back. For ex-cop and recent widower Walter Pops Washington and his ex-con son Junior, when the struggle to hold on to one of the last great old rent stabilized apartments on Riverside Drive collides with their dozen broke house guests, a too-faithful Church lady—and a gun-toting pimp, it seems Old Ways must finally yield to New Days…”
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An Evening of Movies and Musicals will play London’s Apollo Victoria Dec. 1 at 7 PM for one night only, starring John Owen-Jones and Louise Dearman. .
Owen-Jones and Dearman will be joined by the West End Gospel Choir and musical actress Sarah Lark, a finalist on the BBC talent show “I’d Do Anything” to star in Oliver! in the West End. The evening will be hosted by actor and presenter Christopher Biggins.
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Charles Bloom‘s newest album, “Here,” is backed by a live orchestra and features Josh Grisetti, Nikki Renee Daniels, Christine Ebersole, Jason Graae, Claybourne Elder, Vicki Lewis, Damon Kirsche, Howard McGillin, Gregory Jbara, Jill Paice, Christy Faber, David Burnham, Liz Larsen, John Dossett, Ashley Fox Linton and Aaron Lazar.
“Some of the finest songs I’ve ever heard. Charles Bloom is one of the most gifted composer/lyricists in our industry. His work is a constant reminder of what great songwriting was and is.” ~ Peter Filicia, Theatermania
Order the CD and download the mp3 here.
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The Caucasian Chalk Circle extends its run at Off-Broadway’s Classic Stage Company through June 23. This 2-week extension allows Lea DeLaria to join the cast, replacing Mary Testa, who departs June 9.
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Richard M. Sherman and Alan Menken: The Disney Songbook, will take place Aug. 10 at the Anaheim Convention Center in the D23 Expo Arena. The composers will perform together for the first time.
Admission to the concert will be on a first-come, first-served basis and is included in the price of a ticket to the D23 Expo.
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2013 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Award winners:
Production of a Play: Terminus
Production of a Musical: The Book of Mormon
Canadian Play: Hannah Moscovitch,This Is War
International Play: Mark O’Rowe, Terminus
Actor in a Play: Michelle Monteith, Little One
Actress in a Play: Stuart Hughes, The Crucible
Actor in a Musical: Bruce Dow, Of a Monstrous Child: a Gaga Musical
Actress in a Musical: Bree Greig, Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craiglist Cantata
Supporting Actor in a Play: Alon Nashman, THIS
Supporting Actress in Play: Maev Beaty, Proud
Supporting Actor in a Musical: Darrin Baker, Falsettos
Supporting Actress in a Musical: Bryn McAuley, Snow White: The Deliciously Dopey Family Musical.
Director of a Play: Mitchell Cushman, Terminus
Director of a Musical: Casy Nicholaw and Trey Parker, The Book of Mormon
Design: Nick Blais, Terminus
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The 50th anniversary of the musical will star Alexandra Silber, Santino Fontana, Montego Glover, John Cullum, Ryan Silverman, Brad Oscar, Etai BenShlomo and Jonathan Freeman.
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Lisa O’Hare, who starred in the Hartford Stage/Old Globe Theatre premiere productions of the new musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, will repeat her work in the upcoming Broadway production this fall. Previews begin Oct. 2, with an opening set for Nov. 17 at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
As previously reported, Jefferson Mays will also repeat his work on Broadway.
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The 2013 Rhinbeck Writers Retreat will take place June 23 – Aug. 25.
Eighteen writers, developing nine new musicals, will gather for individual week-long residencies throughout July and August. Panelists who selected the 2013 works include Mara Isaacs (McCarter Theatre), Donna Lynn Hilton (Goodspeed Musicals) and Kent Nicholson (Playwrights Horizons).
The selected writing teams and musicals:
* Peter and the Wall by Timothy Huang.
* Unbound by Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk.
* Annie Golden: Bounty Hunter, Yo! by Joe Iconis, Jason Williams and Lance Rubin.
* Catch by Rob Shapiro. Underwritten by Alec Stais and Elissa Burke.
* Alice Bliss by Jenny Giering, Laura Harrington and Adam Gwon.
* Family Album by Stew and Heidi Rodewald.
* Ladykillers by Patricia Cotter and Lori Scarlett.
* Radioactive by Will Reynolds and Eric Price.
* Noir by Kyle Jarrow and Duncan Sheik.
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Peter Ustinov’s The Moment of Truth will run June 26 – July 20 (opening June 28) at London’s Southwark Playhouse.
The cast features Bonnie Wright, Rodney Bewes, Mark Carey, Callum Coates, Toni Kanal, Damian Quinn, Miles Richardson and Daniel Souter.
This will be the first London staging of Ustinov’s play since 1951, a largely forgotten work about “the mechanics of toppling governments, the pretenses of war and the power of propaganda.”
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Special guests include Kerry Ellis, Gina Beck and David Shannon.
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Sherie Rene Scott‘s Pieces of Meat returns to 54 Below June 17-29.
“After over 26 years of the happy, healthy vegetarian [lifestyle] — never having been tempted — I suddenly found myself faced with the overwhelming desire for meat. This was obviously something I wanted to keep very private, and I was having a big internal struggle with, and so I wrote about it.”
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Article: Audra McDonald on her “Go Back Home” album, PBS special, Marlene Dietrich’s ABC, upcoming projects, and more.
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Neil LaBute‘s 10-episode drama “Full Circle” will air on DIRECTV’s Audience this fall.
The cast features Tom Felton, Minka Kelly, Julian McMahon, David Boreanaz, Keke Palmer, Devon Gearhart, Billy Campbell, Kate Walsh, Noah Silver, Ally Sheedy, Cheyenne Jackson and Robin Weigert.
The series marks the television debut of LaBute, which “examines the human condition and relationships through a series of conversations between 11 people whose lives, unbeknownst to them, are intertwined.” Each episode takes place in a restaurant and features a conversation between two characters, with one of the character’s storylines carrying over into the next episode through a conversation with a new character and that character then being featured in the following episode. The process continues until the final episode.
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Times Square’s Brooklyn Diner has dedicated its giant 15-Bite “All Beef” Hot Dog to Harvey Fierstein.
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Kinky Boots will be taking over the airwaves on Sirius XM this Memorial Day Weekend, offering a preview of the show’s Original Broadway Cast Recording (Masterworks Broadway).
Sirius XM listeners will be the first to hear the new Kinky Boots recording before its May 28 release, and they’ll get the scoop on the musical with in-studio conversations from Cyndi Lauper, Harvey Fierstein, Jerry Mitchell and the show’s stars, Billy Porter, Stark Sands, and Annaleigh Ashford. They’ll take over Sirius XM’s ‘On Broadway’ channel all weekend long to play songs from the new album and some of their own favorite showtune picks.
The Kinky Boots takeover weekend will have its grand finale on Monday night on the ‘Showtime’ channel, which will offer listeners the chance to hear the entire show, complete and uninterrupted, for the very first time.
Click here for the complete schedule.
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Humor Abuse, the hilarious and heartfelt story of growing up in a circus, created by Lorenzo Pisoni and Erica Schmidt, directed by Schmidt and featuring a tour de force performance by Pisoni, will be presented at LA’s Mark Taper Forum Sept. 17 – Nov. 3 (opening Sept. 21).
Humor Abuse replaces the previously announced production of What the Butler Saw, which is being postponed to another season at the Taper.
“Pisoni took to the stage at age two as the youngest clown in the Pickle Family Circus, the much beloved one-ring circus founded by his parents in San Francisco. He signed his first contract as a performing partner at age six, all under the eye of his exacting father, who taught him that comedy is a deadly serious business. In Humor Abuse, through reminiscences and a whirlwind of juggling, pratfalls, doubletakes, dodging sandbags and flinging himself in and out of a trunk, Pisoni delivers a tender homage to his perfectionist father, to the art and the discipline of comedy, and to the magic of the circus.”
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Audio: Demos from The Craft – The Musical (inspired by the cult film of the same name). Music and lyrics by Kevin Michael Jones and book by Peter Filardi.
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