Today’s Highlights:
Birthright, by Jonathan Spector, directed by Teddy Bergman, featuring Hale Appleman, Molly Bernard Eli Gelb, Abbi Jacobson, Liz Larsen), Nate Mann, and Zoë Winters, opens at Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater.
Shrek The Musical, directed by John Tartaglia, featuring Nik Walker (Shrek), Kara Lindsay (Princess Fiona), Marcus M. Martin (Donkey), Troy Iwata (Lord Farquaad), Solomon Rosenthal (Young Shrek), Lake Schultz (Young Fiona), Amelie Lock (Teen Fiona), Aymee Garcia (Gingy), Tyler Joseph Ellis (Pinocchio), and Salome Smith (Voice of the Dragon), with Mathew Blasio, DeShawn Bowens, Monique Churchill, Matthew Davies, Kylie Edwards, Ryan Fitzgerald, Matt Gibson, Jack Gimpel, Shelby Griswold, Michael Harp, Gwen Hollander, Abby Linderman, Sean McManus, Shelby Ringdahl, Trevor Michael Schmidt, Kelly Sheehan, Caitlin Stebelman, and Jonah D. Winston, opens at the St. Louis Muny.
“As Long As You’re Asking: A Conversation with Jason Alexander” begins at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.
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Manhattan Theatre Club‘s School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, by Jocelyn Bioh, directed by Whitney White, will begin previews Sept. 8 and open Sept. 28 at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
Jasmine Amy Rogers (Ericka), Denée Benton (Paulina), Patina Miller (Eloise Amponsah), Erin Morton (Nana), Nia Otchere-Sarfo (Gifty), Jordan Rice (Mercy), Heather Alicia Simms (Headmistress Francis), and Lucia Aremu (Ama).
The play follows female students at the Aburi Girls Boarding School, which is ruled by queen bee Paulina, and where the biggest dream is to become Miss Ghana 1986. When the pageant recruiter comes to school, hopes are high, until a new American transfer student named Ericka throws a wrench into the competition.
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Guys & Dolls in concert will take place July 13-14 at Theatre Aspen, directed by Jeff Calhoun, and conducted by Andy Einhorn.
Julie Benko (Sarah Brown), Bonnie Milligan (Miss Adelaide),’Christopher Sieber (Nathan Detroit), Ryan Vasquez (Sky Masterson), and more TBA.
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Off-Broadway’s The New Group will present benefit reading of Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking on Sun. Aug. 2 at 8 PM at the West Hampton Beach Performing Arts Center, directed by John Benjamin Hickey.
Edie Falco
Adapted from Didion’s memoir, the solo play recounts the author’s journey of loss and grief following the back-to-back death of her husband and then her daughter.
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A staged reading of The Jury Game, written & directed by Warren Davis, will take place Monday, June 29 at 7 pM at LA’s Theatre Forty (9241 S. Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills). Link and additional information not available.
Christopher Franciosa, Lee Grober, Ari Hagler, Jean Mackie and Nakasha Norwood.
In this satirical comedy, federal trials are decided by a game show in which the studio audience is the jury. But as rules shift and politics replaces due process, can the new order survive challenges from both without and within?
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Bay Street Theatre will present Jason Robert Brown in Concert on Mon. July 6 at 8 PM at Sag Harbor’s One Long Wharf.
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Meet Me in St. Louis will run Aug. 6-13 at the St. Lous Muny, directed by Maggie Burrows.
Beth Leavel (Katie Connelly), Patti Murin (Mrs. Anna Smith), Colin Donnell (Mr. Alonzo Smith), Katerina McCrimmon (Esther Smith), Stan Brown (Grandpa Prophater), Andrew Poston (John Truitt), Kyla Stone (rose Smith), Ilan Eskenazi (Lon Smith), Lilah Levinson (Tootie Smith), Joylin Bass (Agnes Smith), and Lissa deGuzman (Lucille Ballard).
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Les Misérable: The Arena Concert Spectacular, direct from London’s Royal Albert Hall, will run July 23 -Aug. 9 at NYC’s Radio City Music Hall, conducted by Alfonso Casado Trigo.
Killian Donnelly (Jean ValJean), Bradley (Javert), Samantha Barks (Fantine), Matt Lucas (Thenardier), Marina Prior (Madame Thenardier), Jac Yarrow (Marius), Beatrice Penny-Touré (Cosette), Shan Ako (Ep0nine), and Christian Mark Gibbs (Enjolras).
Expanded from the hugely successful Les Misérables The Staged Concert, this spectacular production features an extraordinary new design specifically created for larger venues with a core cast featuring a great number of celebrated guest stars and orchestra of over 65. This limited engagement will mark the end of the official 40th anniversary celebrations of the world’s longest‑running musical.
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Half Straddle’s Petra, adapted from Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, will begin performances in Feb. 2027 (dates TBA) at the Vineyard Theatre, directed by the playwright.
TBA
The play follows a celebrated fashion designer who falls obsessively in love with a young model named Karen. Their love affair causes Petra’s careful constructed reality to unravel before her eyes.
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New York City Center Encores’ presentation of La Cage Aux Folles continues through June 28, directed by Robert O’Hara.
Tonya Pinkins (Jacqueline), Peter Francis James (Edouard) Rachel Webb (Anne), Wayne Brady (George), Billy Porter Albin), Alaman Diadhiou (Jean-Michel), James Jackson Jr. (Jacob), Michael McElroy (Francois), Sharon Washington (Marie), and Lance Coadie Williams (Renaud), with Jordan Alexander, Sai Anthony, Jordan Chin, Joshua Dawson, Jamal Christopher Douglas, Michael Samarie George, Aaron Graham, Ari Groover, Jaquez, Karma Jenkins, Christian Kidd, Kendall Lashanti, Andre Malcolm, Kareem Marsh, Marsh, Morgan McGhee, Ernest Mingo, Wesley Ryan, Julian Amari Smith, Jordan Simone Stephens, Wade Watson, Anthony Wayne, and Travon Williams.
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LA’s GMCLA’s Declarations of Independence will take place Sat. June 27 at 7 PM at the Saban Theatre (formally Wilshire Beverly Hills Theatre).