Today’s Highlights:
The People Versus Lenny Bruce, world premiere by Susan Charlotte, directed by Antony Marsellis, featuring Johnny Anthony, Timothy Doyle, Dan Grimaldi, Ian Lithgow, Stephen Schnetzer, Jonathan Spivey, and Roberta Wallach, opens at Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row.
A Bright New Boise, by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Jack Fleischer, featuring J.R. Russell , Lizzy McGroder, Jordan Oz, Christine Castanon, and Ryan Price, opens at LA’s Hudson Theaters.
Take Me to Dollylwood, world premiere by Harris Singer, directed by Luke Wisniewski, featuring Harris Singer (The Playwright), Lisa Cohen (Playwright’s Mom), Sam Flynn, Brason Jones, Tomias Robinston, Paris Alexander, Earl Dax, Michelle Zabinski, Caroline Best, and Royce Johnson, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s La MaMa.
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Duncan Sheik’s Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen will run this Fall (dates TBA) at The Night Egg at the Culture Club, directed & choreographed by Rob Ashford.
TBA.
A daring new musical about Colette, a witty young dreamer in 20th-century Paris, who finds her power through writing. While working at an elusive maison close called Night Egg, she begins chronicling the fantasies, confessions, and private sorrows of her eccentric clients, slowly transforming herself from object to observer—turning perversions into art. But underneath her sharp intelligence and growing independence, Colette has her own perversion she cannot outrun: a lingering, destructive attachment to Léon, her childhood love, whose toxic hold on her continues to blur the line between devotion and self-destruction.
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Rajiv Joseph’s Archduke will run June 20 -July 25 (opening June 26) at the Royal Court Theatre, directed by Lyndsey Turner.
Chris Walley, Abraham Popoola, Stanley Morgan, Janice Connolly and Marc Wootton.
An irreverent reimagining of a pivotal moment in history, Archduke blends mounting tension with biting wit in a timely European premiere for an age of restless young men. Set in Belgrade, 1914, three hungry young men are offered something to eat (and the chance to change the course of history). Their mission: kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand and set the century alight.
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Cursed – My Road to Hollywood, written & performed by Linda Mendoza, will run June 7-21 at Hollywood’s Hudson Guild Theater.
This is no sob story. It’s the funny and heartwarming story of a woman who through perseverance, dedication, and hard work rose to the top of her profession, regardless of the family curse.
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If you missed this year’s Miscast 26, click here to watch it for free.
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A filmed version of the London production of Mark Rosenblatt’s Giant will be released in 18 countries. Click here to find a screening near you.
John Lithgow (Roald Dahl), Elliot Levey (Tom Maschler), Aya Cash (Jessie Stone), Rachael Stirling (Felicity Dahl,) Tessa Bonham Jones (Hallie) and Richard Hope (Wally).
The narrative unfolds in the country house Dahl shares with his fiancée, Felicity “Liccy” Crosland. Inside, a heated debate erupts over how to manage the ensuing media scandal. Dahl’s Jewish literary agent, Tom Maschler, and an American publisher, Jessie Stone, pressure him to retract his inflammatory remarks. The play is a nuanced character study examining the collision between private prejudice and public responsibility, while the characters wrestle with whether an apology is necessary or if it is merely a superficial fix.
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Hell Mouth, world premiere by Tom Jacobson, has been extended though June 6 at North Hollywood’s Road Theatre Company, directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky.
Tomy Abatemarco (Russell/Spencer), Taylor Hilbert (Lois/Samara), and Danny Lee Gomez (Tim).
Torn between his midwestern parents and the Beverly Hills owners of an unknown caravaggio hanging of Judas, Tim rediscovers himself while making the art history discovery of the century. Imagine your own mother on the Worst Dressed Women List.
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Nightclub: A True Story will take place Wed. May 20 at NYC’s Green Room 42 (link TBA), directed by Charles Kirsch.
D’Jamin Bartlett and Mark Bornfield.
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Case Closed??, written & directed byKeya Kalyan & Gayathri Krishnakumar, will run June 13-26 at Upstairs@ El Centro (1103B N. El Centro Ave.)
Griffin Burns (Shinichi Kudo), Erica Mendez (Ai Haibara), Michael Sorich (Hiroshi Agasa), and Andrew J. Russell (Genta Kojima).
A dark, absurd courtroom comedy that blurs the line between justice and performance. After a famous clown is found dead at a clown convention, his sister is put on trial in a very real courtroom, where testimony, evidence, and verdicts unfold before the audience. What begins as a seemingly straightforward legal proceeding quickly fractures, as witnesses contradict themselves, motives become murky, and the pursuit of truth starts to feel increasingly comical. Set entirely inside the courtroom, the play invites the audience to act as the jury, weighing evidence, questioning credibility, and ultimately determining the outcome of the trial.
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The UK tour of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting The Musical will run Oct. 19 – Mar. 27, 2027, directed by Caroline Jay Ranger.
Click here for tour dates.
Sheridan Townsley (Sick Boy), Kieran Andrew (Spud), Frankie O’Connor (Begbie), Rebecca McKinnis (Cathy Renton), Robbie Scott (Mark Renton), Finlay Paul (Tommy), Rebecca McKinnis (Cathy Renton), Ashley russell (Coleen), Rosie Dignan (alison), Rosie Digman (Alison), Yana Harris (Kelly), and Sophie Hutchinson (Lizzie), with with Ally Kennard, Kieran Brown (also Resident Director), Melanie Marshall, Lewis Kidd, Samuel Stewart, Finlay McKillop, Ciara Ennis, Victoria Nicol, Kyra Fyvie, and Chris O’Mara.
In 1996, CHOOSE LIFE sounded like a challenge. Now the landscape has shifted, but the hunger hasn’t. Addiction hasn’t disappeared – it's shifted. It’s quieter now, more embedded. Less needle, more screen. Less escape, more repetition. The modern addiction to mobile phones, faces stuck to screens, the same restless search for something to fill the space. The musical highlights the world we see changing around us, the obsceneconcentration of wealth, economic and political power in the hands of so few people. It addresses the modern culture of powerlessness.