B'way Update: Final Sondheim; Merrily Finds Theater; No More Room

Stephen Sondheim will have
 two productions on the boards
in 2023-24

There are ups and down on and Off-Broadway this week. The last Stephen Sondheim show is finally announcing dates and a theater as is the Broadway transfer of New York Theater Workshop's revival of Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along. And one upcoming Broadway show has been forced to shut down before it even began performances. 

Here We Are, the last Stephen Sondheim musical will premiere at the Shed's Griffin Theater in September 2023. Casting and specifics dates will be announced at a later date. Based on two Luis Bunuel films, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel, Here We Are features a book by David Ives (All in the Timing, Venus in Fur) and direction by Joe Mantello who won a Tony for his staging of Sondheim's Assassins. Not long before his death in 2021, Sondheim appeared on Stephen Colbert's late-night talk show and confirmed that the show, under the title of Square One, had a workshop with Nathan Lane and Bernadette Peters and would be coming to Broadway the following season. 

Another Sondheim show will also be coming to Broadway in 2023-24. The New York Theater Workshop revival of Merrily We Roll Along has been announced as beginning previews at the Hudson Theater on Sept. 19. (Opening to be announced.) Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, Krystal Joy Brown, Katie Rose Clark, and Reg Rogers will repeat their performances from the NYTW production which was directed by Maria Friedman. Her staging was first seen at London's Menier Chocolate Factory and later transfered to the West End where it won the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival. This will be the first Broadway revival of Merrily which originally closed after only 16 performances and ended the collaboration between Sondheim and Harold Prince. There have been Off-Broadway productions in 1994 (York Theater) and 2019 (Fiasco Theater at Roundabout's Laura Pels stage) as well as acclaimed concert versions. 

Lindsay Mendez, Jonathan Groff and
Daniel Radcliffe in
Merrily We Roll Along
Credit: Joan Marcus

Room starring Adrienne Warren
has been postponed indefinitely.

Now for the bad news: The upcoming Broadway production of Room, based on the film and best-selling novel by Emma Donoghue, which was to have begun previews at the James Earl Jones Theater on April 3, has been postponed indefinitely. The producers have issued a statement that a lead backer was not able to fulfill their financial obligations and the production was forced to shut in the middle of rehearsals.

“In the midst of our rehearsals we were informed by one of our Lead Producers that due to personal reasons, they did not intend to fulfill their obligations to the production. Since being notified, the rest of the producing team has exhausted all possible avenues to keep the show on track, but the narrow timeline and economic shortfall created by this series of events has proven to be insurmountable,” said producer Hunter Arnold in a statement. “We are incredibly disappointed not to be able to open this remarkable production at this time and are especially heartbroken for our incredibly talented cast and creative team who were hard at work in the rehearsal room.”  
 
Producers Sam Julyan and James Yeoburn stated, “We have been honored to share the story of Room since its world premiere in 2017 in London and its subsequent productions in Dublin, Scotland, and Ontario.  We truly believe that today’s disappointing news will not be the end of Room on stage.”
  
All purchased tickets will be refunded and ticket buyers should return to point of purchase to process those refunds. 

Room was to have starred Tony winner Adrienne Warren (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) as Ma, a young woman trapped by a predator in a shed for several years. There she has a child and the two create a fantasy world within the room's confines. The cast also included Tony nominees Ephraim Sykes and Kate  Burton.

2022-23 Broadway/Off-Broadway Schedule
March 16--Parade (Bernard B. Jacobs)
March 16--Arden of Faversham (Red Bull Theater/Lucille Lortel)
March 19--Dancin' (Music Box)
March 23--Bad Cinderella (Imperial)
March 26--Sweeney Todd (Lunt-Fontanne)
March 30--Life of Pi (Schoenfeld)
April 4--Shucked (Nederlander)
April 5--Lortel Award nominations announced
April 11--Regretfully So the Birds Are (Playwrights Horizons)
April 12--Fat Ham (AA)
April 13--Camelot (Lincoln Center/Vivian Beaumont)
April 19--Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Barrymore)
April 20--The Thanksgiving Play (Second Stage/Hayes)
April 23--Prime Facie (Golden)
April 24--Good Night, Oscar (Belasco)
April 25--Summer, 1976 (MTC/Samuel J. Friedman) 
April 25--Outer Critics Circle nominations announced

April 25--Drama League Award nominations announced (NY Public Library)
April 26--New York, New York (St. James)
April 29--Fuenta Ovejuna (TFANA/Polonsky Shakespeare Center)
May 2--Tony Award Nominations Announced
May 4--Primary Trust (Roundabout/Laura Pels) (previews begin; opening TBA)
May 5--Days of Wine and Roses (Atlantic Theatre Company) (previews begin; opening TBA)
May 7--Lortel Awards (NYU Skirball Center)
May 16--King James (MTC/City Center Stage I)
May 16--Outer Critics Winners announced
May 19--Drama League Awards (Ziegfeld Ballroom)
May 25--Outer Critics Circle Awards (Bruno Walter Auditorium/Lincoln Center Library)
May 30--Grey House (Lyceum)
May--Wet Brain (Playwrights Horizons)
June 11--Tony Awards (United Palace)
June 22--Once Upon a One More Time (Marquis)
June 28--Hamlet (Delacorte/Shakespeare in the Park) 
July 9--Orpheus Descending (TFANA/Polonsky Shakespeare Center)
July 20--Here Lies Love (Broadway)
July 24--The Cottage (Hayes)
Aug. 3--Back to the Future (Marquis)
Sept. 19--Merrily We Roll Along (begins previews; opening TBA) (Hudson)
September--Here We Are (The Shed Griffin Theater)

Summer 2023

Purlie Victorious

Fall 2023

Poor Yella Rednecks (MTC/City Center Stage II)

2023, 2024 and Beyond

Game of Thrones, The Great Gatsby, Frida, the Musical, High Noon, The Mousetrap

Future--Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death; Black Orpheus; BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical, Come Fall in Love--The DDLJ Musical; The Devil Wears Prada; Ella: An American Miracle; Everybody's Talking About Jamie; The Griswolds' Broadway Vacation; Harmony; I Need That; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; The Karate Kid; La La Land; Lempicka; Our Town; Pal Joey; The Nanny; The Normal Heart/The Destiny of Me; The Secret Garden; Sing Street; Smash; Soul Train; What a Wonderful World; The Who's Tommy; The Wiz; Working Girl