B'way Update: Patti LuPone, Mia Farrow, Tom Holland

Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow will return to
Broadway in The Roommate.

According to the New York Post, three-time Tony winner Patti PuPone and Mia Farrow will return to Broadway in a two-person play called The Roommate by Jen Silverman. Directed by Tony winner Jack O’Brien (Hairspray), the play will begin preview performances at the Booth Theater in late August and open in September. After her last Broadway appearance in the revival of Company, LuPone announced she was turning in her Equity card. Guess she will be renewing it now. Farrow last appeared on Broadway for a week of performances in A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters. 

The Roommate which premiered in 2015 at the Humana Festival of New Plays at the Actors Theater of Louisville, Kentucky, deals with two Iowa women in their mid-50s sharing a house and discovering each other’s secrets as they start their lives over.

Francesca Amewudah-Rivers and Tom Holland
will star in Romeo and Juliet in London
and possibly Broadway afterwards.
Credit: Jamie Lloyd Company

In other unconfirmed news, the UK Mirror reports that the West End production of Romeo and Juliet starring the latest screen Spider-Man Tom Holland will transfer to Broadway when it completes its London run. The show sold out its entire limited run which begins at the Duke of York Theater in May in two hours. The production directed by Jamie Lloyd (Sunset Boulevard) has been embroiled in a controversy ever since it was announced that Juliet would be played by black actress Francesca Amewudah-Rivers. Racist comments have flooded the actress's social media, forcing her to shut down the comments section.

The Jamie Lloyd company has issued this statement: "Following the announcement of our Romeo & Juliet cast, there has been a barrage of deplorable racial abuse online directed towards a member of our company. This must stop. We are working with a remarkable group of artists. We insist that they are free to create work without facing online harassment. We will continue to support and protect everyone in our company at all costs. Any abuse will not be tolerated and will be reported."

A 2013 Broadway production of Romeo and Juliet starred actors of different races--Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad and there was no racist outcry. What could explain this disgusting change? I could speculate about the proliferation of hate speech and social media, the election of certain figures who tolerate such vile speech, but this development is a certainly an ugly one.

2023-24 Broadway/Off-Broadway/Awards Calendar (and Beyond)
Spring 2024
April 11--The Outsiders (Jacobs)

April 14--Lempicka (Longacre)
April 15--MAC Awards (Peter Norton Symphony Space)
April 16--Sally & Tom (Public Theater)
April 17--The Wiz (Marquis)
April 18--Suffs (Music Box)
April 19--Stereophonic (Golden)
April 20--Hell's Kitchen (Shubert)
April 20/21--Cabaret (August Wilson)
April 22--The Heart of Rock and Roll (James Earl Jones)
April 22--Patriots (Barrymore)
April 22--Drama League nominations announced (NY Library for the Performing Arts)

April 23--Outer Critics Circle nominations announced (Museum of Broadway)
April 23--Mary Jane (MTC/Friedman) 

April 24--Illinoise (St. James)
April 24--Uncle Vanya (LCT/Vivian Beaumont)

April 24--Jordans (Public) 
April 25--Mother Play (Second Stage/Hayes)
April 25--The Great Gatsby (Broadway)
April 26--Chita Rivera Award nominations announced

April 28--Staff Meal (Playwrights Horizons)
April 29--Drama Desk Award nominations announced
April 30--Tony Nominations Announced
April 30--Three Houses (previews begin; opening TBA) (Signature Theatre)
May 5--Lortel Awards (NYU Skirball)

May 6--Pulitzer Prize winners announced
May 13--Here There Are Blueberries (NYTW)
May 13--Outer Critics Circle winners announced
May 17--Drama League Awards (Ziegfeld Ballroom)
May 20--Chita Rivera Awards Ceremony (NYU Skirball)
May 23--Outer Critics Circle Awards ceremony (Bruno Walter Auditorium/NY Public Library for the Performing Arts)

May 28--Ben Platt at the Palace

Summer 2024

June 5--Home (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)

June 10--Drama Desk Awards

June 10--Theater World Awards

June 12--The Welkin (Atlantic Theater Company)

June 12--Titanic (Encores/City Center)

June 16--Tony Awards (David Koch Theater/Lincoln Center)

June 20--Cats (Perelman Performing Arts Center)

TBA--All of Me (The New Group/Signature Center)

Aug. 5--Forbidden Broadway on Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song (Hayes)

Fall 2024

Sept. 24--Vladimir (MTC/City Center Stage I) (previews begin; opening TBA)

September--The Roommate (Booth)

Oct. 1--Yellowface (Roundabout/Todd Haimes)

Oct. 9--The Counter (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

Oct. 10--Our Town (Barrymore)

Oct. 20--Sunset Boulevard (St. James)

Nov. 11--What a Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical (Studio 54)

Nov. 14--Tammy Faye (Palace)

Nov. 25--Eureka Day (MTC/Samuel J. Friedman) (previews begin; opening TBA)

King Lear (Kenneth Branagh Theater Company/The Shed)

Left on Tenth

Winter 2024-25

Jan. 23--English (Roundabout/Todd Haimes Theater)

Feb. 20--Liberation (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

2024-25

My Son's a Queer (But What Can You Do?)

Romeo and Juliet (?)

Smash

Wine in the Wilderness (CSC)

Spring 2025

March 25--Old Friends (MTC/Samuel J. Friedman) (previews begins opening TBA)

Othello

April 24--The Pirates of Penzance (Roundabout/Todd Haimes Theater)

Show Boat (Target Margin/NYU Skirball)

Future--Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death; Beaches the Musical; Black Orpheus; BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical; Come Fall in Love--The DDLJ Musical; Death Becomes Her; The Devil Wears Prada; Ella: An American Miracle; Everybody's Talking About Jamie; Frida, the Musical; Game of Thrones; The Griswolds' Broadway Vacation; High Noon; Imitation of Life; The Interestings; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; The Karate Kid; La La Land; Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil; The Mousetrap; Nancy Drew and the Mystery at Spotlight Manor; Pal Joey; Purple Rain; The Queen's Gambit; Rear Window; The Nanny; The Normal Heart/The Destiny of Me; The Queen of Versailles; The Secret Garden; Sing Street; Soul Train; Stranger Things: The First Shadow; Working Girl.

2023-24 Broadway Season Breakdown:
New Plays:
The Cottage
Grey House
I Need That
Jaja's African Hair Braiding
Mother Play

Patriots
Prayer for the French Republic
The Shark Is Broken

Stereophonic

New Musicals:

Back to the Future

Days of Wine and Roses

The Great Gatsby

Harmony

The Heart of Rock and Roll

Hell's Kitchen

How to Dance in Ohio

Illinoise

Lempicka

The Notebook

Once Upon a One More Time

The Outsiders

Suffs

Water for Elephants

Play Revivals:

Appropriate

Doubt: A Parable

An Enemy of the People

Mary Jane

Purlie Victorious

Uncle Vanya

Musical Revivals:

Cabaret

Gutenberg! The Musical

Here Lies Love

Merrily We Roll Along

Monty Python's Spamalot

The Who's Tommy

The Wiz

Solos/Specialties:

Alex Edelman: Just for Us

Melissa Etheridge: My Window