B'way Update: for colored girls Sets Dates and Theater

The cast of for colored girls
at the Public Theater in 2019
Credit: Joan Marcus

The previously announced revival of Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has set definite dates and a theater. The new production of the long-running "choreopoem" will begin previews on March 4, 2022 at the Booth Theater where it debuted on Broadway in 1976 and ran for 742 performances. 

Tony nominee Camille A. Brown (Once on This Island) who recently made history as the first black woman to direct a production at the Metropolitan Opera with Fire Shut Up in My Bones, will direct and choreograph for colored girls. Brown choreographed the 2019 revival at the Public Theatre (which was directed by Leah C. Gardiner)

“Of all the shows to be given as an opportunity to debut as a first-time Broadway director and choreographer, for colored girls… feels like a gift,” said Brown in a statement. “I’m thrilled that I’ve been entrusted to combine all the parts of myself—dance, music, and theatre arts—to shape and share this timeless story again with the world.” 

The innovative, collage-like work follows the experiences of seven African-American women through poetry, movement and monologues. This brings the total number of plays by black women for the 2021-22 Broadway season to five. The others are Pass Over (Antoinette Chinoye Nwandu), Clyde's (Lynn Nottage), Trouble in Mind (Alice Childress), and Skeleton Crew (Dominique Morrisseau). In addition, Morrisseau and Nottage have written the books for the musicals Ain't Too Proud and MJ, respectively, and Katori Hall collaborated on the book for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. Nottage's Intimate Apparel, an opera based on her play for which she wrote the libretto, will also premiere Off-Broadway.

In other news, Chicken and Biscuits has announced an early closing notice of Nov. 28. The comedy at the Circle In The Square recently cancelled several performances due to a COVID case in the company.

2021-22 Broadway/Off-Broadway Schedule

Nov. 15--Jersey Boys (New World Stages); Morning's at Seven (St. Clements)
Nov. 17--Diana (Longacre); Cullud Wattah (Public)
Nov. 18--Trouble in Mind (Roundabout/AA)
Nov. 22--Clyde's (Second Stage/Hayes); A Sherlock Carol (New World Stages)
Dec. 2--Slave Play (August Wilson)

Dec. 5--Mrs. Doubtfire (Stephen Sondheim)

Dec. 8--Kimberly Akimbo (Atlantic Theater Company); Selling Kabul (Playwrights Horizons)

Dec. 9--Company (Bernard B. Jacobs)
Dec. 11--Dear Evan Hansen (Music Box)
Dec. 13--Flying Over Sunset (LCT/Vivian Beaumont)

Jan. 12, 2022--Skeleton Crew (MTC/Samuel J. Friedman)
Jan. 27--Intimate Apparel (LCT/Mitzi Newhouse)
Feb. 1--MJ: The Michael Jackson Musical (Neil Simon); Prayer for the French Republic (MTC/City Center)

Feb. 3--English (Atlantic Theater Company); Sandblasted (Vineyard)

Feb. 5--The Merchant of Venice (TFANA/Polonksy Shakespeare Center)
Feb. 10--The Music Man (Winter Garden)

Feb. 14--Sleep No More (McKittrick Hotel)

Feb. 22--Black No More (The New Group)
March 20--Paradise Square (Barrymore)

March 24--for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (Booth)

March 28--Plaza Suite (Hudson)

March 31--Mr. Saturday Night (Nederlander)

April 4--Take Me Out (Second Stage/Hayes)
April 7--The Minutes (Studio 54)

April 8--Beetlejuice (Marriott Marquis)
April 10--Birthday Candles (Roundabout/AA)

April 13--Harmony (Museum of Jewish Heritage)

April 14--American Buffalo (Circle In the Square); To My Girls (Second Stage/Kiser)
April 19--How I Learned to Drive (MTC/Samuel J. Friedman)

April 23--Wedding Band (TFANA/Polonsky Shakespeare Center)

April 24--Funny Girl (August Wilson)

April 25--The Skin of Our Teeth (LTC/Vivian Beaumont)

April 28--Macbeth (Lyceum)

April 30--The Bedwetter (Atlantic Theater Company)
May 17--Golden Shield (MTC/City Center)

Fall 2022

1776 (Roundabout/AA)

Between Riverside and Crazy (Second Stage/Hayes)

2022

Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death, The Ohio State Murders, The Piano Lesson

2022-23

Dancin', Pal Joey, Square One

2023 and Beyond

Game of Thrones, The Great Gatsby

Future--Our Town; Death of a Salesman; K-pop the Broadway Musical; The Nanny; The Normal Heart/The Destiny of Me; Smash; Some Like It Hot; Soul Train; A Strange Loop; The Who's Tommy

2021-22 Broadway Season Breakdown:

New Plays

Birthday Candles

Chicken and Biscuits

Clyde's

Dana H. (transfer from Off-Broadway)

Is This A Room (transfer from Off-Broadway)

The Lehman Trilogy (transfer from Off-Broadway)

The Minutes

Pass Over (previously presented Off-Broadway)

Skeleton Crew (previously presented Off-Broadway in a different production)

Thoughts of a Colored Man

Play Revivals

American Buffalo

for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf

How I Learned to Drive

Lackawanna Blues (previously produced Off-Broadway)

Macbeth

Plaza Suite

The Skin of Our Teeth

Slave Play (return engagement)

Take Me Out

Trouble in Mind

New Musicals

Diana

Flying Over Sunset

Mr. Saturday Night

Mrs. Doubtfire

Paradise Square

Six

Musical Revivals

Beetlejuice (return engagement)

Caroline or Change

Company

Funny Girl 

Waitress (return engagement)

Specialties

Bruce Springsteen on Broadway (return engagement)

David Bryne's American Utopia (return engagement)

Freestyle Love Supreme (return engagement)