B'way Update: Kite Runner, Strange Loop Dates; WSJ Critic Terry Teachout Dies

A scene from the London production
of The Kite Runner.
Credit: Irina Chira

Amid news of many shows closing or going into hibernation for the winter, Broadway got a boost with the announcement of a new production. A stage version of The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini's international best-seller, will be coming to Broadway for a limited run this summer after two seasons in London's West End. The novel tells the story of Amir, a young boy born in Afghanistan in the 1970s, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant. As their country is pitched into political turmoil, the boys' lives are changed forever. The play with music, adapted by Matthew Spangler and directed by Giles Croft will begin previews at the Hayes Theater on July 6 and open on July 21 for a limited run until Oct. 30. The Hayes is owned by Second Stage which will rent the theater out to the production. 

The Kite Runner was published in 2003 and became a surprise international smash, selling 31.5 million copies in 60 languages in 70 countries. It was made into a movie in 2007. Spangler's stage version was first presented the same year at San Jose University where he teaches. It had its first professional production at San Jose Repertory Theater in 2009. The current Broadway edition was first presented at Nottingham Playhouse in 2013, directed by Croft. 

The cast of the Woolly Mammoth production
of A Strange Loop,
opening on Broadway in April.
Credit: Marc J. Franklin

Also announced for Broadway are definite dates for A Strange Loop, Michael R. Jackson's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical about a black, gay musical theater writer penning a musical about a black, gay musical theater writer. Loop will begin preview performances at the Lyceum on April 6 and open on April 26. Originally produced Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 2019, this different production recently played Washington, DC's Woolly Mammoth Theater with the cast repeating its performances for Broadway.

In other news, Wall Street Journal theater critic Terry Teachout passed away on Jan. 13 at 65. Not just a reviewer, Teachout also wrote biographies of Louis

Terry Teachout

Armstrong, George Balanchine, Duke Ellington, and H.L. Mencken. His one-person play Satchmo at the Waldorf starred John Douglas Thompson and played Off-Broadway in 2014. He championed regional theater and gave stages across the country national exposure in the Journal. He also covered jazz, dance, classical music and books. In addition to the Journal, his by-line appeared in Commentary, the New York Daily News, and the Washington Post. He wrote a play about William Inge and Tennessee Williams, Billy and Me, and three opera libretti. A true renaissance man of the arts.

2021-22 Broadway/Off-Broadway Schedule
Jan. 23--Long Day's Journey Into Night (Audible Theater/Minetta Lane)
Jan. 26--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--Sandblasted (Vineyard)
Feb. 5--The Merchant of Venice (TFANA/Polonksy Shakespeare Center)
Feb. 7--Tambo and Bones (Playwrights Horizons)
Feb. 10--The Music Man (Winter Garden)
Feb. 15--Black No More (The New Group)
Feb. 14--Sleep No More (McKittrick Hotel)
Feb. 22--English (Atlantic Theater Company)
Feb. 23--On Sugarland (NYTW)
Match 8--The Chinese Lady (Public Theater/Ma-Yi Theater Company)
March 14--Mrs. Doubtfire re-opens (Sondheim)
March 17--The Little Prince (Broadway)
March 24--for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (Booth)
March 28--Plaza Suite (Hudson)

April 3--Paradise Square (Barrymore)
April 4--Take Me Out (Second Stage/Hayes)
April 6--Suffs (Public Theater)
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 26--A Strange Loop (Lyceum)
April 27--Mr. Saturday Night (Nederlander)
April 28--Macbeth (Longacre)
April 30--The Bedwetter (Atlantic Theater Company)
May 17--Golden Shield (MTC/City Center)
June 1--To Kill a Mockingbird re-opens (Belasco)
July 21--The Kite Runner (Hayes)

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--Cinderella; 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; 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

The Little Prince

MJ: The Michael Jackson Musical

Mr. Saturday Night

Mrs. Doubtfire

Paradise Square

Six

A Strange Loop (previously presented Off-Broadway in a different production)

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)