B'way Update: Collaboration, & Juliet, Almost Famous

Summertime and the livin' is easy. Fewer shows are opening so my life isn't quite so hectic. But we do have some news of Broadway openings and changes for the fall season. Two productions from London have confirmed Broadway transfers and a previously announced new musical has landed a theater and shifted its dates.

Jeremy Pope and Paul Bettany
in The Collaboration.
Credit: Marc Brenner

The Collaboration, a new play by Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten (The Two Popes, The Theory of Everything, Bohemian Rhapsody) focusing on the relationship between artists Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, will open on Broadway as part of Manhattan Theater Club's season at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater after a hit London run at the Young Vic. Previews begin Nov. 29 in advance of a Dec. 20 opening. McCarten is also the book-author of A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical which will open Dec. 4 at the Broadhurst.

Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope will repeat their London performances as Warhol and Basquiat. The play, directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the Young Vic, takes place in 1984 when the two influential artists were working together on what would become one of the most famous exhibitions in modern art history. Bettany, best known for his film work including several Marvel Universe films as The Vision and A Knight's Tale, A Beautiful Mind and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, will be making his Broadway debut. Pope recently achieved the rare feat of receiving two Tony nominations in the same season--for Choir Boy and Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations. He also received an Emmy nomination for the Netflix mini-series, Hollywood. 

The Collaboration will follow MTC's staging of Cost of Living at the Friedman, but no specific dates have been announced yet for that production. 

Note: While this show adds to the number of new British plays planned for Broadway, there are no new original American plays which have not been seen previously Off-Broadway, with definite Broadway dates for 2022-23.

Lorna Courtney and Melanie La Barrie
in & Juliet
Credit: Matthew Murphy

The second London show coming our way is & Juliet, a new musical envisioning an alternative ending for Shakespeare's star-crossed heroine. The musical which is still playing in the British capital and is currently having its North American premiere in Toronto, will begin previews at the Sondheim Theater on Oct. 28 and open there on Nov. 17. The book by Schitt's Creek writer David West Reid imagines what would happen if Juliet decided not to off herself after Romeo dies. The score features pop hits by Max Martin who has worked with Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and Katy Perry. These include "Since U Been Gone," "Roar," "Baby One More Time," "That's the Way It Is," and "Can't Stop the Feeling!" 

The cast includes Lorna Courntey repeating her West End performance in the title role, UK cast member Melanie La Barrie as the Nurse, Tony winner Paulo Szot (South Pacific) as Lance, Tony nominee Stark Sands (Journey's End, Kinky Boots) as Shakespeare, and Betsy Wolfe (Falsettos, Edwin Drood) as Anne Hathaway. Luke Sheppard, the director of the London version, continues as helmer.

Casey Likes and Solea Pfeiffer in
Almost Famous.
Credit: Neal Preston

Meanwhile, Almost Famous, the musical version of Cameron Crowe's autobiographical 2000 film about his time as a teen rock critic, has found a theater and pushed back its preview and opening dates. The show had previously announced a September start date for previews with an Oct. 11 opening. Famous will now begin previews on Oct. 3 and opening on Nov. 3 at the Bernard Jacobs Theater (where Company will be closing on July 31). The show premiered at San Diego's Old Globe Theater in 2019.

2022-23 Broadway/Off-Broadway Schedule
July 10--Into the Woods (St. James)
July 11--Richard III (Public Theater/Delacorte)
July 21--The Kite Runner (Hayes)
Aug. 25--Kinky Boots (Stage 42)
Aug. 30--As You Like It (Delacorte)
Sept. 19--The Piano Lesson (St. James) (previews begin; opening TBA)
Sept. 19--Death of a Salesman (Hudson) (previews begin; opening TBA)
Sept. 22--Sesame Street: The Musical (Theater Row)
Sept. 24--Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge (Public Theater) (previews begin; opening TBA)
Sept. 27--A Raisin in the Sun (Public Theater) (previews begin; opening TBA)

Oct. 2--Leopoldstadt (Longacre)

Oct. 6--1776 (Roundabout/AA)

Oct. 20--Topdog/Underdog (Golden)

Oct. 26--Straight Line Crazy (The Shed/Griffin)

Oct. 28--Where We Belong (Public Theater) (previews begin; opening TBA)

Oct. 30--A Man of No Importance (CSC)

Nov. 2--Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (MTC/City Center Stage I)

Nov. 3--Almost Famous (Bernard Jacobs)

Nov. 4--Plays for the Plague Year (Public Theater) (previews begin; opening TBA)

Nov. 10--Kimberly Akimbo (Booth)

Nov. 17--& Juliet (Sondheim)
Nov. 20--KPOP (Circle in the Square)

Dec. 4--A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical (Broadhurst)

Dec. 11--Some Like It Hot (Shubert)

Dec. 20--The Collaboration (MTC/Freidman)

April 13--Camelot (Lincoln Center/Vivian Beaumont)

Fall 2022 (no dates yet)

Between Riverside and Crazy (Second Stage/Hayes)

the bandaged place (Roundabout/Underground)

Camp Siegfried (Second Stage/Tony Kiser)

Cost of Living (MTC/Friedman)

Summer, 1976 (MTC/City Center Stage II)

2022-23 (no dates or theaters yet)

Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death, Black Orpheus, Cinderella, Come Fall in Love--The DDLJ Musical, Dancin', The Ohio State Murders, Pal Joey, Square One

Winter 2022-23

Dark Disabled Stories (Public)

The Wanderers (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

Spring 2023 

Prime Facie (a Shubert theater TBA)

The Thanksgiving Play (Second Stage/Hayes)

Good Bones (Public)

Poor Yella Rednecks (MTC/City Center Stage II)

Shadow/Land (Public)

2023 and Beyond

Game of Thrones, The Great Gatsby

Future--Good Night, Oscar; The Devil Wears Prada; The Griswolds' Family Vacation; The Karate Kid; Back to the Future; Our Town; The Nanny; The Normal Heart/The Destiny of Me; Sing Street; Smash; Soul Train; The Who's Tommy