B'way Update: Harmony and King Lear

Harmony will make the trip from
Off-Broadway to on this fall.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Harmony, the musical based on the real-life careers of a German singing group destroyed by the Nazis, will make the trip from Off-Broadway to on with preview performances commencing Oct. 18 at the Barrymore Theater, prior to a Nov. 13 opening. The musical with music by the legendary Tony, Emmy and Grammy winner Barry Manilow and book and lyrics by Drama Desk winner Bruce Sussman, had a sold-out engagement at the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene from March to May of 2022. Directed and choreographed by Tony winner Warren Carlyle, Harmony follows the story of the Comedian Harmonists, a popular vocal sextette from the 1920s into the 1930s whose meteoric rise to fame was stymied by the anti-Semitic policies of Adolph Hitler. 

For this Off-Broadway run, Harmony was nominated for a Drama Desk for Outstanding Musical and won for Outstanding Book of a Musical. It also received eight Outer Critics Circle nominations and two Lortel nominations. 

Kenneth Branagh will
play King Lear in London and NYC

Meanwhile, Kenneth Branagh will be making the trip from London to New York with a new production of King Lear from his self-named production company the Kenneth Branagh Theater Company. The show starring and directed by Branagh will begin previews at London's Wyndham's Theater on Oct. 21 before the opening on Oct. 31 for a limited run of only 50 performances. The New York engagement will be at the Shed starting in the fall of 2024. This will be the first time Branagh has played Shakespeare on the stage since The Winter's Tale in 2015.

Lear is a favorite role for actors a certain age to tackle. Among the Lears I've seen on NYC stages are Glenda Jackson, Derek Jacobi, Christopher Plummer, F. Murray Abraham, Kevin Kline, Hal Holbrook, Frank Langella, Sam Waterston, and John Lithgow.

2023-24 Broadway/Off-Broadway Schedule 
April 29--Fuenta Ovejuna (TFANA/Polonsky Shakespeare Center)
May 2--Tony Award Nominations Announced (Sofitel Hotel)
May 4--shadow/land (Public Theater)

May 7--Lortel Awards (NYU Skirball Center)

May 8--New York Drama Critics Circle Awards announced

May 8--Pulitzer Prizes announced
May 16--King James (MTC/City Center Stage I)
May 16--Outer Critics Winners announced
May 19--Drama League Awards (Ziegfeld Ballroom)

May 22--Chita Rivera Awards (NYU Skirball Center)

May 23--Bernarda's Daughters (New Group/Signature Center)

May 25--Primary Trust (Roundabout/Laura Pels) 

May 25--Outer Critics Circle Awards (Bruno Walter Auditorium/Lincoln Center Library)
May 30--Grey House (Lyceum)
May--Wet Brain (Playwrights Horizons)

June 5--Days of Wine and Roses (Atlantic Theatre Company) 

June 6--Drama Desk Awards (Sardi's)
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 20--Flex (Mitzi Newhouse/LCT)
July 24--The Cottage (Hayes)
Aug. 3--Back to the Future (Marquis)

Aug. 10--The Shark Is Broken (Golden)
Sept. 19--Merrily We Roll Along (begins previews; opening TBA) (Hudson)
September--Here We Are (The Shed Griffin Theater)

September--The Refuge Plays (Roundabout/NYTW/Laura Pels)

October--I Need That (Roundabout/AA)

Nov. 13--Harmony (Barrymore)

Summer 2023

Purlie Victorious

Fall 2023

I Can Get It for You Wholesale (CSC)

Poor Yella Rednecks (MTC/City Center Stage II)

Winter 2024

Pericles (CSC)

Spring 2024

Home (Roundabout/AA)

Jonah (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

Wine in the Wilderness (CSC)

Fall 2024

King Lear (Kenneth Branagh Theater Company/The Shed)

2024-25

Smash

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; 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; Soul Train; What a Wonderful World; The Who's Tommy; The Wiz; Working Girl