B'way Update: Stoppard, Sesame St., Good Night Oscar, Lena Horne, etc.

A scene from Leopoldstadt
Credit: Marc Brenner

Lots of theater news to report: Tom Stoppard's latest play Leopoldstadt has announced a theater and dates for its Broadway transfer after a critically acclaimed London production in 2020. The decade-spanning epic work about multiple generations of a Jewish-Catholic family in Vienna will begin previews at the Longacre Theatre on Sept. 14 in advance of an Oct. 2 opening. This will be Stoppard's 19th play on Broadway since Rosencrantz and Guilderstern Are Dead opened in 1967. He has won four Best Play Tony Awards (for R & G Are Dead, Travesties, The Real Thing, and The Coast of Utopia.) Leopoldstadt won the Olivier Award for its London run but was stopped short by the COVID shutdown. It's the first play in which the playwright uses his Jewish background as a source. 

Also from London: Killing Eve star Jodie Comer will star in Suzie Miller's one-person play Prime Facie, now in the West End, on Broadway in Spring 2023 at a Shubert theater to be announced. Previously presented in Sydney, Australia, Prime Facie focuses on a brilliant barrister coping with patriarchal power, burden of proof and morality. 

Ben Rappaport as Jack Paar and 
Sean Hayes as Oscar Levant
in Good Night, Oscar.
Credit: Liz Lauren

It's not confirmed, but Emmy winner Sean Hayes has stated on his podcast that Good Night Oscar by Tony winner Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife, War Paint) will be arriving on Broadway. Hayes starred in the title role, pianist-actor-humorist Oscar Levant, during a smash hit run at Chicago's Goodman Theater. The play is set during an appearance by Levant on Jack Paar's talk show and features Hayes brilliantly playing George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Levant was a dry-witted comic, gifted composer and musician. He often played the sarcastic, deadpan best friend of the hero in such classic movie musicals as An American in Paris, The Barkleys of Broadway, Romance on the High Seas, and The Band Wagon.

Nanette Fabray, Oscar Levant,
and Fred Astaire in
The Band Wagon

2021-22 Tony and Drama Desk Predictions

Once again the Tony and Drama Desk Awards will be very different from each other this year. The Tonys only consider Broadway shows and the DDs include on and Off in all their multiple categories. Thus, The Lehman Trilogy which has an Off-Broadway run in 2019-20 is not eligible for the DDs because it was in the running earlier and Kimberly Akimbo is a DD candidate, but will be up for Tonys next season when it transfers. (The Outer Critics disagreed about Lehman and included it in their awards this year. Maybe because the run Off-Broadway was so short and not many voting members saw it then.)

The Tony will be presented on June 12. The DDs will announce their winners this coming week of June 6 (the date has not been given out as of yet) and presented in a ceremony at Sardi's restaurant. Having just caught up with Funny Girl last week, I was finally able to cast my ballot in both awards. Here are my predictions and where applicable, my preferences for the winners.

Best Play:
Tony: Lehman Trilogy
Drama Desk: Prayer for the French Republic
My preferences: The Minutes (Tony); English (DD)

As noted above, Lehman Trilogy is not eligible for the Drama Desks, but it will probably sweep the Tonys as it did the OCCs, where it won six awards including Best Play, Director, Actor and three design categories. For the Drama Desks, there are no Broadway plays nominated (I would have preferred The Minutes at least be included.) So this will one of the rare times, the DD has awarded Best PLay to a non-Broadway show. In the over 40 years since the Drama Desk began given out Best Play awards, they have only done it seven times. The rare past exceptions are Admissions (2018), Tribes (2012),

Ruined (2009), Wit (1999), How I Learned to Drive (1997), Marvin's Room (1992), and A Lie of the Mind (1986). If my prediction comes true, the playwright Joshua Harmon will have the rare distinction of winning the Best Play DD Award twice for an Off-Broadway play. He is the author of both Admissions and Prayer for the French Republic.

Best Musical:

Tony and Drama Desk: Six

My preferences: A Strange Loop (Tony); Kimberly Akimbo (DD)

A Strange Loop has received the most Tony nominations this year with 11, but racking the most noms is not always an indicator of taking home the big prize. Loop covers the unconventional subject matter of a

Will Six deep-six A Strange Loop?
Credit: Liz Lauren

black, gay musical theater writer and includes some pretty graphic material. However, there was such a backlash at the last Tonys when Slave Play, a work by an African-American author, was skunked after receiving the most nominations for a straight play ever, that there might be a Strange Loop sweep in response to fears of Tony voters being accused of racism. But, if the box office trumps social qualms, the Tonys might go the safe route and chose the commercially popular Six as might the DDs. Six is the only Broadway nominated for the DDs so the odds in favor of an Off show like Kimberly Akimbo winning. But the DDs have only presented an Off-Broadway tuner with their big honor three times: Little Shop of Horrors (1983), Hamilton (2015), and A Strange Loop (2020) during its Off-Broadway run at Playwrights Horizons.

B'way Update: Almost Famous, Thanksgiving Play, Theater for Salesman

The cast of the Almost Famous musical
in its premiere at the
Old Globe Theater in San Diego in 2019
(Credit: Neal Preston)

We're almost at the very end of the 2021-22 Broadway/Off-Broadway season--it will end for me when I finally get to see Funny Girl after numerous delays and COVID cases. Now we have three more news items about the upcoming 2022-23 season: On tap are a new musical based on a hit movie, a theater company announces additions to its on and Off-Broadway schedule, and the Death of a Salesman revival has a theater.

The new musical is Almost Famous, featuring lyrics and book by Cameron Crowe based on his iconic 2000 autobiographical film based on his days as a teenage rock critic. Crowe won an Oscar for the screenplay. The show, which also features music by Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) who collaborated on the lyrics with Crowe, will begin preview performances at a Shubert-owned theater to be announced on Sept. 13 prior to an Oct. 11 opening. In addition to original songs, the score will include pop-rock classics such as Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" and Joni Mitchell's "River." The show, directed by Jeremy Herrin (Wolf Hall) had a previous production at San Diego's Old Globe Theater in 2019. There were plans to bring it to Broadway, but the COVID shutdown delayed them.

The cast will include Casey Likes in his Broadway debut as the young journalist, Chris Wood (Supergirl, The Vampire Diaries), Drama Desk winner Anika Larsen (Beautiful), Solea Pfeiffer (Hamilton), and Drew Gehling (Waitress).

A scene from the 2018 Off-Broadway
production of
The Thanksgiving Play
at Playwrights Horizons.
Credit: Joan Marcus

Second Stage has announced new shows for its upcoming season. Larissa FastHorse's The Thanksgiving Play will open on Broadway at the company's Hayes Theater in the spring of 2023. The playwright will be the first Native American female author to be produced on Broadway. The play is described as a satiric comedy about a group of well-intentioned white theater artists collaborating on a culturally sensitive holiday pageant from the Native American point of view. The premiere production was presented Off-Broadway by Playwrights Horizons in 2018. This new production will be directed by Tony winner Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown).

So far, every straight play announced for the 2022-23 Broadway season is either an adaptation of a book (The Kite Runner), a revival (Death of a Salesman, The Piano Lesson) or has had a previous Off-Broadway production (Cost of Living, Between Riverside and Crazy, Thanksgiving Play). That means that as of now, there are no new, original plays planned for Broadway next season.

B'way Update: Into the Woods; OCC Ceremony

The Encores! staging of
Into the Woods will transfer to Broadway
Credit: Joan Marcus

When I went to see Golden Shield at Manhattan Theater Club's City Center Off-Broadway space, I had to stand in line with attendees for the Encores! production of Sondheim and Lapine's Into the Woods. The line went around the block and I was worried about missing my curtain (I didn't). Well, that immensely popular staging of the 1987 fairy-tale musical by Lear de Bessonet, Encores' artistic director, will by transferring to a limited run on Broadway at the St. James Theater, with previews starting June 28 for a July 10 opening. 

Sara Bareilles (Waitress) will reprise her role as the Baker's Wife with Brian D'Arcy James (Something Rotten, Sweet Smell of Success) replacing Neil Patrick Harris as the Baker. Gavin Creel (Tony winner for Hello, Dolly!) will also return in the dual roles of the Wolf and Cinderella's Prince. New cast members include Patina Miller (Tony winner for Pippin) as the Witch, Phillipa Soo (Hamilton, Ameila) as Cinderella, Joshua Henry (Carousel) as Rapunzel's Prince, and Annie Golden (Assassins) as Cinderella's Mother/ Grandmother/Giant's Wife). Miller is replacing Heather Hedley who will be filming Netflix's Sweet Magnolias series. Soo is taking over for Denee Benton who will be doing the second season of The Gilded Age for HBO. Ironically, Benton replaced Soo in Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 when it transferred from Off-Broadway to on.

B'way Update: Beautiful Noise, Kimberly, Mask Mandates, etc.

Neil Diamond is the latest pop
artist to get the jukebox musical treatment

As the 2021-22 Broadway season comes to a close, 2022-23 is taking shape. A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical joins the handful of shows with firm dates and theater. The bio musical about the 81-year-old singer-songwriter will play Boston's Emerson Colonial Theater for a six-week run starting June 21 and then start previews at Broadway's Broadhurst Theater on Nov. 2 prior to a Dec. 4 opening. The score will be composed of Diamond's hits including "Sweet Caroline," "Forever in Blue Jeans," "Song Sung Blues," and "Cracklin' Rose." The book will be by Anthony McCarten, Oscar-nominated screenwriter for The Two Popes and The Theory of Everything. Tony winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) directs. Mayer has also staged such jukebox musicals as Swept Away, Head Over Heels, and American Idiot. Diamond will be played in Boston by Will Swenson, seen most recently in the CSC revival of Assassins. Casting for Broadway will be announced.

Victoria Clark and Justin Cooley
in Kimberly Akimbo.

Kimberly Akimbo, which has already won top prizes from the New York Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle and Lortel Awards for its Off-Broadway run at the Atlantic Theater Company, has announced its Broadway venue. The bittersweet tuner about a teenager living in an older woman's body due to a rare aging disease, will begin previews at the Booth Theater Oct. 12 with an opening set for Nov. 10.  

Meanwhile COVID continues to wrack the New York theater community. Due to a new surge in cases, the Broadway League has extended its mask mandate through the end of June. Proof of vaccination has been made optional. (I think this is not a good move. We should still be made to show our vax cards when entering the theater.) Last weekend, Moulin Rogue, The Skin of Teeth, and Suffs had to cancel performances due to outbreaks among the casts. With a summer surge predicted, who knows how long these necessary restrictions will be in place. 

2022 Theater Award Season Roundup

The past few days have been a crazed marathon of theater awards, from the Tony and Drama Desk nominations, to the New York Drama Critics Circle voting to the announcement of the winners of the Outer Critics Circle. COVID has caused delays and postponements for announcement dates, so that many of these events were smashed close together. There were also the winners and nominees for the Lortel Awards (for Off-Broadway), the Theater World honorees (for performers making their on or Off-Broadway debut), and the Chita Rivera nominees (for top dancers).
Here's a breakdown on the major accolades and a few thoughts on the choices:

Tony Nominations
The nominees for Broadway's biggest awards were announced by Tony winner Adrienne Warren (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) and Tony nominee Joshua Henry (Carousel, Violet, The Scottsboro Boys) on May 9. A Strange Loop shockingly received the most nominations with 11. I say "shockingly" because this Pulitzer-Prize-winning musical previously presented Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons focuses on a black, gay musical-theater writer and includes graphic sex, liberal use of the "n" word and a little number called "AIDS Is God's Punishment." Not your typical Broadway fare. I'm just wondering what number they will do on the Tony telecast and will the network have to censor any of the lyrics like they did with The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Spring Awakening. I want the show to win for Best Musical, but the top prize might go to the more commercial choice of Six. 

Mrs. Doubtfire, first casualty
of the Tony Wars.
Credit: Joan Marcus

Coming in second for number of nominations was MJ and Paradise Square with 10 each, two so-so musicals with fantastic choreography. Totally screwed over was Mrs. Doubtfire, receiving only one nomination--for Rob McClure's stellar lead performance. This show was superior to MJ and Paradise in that its book and score were totally integrated and provided a solid two and half hours of entertainment. After the Tony announcement, Doubtfire promptly posted a closing notice for May 29. I hope McClure wins, he deserves it after brightening up numerous other short-lived tuners such as Chaplin and Honeymoon in Vegas.

B'way Update: London Death of a Salesman to Transfer

Wendell Pierce and Sharon D. Clarke 
in Death of a Salesman.
Credit: Brinkhoff Mogenburg

Willy Loman will soon be returning to Broadway for the sixth time. A 2019 London production of Arthur Miller's great American play Death of a Salesman with a mostly black cast will be opening on Broadway during the 2022-23 season. Wendell Pierce (The Wire, Serious Money, The Piano Lesson) and Sharon D. Clarke (Caroline, or Change, Doctor Who) will repeat their roles as Willy and Linda. Pierce was nominated for an Olivier Award and Clarke won for this production when it transferred from the Young Vic to the West End. Clarke recently made her Broadway debut in a well-received revival of Caroline, or Change and is a front runner for this season's Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She is well-known to sci-fi fans for her recurring role as Grace who was killed by a nasty alien and made occasional re-appearances from the dead on Season 11 and 12 of Doctor Who.

Tony winner Andre de Shields (Hadestown) joins the cast as Willy's brother Ben and Khris Davis (Judas and the Black Messiah) will play the Lomans' wayward son Biff. Dates and a theater are to be announced. Miranda Cromwell will direct this NYC production after co-directing the London staging with Marianne Elliott (Angels in America). Together they won the Olivier Award for Best Direction.