The Ides of July. Sondheim on Assassins. Stageworthy Information of the Week – New York Theater
“Oh, Mary,” which opened on Broadway this previous week, is supposed to be humorous and intentionally tasteless; one scene in it, reimagining the primary American presidential assassination, seems to be particularly ill-timed. A track in a Broadway present not operating, controversial in its day, feels extra well timed:
“Plenty of madmen have had their say – However just for a day….Offended males/ don’t write the foundations/And weapons don’t proper the wrongs” — from “The Ballad of Sales space” in Stephen Sondheim’s “Assassins”
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(See under)
The Week in New York Theater Evaluations
The opening of “Oh, Mary!”… on the Lyceum marks the Broadway debut of Cole Escola as each playwright and performer, however the Off-Broadway run earlier this yr of this campy comedy about First Woman Mary Todd Lincoln has already turned Escola into the newest boy surprise of the theater world (albeit 37), an in a single day sensation (who started posting comedian movies on YouTube sixteen years in the past), and one thing of a queer hero (chosen by the Dorian Awards as LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season — one in every of many theater awards bestowed on each the artist and the present),,,“Oh, Mary!” is entertaining, sure, bawdy, queer, tasteless – i.e. camp – however like an overlong sketch. Full overview
“Empire: The Musical,” in regards to the development of the Empire State Constructing, has a pleasing sufficient rating, and a hard-working forged, however there’s nothing thrilling about it – definitely not its personal dancing-on-beam quantity, “Lookahee,” whose lyrics start “Hey, fairly lady, flip your head and have a look at me.” For all its busyness, “Empire” is just too usually an energy-sapping train, its fictionalized plot so pointlessly convoluted it hardly feels value finding out. Full overview
“Ain’t Achieved Unhealthy” is a dance theater piece a few homosexual boy who leaves his small city to seek out love within the large metropolis; its obvious similarity to “Illinoise” helped draw me to “Ain’t Achieved Unhealthy” within the first place, however the timing additionally makes a comparability unavoidable, which places Jakob Karr’s present at a drawback. I discovered “Illinoise” extraordinary and sometimes thrilling. My response to “Ain’t Achieved Unhealthy” is extra unsure….The story is the weak hyperlink. Full overview.
The Week in New York Theater Information
Becoming a member of Sutton Foster and Michael Urie within the forged of the Broadway switch of the Encores! manufacturing of “As soon as Upon A Mattress,” which opens on the Hudson Theater on August 12: Brooks Ashmanskas as The Wizard, Daniel Breaker as The Jester, Will Chase as Sir Harry, Nikki Renée Daniels as Woman Larken, David Patrick Kelly as King Sextimus, and Ana Gasteyer as Queen Aggravain. Solely the final two of those six have been within the unique Encores! live performance (my overview.)
New Group Theater’s star-studded 2024-2025 season, its 30th, three to be offered on the Signature Middle, the fourth on the Winery Theater.
Babe
by Jessica Goldberg, directed by Scott Elliott, with Marisa Tomei.
From grunge to femme punk hits, Abby (Tomei) and Gus have produced all of it. Their work marriage is famous and Gus has the platinum information to show it. However when Katherine, a recent rent, calls Abby out on the compromises she’s made in her work union, Abby should face the music and combat to outlive.
Fall 2024
Curse of the Ravenous Class
A revival of the acclaimed play of household dysfunction by the late Sam Shepard, directed by Scott Elliott, with Calista Flockhart, Cooper Hoffman and Christian Slater.
Winter 2025
The Final Bimbo of the Apocalypse
A brand new musical by Pretend Mates, the duo Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley now best-known for his or her Pulitzer-nominated “Circle Jerk.” In 2006, The New York Submit infamously labeled Paris, Lindsay and Britney “The Three Bimbos of the Apocalypse.” However who’s the fourth lady in that well-known photograph? Right this moment, three Gen Z web sleuths examine that icon – Coco, an early 2000’s one-hit surprise who mysteriously vanished.
Spring 2025
Bowl EP
Written and directed by Nazareth Hassan, a few duo in search of a reputation for his or her rap group, rising nearer by way of flirty interludes and cringy overshares.
Spring 2025 at Winery Theater
The internationally acclaimed Belarus Free Theater will launch La MaMa’s 63rd season in September with “KS6: Small Ahead,” about an Olympic athlete and ladies’s basketball star, the primary and solely well-liked sports activities determine within the historical past of Belarus to have overtly come out as homosexual, who now lives in exile as an outspoken, frontline activist in opposition to the dictatorship in her native nation.
This yr’s Broadway Flea Market and Grand Public sale will happen on Sept. 22 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m
2024 New York Unbiased Theater Award Hono
Watch These 10 For Free: Theater newly on tape at TOFT
Watch 2024 Broadway in Bryant Park Week 1
“Lin-Manuel Miranda is wrapping up the recording of an idea album for a brand new musical co-written by playwright Eisa Davis, in keeping with individuals with information of the matter. The album shall be based mostly on the 1979 film The Warriors, whose sympathetic depictions of gang members and gritty cinematography made it a normal bearer for youth counterculture. Representatives for Miranda declined to remark.” (Bloomberg)
In Memoriam
Joseph Hardy, 95, performer and Tony-winning director, who helmed the unique “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown.”
A public memorial for long-time stage supervisor Thomas J. Gates shall be held on the St. James Theatre at this time, July 15, at 2 PM.. Gates, 51, who was the manufacturing stage supervisor of “Illinoise” on the St. James, was killed by a New Jersey Transit practice in Might.
The Week’s Theater Video
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