Features: Jessica Sherr-Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies; Broadway Profiles-Janet McTeer, Matthew Broderick; Working Theatre Mark Pleasent Commission Fund Recipients; Jannelle Lawrence; 4th Wall Theatre-White Rabbit Red Rabbit; NY Phil at The Shed; A Letter to Harvey Milk; April in Paris; Shakespeare’s Globe; S3-E2; John Lloyd Young; Lyric Opera of Chicago; Under Milk Wood; Target Margin Theatre-Magic in Plain Sight
4th Wall Theatre presents the new virtual adaptation of WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT,by Nassim Soleimanpour, the audacious theatrical experiment that’s more exciting the less you know. Since its premiere in 2011, it has been translated into 25 languages and performed over 2,000 times. Stars like Nathan Lane, Whoopi Goldberg, Alan Cumming and many more have lined up to perform this daring piece, and now members of Juilliard Class #19 – including special performances from Emmy Award-winner and Tony and Academy Award-nominee LAURA LINNEY, star of television and film JAKE WEBER, and 4th Wall Artistic Director PHILIP LEHL – will also have the opportunity to tackle this once-in-a-lifetime solo performance. We dare you not to research more. Pick your favorite actor and leap down the rabbit hole. April 22-May 30 (Laura Linney performs Sat. April 24. www.4thwalltheatreco.com
Broadway On Demand premiere of Jessica Sherr’sone-woman powerhouse production, Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies, directed by Drama Desk Award winner Karen Carpenter (Love Loss and What I Wore) during Women’s History Month, premiering this Friday, March 26 at 8:00 PM ET. In the 90-minute Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies Jessica Sherr (“Claws,” “Blue Bloods,” “Cloak & Dagger” BC) channels 31-year-old Bette Davis’ fight against the male-dominated studio system. On the night of the 1939 Oscars, Bette Davis returns home knowing she’s to lose Best Actress to Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett O’Hara, because the press has leaked the winners. www.broadwayondemand.com
Broadway Profiles with Tamsen Fadal,” America’s first nationally syndicated Broadway entertainment program, will feature Broadway favorites including Tony Award winners Matthew Broderick, LaChanze, and Janet McTeer, Tony Award nominee Taylor Louderman, Michael Urie, Ryan Spahn, and Jelani Alladin. This week’s episode will premiere nationally on Saturday, March 27 and Sunday, March 28. Check BroadwayProfiles.com for local listings. Locally, in New York City, this week’s episode will premiere on WPIX-TV on Sunday, March 28 at 6PM ET.
Working Theater, a Drama Desk and AUDELCO award winning Off-Broadway company, is proud to announce the first recipients of the Mark Plesent Commission Fund, Carlos Cotto and John Keane established to honor the legacy and vision of the Company’s artistic leader of 27 years. The Fund, conceived with Mark Plesent before his passing in February 2021, will support commission and development of new plays by working people– in particular, those who have not had the privilege or the resources to self-identify or support themselves professionally as artists, but who have shown extraordinary talent, consistency of practice and a commitment to writing within the mission of Working Theater. www.theworkingtheater.org
Janelle Lawrence, interdisciplinary Afro-Latinx artist, announces their upcoming workshops Storyteller Session and Mapping Out Your Musical, each scheduled for Sunday, March 28, 2021. Storyteller Sessions offers a thorough and cohesive guide through writing or editing a play, screenplay, or book (musical). Mapping Out Your Musical takes students through a cohesive guide in creating or editing a musical. Lawrence is an Afro-Latinx interdisciplinary artist that investigates communal and individual strength with stories that explore the complex layers of perspective and perception. They have had their musicals SUBLIMINAL, ‘TIS THE SEASON, and GROUP THERAPY produced at various Theaters in the NYC area such as Club Cumming, Teatro La Tea, and Joe’s Pub. www.JanelleLawrence.com
The New York Philharmonic makes its first return to live, indoor performances for audiences since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic on April 14 and 15 at 8:00 p.m. As part of The Shed’s new series, An Audience With…, Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct works composed for smaller ensembles: Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, Sibelius’s Rakastava (The Lover), and Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen, A Study for 23 Solo Strings. www.nyphil.org
The Off-Broadway musical, A LETTER TO HARVEY MILK, presented at Theatre Row in 2018, will be presented as a benefit online beginning April 22 at 7 PM and running through 25, 2021. Money raised will benefit the Actors Fund, and HIAS. Tickets are $10-$50 and can be purchased by visiting StellarTickets.com. San Francisco. 1986. What could Harry, an amiable but lonely retired kosher butcher, have in common with Barbara, his young lesbian writing teacher at the senior center? Is it enough to bridge the divide?
S3-E2 (Sean Harkness, Marcus Simeone, Lena Koutrakis) will be returning on Sun. March 28 at 7 pm Live on UTube.
David Rockwell returns to the Oscars team having previously served as production designer for the 81st and 82nd Oscars, the latter earning him a Primetime Emmy Award®. Rockwell is the founder and president of Rockwell Group, an interdisciplinary architecture and design firm that emphasizes innovation. He has designed sets for more than 60 theatrical productions, both on and Off-Broadway, including She Loves Me, for which he earned a Tony Award®, Kinky Boots, and Hairspray.
A free arts festival is coming to NYC this spring to celebrate the return of theatre, art, and performance for in-person consumption. Downtown Live will take place May 15–16 and 22–23 at locations around Lower Manhattan, including a covered loading dock at 4 New York Plaza, an arcade along the Stone Street Historic District, and 1 Battery Park Plaza. Among those slated to perform are Pulitzer Prize finalist Eisa Davis with Kaneza Schaal and Jackie Sibblies Drury as part of their recently announced exploratory theatre collaboration Afrofemononomy, The Tank Artistic Director Meghan Finn with playwright-performer Kaaron Briscoe, playwright-performer David Greenspan, Brazilian Theater Company Group .BR, performance artists Baba Israel and Grace Galu, music and storytelling duo James & Jerome, classical singer-composer Katie Madison, Lucille Lortel Award winner Kuhoo Verma (Octet) with Justin Ramos, and theatre maker Ellen Winter with Machel Ross.
John Godber’s classic comedy, April in Paris, announce new and rescheduled dates for the National tour in England, which will now open in Coventry on 17 May 2021. April in Paris will star Joe Pasquale and Sarah Earnshaw as Al and Bet and will be directed by Richard Lewis. Audiences will be socially distanced. In John Godber’s touching and hilarious classic, we go into the heart of one ordinary couple’s life as they go on both the journey of a lifetime and a journey into their relationship. Al and Bet are in a rut. Married for 26 years, their conversations are running dry and life has taken its toll. To see the tour dates: www.AprilInParisLive.com.uk
Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, in London, announced its post-lockdown summer reopening plans, with a series of safety protocols in place – including no intervals. … Announcing the season, which will see productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night, artistic director Michelle Terry said “the switch to continuous performances was a good and exciting thing.”
Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced The New Classics: Songs from the New Golden Age of Musical Theater, a virtual cabaret starring Broadway’s Gavin Creel, Nikki Renée Daniels, and Norm Lewis, plus Amanda Castro, Jenn Gambatese, Jo Lampert, and Heath Saunders, with David Chase as music director and featuring members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra. This cabaret will premiere on Thursday, June 10 at 7:00pm CT for free to audiences on Lyric’s Facebook and YouTube channels.
“Under Milk Wood” by Dylan Thomas will be staged in the Olivier theater from June 16 starring Michael Sheen. The Olivier theater will have a capacity of approximately 500, less than half of its full capacity of 1,150, while the Dorfman capacity will be 120, just above a quarter of its full 450 capacity. London’s National Theatre is set to reopen 2 or its 3 venues in June including the Dorfman.
John Lloyd Young continues his successful “John Lloyd by Request” Live from Las Vegas.” The Space presents this intimate concert and a VIP post-show talk-back that will include even more songs on Sat. May 1 – Tickets: www.thespacelv.com
Obie Award-winning Target Margin Theater (Founding Artistic Director David Herskovits, Associate Artistic Director Moe Yousuf, Community Producer Victoria Linchong) is pleased to announce a new edition of Magic in Plain Sight that will take place from May 8–June 19. Magic in Plain Sight is comprised of Now Go and Act Accordingly, a new work created under the direction of David Herskovits, and a series of one-week artist residencies with showings at their conclusion. The public events will take place at Target Margin Theater’s storefront theater and are designed for a limited, socially-distanced audience of twelve who safely watch from the sidewalk. Magic in Plain Sight celebrates the joy of gathering in the present moment as we prepare for the future.Now Go and Act Accordingly is a reflection on our moment; a celebration of the possibilities ahead of us, that is also open to the complicated emotions that surround us. Featuring movement, music, and language, Now Go and Act Accordingly looks at the world with new eyes. Check out more at www.targetmargin.org
