20@20 Off Broadway – Hercules in Hamburg at Paper Mill Playhouse – 5th Annual Chita Rivera Awards – Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil – The Acting Co/Billy Strayhorn: Something to Live For – Prospect Theatre Co Muse Awards
The 5th annual Chita Rivera Awards (www.ChitaRiveraAwards.com) will take place on Monday, May 22 at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 LaGuardia Place off of Washington Square Park), it was announced today by Joe Lanteri, Founder and Executive Director of the New York City Dance Alliance Foundation, Inc. (www.NYCDAFoundation.net). Lanteri produces in conjunction with Patricia Watt. This year’s cut off for Chita Rivera Awards consideration is Thursday, April 27, and the nominations will be announced on Friday, April 28.
Disney Theatrical Productions announces that Stage Entertainment will present the European premiere of HERCULES in Hamburg, Germany in Spring 2024. The production is currently on stage at the Paper Mill Playhouse through March 19, 2023. Hercules features a score by Alan Menkin and lyrics by David Zippel features all the hits you love from the film, including the Oscar®-nominated song “Go The Distance,” as well as “Zero to Hero” and “I Won’t Say (I’m in Love),” along with new songs written for the stage. The show features a new book by Tony Award® winner Robert Horn (Tootsie) and Kwame Kwei-Armah (artistic director of London’s Young Vic), and direction by Obie Award-winning Lear deBessonet. Paper Mill’s production features Bradley Gibson as Hercules, Isabelle McCalla, James Monroe Inglehart, and Shuler Hensley. www.papermill.org Look for the review in TheaterPizzazz.com on March 2, 2023.
Save 20 Bucks, 20 Minutes before March 20 thru April 9 at participating Off-Broadway shows. $20, 20 minutes before Curtain. www.20at20.com
MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL the 1994 iconic blockbuster book by John Berendt, which still holds a New York Times bestseller list record, is being developed into a new musical. The production will be directed by Tony Award winner Rob Ashford, written by MacArthur “Genius” Grantee and Pulitzer Finalist Taylor Mac, with music and lyrics by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown and choreography by Tanya Birl and Sarah O’Gleby. Additional creative team to be announced at a later date.An invitation only industry reading will take place May 12th and 13th, 2023.
The Acting Company announces casting for their reading of Billy Strayhorn: Something to Live For, produced, by special arrangement with Steven Tabakin/Swee Pea LLC, as part of The Acting Company’s annual Louanna O. Carlin & John MacDonald Reading Series. Billy Strayhorn: Something to Live For features music and lyrics by the late jazz legend, Billy Strayhorn; Book by Robert Zellers (playwright, The Chief at Pittsburgh Public Theatre) with Kent Gash (Troilus and Cressida, Twelfth Night, Regina Taylor’s A Night in Tunisia, and Five Guys Named Moe), who also directs; and musical direction by Matthew Whitaker (“Emotions & Underground!”). The reading will take place Monday, March 6 at 7:00 pm at the Mainstage Theatre at 416 West 42nd Street. Tickets for all reading series shows may be purchased separately. Seating is subject to availability. Visit theactingcompany.org/2023ReadingSeries or call 212-258-3111 to purchase tickets.
Prospect Theater Company (Cara Reichel, Producing Artistic Director; Melissa Huber, Managing Director) announced that their annual Spring Gala will honor four extraordinary members of the theatre community with the second annual Muse Awards: legendary actor and activist George Takei; educator and Tony & Grammy Award nominee Michael McElroy, Founder of Broadway Inspirational Voices; theater education leader Jim Hoare, Executive Vice President of Theatrical Rights Worldwide; and composer, lyricist, music producer, and activist Georgia Stitt.
Prospect’s Spring Gala will be held on Monday, May 1st at The Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street). The evening will include cocktails, dinner, and entertainment from special guests in celebration of this year’s Muse Award recipients.
