“Moulin Rouge The Musical” is opening on Broadway this month, and both comedian Dave Chappelle and singer Barry Manilow will have “Broadway residencies,” which is a pretentious way of describing the spate of concert or stand-up gigs at the Lunt-Fontanne that run for as little as two days and no more than several weeks.
Off Broadway, Third Rail Project (Then She Fell) presents their latest immersive theater project.) and Luis Alfaro (Oedipus El Rey) returns with another update of a Greek tragedy. Kate del Castillo performs in a solo show, and Annie Golden stars in a musical by Joe Iconis.
Since it’s summer time, there are also the summer theater festivals such as the New York Musical Festival (where Iconis is presenting a concert of his songs), and such FREE theatrical concerts as the weekly Broadway in Bryant Park
The shows described below are organized chronologically by opening night, except the festivals and the “Broadway residencies,” which are presented by their first day. Each title is linked to a relevant website for more information
Color key: Broadway: Red. Off Broadway: Purple, blue or black. Off Off Broadway: Green.Theater festival: Orange. Puppetry: Brown. Immersive: Magenta.
July 2
Rock of Ages (New World Stages)
Tenth anniversary re-production this jukebox musical of 1980s rock anthems that tells the story of a small-town girl, a city boy, and a rock ‘n’ roll romance on the Sunset Strip
Hot Festival (Dixon Place)
Billed as the longest-running LGBTQ festival in the world, this month-long celebration of queer culture featuring 48 shows begins tonight with a FREE sampling of festivals offerings
July 5
Crushing Baby Animals
Two artists full of self-doubt decide as a last-ditch effort to adapt Dante’s Inferno, bringing audiences along “on an uncharted adventure through parallel dimensions and personal hells.”
July 8
New York Musical Festival
This year’s festival runs July 8 to August 4, and features ten full productions, including Till, a musical telling the true story of Mamie Till and her son Emmett, a black teenager who in 1955 was murdered for looking at a white girl. There are also 11 staged readings and nine concerts, including one by Be More Chill’s Joe Iconis.
July 9
Dave Chappelle Live on Broadway (Lunt-Fontanne)
July 10
Corkscrew Festival
In its third year, the festival will present eight productions and four (free) staged readings by “early-career artists” from July 10th to August 3rd. Up first: “Mad” (one of the free staged readings): young gay black man struggles to find the balance in which he can safely be himself, so he cooks up an autobiographical theatrical production in his mind
July 11
The Bacchae (CTH at Marcus Garvey Park)
A new 70-minute adaptation of Euripides’ tragedy by Theater of War’s Bryan Doerries (Antigone in Ferguson) performed FREE by Classical Theatre of Harlem in the Richard Rodgers Amphitheatre in Marcus Garvey Park
Synopsis: “Dionysus, the god of wine, prophecy, religious ecstasy, and fertility, returns to his birthplace in Thebes in order to clear his mother’s name and to punish the insolent city state for refusing to allow people to worship him.”
July 12
No One Is Forgotten (Rattlestick)
In this new play by Winter Miller, Lali and Beng are held captive.
Rent Party (Drama of Works at The Tank)
Drama of Works’ toy theater reproduces a Harlem block from the 1920s, where a party is taking place to collect contributions towards a neighbor’s rent.
July 14
I Wan Jan: Puppetry from Taiwan (Flushing Town Hall)
July 15
The Rolling Stone (Lincoln Center’s Mitzi Newhouse)
In this family drama by Chris Urch, two Ugandan brothers at odds – one a gay man in a secret relationship, and the other a church pastor.
The Evil Plays: Short New Play Festival (Red Bull at Lucille Lortel)
Eight new plays, one night only
July 17
Mojada (Public Theater)
Playwright Luis Alfaro and director Chay Yew (the team that brought us a modern version of Oedipus,Oedipus El Rey) do it again with this modern version of Medea, following a young Mexican mother who gives up everything to bring her son to America, only to find America demands even more
July 18
I Spy A Spy (Theatre at St. Clements)
In this musical comedy set in Hell’s Kitchen, an undocumented Mexican delivery man and a woman who’s a Russian spy both have an American dream
The Way She Spoke (Minetta Lane)
Kate del Castillo portrays an actress in this play by Isaac Gomez who enters a theater, picks up a script, and begins to read a disturbing account of the murder of thousands of women in Juarez, Mexico.
Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow (MCC)
Halley Feiffer’s contemporary reimagining of Chekhov’s “Three Sisters,” we follow the joys and heartbreaks of one lovably dysfunctional family over the course of several pivotal years.
The Privilege of Escape
“Referencing escape rooms—immersive environments where groups solve a series of hands-on puzzles against the clock—this project distills the complexity of privilege by placing it in context of a thrilling game. Upon arrival, attendees find themselves cast as subjects in a study conducted by a cutting-edge institute. In the experiment, groups will race against the clock to solve a series of interactive, sculptural puzzles designed by the artist that resemble popular board games.”
July 19
Summer Shorts Series A (59e59)
Three short plays, by Courtney Baron, Nick Payne, and Danielle Trzcinski
July 23
Broadway Bounty Hunter (Greenwich House Theater)
Annie Golden stars in this comic musical from “Be More Chill” writer Joe Iconis as a down-on-her-luck actress who become a real-life, Kung Fu-fighting bounty hunter.
July 24
Midsummer A Banquet (Cafe Fae)
From Third Rail Projects (creators of “Then She Fell“) and Food of Love (“Shake and Bake: Love’s Labour’s Lost,”) comes this 360-degree environmental staging of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” complete with tasting menu.
July 25
Moulin Rouge The Musical (Al Hirschfeld)
Aaron Tveit and Karen Oliva star in this adaptation of the 2001 movie by Baz Luhrmann as Christian, an ambitious, lovesick writer, Christian, and Satine, a dazzling chanteuse.
July 26
Summer Shorts Series B (59e59)
Three short plays by Nancy Bleemer, Neil Labute, and Sharr White.
Manilow Broadway
July 29
Hannah Senesh (folksbiene at MJH)
An English-language play with music an song written and directed by David Schechter, based on the diaries and poems of a heroic young woman who risked her life to save European Jews from the Holocaust. At the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
July 31
Rinse, Repeat (Signature)
A play by Domenica Feraud about a woman’s fight for her life in the face of an eating disorder.
