There will be 18 shows opening on Broadway in March and April, starting next week! Sure, that might feel overwhelming. But in his article on the “Crazily Crowded Broadway Spring Season” Michael Paulson offers a helpful grouping of the shows by category (linked to each show’s website):
Pop Music: “Hell’s Kitchen,” “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” “Tommy.” “Stereophonic,”
Literary adaptations: “The Great Gatsby,” “The Notebook,” “The Outsiders” and “Water for Elephants.”
Celebrities: — Steve Carell in “Uncle Vanya,” Jessica Lange and Jim Parsons in “Mother Play,” Rachel McAdams in “Mary Jane,” Eddie Redmayne in “Cabaret,” Liev Schreiber and Amy Ryan in “Doubt,” and Jeremy Strong in “An Enemy of the People.”
History: “Suffs,” “Lempicka,” “Patriots,”
The 18th is put in its own category, “old-fashioned musical theater merriment”: “The Wiz”
For thumbnail descriptions of these shows, and chronological listing by opening date, check out my Broadway Spring 2024 Preview Guide
Meanwhile, Off Broadway is blooming too, with a myriad of extensions announced this week (See below.)
The Week in New York Theater Reviews and Previews
The Hunt
In “The Hunt,” Tobias Menzies portrays a preschool teacher whose community turns against him after a false accusation by one of his five-year-old students. The play is an English-language adaptation of a 2012 Danish film entitled “Jagten,” which… is currently available online with English captions. The film is devastating. The play is less so… “The Hunt” makes for uncomfortable viewing, but not just in the ways the adapters intend. Full review
Jelly’s Last Jam
“Jelly’s Last Jam” offers a starry showcase of exquisite blues singing, lively jazz playing and energetic tap dancing to tell the fascinating story of an important figure in the history of American music — although not as important as he himself claimed. In “Jelly’s Last Jam,” the title character has his friend-turned-valet introduce him as “the Jelly Roll Morton: Lover of women, inventor of jazz, and owner of twenty- seven suits.” Full Review
Sunset Baby
The first meeting between Kenyatta and Nina is tense, as it surely would be for any father and daughter who have not seen each other for many years. But their encounter in this revival of Dominique Morisseau’s decade-old play could not be more fraught…Nina sums up: “I sell drugs and rob niggas. Ashanti X died with an addiction. And your ass is coming back here to be sentimental…” If the set-up feels overwhelming, overwrought, what unfolds is slow-moving and too often muddled. And, given the marked theatrical shift over the past few years, as well as the change in Morisseau’s own writing, “Sunset Baby” feels out of date. Full review
Puppetry Preview: At a Festival, in a Horror Movie, on Broadway and Beyond
The Week in New York Theater News
Closings:
“A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical” will close on June 30th, having played 35 preview and 657 regular performances on Broadway. A national tour is planned for the Fall. (My review)
Second Stage Theater is giving up its Off Broadway home, the Tony Kiser Theater on 43rd Street,saying the rent was too high and its lease had unfavorable terms. It’s left now with its Broadway theater, the Hayes, but is looking for another home for its Off Broadway offerings. (NYTimes)
Extensions:
“Make Me Gorgeous!” at Playhouse 46 through March 24
“The Ally” at the Public through March 24
The New Group’s “The Seven Year Disappear” at Signature Center through March 31
“Teeth” at Playwrights Horizons through April 14
Eddie Izzard’s “Hamlet” at Orpheum March 19 – April 14
“Oh, Mary” at Lucille Lortel Theater through May 5
Awards
The Lucille Lortel Awards will honor Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Dominique Morisseau and Ars Nova at its 39th annual ceremony, which will be held May 5, at 7pm at NYU Skirball.
The Drama League Awards will honor Jessica Lange, Schele Williams, Kandi Burruss and Jonathan Groff at its 90thannual ceremony, which will take place May 17 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom.
New “smart glasses” allow easy captioning of theater in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Inquirer)
How TDF Is Expanding the Transformative Power of Captioning at the Theatre (TDF Stages)
George Gershwin’s musical “La La Lucille,” last performed in 1926 and thought to be lost, has been rediscovered: A researcher found 800 pages of material including complete orchestrations at the Samuel French Collection at Amherst College (MILive)
In Memoriam
Robert Macbeth, 89, founder of Harlem’s New Lafayette Theater
This Week’s Theater Video
Check out all five Jelly’s Last Jam videos in my review.
