Fourteenth in a series of Broadway reports
NEW YORK – On Broadway, something’s always opening. Many shows will survive, some will fall by the wayside.
That’s the tempo and reality on The Great White Way.
You can’t possibly see everything. The choices and diversity will continue over the next few months, leading up to the Tony Awards in June. So if you’re a Broadway fan, you need to be aware and alert.
Looking ahead, here’s what’s on the Broadway calendar. Dates may change, so check websites for the latest data.
A select list of what’s coming up:
- “The Shark Is Broken,” opening Aug. 10, at the Golden Theatre. A hilarious sliver of history about one of the world’s top films, “Jaws.” It’s 1974, in Martha’s Vineyard, aboard a boat occupied by Ian Shaw, as his dad Robert Shaw, Colin Donnell as Roy Schneider, and Alex Brightman as Richard Dreyfuss. Not known if the shark will get starpower.
- “Purlie Victorious,” opening Sept. 7, at the Music Box Theatre. Leslie Odom Jr. (“Hamilton” Tony winner) stars as a black preacher in Ossie Davis’ non-Confederate comedy where he is trying to win back his church.
- “Melissa Etheridge: My Window,” opening Sept. 28, at the Circle in the Square Theatre. An evening of storytelling and music, with heart and soul, about Melissa Etheridge’s, pictured above, Kansas roots and journey that includes bumps in the road.
- “Gutenberg! The Musical,” opening Sept. 5, at the James Earl Jones Theatre. Starring Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells, pictured below, tackling big dreams, minuscule odds, and tons of unearned confidence in the staging of a musical, with the actors finally reuniting 10 years after starring in “The Book of Mormon.”
- “Merrily We Roll Along,” opening Sept. 19, at the Hudson Theatre. A glimpse at the three-decades-long relationship between composer Franklin Shepard and his lifelong friends, writer Mary and lyricist-playwright Charley. With tunes by Stephen Sondheim, book by George Furth, based on a play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.
- “Harmony,” opening Nov. 13, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Based on the true story about the Comedian Harmonists, a hot six-member group of the 1920s and 1930s, who sold millions of discs and made dozens of films,, and sold out the biggest theaters world-wide. A timely rags-to-riches story lost to history returns to dazzling life with a cast of Broadway favorites.
- “I Need That,” opening Dec. 31, theater to be named. Danny DeVito stars as Sam, who doesn’t get out much, faces eviction unless he cleans up his property, so he has to reckon with what’s trash, what’s treasure, what’s not. His daughter Lucy DeVito and Ray Anthony Thomas co-star.
- “The Wiz,” opening Dec. 31, theater to be announced. Based on L. Frank Baum’s children’s book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, with a transformational all-black cast complete with the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow.
- “Cabaret,” spring 2024, August Wilson Theatre. A West End revival is moving to Broadway, reopening the Kit Kat Club. The evergreen musical with the enduring score by John Kander (music) and Fred Ebb will be directed by Olivier-winning Rebecca Frecknail. A cast has not been named, but the London players included Eddie Redmayne as the Emcee and Jessie Buckley as Sally Bowles (pictured above).
- “Doubt: A Parable,” February 2024, at the American Airlines Theatre. Tyne Daly and Liev Schreiber as the prickly nun and reformist priest, respectively, will spar in John Patrick Shanley’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning psychological warfare…
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Ol’ Blue Eyes is getting the musical theater treatment in “Sinatra, The Musical.” Its world premiere will be in a Sept. 23 through Oct. 28 run at the Birmingham Rep in Birmingham, England, and the show boasts 25 trademark Sinatra tunes.
Deadline has reported that producers have tapped Matt Doyle to portray – and presumably, sing very much like – Frank Sinatra. The show features a book by Joe DiPietro, who wrote “Memphis” and “Diana,” and Kathleen Marshall will direct and choreograph.
Of course, the show has to cross the pond, and if it materializes to expectations, it could remain and reboot at a larger venue and a longer run. A Broadway move would be logical, of course, and we can only wish and hope …
And that’s Show Biz. …