Withmusic byDavid Bryan, lyrics by Bryan andJoe DiPietro, and a book by DiPietro, Memphis was directed by Christopher Ashley, choreographed by Sergio Trujillo,and starred Montego Glover, Chad Kimball, Derrick Baskin, and James Monroe Iglehart. It was nominated for eight Tony Awards and won four.
Following its inaugural production of The Dybbuk, The Congress for Jewish Culture continues its International Virtual Yiddish Theater series with a stream of the Megillah Cycle, premiering February 21 at 2:30 PM ET.
Directed and adapted by Mike Burstyn from Itzik Manger’s modernist take on the traditional Purim play, the cast features Burstyn (Barnum), Shane Baker (Tevye Served Raw), Eli Batalion (Stage Fright), Jamie Elman (California Dreamin’), Avi Hoffman (Too Jewish?), Daniel Kahn (Fiddler on the Roof), Lia Koenig, Noah Mitchel (My Favorite Year), Eleanor Reissa (Those Were the Days), Joshua Reuben (Shakespeare in Yiddish), Allen Lewis Rickman (A Serious Man), Yelena Shmulenson (Orange Is the New Black), and Suzanne Toren (From Door to Door).
The production, presented in Yiddish with subtitled translations, features interspersed English commentaries written by the late Joe Darion (Man of La Mancha). Original artwork is by Adam Whiteman, with music, editing, and technical supervision by Uri Schreter.
Founded in 1948, the Congress of Jewish Culture is a secular organization dedicated to its longstanding commitment to enriching Yiddish culture worldwide. Executive Director Shane Baker produces in association with Mariella Productions, the League for Yiddish, and Toronto Workmen’s Circle.
For more information and to view the stream, visit CongressforJewishCulture.org.
(Updated February 21, 2021)
1893 Birthday of playwright and producer Russel Crouse, whose prodigious output of scripts—many in partnership with Howard Lindsay—includes State of the Union and The Great Sebastians; the librettos to The Sound of Music, Call Me Madam, and Anything Goes; and the play that is still the longest-running non-musical in Broadway history, Life With Father.
1905 Augustus Thomas finds inspiration for a play from a series of drawings by Charles Dana Gibson, illustrator of the Gibson Girl. The Education of Mr. Pipp, a comedy, stars Digby Bell and Kate Denin Wilson. It runs at New York’s Liberty Theatre for 10 weeks.
1917 When newlyweds must hide their marriage—Oh, Boy! Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse collaborate on the musical, and Jerome Kern scores. Hit song: “Till the Clouds Roll By.”
1926 Dame Gillian Lynne is born in Bromley, Kent, England. She will go on to a successful career as a dancer and actor before becoming an award-winning choreographer and director, with such legendary titles as Cats and The Phantom of the Opera to her name. In 2018, she becomes the namesake of the first West End theatre to be named for a non-royal woman when The New London Theatre is renamed in her honor.
1928 Chester Morris and Elsie Lawson are the Whispering Friends. George M. Cohan‘s farce runs 14 weeks at the Hudson Theatre. William Harrigan and Anne Showmaker co-star.
1934 Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson collaborate on an unusual Broadway “opera,” Four Saints in Three Acts. It runs 32 performances at the 44th Street Theatre, followed by a 16 performance return engagement at the Empire Theatre.
1973 Demonstrating the difference in sensibilities between London and New York, the farce No Sex Please, We’re British, opens at Broadway’s Ritz Theatre en route to a 16-performance flop run. The London original continues for a run of 6,761 performances, their longest-running comedy ever.
1980 The Broadway premiere of Lanford Wilson‘s Talley’s Folly opens at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. The play is the prequel to Wilson’s Fifth of July which, also under the direction of Marshall W. Mason, opens later in the year.
1983 Birthday of future Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller. She receives a Tony nomination for her 2011 Broadway debut in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and wins Best Actress in a Musical for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Other Broadway credits include The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Waitress, and Carousel.
2003 First Off-Broadway performance for the puppet/human musical Avenue Q at the Vineyard Theatre. The show by Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx, and Jeff Whitty earns raves, moves to Broadway, and wins the Tony Award as Best Musical.
2014 Jason Robert Brown and Marsha Norman‘s musical The Bridges of Madison County, based on the Robert James Waller romance novel about a woman who sees love anew when a rugged photographer pulls into town, opens on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Kelli O’Hara and Steven Pasquale star. Although the production only lasts 100 performances, Brown wins Tony Awards for his orchestrations and score.
2020 A new take on West Side Story from the mind of Tony-winning director Ivo van Hove opens at the Broadway Theatre. The revival stars Shereen Pimentel as Maria and Isaac Powell as Tony, with Yesenia Ayala as Anita.
More of Today’s Birthdays: Robert Altman (1925-2006). Sidney Poitier (b. 1927). Sandy Duncan (b. 1946). Brenda Blethyn (b. 1946). Lili Taylor (b. 1967). Lauren Ambrose (b. 1978).
On this day we celebrate the birthday of Broadway favorite, Jessie Mueller
Beck Center for the ArtshasannouncedBeck Broadway Alums In Concert. Available for convenient streaming, this production benefits Beck Center.
Read on for some recent theatre headlines you may have missed in today’s news.
Tony Winners Sophie Okonedo and Denis O’Hare Join Cast of Infinite Storm
Four new cast members have been announced for the survival film Infinite Storm starring Naomi Watts, Deadline reports. Tony Award winners Sophie Okonedo (A Raisin in the Sun, The Crucible) and Denis O’Hare (Take Me Out, Assassins), along with screen actors Billy Howle and Parker Sawyers, join Watts in the thriller based on the true story of Pam Bales, who was caught in a blizzard on a solo hike up Mount Washington. Filming begins next week in Europe under the direction of Malgorzata Szumowska.
Wendi Peters to Lead You Are Here for Southwark Playhouse
You Are Here, a musical with a score by Neil Bartram and a book by Brian Hill, will have its U.K. premiere at the Southwark Playhouse for a four-week run beginning April 29. Wendi Peters, best known for her four years as Cilla Battersby-Brown on the ITV soap opera Coronation Street, will star as Diana, a Chicago housewife who, inspired by the astronauts taking that one giant leap, walks out of her suburban life on the night of the 1969 moon landing. Additional casting is to be announced. Tickets are currently being sold for live, in-person socially-distanced performances, with plans to move fully to streaming if necessary. The May 7 performance is currently dedicated only for streaming. For more information on the schedule and ticketing, click here.
Recipients Named for 2021 BOLD Theater Women’s Leadership Circle Grant
Vermont’s Northern Stage has announced the two new recipients of the BOLD Theater Women’s Leadership Circle Grant, funded by the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation. Nataki Garrett, artistic director of Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Maria Manuela Goyanes, artistic director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, have each been awarded $250,000 a year for two years to assist with the advancement of women’s leadership roles in theatre through programming and staffing for women+ artists. The circle’s previously announced cohort of recipients are Susan V. Booth of Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, Eileen J. Morris of Houston’s The Ensemble Theatre, Sarah Rasmussen of the McCarter Theatre Center, Christina Baldwin of Minneapolis’ Jungle Theater, Lisa McNulty of New York’s WP Theater, and BOLD founder Carol Dunne of Northern Stage. Since its inception, the program has awarded $3.5 million in grants to women-led theatres. Read more about the BOLD initiative and the grant recipients here.
