Performances of the North American premiere of the West End hit musicalEverybody is Talking About Jamie opens on January 21, 2022, at Center Theatre GroupAhmanson Theatre. Previews begin, January 16, 2022, and performances continue through February 20, 2022.
After beginning performances December 11, 2021, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life, starring Emmy-nominated Saturday Night Live star Cecily Strong, is set to officially open at The Shed January 11. The solo show is scheduled to play a limited engagement through February 6.
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe begins with a character named Trudy, who serves as Earth’s guide to aliens searching for intelligent life. The production explores American society, art, power, and the feminist movement through a comedic and quick-witted investigation.
Playwright Jane Wagner penned the script in 1985 for her now-wife Lily Tomlin, who won a Best Actress Tony Award for its first Broadway production. Tomlin appeared in a 1991 film adaptation of the work, and again in its 2001 Broadway return, which was Tony-nominated for Best Revival of a Play.
The production features set design by Christine Jones and Mary Hamrick, costume design by Anita Yavich, lighting desing by Stacey Derosier, sound design and compositions by Elisheba Ittoop, and production stage management by Justin Scribner. Tomlin, who originated the role, serves as executive producer with Wagner.
Today’s top stories include the casting of James Monroe Iglehart in Chicago on Broadway Plus, Chris Evans is in talks to star as Gene Kelly in a new movie Flying Over Sunset announces January 16 closing date, Paradise Square delays its Broadway opening due to COVID-19, and more.
1905 Quivery-voiced actor Sterling Holloway is born in Cedartown, Georgia. He becomes a fixture of Broadway’s The Garrick Gaieties revues of the 1920s and ’30s, and achieves a kind of immortality providing the voice for Disney’s Winnie the Pooh in cartoons starting in the 1960s.
1924 Future director George Abbott and actor Clara Blandick are featured in Hatcher Hughes‘ hillbilly feud drama, Hell-Bent Fer Heaven, which opens at the Klaw Theatre and goes on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
1934 Billie Burke produces the first Ziegfeld Follies after the death of founder Florenz Ziegfeld. The Ziegfeld Follies of 1934 features Fanny Brice, Eve Arden, Buddy Ebsen, Vilma Ebsen, Jane Froman, Eugene Howard, Willie Howard, and the music of Vernon Duke. It runs at the Winter Garden.
1956 Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne are The Great Sebastians, a pair of fraudulent performers with a mind-reading act. The comedy by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse is staged by Bretaigne Windust at the ANTA Playhouse.
1965 T.S. Eliot dies in London at the age of 77. He is credited with the revival of poetic drama after penning Murder in the Cathedral in 1935. He also wrote The Cocktail Party, The Family Reunion, and The Confidential Clerk. His book of poems, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, is the inspiration for the musical Cats.
1969 Adrienne Kennedy scripts two one-acts titled Cities in Bezique at the Public Theater. Joan Harris and Cynthia Belgrave are members of the cast, directed by Gerald Freedman.
1976 Yul Brynner stars in Home Sweet Homer, a musical based on the final chapters of The Odyssey, with a score by Man of La Mancha composer Mitch Leigh. Despite the presence of La Mancha star Joan Diener, the show closes on opening night.
1981 Another one-performance show opens and closes on Broadway: Frankenstein, by Victor Gialanella. The cast includes John Carradine, David Dukes, John Glover, and Dianne Wiest.
2004 Director Sam Mendes, choreographer Rob Marshall, and former cast members attend the 2,378th and final performance of the 1998 Tony-winning Cabaret revival at Studio 54.
2014 Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark, the high-flying, multimillion dollar musical with music by Bono and The Edge, ends its Broadway run at the Foxwoods Theatre after 1,066 performances. The production broke Broadway records for longest preview period (182 performances) and for most expensive musical (it cost $75 million). Over the course of its extended preview period, original director Julie Taymor left the project, and writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and director Philip Wm. McKinley were brought on to try to fix the show. Members of the production suffered numerous injuries during the run, including cast members Christopher Tierney and Daniel Curry.
More of Today’s Birthdays: William Bendix (1906–1964), Sorrell Booke (1930–1994), Dyan Cannon (b. 1937), Jim Norton (b. 1938), Martin Vidnovic (b. 1948), Patrick Cassidy (b. 1962), Natascia Diaz (b. 1970), Dave Malloy (b. 1976), Clyde Alves (b. 1980).
Watch highlights from Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark:
The Broadway production of Come From Away has suspended performances through January 7, 2022 at the Gerard Schoenfeld Theatre.
Broadway’s Mrs. Doubtfire will take an extended hiatus from January 10-March 14, with performances scheduled to resume March 15. Producers hope the hiatus will allow the show to avoid a full closure as the company battles breakthrough cases of COVID-19.
The hiatus follows a much more brief break last month, though the musical had resumed performances December 22. The production will continue to play as scheduled through January 9.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE OF BROADWAY SHOWS
“Mrs. Doubtfire has been in development for six years,” says producer Kevin McCollum. “We are doing everything in our power to keep the virus from prematurely ending our run on Broadway. By taking this break we can afford to launch an extended run starting in March.
“Finally, I would like to express my profound and unending admiration for our extraordinary cast, crew, orchestra, creative team, and entire company. They have risen to every challenge thrown at them over the last two years with a remarkable amount of resilience, good humor, grit, and love for one another. They embody the indomitable spirit of Broadway.”
Ticket holders for performances March 15 or later will keep their seating locations. Those with tickets for canceled performances can exchange for a later date or get a refund from their point of purchase.
Tony nominee Rob McClure stars as divorced dad Daniel Hillard and his alter ego, the Scottish nanny Mrs. Doubtfire, in the musical based on the 1993 film. Read reviews for the production here.
The cast also includes Jenn Gambatese as Miranda Hillard, Peter Bartlett as Mr. Jolly, Charity Angél Dawson as Wanda Sellner, Mark Evans as Stuart Dunmire, J. Harrison Ghee as Andre Mayem, Analise Scarpaci as Lydia Hillard, Jake Ryan Flynn as Christopher Hillard, Avery Sell as Natalie Hillard, and Brad Oscar as Frank Hillard. Rounding out the ensemble are Cameron Adams, Calvin L. Cooper, Kaleigh Cronin, Maria Dalanno, Casey Garvin, David Hibbard, KJ Hippensteel, Aaron Kaburick, Jodi Kimura, Erica Mansfield, Brian Martin, Alexandra Matteo, Sam Middleton, LaQuet Sharnell Pringle, Akilah Sailers, Jaquez André Sims, Addison Takefman, Travis Waldschmidt, and Aléna Watters.
The new musical comedy features a book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell and music and lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick, the Tony-nominated team behind Something Rotten!.
Mrs. Doubtfire is directed by four-time Tony winner Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Lorin Latarro, with music supervision by Ethan Popp. The show has a scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Philip Rosenberg, sound design by Brian Ronan, hair and wig design by David Brian Brown, and make-up and prosthetics design by Tommy Kurzman.
Kevin McCollum produces Mrs. Doubtfire, presented by special arrangement with Buena Vista Theatrical.
