None of the Connecticut theaters are announcing their 2017-18 seasons just yet, but fanfare in other states give us a good sense of what’s out there. Some of the big shows touring the country next season include “School of Rock,” “Waitress,” “Something Rotten!” “On Your Feet: The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan,” “Finding Neverland,” “The Bodyguard — The Musical,” “Aladdin” and a revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 2010 “Phantom of the Opera” sequel “Love Never Dies.”
It’d be sweet if some Connecticut theater (particularly a big old fancy one) got hold of “Love Never Dies,” since it would complement the new national tour of “Phantom of the Opera” scheduled to play the Waterbury Palace that same season.
But what (we hear you scream) about “Hamilton”? Besides the nearly six-month stints in San Francisco and Los Angeles this year and multi-week engagements in Seattle and Houston and Washington, D.C., in 2018, over a dozen cities have booked Lin-Manuel Miranda’s blockbuster for the tail end of their 2017-18 seasons and at least another dozen have the show set for 2018-19. Connecticut is not on those lists yet. In fact, nearly all the announced bookings are in Midwestern, Southern or Western states. The only New England city listed so far is Boston, in 2018; that basic info has been known for nearly a year now, and exact dates have still not been officially revealed.
Blackburn Finalists
Finalists for the 2016-2017 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize —the most prestigious and remunerative award given exclusively to female playwrights —have been announced. Several of the playwrights have had plays produced in Connecticut, and two of the nominated plays were originally commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre. Jen Silverman’s “The Moors” was staged at the Rep last year, and Amy Herzog’s “Mary Jane” will have its premiere there in April. Among the eight other finalists are “Pipeline” by Dominique Morisseau, whose “Sunset Baby” is currently at TheaterWorks, and “Dance Nation” by Clare Barron, a Yale grad who as an actress appeared in the 2014 Long Wharf Theatre production of Heidi Schreck’s “The Consultant.”
The winning playwright gets $25,000 and a signed Willem de Kooning art print. Last year’s winner was “Sweat” by Lynn Nottage, which had a run at New York’s Public Theater and will be on Broadway this spring. Caryl Churchill’s “Cloud Nine,” which Hartford Stage is staging this month, was a finalist back in 1979. (Churchill won for “Fen” in 1983-84 and again for “Serious Money” in 1987-88.) Other winners over the years have included Paula Vogel, Sarah Ruhl, Katori Hall, Dael Orlandersmith and Julia Cho. Details at blackburnprize.org.
The Killer Cast Of ‘Assassins’
Can’t tell your killers without a scorecard: The Yale Repertory Theatre has announced the cast for its highly anticipated production of the Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman musical “Assassins,” part of the theater’s 50th anniversary season. The show, directed by the Rep’s Artistic Director James Bundy, runs March 18 through April 8 in the Rep’s largest regular space, the Yale University Theatre on York St. in New Haven.
The cast: Austin Durant (the Yale School of Drama grad whose previous Rep credits include “American Night,” “Death of a Salesman,” “Hamlet” and “Passion Play” as The Proprietor), current Yale School of Drama student Dylan Frederick as The Balladeer; Robert Lenzi (Broadway’s “Tuck Everlasting” and “South Pacific,” Westport Playhouse’s “Into the Woods,” Goodspeed’s “A Sign of the Times”) as John Wilkes Booth; Stephen DeRosa (who was the merry Moonface Martin in “Anything Goes” last year at Goodspeed and the father in Yale Rep’s “These Paper Bullets!”, not to mention The Baker in a major Broadway revival of Sondheim’s “Into the Woods”) as Charles Guiteau; P.J. Griffith (Broadway’s “American Idiot”) as Leon Czolgosz; Stanley Bahorek (“February House” at the Long Wharf, “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” in New York) as Giuseppe Zangara; Lauren Molina (Broadway’s “Rock of Ages” and “Sweeney Todd”) as Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme; Julia Murney (Elphaba in “Wicked” on Broadway and on tour) as Sara Jane Moore; 2012 Yale School of Drama grad Lucas Dixon (who has worked at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and Chautauqua Theater Company) as John Hinckley Jr.; and Richard R. Henry (“American Night” and “The Winter’s Tale” at the Rep, “Guys and Dolls” at Long Wharf) as Samuel Byck.
The chorus of Bystanders consists of Broadway veterans Fred Inkley and Jay Aubrey Jones, YSD student Courtney Jamison, Brian Ray Norris (“A Dog Story” in New York, a national tour of “Mamma Mia”) and Sana “Prince” Sarr (“Camelot” in Westport, “Bye Bye Birdie” at Downtown Cabaret).
The music director of “Assassins” is Andrea Grody (“The Band’s Visit” at Atlantic Theater Company) and the associate music director is Daniel Schlosberg (the composer/performer who did many cool projects at Yale as a student in the college and the School of Music). Ricardo Hernandez, who did the incredible sets for “Indecent,” “Marie Antoinette,” “Battle of Black and Dogs” at the Rep, is the scenic designer.
Costumes are by Ilona Somogyi, whose other Connecticut regional credit this month is “Cloud Nine” at Hartford Stage, where she also did “Romeo and Juliet” recently. Lighting is by Yi Zhao (“War” at Yale Rep) and the sound design (distinct from the music direction) is by the Nathan Roberts and Charles Coe. The Rep is prone to using projections for many of its shows, and “Assassins” is no exception: Michael Commendatore, who did the spooky apparitions in “The Winter’s Tale” at the Rep, is the projection designer.
‘Newsies’ On The Big Screen
Twenty-five years ago, “Newsies” was accused of killing the movie musical. Now its Broadway version has been filmed so it can be shown in cinemas. Good news!
The screenings are Feb. 16, 18 and 22 at selected theaters, including some in Manchester, Plainville, Waterbury, North Haven, Branford, Milford, Trumbull, Danbury and Westport. Details at newsiesthemusical.com.
Several of the show’s original cast members reunited for this “Newsies” special edition, including Jeremy Jordan (whom TheaterWorks audiences saw pre-stardom in “The Little Dog Laughed” back in 2008) and Ben Fankhauser (who was at The Bushnell just last month as Barry Mann in the tour of “Beautiful”). The performance was staged in Los Angeles in September.
“Newsies” has always been close to journalists’ hearts, since it chronicles the scrappy newsboys strike of 1899. The 1992 film, starring Christian Slater, Robert Duvall, Bill Pullman and Ann-Margret, was a commercial flop, but thanks to a cult following and continued interest in anything composed by Alan Menken, “Newsies” was turned into a stage musical in 2011.
The show’s national tour played Connecticut twice, at the Waterbury Palace in 2014 and The Bushnell in 2015. Its producers (Disney) took the unusual move of ending the national tour after two years, before it did the usual trickling-down from Equity to non-Equity tours. Instead, Disney started licensing the show for regional theater productions; the first of those will hit this summer. Meanwhile, you know that high schools and middle schools across the land are salivating for a “Newsies Jr.” version to be authorized.
