Curtain Call: Ain’t No Mo’ Becomes The Second Show Of Color To End Its Broadway Stint Early In December
Broadway: Jordan E. Cooper’s Broadway debut as a playwright and lead actor took shape in Ain’t No Mo’, a satirical piece that explores African-American race relations. Given the success of its opening night as well as the all-star lineup of co-producers backing it, the play was projected to have a fruitful run, but this unfortunately proved to be untrue. Produced by Lee Daniels and directed by Stevie Walker-Webb, the show closed its doors for the last time on December 18 after only 21 regular performances and 22 previews.
A week before, Korean-dominated musical KPOP was forced to cut short its Broadway run after just 17 regular performances and 44 previews. Despite a knockout start, Ain’t No Mo’ generated only $164,592 in its first week, with only 47% of the theater being occupied.
Samuel L. Jackson is best known as a Hollywood badass, but he chose to spend his 74th birthday on Broadway. Currently starring as Doaker Charles in The Piano Lesson, he has been committed to the role since the play opened on October 13 at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. During the curtain call after the December 21 show, Jackson met with an unexpected birthday surprise — Reverend Al Sharpton not only came to the performance, but he brought with him a cake. Its recipient has played a pivotal role in furthering the conversation on race in the arts and entertainment space, so it only makes sense that he was honored by a civil rights hero.
Set in 1936, the play explores the history of African Americans from different angles within a single household. Its current 17-week stint is scheduled to wrap up in January and features a deep roster that includes April Matthis, Danielle Brooks and John David Washington, among others. Written in 1987 by August Wilson, it premiered on Broadway in 1990 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama that same year. The 2022 revival is orchestrated by LaTanya Richardson Jackson, who is also the first woman to direct a play by Wilson on Broadway.
Stomp - Orpheum theater
Off Broadway: Following an extension to December 22, Bruce Norris’s Downstate at Playwrights Horizons has been stretched further into next year. Its final runtime will span four months, from previews in late October to the final performance early next month. The production’s on-stage lineup consists of Gabi Samels, Eddie Torres, Sally Murphy, Francis Guinan, Brian Hutchison, K. Todd Freeman, Glenn Davis and Susanna Guzmán.
Directed by Pam MacKinnon, the plot follows four sex offenders gathered inside a house following their release from prison. When one of their victims visits to face his abuser as an adult, spectators are forced out of their comfort zones as the story scrutinizes redemption and exoneration. The play originally ran at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater Company in 2018 and is Norris’s fourth play to be picked up by Playwrights Horizons.
After residing in New York City’s East Village for nearly 30 years, Stomp will finally call it a day early next month. The performance bundles humor, percussion and movement with musical instrumentation involving regular objects, creating physical theatrics that have attracted people from around the world for decades. As its popularity remains in place, its North American and European tours will continue as planned.
Conceived by Steve McNicholas and Luke Cresswell, the show opened at the Orpheum Theater in 1994. By the time it closes in January, it will have 11,472 performances to its credit.
Stomp’s co-creators shared the following statement: “We are so proud that the East Village and the Orpheum Theater has been Stomp’s home for so many wonderful years and want to thank our producers and our amazing cast, crew and front-of-house staff, all of whom have worked so hard for so long to make the show such a success. They have always given 100% to every audience, from the very beginning in 1994 to the post-lockdown audiences of 2022. We want to thank everyone involved for such an incredible New York run.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda - Slaven Vlasic / Stringer
Regional: Kevin S. McAllister has quite the resume. Aside from being the artistic director of Baltimore’s non-profit theater company, ArtsCentric, he also starred in Broadway’s Come From Away and Caroline, Or Change. He has now taken on the responsibility of directing a revival of Regina Taylor's Crowns in partnership with Baltimore Center Stage. Set to open on the night of February 16 next year, the play will run from February 11 until March 5.
Adapted from the book of the same name by Craig Marberry and Michael Cunningham, this musical gives its audience an intricate look into the Black experience in Southern United States. It premiered in 2002 at the Second Stage Theater in New York City as well as the McCarter Theater in New Jersey.
Freestyle Love Supreme has enjoyed a great deal of success at Las Vegas’s Venetian Resort since it opened in early November. Though performances will continue into April next year, three of them next month will feature a guest star. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who created the show along with Anthony Veneziale and Thomas Kail two decades ago, will make stage appearances on the nights of January 12–14.
“I knew I had to go back to Vegas after our electric opening week,” Miranda said. “Every Freestyle Love Supreme show is unique; that's the secret sauce. The rest is made up by this unstoppable group of actors, singers, beatboxers, and you, the audience. See you there.”
Vanessa Fisher - Kate Green / Stringer
International: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has been open at the Princess of Wales Theater in Toronto since December 11. Everything will go as planned except for one major update — it was recently announced that Linzi Hateley will no longer be narrating the production. She will instead be replaced by Vanessa Fisher, who will be returning to the role after an initial run at the London Palladium in 2019.
Directed by Laurence Connor and produced by Michael Harrison, the cast comprises 25 actors and actresses. Among them are Tosh Wanogho-Maud, Shane Antony-Whitely, Jabari Braham and Tyler Ephraim. The Canadian branch of the play will go on till February 18, 2023.
Gale Edwards’s production of La Bohème is all set for its 200th performance, scheduled to take place this (Australian) summer at the Sydney Opera House. Originally composed by Giacomo Puccini in the late 19th century, the love-fueled opera’s latest rendition is set in 1930s Berlin and explores themes such as incoming romance, emotional maturity and the sustenance of relationships through a musical lens.
Aside from the star power of Julie Lea Goodwin, Alexander Sefton and Michelangelo Mazza, the roster features two major international heavyweights. Peruvian tenor Iván Ayón-Rivas will grace the stage for the first time in Australia as the hopeless romantic poet, Rodolfo (Jan 12–Feb 8), which he also took on earlier this year with the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania. Also making his operatic debut in the country and resuming Rivas’s duties is Brazilian tenor Atalla Ayan (Feb 11–March 11), who previously worked with the company in 2018 when he played the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto. South Korean soprano Karah Son will be reprising her part as Mimì (Jan 12–Feb 8), having previously taken on the character back in 2020. She will be sharing the role with her Australian peers, Danita Weatherstone (Feb 11–Feb 25) and Rebecca Gulinello (March 1–March 11). Additionally, Esther Song will appear as Musetta (Feb 11–March 11) and Haotian Qi as Marcello.
