Curtain Call: Helen J Shen To Co-Star in Broadway’s ‘Maybe Happy Ending’
Alan Trong - Frazer Harrison
Broadway: Emmy winner Darren Criss and Helen J Shen will star in the new Broadway musical Maybe Happy Ending along with Dez Duron from NBC’s The Voice. Criss will portray the robot “Oliver,” and Shen will portray “Claire.” Previews begin Wednesday, September 18 at the Belasco Theatre, and opening night is Thursday, October 17. The complete cast as well as information to buy tickets is yet to be announced.
The late Samm-Art Williams Tony-nominated 1979 play Home is having a revival on Broadway this spring. The original production received a nomination for the Best Play Tony Award and went on to have a total of 278 shows. Previews begin at the Todd Haimes Theatre on May 17, and the official opening is June 5.
Grammy nominated artist Yola will make her Broadway debut in Hadestown as ‘Persephone’ starting July 2. As it was previously announced, Maia Reficco is also joining the production as Eurodice the same date. Currently, Hadestown stars Ani DiFranco as Persephone, Jordan Fisher as Orpheus, Jon Jon Briones as Hermes, Phillip Boykin as Hades, and Isa Briones as Eurydice. Jon Jon Briones, Isa Briones, and Ani DiFranco will all give their final performance as their respective characters Sunday, June 30.
Actor Alan Trong booked his first Broadway stage gig for Isben’s Enemy of the People, a new adaptation by Amy Herzog. Trong plays a ship captain named Captain Horster, who supports Doctor Stockmann’s efforts to warn their town about the contaminated water supply. He currently performs in the show every night.
Ana Villafañe - Dominik Bindl
Off Broadway: Holland Taylor and Ana Villafañe will star in the Off Broadway premiere of N/A, a new play created by Mario Correa. Directed by Tony winner Diane Paulus, both actresses will portray congresswomen of two different generations. Taylor will play the first woman Speaker of the House “N,” and Villafañe will be “A,” the youngest woman to ever be elected into Congress. This will be Taylor’s first return back to the New York Stage after playing in Broadway’s The Front Page in 2016. Previews for N/A will start on Tuesday, June 11 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, and opening night is Sunday, June 23.
New York Theatre Workshop has announced three productions for its upcoming 2024-25 season – We Live In Cairo, A Knock on the Roof, and Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole. Performance schedules and full casting and creative teams for all three productions will be announced at a later date.
NSangou Njikam - Johnny Nunez
Regional: Center Theatre Group (CTG): FWD (pronounced “forward”) will have several special events in the 2024-25 season including The 7 Fingers production of “Duel Reality,” which is a Romeo and Juliet inspired story with a circus twist. It will begin showing at the Ahmanson Theatre Sept. 11. The first show of Ahmanson’s new season will be a Broadway transfer of the musical “Once Upon a Mattress,” starring two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster, beginning Dec. 10.
The Mark Taper Forum in downtown Los Angeles will be back after a hiatus to showcase a new production of the Green Day musical “American Idiot” in October. The show will be CTG’s Artistic Director Snehal Desai’s first directorial debut.
East West Players has chosen Lily Tung Crystal, current artistic director of Theater Mu in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, to be its next artistic director. She will be the successor of Snehal Desai, who left the company in 2023 to become Center Theatre Group’s artistic director.
Crossroads Theatre Company announced that Ezra Ezzard will be their new managing director. Ezzard formerly worked at BBC Studios and BritBox in divisions such as marketing. He is also the founder of the media production and distribution company Artification, which is currently producing Syncing Ink by NSangou Njikam at the Apollo Theater.
The upcoming production of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s Little Shop of Horros, which will play at Minnesota’s Guthrie Theater June 28 – August 18, now has complete casting. It includes China Brickley as Audry, Will Roland as Seymour, David Darrow as Orin Scrivello, Gabrielle Dominique as Crystal, Robert Dorfman as Mushnik, and Erica Durham as Chiffon.
Zheng Xi Yong - IMDB
International: We Are Lady Parts’s Faith Omole will have her debut play, My Father’s Fable, showcased at West London’s Bush Theatre from June 15 – July 27. The production will star BAFTA Award winner Rakie Ayola, who last performed at the Bush Theatre in 2019 with a revival of Caryl Phillips’s 1980 drama Strange Fruit. Directed by Rebekah Murrell, Ayola will star alongside Tiwa Lade and Gabriel Akuwudike. A fourth role is still to be casted.
David Oyelowo will play the title role of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, directed by Lyndsey Turner, at the U.K.’s National Theatre in London. The play will run from Sept. 11-Nov. 9.
Meera Syal will star in the world premiere of Tanika Gupta’s A Tupperware of Ashes, which is a family drama about life, immigration, death, and rebirth. Directed by Pooja Ghai, the play will be shown at the National Theatre’s Dorfman Theater from Sept. 25 – Nov. 16. Right after the play’s run, the Dorfman Theater will temporarily close for infrastructure work.
The Royal Shakespeare Company is having a theater adaptation of Hanif Kureishi’s Whitebread Award-winning 1990 novel The Buddha of Suburbia. The play opened at the company’s Swan Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon and will play through June 1.
Your Lie in April – The Musical will play at the West End’s Harold Pinter Theater from June 28 – September 21, with the official opening being July 5. This is the second musical adaption of Grammy, Tony, and Emmy-nominated composer Frank Wildhorn’s works to receive a concert staging in London, after Death Note the Musical. The play will star Zheng Xi Yong as Arima and Rumi Sutton as Miyazono. Rachel Clare Chan and Dean John-Wilson are also joining, with additional casting being announced at a later date.
