Daveed Diggs, who won a Tony as Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in “Hamilton,” will play his last performance in the musical on July 15. (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr. and Philippa Soo gave their final performances last weekend.) The producers simultaneously revealed that the Chicago cast of “Hamilton” will be headed by Karen Olivo (“West Side Story”), Miguel Cervantes and Alexander Gemignani.
‘Fiorello!’ getting Off-Broadway revival
The Berkshire Theatre Group’s revival of the 1959 Pulitzer-winning musical “Fiorello!,” now running in Massachusetts, will transfer to New York in September for a short Off-Broadway run. “Fiorello!” explores the career of Fiorello H. LaGuardia in the early 20th century and his reformist crusade against the corruption of Tammany Hall before becoming mayor of New York City. The score is by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock (“Fiddler on the Roof,” “She Loves Me”).
Annual NYMF back in action
The annual New York Musical Festival (NYMF) kicks off this week, with 18 new musicals being performed through Aug. 7 at a handful of midtown theaters. Tony-winning actress Victoria Clark is directing “Newton’s Cradle,” a new work that focuses on the brain of an autistic young man. Among the variosu casts you can find Emily Skeggs (“Fun Home”), Jennifer Damiano (“Next to Normal”), Lesli Margherita (“Matilda”), Tony Sheldon (“Priscilla Queen of the Desert”) and Elizabeth A. Davis (“Once”).
Post-‘Hamilton,’ Odom gives jazz concerts
Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr., who gave his last performance in “Hamilton” on Saturday night, will perform solo concerts on three successive Thursday nights beginning July 14 at the McKittrick Hotel, the home of the immersive hit “Sleep No More.” The concerts will include selections from his upcoming jazz album.
Broadway joins up with NYCLU
“Broadway Stands Up for Freedom,” an annual benefit concert for the New York Civil Liberties Union led by Broadway performers, will be held on Monday night at the NYU Skirball Center. Susan Blackwell (“[title of show]”) will serve as host, with appearances by Ben Platt (“Pitch Perfect”), Jayne Houdyshell (“The Humans”) and brother and sister Celia Keenan-Bolger and Andrew Keenan-Bolger.
Brecht’s ‘Arturo Ui’ set for new production
Brecht’s rarely-performed 1941 political farce “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui,” about a power-hungry gangster modeled after Hitler, will receive a New York revival in October by the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble at the Wild Project in the East Village. In 2002, an all-star production with Al Pacino, John Goodman, Paul Giamatti and Steve Buscemi proved to be the last triumph of Tony Randall’s National Actors Theatre.
Shakespeare’s Globe heads to the movies
If you can’t catch the Globe’s production of “The Merchant of Venice” with Jonathan Pryce when it plays New York next week, it will be broadcast in U.S. movie theaters as part of the Globe on Globe series, which will also include screenings of new productions of Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” and “Richard II” beginning in August. For more info visit globeonscreen.com.
Spotted …
Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda, Spike Lee and John Kerry at “Hamilton.”
