“Dear Evan Hansen’s” winning streak just keeps going. A month after winning six Tony Awards including Best Musical, its producers confirmed Monday that the show has broken even and recouped its $9.5 million investment costs, approximately eight and a half months since it officially opened on Broadway. In a statement, producer Stacey Mindich noted that the show “has been a labor of love for everyone involved — some of us for more than eight years.” Ben Platt (who won the Tony for Best Actor) is expected to exit the musical in November. It is unclear how that will affect the show financially.
Caldwell cast as transgender protagonist of ‘Charm’
Sandra Caldwell, who has worked as a stage and screen actor and jazz singer, will play Mama (a 67-year-old, black, transgender woman who teaches an etiquette class at an LGBTQ center in Chicago) in Philip Dawkins’ play “Charm,” which will be produced Off-Broadway by MCC Theater at the end of the summer at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in the West Village. This follows MCC’s production of the widely panned “The End of Longing” (written by and starring “Friends” actor Matthew Perry). Next year, MCC will open a $35 million two-theater complex on West 52nd Street.
Multiple Broadway shows coming to PBS
The recent Broadway productions of “She Loves Me,” “Holiday Inn” and “Present Laughter” (which were filmed by the online content provider BroadwayHD) will be broadcast on PBS in the fall. The network will also bring back its documentaries on the Lin-Manuel Miranda musicals “In the Heights” and “Hamilton.” The Broadway revival of William Finn’s “Falsettos” (which is currently being shown in select movie theaters) is also expected to air soon on PBS as part of its Live from Lincoln Center series.
‘The Wolves’ to prowl around at Lincoln Center
Sarah DeLappe’s youth drama “The Wolves” (which focuses on an all-girl indoor soccer team and was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama) will play the Mitzi Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center Theater in the fall. The drama was produced Off-Broadway last year by the Playwrights Realm at the Duke on 42nd Street and then received an encore run at the same venue. In a news release from last year, DeLappe said that “these women are warriors. Each scene is a warm-up for a soccer game: they’re a troop preparing for battle.” Lincoln Center Theater is currently presenting Dominique Morisseau’s “Pipeline” (which also deals with adolescent struggles) at the Mitzi Newhouse.
‘Julius Caesar’ alumni to take part in PEN free speech discussion
Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis (who staged the controversial Shakespeare in the Park production of “Julius Caesar”) and “House of Cards” actor Corey Stoll (who played Brutus in the production) will take part in a public discussion on current threats to free speech in the arts hosted by the human rights organization PEN America. The event will be held on July 26 at SubCulture on Bleecker Street. For more info, visit pen.org.
Belafonte accepts award by cellphone at Broadway Stands Up for Freedom
Under the weather and unable to appear in person, singer-actor Harry Belafonte accepted the Freedom Award via cellphone at the New York Civil Liberties Union and American Civil Liberties Union’s 15th annual Broadway Stands Up for Freedom concert, held Monday night at NYU’s Skirball Center. NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman held up a phone so that the crowd could hear Belafonte give his acceptance speech. The event featured original protest songs written by 13 songwriting teams, which were performed by Broadway talent including Gavin Creel and Taylor Trensch (who currently play Cornelius and Barnaby respectively in “Hello, Dolly!”).
Spotted . . .
Sean Connery at “Come From Away” . . . Mandy Patinkin at “Dear Evan Hansen” . . . Geraldo Rivera at “Spamilton” . . . Sara Ramirez at “1984” . . . Kristin Chenoweth at “Hello, Dolly!” and “A Doll’s House, Part 2.”
