Following the recent confirmation that Ben Platt will play his last performance in “Dear Evan Hansen” on Nov. 19, the musical’s producers have revealed that the title role will be inherited first by Noah Galvin (of the TV series “The Real O’Neals”) from Nov. 21 through mid-January. After that, Taylor Trensch will take over the role. Trensch can currently be found treading the boards in “Hello, Dolly!” as Barnaby. “Evan is such a complex and rewarding role, and I can’t wait to see Noah and Taylor make it their own,” director Michael Grief said in a statement.
‘Frozen’ sets Broadway opening date
Disney announced Wednesday that “Frozen” will officially open on Broadway on Thursday, March 22, of next year at the St. James Theatre (which is being renovated to suit the production), with preview performances beginning exactly one month beforehand. The musical is currently in the midst of its out-of-town tryout in Denver.
Stratford Festival unveils 2018 season ‘of free will’
Ontario’s Stratford Festival has unveiled the 12 productions that will make up its 2018 theater season, which (according to artistic director Antoni Cimolino) share a common theme “of free will.” The diverse lot ranges from musicals (“The Music Man,” “The Rocky Horror Show”) to Shakespeare (“The Tempest” with a female Prospero, “Coriolanus,” “Julius Caesar”) to other classics (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”). The current season at Stratford includes a hit production of “Guys and Dolls,” “Romeo & Juliet” and “Twelfth Night” with Brent Carver.
Yiddish ‘Rhinoceros’ to stalk off-off-Broadway
Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist drama “Rhinoceros” (in which humans suddenly turn into rhinoceroses) will receive its first production in Yiddish (with English supertitles) at the Castillo Theatre on the far west side of midtown beginning Sept. 7. It is being produced by the New Yiddish Rep, which recently presented the controversial 1907 melodrama “God of Vengeance” (which inspired Paula Vogel’s recent play “Indecent”).
Fringe Festival to return next year in new form
In case you didn’t notice, the NYC International Fringe Festival took this summer off in order to regroup and rethink its future. Elena K. Holy, its artistic director, announced earlier this week that beginning next year, the festival will be held in October instead of August and include far fewer shows. Holy also hopes to create opportunities for boroughs outside of Manhattan to become part of the festival and for other national fringe festivals to bring award-winning shows to New York.
Mandvi will take a trip to ‘Brigadoon’
Actor and comic Aasif Mandvi, who gained fame as a correspondent on “The Daily Show,” has joined the cast of City Center’s upcoming concert-style production of Lerner and Loewe’s “Brigadoon,” which already includes Kelli O’Hara, Patrick Wilson and Robert Fairchild. The musical is about a pair of New Yorkers who stumble into a Scottish village that materializes once every hundred years. It will play City Center from Nov. 15 to 19.
Spotted . . .
Bill Maher and Arianna Huffington at “The Terms of My Surrender” . . . Michael Bloomberg at “Come From Away” . . . Chita Rivera at “Groundhog Day.”
