“Orange is the New Black” star Uzo Aduba will appear Off-Broadway in “Toni Stone,” a drama written by Lydia R. Diamond (“Stick Fly”) and directed by Pam MacKinnon (“Clybourne Park”) about the first woman to play professional baseball in the Negro League following World War II.
It will be produced by the Roundabout beginning in May. Aduba appeared on Broadway in the 2011 revival of “Godspell.”
‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ smashes weekly box office record
It pays to be a wizard. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which is currently in previews, made box office history last week by grossing $2,138,859, the highest weekly take for a play in Broadway history. It should be noted that 300 seats at every performance are sold for $40 or less.
The play opens at the newly refurbished Lyric Theatre on Sunday, April 22.
Anika Noni Rose to play Carmen Jones
Tony winner and screen actress Anika Noni Rose will play the title role in Classic Stage Company’s upcoming Off-Broadway revival of “Carmen Jones,” a rarely seen 1943 adaptation of the classic opera “Carmen” that combines Bizet’s music with English lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and transplants the story from Spain to the American South during World War II.
John Doyle (“The Color Purple”) will direct, with choreography by Bill T. Jones (“Spring Awakening”).
Janet McTeer to play Bernhardt playing Hamlet
English actress Janet McTeer (who appeared on Broadway last season in “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”) will play the late 19th century international stage star Sarah Bernhardt in “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” a new play by Theresa Rebeck (“Spike Heels,” TV series “Smash”) about Bernhardt playing Hamlet in 1899, which will be produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company on Broadway in the fall.
Moritz von Stuelpnagel (“Hand of God”) will direct.
‘Empire Records’ musical in the works
“Empire Records,” the cult 1995 teen film about young clerks running a small-town record store, will be adapted into a stage musical. Carol Heikkinen (who wrote the screenplay) will write the book for the musical. “We hope the musical will capture the memory of what it was like to be young in a time before iTunes and Spotify,” Heikkinen said in a statement.
Spotted
Jerry Seinfeld, Martin Short, Alec Baldwin, Kate McKinnon, Diane Sawyer and Emma Thompson at “Mean Girls” . . . J.J. Abrams at “Hello, Dolly!”
