Even after nominations, no date set for Tony Awards
Do you remember when the Tony Award nominations were announced last month?
More than a month after the Tony Award nominations were announced to honor the truncated 2019-2020 Broadway season, it remains unclear how, when and where a Tony Awards ceremony will be held, as acknowledged by Broadway League president Charlotte St. Martin in a new interview with SiriusXM host Julie James. While Broadway has many extremely challenging issues to deal with at present, this makes the decision to announce the nominations all the more questionable. The Alanis Morissette musical “Jagged Little Pill” received 15 nominations, followed by “Moulin Rouge!” at 14.
‘Thoughts of a Colored Man’ to play Broadway
“Thoughts of a Colored Man,” a new drama by poet and playwright Keenan Scott II which explores seven Black men on a single day in Brooklyn, will play Broadway when it reopens. The play was previously produced regionally by Syracuse Stage and Baltimore Center Stage. “More than ever, it is vital for Broadway and theaters across America to make room for the next generation of theater makers: to celebrate their communities, to feel their heartache and to hear the stories they are ready to tell,” producer Brian Moreland said in a statement.
MTC announces plans for ‘Lackawanna Blues’ and ‘How I Learned to Drive’
“Lackawanna Blues,” Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s OBIE-winning one-man show about his upbringing in Lackawanna, New York and the impact of his nanny as a surrogate mother, will be produced on Broadway in Manhattan Theatre Club next fall. It was first originally produced Off-Broadway by the Public Theatre in 2001, and subsequently received an HBO film adaptation in 2005. MTC also announced that the revival of “How I Learned to Drive” with Mary-Louise Parker has been rescheduled from Spring 2020 to Spring 2022.
‘The Minutes’ set loaded out of Cort Theatre
March 12, 2020, the night when Broadway shut down, was also the first scheduled press preview performance of Tracy Letts’ “The Minutes,” prior to officially opening three nights later. On Monday, the set of “The Minutes” was loaded out of the Cort Theatre in order to make way for previously planned renovation work. Nevertheless, the show’s producers vowed that “The Minutes” will open on Broadway on March 15, 2022, exactly two years after its original opening date and that they hope to keep the ensemble cast (including Armie Hammer, Jessie Mueller and Austin Pendleton) intact.
Disney casts to perform from New Amsterdam Theatre
The casts of the Disney musicals “The Lion King,” “Aladdin” and “Frozen” will unite to perform “Let It Go” at the New Amsterdam Theatre (home of “Aladdin”) as part of “The Disney Holiday Singalong,” which will air on ABC on Mon., Nov. 30. Disney previously announced that “Frozen” will not reopen on Broadway following the pandemic. The one-hour special will also include performances by Andrea Bocelli, Katy Perry, PINK and Kerry Washington.
This week’s streaming recommendations…
“National Alliance for Musical Theatre: 32nd Annual Festival of New Musicals” (sneak peaks at new musicals in development), through Nov. 29, namt.org…”He Brought Her Heart in a Box” (first production in a festival celebrating the work of playwright Adrienne Kennedy), through Feb. 28, roundhousetheatre.org….”</remnant>” (experimental piece culled from interviews with people affected by war), through Nov. 24, nytw.org.
