‘Hell’s Kitchen’ will transfer to Broadway
“Hell’s Kitchen,” the new Off-Broadway musical at the Public Theater that has songs by Alicia Keys (including new songs and rearranged versions of well-known prior releases),will transfer to Broadway in the spring. It will begin previews at the Shubert Theatre on March 28. The musical (which has a book by Kristoffer Diaz) has been in development for 13 years. It is inspired by the music artist’s teen years growing up in Hell’s Kitchen. “I grew up with musical theater and have so many memories of standing on line at TKTS to see shows like ‘Miss Saigon’ and ‘Rent’. For me, ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ is also a New York story of finding your dreams and for me, this musical coming to Broadway is the embodiment of that idea,” Keys said in a statement.
‘Merrily We Roll Along’ extends run to July
The acclaimed, mega-hit Broadway revival of “Merrily We Roll Along” starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez has extended its limited run at the Hudson Theatre through July 7, which means that it will still be running at the time of the Tony Awards. Many people have noted the irony that a show that crashed and burned during its Broadway debut over 40 years ago is now selling tickets at unbelievably high prices. As a less expensive alternative, the revival’s new cast album has already been released and a filmed version of an earlier incarnation of the current revival (dating back to 2013 in London with a different cast) can currently be found on YouTube.
Cheyenne Jackson and J. Harris Ghee join ‘Mattress’ cast
The upcoming Encores! production of the 1959 musical comedy “Once Upon a Mattress,” which will star Sutton Foster as Princess Winifred alongside Michael Urie as Prince Dauntless, has announced additional casting, including Cheyenne Jackson as Sir Harry, Nikki Renée Daniels as Lady Larken, Tony Award winner J. Harrison Ghee as the Jester, Francis Jue as the Wizard, and David Patrick Kelly as King Sextimus. It will run Jan. 24 to Feb. 4 at City Center. (For the record, I played the Wizard in my high school’s production of the musical two decades ago.) To learn more about the making of the musical (which originated at the legendary Camp Tamiment in PA as late night entertainment), check out its composer’s posthumously released autobiography “Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers.”
‘Scene Partners’ with Dianne Wiest will be livestreamed
The Vineyard Theatre’s current Off-Broadway production of “Scene Partners” starring Dianne Wiest will livestream its final four performances on December 15, 16 and 17. In John J. Caswell, Jr.’s comedy, Wiest plays a 75-year-old aspiring actress who leaves Milwaukee for Los Angeles in 1985 with the desire to become famous. Although numerous theater companies streamed archival recordings and Zoom-style readings during the pandemic shutdown, few have made streaming a regular part of their programming since then.
