The ABBA feel-good musical “Mamma Mia!,” the best-known and most successful of the now ubiquitous jukebox musicals, will return to Broadway this summer for a six-month limited run beginning Aug. 2. “Mamma Mia!” opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre right after 9/11 and ran for 5,758 performances through 2015. The new production will also play the Winter Garden Theatre. Since debuting in London in 1999, “Mamma Mia!” has grossed billions at the box office and received 50 productions in 16 languages.
‘Sunset Boulevard’ will not extend Broadway run
The producers of the acclaimed Broadway revival of “Sunset Boulevard” have confirmed that the production will close on July 13 as a limited engagement, rather than turn it into an open-ended run and recast the principal performers including Nicole Scherzinger. Up until recently, tickets had been on sale through July 6. Even if no recasting occurs, the show could potentially still extend through the end of the summer. The deliriously over-the-top, fever-dream Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1993 musical adaptation of the 1950 Hollywood film, which stars Scherzinger (formerly of The Pussycat Dolls) as the faded silent screen diva Norma Desmond, features towering video projections and live filming (including an unbelievably intricate sequence at the top of the second act that takes place both backstage and around Times Square).
Brian Stokes Mitchell will return to ‘Love Life’
Tony Award-winning leading man Brian Stokes Mitchell (“Ragtime,” “Man of La Mancha”), who was in rehearsals for the Encores! production of Kurt Weill’s rarely-seen 1948 concept musical “Love Life” when the pandemic shutdown occurred in 2020, will return to the show when City Center finally presents “Love Life” at the end of the month. Mitchell is taking over for Nicholas Christopher (“Sweeney Todd”), who exited the cast at the last minute for personal reasons. Kate Baldwin, Mitchell’s co-star, was also part of the 2020 cast. “Love Life” depicts a married couple who experience over 200 years of American history and somehow do not age. It incorporates musical numbers that comment on the plot–a technique later popularized in musicals such as “Cabaret” and “Chicago.”
Tank will join cast of ‘Hell’s Kitchen’
R&B singer-songwriter Durrell Babbs, who goes by the stage name “Tank,” will make his Broadway debut in the Alicia Keys musical “Hell’s Kitchen” in March. He will take over as Davis, the father of the musical’s teenage female protagonist, for 13 weeks. Brandon Victor Dixon, who originated the role, will play his final performance on March 9. “Music and acting have always been a part of my journey, and now, I get to bring them together in a whole new way…This transition is both thrilling and humbling, and I can’t wait to give audiences everything I’ve got,” Tank said in a statement. “Hell’s Kitchen” recently won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
Children’s musical ‘Finn’ to play Town Hall following Kennedy Center cancellation
One of the first casualties of the Trump takeover of the Kennedy Center was “Finn,” a feel-good children’s musical that debuted at the Kennedy Center earlier this season and was supposed to embark on a now-canceled national tour. In response, “Finn” will be performed at Town Hall on March 17 and simultaneously livestreamed through the COVID-era digital series “Stars in the House.” The cast of “Finn” will include Kelli O’Hara, Andrew Rannells, Andrea Martin, Lea Salonga, Jessie Mueller, and Nikki M. James. They will be joined by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, whose upcoming performance at the Kennedy Center was also canceled.
