Final performances of ‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding’ will be livestreamed
In spite of the heavy reliance on streaming theater during the pandemic shutdown, few theater companies have made new shows available for streaming since then. Nevertheless, Manhattan Theatre Club has announced that it will livestream the final week of performances of “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” which is running on Broadway through Nov. 19. Tickets to livestream the play will be $69 and are available through the League of Live Stream Theater at lolst.org. Jocelyn Bioh’s acclaimed play depicts the West African immigrant hair braiders and varied customers of a hair salon in Harlem circa the summer of 2019.
Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster will join ‘Sweeney Todd’
Tony Award winners Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster will join the cast of “Sweeney Todd” for 12 weeks as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett respectively beginning Feb. 9. Not coincidentally, Foster is currently slated to star in an Encores! production of “Once Upon a Mattress” at City Center from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4. Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford will give their final performances in “Sweeney Todd” on Jan. 14, which begs the question of whether Nicholas Christopher and Jeanna de Waal, who are the current standbys for Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett, will take over the roles for a month. Gaten Matarazzo, who plays Tobias, will give his final performance on Sun, Nov. 5.
Kenny Leon to direct Broadway revival of ‘Our Town’
Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” generally considered one of the greatest American dramas, will receive its first Broadway revival in two decades next fall, which will be directed by the ever-busy Kenny Leon (“A Raisin in the Sun,” “Fences”). No casting has been announced. During the early days of the pandemic, there were rumors that Dustin Hoffman would play the narrating Stage Manager in a revival of “Our Town” directed by Bartlett Sher and produced by Scott Rudin. “Another Day’s Begun,” a book about the history and influence of “Our Town” by arts administrator Howard Sherman, was recently published. (In 2001, I appeared in a very bad high school production of “Our Town” which still managed to bring some people to tears solely due to the quality of the writing.)
‘The Who’s Tommy’ to return to Broadway in the spring
Des McAnuff’s new revival of the rock opera “The Who’s Tommy,” which recently premiered at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, is set to transfer to Broadway in the spring, beginning performances at the Nederlander Theatre (currently home to “Shucked”) beginning March 8. “In many ways, I think the world has caught up to Tommy Walker,” McAnuff, who directed the original 1993 Broadway production, said in a statement. “While the music remains as glorious as ever, our world years later is unimaginably and irrevocably changed. As a result, there’s so much more we all can recognize—and celebrate—in our protagonist’s evolution, as a collective deeper understanding of mental health has sharpened our lens.”
Remembering Matthew Perry’s Off-Broadway play
Among the principal cast members of “Friends,” only David Schwimmer is a regular stage actor. I only caught Matthew Perry, who died on Oct. 28, once onstage. In the summer of 2017, Perry appeared Off-Broadway in “The End of Longing,” a play he wrote that was based on his own history of substance abuse. Perry played an eccentric and combative drunk who would hit on young women in bars, drink a martini during a morning softball practice and desperately beg for prescription medication at a late night pharmacy. To be honest, it was not a great play, and it probably only got produced because Perry himself was appearing in it. However, one had to admire Perry’s bravery in opening up about his past. In an ideal world, Perry would have come to Broadway in a revival of a comedy such as “Prelude to a Kiss” or “The Prisoner of Second Avenue.”
