Welcome to The Scene, your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed. In this week’s email:
THE BROADWAY BEAT: Amber Ruffin, David Krumholtz, Sarah Steele, More Will Bring Back 24 Hour Plays and Musicals on Broadway and Beyond | Initial productions announced for Second Stage Theater’s 2023-2024 season | New special exhibit at Museum of Broadway to honor Chicago | Broadway Revival of Purlie Victorious, Starring Leslie Odom Jr., Reveals Dates, Theatre, and Full Casting
TONY AWARDS RECAP: 5 Surprises From the 76th Annual Tony Awards | A Milky White Meet-and-Greet, Unscripted Chaos, and Onstage Hot Takes: 9 of the Most Memorable Moments From the 2023 Tonys | What it takes to live-caption the Tony Awards | 8 moments you didn’t see on the Tony Awards telecast | Alex Newell on their trailblazing path to the Tony Awards
HOT TOPICS: Breaking the Binary Theatre Is Creating a Home for Trans, Non-Binary, and Two-Spirit+ Artists | Terrence McNally to be inducted to LGBTQ Wall of Honor | Akron Watson, Mara Davi, Peyton Crim, More to Star in Limited Engagement of The Play That Goes Wrong at Kennedy Center | Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group Cancels Much of Season Amid Partial Staff Layoff | Cast and Creative Team Announced for Elvis: A Musical Revolution World Premiere
THE BIG IDEA: 10 Plays for Father’s Day
NEWS FROM THE WEST END: Kerry Ellis and Maiya Quansah-Breed Will Play Princess Diana in Reimagined London Premiere of Diana: The Musical | West End Run of Lyndsey Turner's Olivier-Nominated The Crucible Opens | London Revival of Dancing at Lughnasa Releases Cast Recording | See Who's Joining Caissie Levy and Trevor Dion Nicholas in London Premiere of Next to Normal
The Broadway Beat
AMBER RUFFIN, DAVID KRUMHOLTZ, SARAH STEELE, MORE WILL BRING BACK 24 HOUR PLAYS AND MUSICALS ON BROADWAY AND BEYOND - A 2023 season has been announced for the event, which presents brand-new works written, rehearsed, and performed all in one day.
INITIAL PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCED FOR SECOND STAGE THEATER’S 2023-2024 SEASON - A new play from Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel and a Broadway premiere from Branden Jacobs-Jenkins are in the lineup.
NEW SPECIAL EXHIBIT AT MUSEUM OF BROADWAY TO HONOR CHICAGO - The new installation will open to the public on June 30.
BROADWAY REVIVAL OF PURLIE VICTORIOUS, STARRING LESLIE ODOM JR., REVEALS DATES, THEATRE, AND FULL CASTING - Kenny Leon will direct the Ossie Davis play, which hasn't been seen on Broadway since its original production in 1962.
Tony Awards Recap
5 SURPRISES FROM THE 76TH ANNUAL TONY AWARDS – ‘Topdog/Underdog,’ which closed several months ago, took home only one win–and it was for Best Revival of a Play.
A MILKY WHITE MEET-AND-GREET, UNSCRIPTED CHAOS, AND ONSTAGE HOT TAKES: 9 OF THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS FROM THE 2023 TONYS - Some of the highlights from the 76th Annual Tony Awards, presented June 11 from United Palace in Washington Heights.
WHAT IT TAKES TO LIVE-CAPTION THE TONY AWARDS - Joshua Edwards has been live-captioning the Tonys since 2018. What was different about this unscripted year?
8 MOMENTS YOU DIDN’T SEE ON THE TONY AWARDS TELECAST - As winners graced the media room on June 11, they shared intimate reactions, personal stories, and cut-off speeches.
ALEX NEWELL ON THEIR TRAILBLAZING PATH TO THE TONY AWARDS - Newell’s journey to their history-making win wasn’t as straightforward as some might think.
Hot Topics
BREAKING THE BINARY THEATRE IS CREATING A HOME FOR TRANS, NON-BINARY, AND TWO-SPIRIT+ ARTISTS - In a time when many longtime theatrical institutions are shutting down and newer artists are needing guidance, George Strus is creating their own space.
TERRENCE MCNALLY TO BE INDUCTED TO LGBTQ WALL OF HONOR - Housed at the Stonewall Inn, the wall celebrates activists and artists who fought for liberation of the community.
AKRON WATSON, MARA DAVI, PEYTON CRIM, MORE TO STAR IN LIMITED ENGAGEMENT OF THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG AT KENNEDY CENTER - The Washington, D.C. venue will host the West End and Broadway comedy beginning July 20.
LOS ANGELES' CENTER THEATRE GROUP CANCELS MUCH OF SEASON AMID PARTIAL STAFF LAYOFF - The company is citing continued pandemic aftereffects as the reason for the financial troubles.
FULL CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM ANNOUNCED FOR ELVIS: A MUSICAL REVOLUTION WORLD PREMIERE - The new bio-musical is authorized by Elvis Presley Enterprises, and features many of Presley's most popular songs.
The Big Idea
10 PLAYS FOR FATHER’S DAY
Father’s Day is a special day to celebrate and honor fathers and father figures. It is a day to show appreciation for all the love, support, and guidance they provide. However, father-child relationships can be complex and challenging at times. Despite the challenges, fathers play an important role in shaping their children’s lives. In honor of Father’s Day, here are 10 plays that explore the relationship between a Father and his children:
All My Sons by Arthur Miller | THE STORY: During the war Joe Keller and Steve Deever ran a machine shop which made airplane parts. Deever was sent to prison because the firm turned out defective parts, causing the deaths of many men. Keller went free and made a lot of money. The twin shadows of this catastrophe and the fact that the young Keller son was reported missing during the war dominate the action. The love affair of Chris Keller and Ann Deever, the bitterness of George Deever returning from the war to find his father in prison and his father’s partner free, are all set in a structure of almost unbearable power. The climax showing the reaction of a son to his guilty father is a fitting conclusion to a play electrifying in its intensity.
Bedtime Stories (As Told by Our Dad) (Who Messed Them Up) by Ed Monk | THE STORY: It's Dad's turn to tell his three rambunctious kids their bedtime stories, but when he gets fuzzy on the details, the classics get creative: a prince with a snoring problem spices up The Princess and The Pea, The Boy Who Cried Wolf cries dinosaur instead, and Rumpelstiltskin helps turn all that pesky gold into straw. You may think you know your fairy tales, but not the way Dad tells them.
Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis | THE STORY: Ex-cop and recent widower Walter “Pops” Washington and his newly paroled son Junior have spent a lifetime living between Riverside and crazy. But now, the NYPD is demanding his signature to close an outstanding lawsuit, the landlord wants him out, the liquor store is closed—and the church won’t leave him alone. When the struggle to keep one of New York City’s last great rent-stabilized apartments collides with old wounds, sketchy new houseguests, and a final ultimatum, it seems that the old days may be dead and gone.
Breaking Legs by Tom Dulack | THE STORY: The action occurs in an Italian restaurant owned by a successful mobster and managed by his beautiful unmarried daughter. When the daughter’s former college professor arrives to ask for financial backing for a play he’s written about a murder, the fun begins. The three main Mafiosi are intrigued with the idea of producing a play. The daughter becomes enamored of the playwright, who is delighted to have the family’s support. His bubble is burst when he discovers, through the “accidental” death by train of a lesser thug, that his backers are gangsters. In this madcap situation, murder and menace are served up with plenty of pasta and laughter.
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller | THE STORY: The story revolves around the last days of Willy Loman, a failing salesman, who cannot understand how he failed to win success and happiness. Through a series of tragic soul-searching revelations of the life he has lived with his wife, his sons, and his business associates, we discover how his quest for the “American Dream” kept him blind to the people who truly loved him. A thrilling work of deep and revealing beauty that remains one of the most profound classic dramas of the American theatre.
Lake Street Extension by Lee Blessing | THE STORY: The estranged son of a middle-aged man returns home to find that his father has taken in a young refugee from El Salvador. Not only has the refugee moved in, but he’s been given the son’s room and is sleeping in his bed. As this explosive situation tests the already strained father-son relationship, we discover that the son is a male prostitute and was sexually abused on a regular basis by his average, working-class father. Throw in the secretive young man from El Salvador and the mix becomes deadly in this play rife with recriminations, secrets, seductions, hypocrisy, confessions and above all the desperate need of redemption and atonement. As played out through the images of an unbalanced father, his deeply wounded son and the young refugee, Blessing unflinchingly delves into the psyche of fathers and sons and patriarchal society in and of itself.
Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill | THE STORY: As told by New York Journal-American: “In the space of one day, from morning until midnight, we are given the tortured family background which created the elusive yet magnificent talent of the author. The characters come to life with an almost frightening fidelity; it is doubtful if any work in the theatre has ever been written with such first-person authority. The proceedings take place in the living room of a summer house in 1912. In short order we learn that the father, although well off, is a confirmed miser; one son is a drunk, the younger one is tubercular, and the mother is a drug addict. Then we begin to learn the reasons for this excessive bad fortune. The mother’s addiction resulted from the father’s penury in sending her to a second-rate doctor; the elder boy drinks from sheer frustration; the old man has never been able to get over his magnified respect for money induced by an impoverished childhood. Even the illness of the younger son, quite obviously the author, is being treated by the cheapest local physician, and the father is planning to send him to a state sanatorium where he will hopefully expire inexpensively. This sounds like a preponderance of tragedy for any household, and so it must have been, but it is revealed in such terms of stark honesty that no one can ever doubt its stature as an autobiographical document. The people speak in the everyday language of our neighbors; their emotions rise and fall with the absurd devotion to trivialities which provoke so many quarrels; these are dimensional characters trying desperately to keep their doomed household together."
Proof by David Auburn | THE STORY: On the eve of her twenty-fifth birthday, Catherine, a troubled young woman, has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, a famous mathematician. Now, following his death, she must deal with her own volatile emotions; the arrival of her estranged sister, Claire; and the attentions of Hal, a former student of her fathers who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks that her father left behind. Over the long weekend that follows, a burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draw Catherine into the most difficult problem of all: How much of her father’s madness—or genius—will she inherit?
Side Man by Warren Leight | THE STORY: Set in 1953 and traveling to 1985, this lovely and poignant memory play unfolds through the eyes of Clifford, the only son of Gene, a jazz trumpet player, and Terry, an alcoholic mother. Alternating between their New York City apartment and a smoke-filled music club, Clifford narrates the story of his broken family and the decline of jazz as popular entertainment. Clifford recalls the key moments in his life, such as the day when he, fresh out of college, picked up his first unemployment check and was congratulated by Gene and his band mates. Gene’s music career on the big band circuit ultimately crumbles with the advent of Elvis and rock-n-roll. Terry begs him to get a nine-to-five job to support the family, but Gene refuses to enter the “straight world” of regular paychecks, mortgages and security. For Gene, who knows jazz better than his own son, music is not just a job; it’s his life. Their marriage slowly dissolves, and young Clifford is witness to it all. As things worsen, Clifford assumes the role of parent and throws the hopeless Gene out of his mother’s apartment. When an adult Clifford visits Gene in a rundown jazz club after years of separation, he requests that the old man play his mother’s favorite song, the old standard “Why was I Born?” Clifford then asks, “Dad, why was I born?” It becomes Clifford’s last, heart-breaking plea for his father’s love.
Straight White Men by Young Jean Lee | THE STORY: When Ed and his three adult sons come together to celebrate Christmas, they enjoy cheerful trash-talking, pranks, and takeout Chinese. Then they confront a problem that even being a happy family can’t solve: When identity matters, and privilege is problematic, what is the value of being a straight white man?
News from The West End
KERRY ELLIS AND MAIYA QUANSAH-BREED WILL PLAY PRINCESS DIANA IN REIMAGINED LONDON PREMIERE OF DIANA: THE MUSICAL - The concert version of the Broadway musical will play the Eventim Apollo in December.
WEST END RUN OF LYNDSEY TURNER'S OLIVIER-NOMINATED THE CRUCIBLE OPENED JUNE 15 - House of the Dragon's Milly Alcock, Peaky Blinders' Brian Gleeson, and Succession's Caitlin FitzGerald lead the company.
LONDON REVIVAL OF DANCING AT LUGHNASA RELEASES CAST RECORDING JUNE 16 - Derry Girls' Siobhán McSweeney and Louisa Harland starred alongside Alison Oliver, Bláithín Mac Gabhann, and Justine Mitchell as five sisters loving and surviving in a small Irish village.
SEE WHO'S JOINING CAISSIE LEVY AND TREVOR DION NICHOLAS IN LONDON PREMIERE OF NEXT TO NORMAL - Michael Longhurst will direct the Pulitzer Prize-winning Tom Kitt-Brian Yorkey musical.