Theatre News Roundup: 7/29

Hello bunnies,

I caught a matinee of Significant Other today. I'm debating whether or not to write a full review because full disclosure, I was late (I missed my stop and had to walk back) and I missed the first 10-15 minutes of the show. I just don't know if it would be fair to critique the show without having the whole picture. It did make me feel feels and I think Gideon Glick's performance was strong but I don't think it entirely works as a whole. The main character is difficult to sympathize with and a lot of the script and set choices took me out of the show. It's competent but not great. I definitely preferred Of Good Stock. There were some very good isolated scenes in terms of writing and acting but I didn't fully connect to it and I definitely didn't find it as funny as I think I was supposed to. There was also a bit of cell phone hell going on for whatever reason. How hard is it to turn off your phone, people?

Everyone’s a Critic (REVIEWS)

• Reviews for the LA production of Bent

I Hope I Get It (CASTING)

• Additional casting has been announced for the Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. Newly announced for the role of James Tyrone Jr. is Michael Shannon.
• Off-Broadway's Mint Theater Company has announced that Christian Campbell will lead the cast of its summer revival of Harold Chapin's The New Morality. Performances are set for Aug. 22-Oct. 11, with an opening night slated for Sept. 21.
• Casting has been announced for the Signature Theatre's upcoming production of the political-themed musical The Fix, which will be presented Aug. 11-Sept. 20 in the MAX Theatre.

I Heard It Through the Grapevine (RUMORS)

• Us Weekly magazine reported on its website, "Sources tell Us Weekly that Beyonce is also in talks to play Glinda the Good Witch" in NBC's version of The Wiz.  

Brush Up Your Shakespeare (SHAKESPEARE)

• Washington D.C.'s Unexpected Stage Company is putting a surprising twist on Shakespeare's most well-known love story with its staging of Romeo and Juliet: Love Knows No Age, re-imagined in a nursing home. Performances began July 16 at the Randolph Road Theater in Wheaton and continue through Aug. 9.

Come to the Cabaret (CABARETS/CONCERTS/ETC)

• Willemijn Verkaik, the only actress to have played Elphaba in Wicked in multiple languages, including appearances on Broadway, the West End, in Germany and the Netherlands, is to appear at London's Ambassadors Theatre Aug. 25, then at New York's 54 Below Aug. 27-28.

A Musical (MUSICALS)

• Jenna Ushkowitz, J. Michael Zygo, Jackie Burns and more star in Pittsburgh CLO's new production of The Wedding Singer, running through Aug. 2.

We Open in Venice, We Next Play Verona (TOURS)

• Several national tours will be featured in the second season of Lifetime's morning show, "The Balancing Act," during its six-part series, "Broadway Balances America."

A Foggy Day in London Town (UK NEWS)

• Peter Brook is to re-visit one section of the great Indian epic "The Mahabharata" for a new play called Battlefield that will come to London's Young Vic beginning performances Feb. 3, 2016, prior to an official opening Feb. 5, for a run through Feb. 27. 

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

• Issaquah's Village Theatre has set the line-up for its 15th annual Festival of New Musicals, running Aug. 7-9 
• The Metropolitan Opera's Sept. 21 opening-night performance — Verdi's Otello, directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher — will be screened in Times Square.
• The Nederlander Organization has sold the air rights to 20,000 square feet above the Neil Simon Theatre on West 52nd Street for $8.9 million to a consortium that's trying to build a new skyscraper a half mile south on Seventh Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets.