Theatre News Roundup: 8/17-8/18

Hello my loves,

My current recapping gig has come to an end so I am all yours. That means that reviews are finally coming. Maybe. Hopefully. ;)

Another Op’nin, Another Show (OPENINGS)

• Deborah Zoe Laufer's Informed Consent officially opens Aug. 18 at the Duke on 42nd Street, following previews that began Aug. 4. 
• The Playwrights Realm's New York premiere of Anna Ziegler's A Delicate Ship begins previews Aug. 18 prior to an official opening Aug. 27 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater.
• Philip Ridley’s Mercury Fur officially opens Off-Broadway Aug. 19, following previews that began Aug. 5. The limited run is scheduled through Sept. 27.
• Following last year's sold-out run, Erasmus Fenn's Drop Dead Perfect returns Off-Broadway Aug. 19 starring Everett Quinton, long-time member of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company.  

The Party’s Over (CLOSINGS)

• Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the 2014 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival, will play its final performance at the Belasco Theatre Sept. 13 at 3 PM. Taye Diggs is the show's final star. 

TKTS (TICKETS/RUSH/ETC)

• The Off Broadway Alliance's 20at20, the bi-annual celebration of Off-Broadway that steeply discounts tickets to many NYC shows, will be offered Sept. 14-Oct. 4. Tickets, priced $20, will be available for 31 Off-Broadway productions 20 minutes prior to curtain. All 20at20 ticket sales are cash only.
• The Brooks Atkinson Theatre box office for Deaf West's production of Spring Awakening, which will begin Broadway performances Sept. 8, opens Aug. 17. Opening night is set for Sept. 27. 
• The box office at Broadway's Marquis Theatre opens Aug. 17 for On Your Feet! Broadway previews are scheduled to begin Oct. 5 at the Marquis Theatre. Opening night on Broadway is set for Nov. 5.
• The Middle Voice Theater Company will present a workshop production of Steve DiUbaldo's Exposure beginning Aug. 20 at WorkShop Theater. All tickets are free with a suggested donation of $5. 

I Wanna Be A Producer (IN DEVELOPMENT)

• In Your Arms, a new "dance-theatre musical" will open the 2015-16 season at Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, CA. The show will star Donna McKechnie and George Chakiris. Christopher Gattelli will direct and choreograph. The show's ten vignettes have been written by an eye-popping lineup of award-winning librettists. The show, which has an original score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, will run Sept. 16 – Oct. 25, 2015. Contributing scenes to the production are Douglas Carter Beane, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, Carrie Fisher, David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph , Terrence McNally, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, and Alfred Uhry.
• Flight, a new musical by Michael Potsic described as a fresh retelling of the Greek myth "The Flight of Icarus," will receive a reading starring Broadway actors Hannah Elless and Adrian Aguilar this month. 

I Hope I Get It (CASTING)

• Broadway's Matilda The Musical is bringing in a new set of leads Sept. 8 to support the ongoing Christopher Sieber as Miss Trunchbull, including Amy Spanger as Mrs. Wormwood and Allison Case as Miss Honey. Also joining the cast are Rick Holmes as Mr. Wormwood and Natalie Venetia Belcon, who returns to the cast as Mrs. Phelps. They will be welcomed by Mattea Conforti, Rileigh McDonald, Mimi Ryder and Alexandra Vlachos, the four girls who will continue sharing the title role.
• Kate Baldwin and Erin Dilly will star in Songbird, a play with music, which begins performances Oct. 20 as part of the 59E59 Theatres' 5A Season. Songbird is written by Michael Kimmel with music and lyrics by Lauren Pritchard. The limited engagement will continue through Nov. 29. The complete cast, announced Aug. 18, also includes Kacie Sheik, Andy Taylor, Ephie Aardema and Adam Cochran.
• The Public Theater has announced complete casting for the Off-Broadway premiere of Danai Gurira's Eclipsed. Joining Lupita Nyong’o and Saycon Sengbloh will be Pascale Armand, Akosua Busia, and Zainab Jah.
• Russell Tovey and Richard Hansell will be part of the cast of this fall's Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge. Tovey will play the role of Rodolpho, and Hansell, a member of the original Young Vic company, will reprise his role as Louis. 
• Complete casting for Manhattan Theatre Club’s upcoming Broadway premiere of Fool for Love, which will begin previews Sept. 15 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Previously announced Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell will be joined by Tom Pelphrey andGordon Joseph Weiss.
• A host of Broadway talent will be featured in North Carolina Theatre's upcoming production of Into the Woods, which will be presented Oct. 20-25 at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts. 
• Rachel Tucker will join the Broadway company of Wicked next month in the role of Elphaba, a part she played in the London production for over three years. Tucker will be joined by Jonah Platt, who will be making his Broadway debut in the role of Fiyero, also on Sept. 15.

Come to the Cabaret (CABARETS/CONCERTS/ETC)

• On Sept. 27 LiveNation and iHeartRadio will present Elsie Fest, a one-day outdoor music festival celebrating songs from the stage and screen, at JBL LIVE at Pier 97 in New York City. Tickets, which go on sale Aug. 21 at 10 AM, will be available at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets cost $49 for general admission and $250 for VIP seating. 
• Baayork Lee is hosting Past, Present & Future, an Oct. 5 benefit gala celebrating five years since the founding of her organization, the National Asian Artists Project, which aims to raise the profile of Asian-American theatre artists. The 8 PM benefit will be held at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 56 LaGuardia Place in New York's Greenwich Village. 
• Charlie Rosen's Broadway Big Band will return to 54 Below Aug. 22 to continue an official residence for 2015. Guest vocalists Gerard Canonico, Adam Kaplan, Samantha Massell , Lauren Pritchard, Kacie Sheik, and Alex Wyse will all make their Broadway Big Band debuts alongside returning favorite Margo Seibert.
• Cry-Baby, the 2008 Broadway musical, is getting a long-delayed original cast album--and an original cast reunion concert. 

It’s Only a Play (PLAYS)

• Sweet Chaos Theater Project will present an evening of world-premiere short play readings by award-winning playwrights, with proceeds from the event helping fund home libraries for families living in Broadway Community Housing in Harlem. Taking place Sept. 28 at Symphony Space for one night only, the new works will explore family life, upholding the company's mission of "telling stories about family while helping families." The event is titled Tipping Points. 
• Lynn Nottage has debuted her newest work, Sweat, exploring America's industrial decline, at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Performances of Sweat began July 29 and will continue through Oct. 31.
• Urban Stages will present the American premiere of Oren Safdie's Unseamly, a controversial play inspired by a variety of sexual harassment charges brought against well-known clothing companies. Sarah C. Carlsen will direct the limited engagement, which will run Oct. 8-Nov. 1. 
• Off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company has announced that the final production of its 30th anniversary season will be the world premiere of  Kenneth Lonergan’s Hold On To Me Darling.
• The Labyrinth Theater Company has announced two shows as part of its upcoming 2015-16 season. The slate will kick off with the world premiere of Aaron Mark’s one-woman show Empanada Loca, starring Daphne Rubin-Vega. The second show to be announced is the Off-Broadway premiere of Mona Mansour’s The Way West.

They Mean Chicago, Illinois (CHICAGO NEWS)

• John Oliver will perform an evening of comedy at the Chicago Theatre Dec. 30 at 7 PM.
• Hershey Felder has announced the upcoming 2015-16 season for Chicago's Royal George Theatre.

A Foggy Day in London Town (UK NEWS)

• Tickets for the first major London production of Funny Girl since its original 1966 West End run after transferring from Broadway have sold out within hours of going on public sale Aug. 17. 

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

• Lincoln Center Education will present Up and Away, a new multi-sensory theatrical experience specially designed for young audiences on the autism spectrum. The show, which was created by New York's Trusty Sidekick Theater Company, will play Sept. 29-Oct. 25: 16 performances will be for school groups, and 16 will be for general audiences. Up and Away is a new take on the classic story "Around the World in 80 Days."
• Steven Sater's play New York Animals will at last have its world premiere staging Off-Broadway. The new work  features music by Burt Bacharach. New York Animals uses a cast of four to tell the story of 21 New Yorkers as their lives intersect during a rain day in Manhattan. The production is set to begin previews at the New Ohio Theatre Nov. 14 and play through Dec. 20. An official opening night is slated for Nov. 29.
• The "Broadway 4D" project in the heart of Times Square — which plans to immerse theatregoers in a film experience that celebrates the history of Broadway musicals — is back on track, according to the project's new backers, after a year of financial limbo.