Theatre News Roundup: 12/13-12/19

I put on my Broadway Spotify playlist. I can't get past "To Build A Home" because I keep going back to the beginning. Why didn't I see Bridges!?! Go see Dames at Sea before it closes.


Another Op’nin, Another Show (OPENINGS)

• Staceyann Chin's solo show MotherStruck! officially opens Dec. 14
• Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison officially opens Dec. 14
• These Paper Bullets! officially opens Off-Broadway Dec. 15.
• Noises Off begins previews Dec. 17 prior to an official opening Jan. 14, 2016

The Party’s Over (CLOSINGS)

• The Off-Broadway revival of Annie Baker's The Flick will end its run Jan. 10, 2016

TKTS (TICKETS/RUSH/ETC)

• "The Off-Broadway League has launched its toy drive, offering free tickets to select shows in exchange for the donation of a toy valued at $10 or more. The offer, which benefits Safe Horizon, the largest non-profit victim services agency in the U.S., is valid through Dec. 22."
• On Your Feet! $40 online lottery 
• School of Rock — The Musical is offering general rush with a limit of two tickets — priced at $37 each, payable in cash or by credit card — per person.

I Wanna Be A Producer (IN DEVELOPMENT)

• "Michael Cerveris will star in an  industry reading of the new musical The Goree Girls, about the inmates of a women's prison who form a rock band."
• Jimmy Buffett jukebox musical
• Tovah Feldshuh will head the cast of an industry-only presentation of Anna Simone Scott’s Stranger in My House

Everyone’s a Critic (REVIEWS)

• Once Upon a Mattress 
• Marjorie Prime 
• These Paper Bullets!

I Hope I Get It (CASTING)

• Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 will be coming to Broadway with Josh Groban as Pierre
• Karen Ziemba has been cast in Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s upcoming production of Karen Zacarías' Native Gardens.
• "The Irish Repertory Theatre has announced that Larry Bryggman will star as Creon in The Burial at Thebes by Seamus Heaney. He replaces John Cullum and is joined by Rebekah Brockman as Antigone."
• Marjorie Johnson has replaced the previously announced Leslie Uggams in the Vineyard Theatre's Off-Broadway premiere of Dot
• The Public Theater has announced complete casting for the world premiere three-play cycle The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family
• Nice Fish 
• Complete casting has been announced for the Cleveland Play House's upcoming production of Little Shop of Horrors which will be seen at the Allen Theatre Jan. 9-Feb. 7, 2016.
• Jake Epstein is set to lead the cast of Scott Elmegreen and Drew Fornarola's Straight, which will have its world premiere at Off-Broadway's Acorn Theatre
• The Public Theater has announced complete casting for Southern Comfort, a folk and bluegrass-inspired musical that explores transgender life.
• "Complete casting has been announced for the Paper Mill Playhouse's world premiere of A Bronx Tale: The Musical. Leading the company are Jason Gotay as Calogero, Joshua Colley as Young Calogero, Nick Cordero as Sonny, Richard H. Blake as Lorenzo, Coco Jones as Jane and Lucia Giannetta as Rosina."
• Casting for Project Shaw reading of George Bernard Shaw's In Good King Charles's Golden Days at Symphony Space’s Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre
• Kelsey Grammer who had been scheduled to begin a seven-week return engagement Jan. 19, 2016, will now begin performances Jan. 15. He will continue through Feb. 21 rather than Feb. 28.

Brush Up Your Shakespeare (SHAKESPEARE)

• A Twelfth Night musical will be presented as part of the Public Theater's The Public Works program with music and lyrics by Shaina Taub.

Come to the Cabaret (CABARETS/CONCERTS/ETC)

• The February Inspirational Broadway concert has added Adam Pascal, Eden Espinosa, Telly Leung and Jarrod Spector to its lineup.
• A concert version of the new musical Merman's Apprentice will be presented Jan. 18, 2016, at 7 PM at Birdland in New York City.
• It's De-Lovely, a salute to Broadway composer Cole Porter on the 125th anniversary of his birth June 7, 2016 at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall

A Musical (MUSICALS)

• Maurice Hines Tappin' Thru Life will begin performances Dec. 23 at New World Stages. Opening night is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2016.

It’s Only a Play (PLAYS)

• "Roundabout Theatre Company has announced it will expand its new play initiative, the Underground Program, to two plays per season. The theatre has also announced two new plays, written by Underground alumni, to premiere next season."
• "The U.S. premiere of Lucy Prebble’s The Effect is scheduled to make its U.S. debut with an Off-Broadway opening in March 2016."
• "American Renaissance Theater Company will present WinterWorks 2016: A Festival of New One Act Plays beginning Jan. 5, 2016. The program will feature 11 new plays running in repertory at The Shop @ Cap 21 Theatre in Manhattan."
• "Playwrights Realm will stage the world premiere of Mfoniso Udofia Sojourners in January, about a Nigerian woman's life-changing journey to the U.S."

They Mean Chicago, Illinois (CHICAGO NEWS)

• Gotta Dance has extended through January 17

I Want to Go to Hollywood (MOVIE NEWS)

• "Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton will reunite for a new feature film from Netflix. Entitled "Divanation," the film features a script by Lisa Addario and Joey Syracuse. They will play "members of a once-popular singing group forced to reconnect after their volatile split and 30 year estrangement."

Let Me Be Your Star (TV NEWS)

• "The Passion," a two-hour original musical pageant about the final hours of Jesus Christ on Earth, will be broadcast live 8-10 PM ET March 20, 2016.
• "Nunsense: The TV Series" is being proposed as a 10-13 episode series that would be streamed into home video devices.
• "NBC has opted to cancel the television variety series "Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris" after a single season"
• The holiday film "Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors," which premiered on NBC Dec. 10, will be rebroadcast Christmas Eve at 9 PM ET.
• Grease: Live will feature a live audience who will participate in the performance.

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

• "Fun Home announced Dec. 13 that it has recouped its entire $5.25 million investment in just eight months on Broadway."
• Dames at Sea will be filmed Dec. 15 for the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center
• American Dance Machine for The 21st Century (ADM21) will play New York's Joyce Theater Dec. 21-Jan. 3, 2016.
• Taylor Mac A 24-Decade History of Popular Music
• The 1903 vintage Hudson Theatre on West 44th Street, east of Times Square, will be reopened as a Broadway house.