Care to guess which one I’m talking about? Why none other than Theresa Rebeck’s new play I Need That starring Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee the incomparable Mr. Danny DeVito. The play, which costars his daughter Lucy DeVito, tells the story of Sam who quite honestly prefers to stay inside most days. I take that back. Every day. Oh, and did I also mention he’s a bit of a hoarder and a slob? Well, he is. So much so that the government is threatening to evict him from his happy home if he doesn’t clean up his act and quickly. Now I don’t know about you, but that sounds like one heck of an interesting ride that Ms. Rebeck has chosen to take us on, don’t you think? Previews for the show began last Friday at the American Airlines Theatre, with opening night scheduled for November 2. Plus, it was just announced that the show has extended the limited run by an additional week through December 30. Sounds like a great way to celebrate New Year’s Eve, “Eve” to me.
2023-2024 Broadway Season - Part One
April 24,2023. Care to guess what happened on that date, theatre fans? No, it was not the opening night of a brand-new play or musical on the Great White Way. Instead, it was my last blog, which just so happened to feature my take on some of the new shows set to open that Spring during the final weeks of the 2022-2023 Broadway season. Now here we are almost six months later and it’s time to do it all over again. Only this time it’s the 2023-2024 season. And what an exciting season it is too theatre fans. In fact, between now and the end of April, there are seventeen plays and musicals scheduled to open. Not only that, but six of those productions are brand new musicals. Which for those of you keeping score, makes a total of nine when you add in, Back to the Future, Here Lies Love which opened this past Summer, and Gutenberg! The Musical!, which just opened last week. Well, now that, that’s out of the way, what do you say we start with a little sneak peek of a few of those shows right now? And what better way to start then with one of this season’s most anticipated new plays?
Next up is Barry Manilow (Music) and Bruce Sussman’s Harmony. Now, while the show may be officially making its Broadway debut this season, the show has actually been kicking around both New York and regional theatres as far back as 1997, with the most recent production being Off-Broadway in 2022. Previews for the show are set to begin at the Barrymore Theatre on October 18, with opening night scheduled for November 13. Directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Warren Carlyle (Hello Dolly, The Music Man), Harmony tells the true story of the 1920’s singing group The Comedian Harmonists and their meteoric rise from subway singers in Berlin, to selling millions of records and selling out large theatres around the world. Portraying the talented German sextet are Sean Bell, Danny Kornfield, Zal Owen, Eric Peters, Blake Roman, and Steven Telsey. All but one of which, like the show itself, are making their Broadway debuts. Starring along side them is Tony nominee Chip Zien (Caroline or Change, Falsettos), Sierra Boggess (School of Rock, The Little Mermaid) and Broadway’s favorite standby Julie Benko (Funny Girl) Now, why I didn’t get a chance to see it last year during its acclaimed run Off-Broadway at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, you can bet I won’t miss it this time if I get the chance. Here’s hoping it was worth the wait.
Which brings me to the first Broadway revival of one of Broadway’s most hilarious shows of all time, and a personal favorite of mine. I am of course talking about none other than Monty Python’s Spamalot. The show, which first opened on Broadway in March 2005 at the historic Shubert Theatre, where it won three Tony Awards including Best Musical of the Year, is set to begin previews at the St. James Theatre on October 31, with opening night scheduled for November 16. The show which prides itself on being “lovingly ripped off from the film classic “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, features book and lyrics by Eric Idle, and music by Idle and John du Prez. Based on the critically acclaimed Kennedy Center production in Washington D.C. that played a limited engagement in March of this year, the show is set to star Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart as King Arthur, SNL alumni Taran Killam as Sir Lancelot, two-time Tony nominee Christopher Fitzgerald, Tony nominee Ethan Slater as the Historian/Sir Herbert, Michael Urie as Sir Robin, Nik Walker as Sir Galahad, Matthew Salvidar as Patsy, Jimmy Smagula as Sir Bedevere, and Leslie Kritzer as the Lady of the Lake. What a cast. As of now, the show is scheduled to play a limited engagement through April 28, 2024. However, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if it extends. I know I wouldn’t be the only one who hopes that it does.
Finally, we come to our last show in Part One of our Four-Part Series. How to Dance in Ohio. Which like many of the new musicals this season is based on a film. However, in the case of this one, it is actually a critically acclaimed documentary that first premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival where it was quickly acquired by HBO Documentary Films for its television debut nine months later. I first became aware of this highly anticipated new musical when a close friend of mine performed in the show’s regional premier at Syracuse Stage last year. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to see it as the week I was supposed to attend, several members of the company came down with COVID, causing the final performances to be cancelled. I was, however, able to get a hands-on account of the show and its progress from my friend who shared the show’s many wonderful attributes as well as its chance of success on Broadway. One other interesting tidbit about this show.
The show’s journey from the screen to the stage actually began in 2018 when it was in the process of being adapted by the one and only twenty-one-time Tony Award winner, Harold Prince. Or as he was always referred to as, Hal. Following his death in 2019, the project was taken over by Sammi Cannold who serves as the show’s director. So, what exactly is the show all about? Well, I’ll tell you. According to the show’s press release, How To Dance In Ohio takes place at a “group counseling center in Columbus, Ohio, where seven young autistic young adults prepare for a spring formal dance-a rite of passage that breaks open their routines and sets off hilarious and heartbreaking encounters with love, stress, excitement, and independence.” Sounds like an incredible and moving night at the theatre to me. Previews for the show are set to begin at the Belasco Theatre on November 15, with opening night scheduled for December 10.
Well, there you have it theatre fans, Part One in my Four-Part series on the upcoming plays and musicals set to open this season. Stay tuned in the coming days for Part Two. Until next time theatre fans.
