Broadway Update: Suzan-Lori Parks, Lorraine Hansberry

By: David Sheward

June 19, 2022: Many African-American women playwrights such as Lynn Nottage, Aleasha Harris, Dominique Morriseau, Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, and Erika Dickerson-Despina have had their work celebrated in the just-finished 2022-23 New York theater season. Two pioneering black women authors will be celebrated in many ways in 2022-23 on and Off-Broadway. Lorraine Hansberry, the first black woman to have a play produced on Broadway, will appear as a character in a play and have her landmark A Raisin in the Sun revived. Suzan-Lori Parks, the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama, will also see the play that got her that honor on stage again as well as a slew of new works.

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Winners for the 66^th Annual Drama Desk Awards
This year’s Drama Desk Awards will take place at Sardi’s Restaurant (234 W 44^th Street) on June 14^th from 3:00 – 6:00pm.

June 14, 2022: In keeping with the Drama Desk‘s mission, the nominators considered shows that opened on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway between July 2, 2021 and May 1, 2022 for this year’s Awards. Only live performances were eligible – if performances were also available for streaming, 21 or more unique live performances were required. 

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A Strange Loop wins Best Musical as the Tony Awards return to Radio City Music Hall.

June 12, 2022:  The Tony Awards  returned to Radio City Music Hall for a live celebration of the 75th Annual event, the first since 2019, hosted by Oscar winner Ariana DeBose.

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Broadway Update: Stoppard, Sesame Street, Good Night Oscar, Lena Horne, etc.

By: David Sheward

June 11, 2022: Lots of theater news to report: Tom Stoppard’s latest play Leopoldstadt has announced a theater and dates for its Broadway transfer after a critically acclaimed London production in 2020. The decade-spanning epic work about multiple generations of a Jewish-Catholic family in Vienna will begin previews at the Longacre Theatre on Sept. 14 in advance of an Oct. 2 opening. This will be Stoppard’s 19th play on Broadway since Rosencrantz and Guilderstern Are Dead opened in 1967. He has won four Best Play Tony Awards (for R & G Are Dead, Travesties, The Real Thing, and The Coast of Utopia.) Leopoldstadt won the Olivier Award for its London run but was stopped short by the COVID shutdown. It’s the first play in which the playwright uses his Jewish background as a source. 

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For the Milestone 75^th Annual Presentation, the Tony Awards Return to the New Normal and Are Putting On a Spectacular Four Hour Televised Event; Ariana DeBose is Hosting

By Ellis Nassour

June 10, 2022: For the milestone 75^th Annual Presentation, the Tony Awards return to the new normal and are putting on a spectacular four hour televised celebration. The   Tony are back to New York’s legendary Showplace of the Nation Radio City Music Hall on Sunday in a TV event that will telecast live coast to coast for the first time.   

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Celebrating 75 Years of the Tony Awards, But Have You Ever Asked “Who’s Tony”?

By: Ellis Nassour

June 9, 2022 – You’re not alone.

Sunday’s Tony Awards mark 75 years of excellence on Broadway and like Ben Vereen, you may have wondered how the Tony Awards got their name. When Vereen was co-starring in Jesus Christ Superstar, he received a letter by messenger. It was from the American Theatre Wing. He asked the stage doorman what that was and the gent had no idea. He opened the letter. “It read: ‘Congratulations, Ben Vereen. You have been nominated as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for your performance.’” It was signed, The Tony Awards. He asked, “Who’s this Tony?”

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By: David Sheward

June 6, 2022: Once again the Tony and Drama Desk Awards will be very different from each other this year. The Tonys only consider Broadway shows and the DDs include on and Off in all their multiple categories. Thus, The Lehman Trilogy which has an Off-Broadway run in 2019-20 is not eligible for the DDs because it was in the running earlier and Kimberly Akimbo is a DD candidate, but will be up for Tonys next season when it transfers. (The Outer Critics disagreed about Lehman and included it in their awards this year. Maybe because the run Off-Broadway was so short and not many voting members saw it then.)

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By: Alix Cohen

June 6, 2022: Two years after the planned celebration of Peggy Lee’s 100^th birthday, Stacy Sullivan, arguably the artist’s torch bearer, is finally able to present her tribute. An eclectic roster of songs written or made famous by Lee arrive in varied interpretation by way of 11 male vocalists and Sullivan herself in pristine voice. The show runs like silk.

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Broadway Update: Almost Famous, Thanksgiving Play, Theater for Salesman

By: David Sheward

June 4, 2022: We’re almost at the very end of the 2021-22 Broadway/Off-Broadway season. Now we have three more news items about the upcoming 2022-23 season. On tap are a new musical based on a hit movie, a theater company announces additions to its on and Off-Broadway schedule, and the Death of a Salesman revival has a theater.

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Celebrate Pride Month With BroadwayHD

June 1, 2022: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert- June 1- The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a 1994 Australian road comedy film written and directed by Stephan Elliott. The plot follows two drag queens and a transgender woman as they journey across the Australian Outback from Sydney to Alice Springs in a tour bus that they have named “Priscilla,” encountering various groups and individuals along the way.

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By: David Sheward

May 30, 2022: The past few weeks have been a crazed marathon of theater awards, from the Tony and Drama Desk nominations, to the New York Drama Critics Circle voting to the announcement of the winners of the Outer Critics Circle. COVID has caused delays and postponements for announcement dates, so that many of these events were smashed close together. There were also the winners and nominees for the Lortel Awards (for Off-Broadway), the Theater World honorees (for performers making their on or Off-Broadway debut), and the Chita Rivera nominees (for top dancers).

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Theatre World Awards, Honoring Broadway/Off Broadway Debuts June 6

By Ellis Nassour

May 31, 2022: The 76^th annual Theatre World Awards (TWA) is one of the most anticipated events of theater season’s end – and one of immense joy as actors – young to older – making their Broadway debuts are honored for their standout performances. In what has become an often touching tradition, 12 previous winners serve as presenters, and often relive moments from past ceremonies and share tales rarely heard.

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May 16, 2022: Nominations for the 66th AnnualDrama Desk Awards were announced today, and the full list of nominees is available below.

In keeping with the Drama Desk‘s mission, the nominators considered shows that opened on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway during the 2021-2022 New York theater season, that the Drama Desk determined ended as of May 1, 2022. Only live performances were eligible – if performances were also available for streaming, 21 or more unique live performances were required. 

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B’way Update: Into the Woods; OCC Ceremony

By: David Sheward

May 30, 2022: When I went to see Golden Shield at Manhattan Theater Club’s City Center Off-Broadway space, I had to stand in line with attendees for the Encores! production of Sondheim and Lapine’s Into the Woods. The line went around the block and I was worried about missing my curtain (I didn’t). Well, that immensely popular staging of the 1987 fairy-tale musical by Lear de Bessonet, Encores’ artistic director, will by transferring to a limited run on Broadway at the St. James Theater, with previews starting June 28 for a July 10 opening. 

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ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS OF THE 71ST ANNUAL  OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS COMMEMORATING THE 2021-22  BROADWAY & OFF-BROADWAY SEASON

The Lehman Trilogy Leads with 6 Awards including Outstanding New Broadway Play, followed by the Off-Broadway musical Kimberly Akimbo with 4 Wins

May 17, 2022:  The Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of writers on New York theatre for out-of-town newspapers and national publications, is pleased to announce the winners of the 71^st Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards, honoring the 2021-2022 Broadway and Off-Broadway season. 

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