On Broadway and beyond, a curtain can rise as quickly as it can fall; a star can be swapped as easily as Bernie Telsey can say, “That’s enough.” Theater is the beating heart of New York show business and, if you want to make it here, it’s crucial you’re up to date on incoming projects, latest castings, and other industry news. Don’t worry, Broadway baby, Backstage has your back. Every week, we’re rounding up the can’t-miss stories no thespian should live without, so you can focus on important matters like hitting your high F. Curtain up and light those lights!
Traveling pants will travel to Broadway.
Fans of the book-turned-hit-2005-film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” will be pleased to learn that a stage musical adaptation is officially in the works. Blue Spruce Productions has acquired the live theatrical rights from Alcon Entertainment and Alloy Entertainment, which co-produced both the original film and its 2008 sequel. No timeline for the production is in place currently, nor is casting for any of the four principal roles, played in the film by Blake Lively, Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, and Alexis Bledel.
Casting/announced for “Bernhardt/Hamlet.”
Full casting has been announced for this season’s Roundabout Theatre Company production of “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” the new play by Pulitzer winner Theresa Rebeck. Tony Award winner and Academy Award-nominated actor Janet McTeer will lead the dramatic comedy, starring opposite Dylan Baker, Jason Butler Harner, Matthew Saldivar, and others. Tony nominee Moritz Von Stuelpnagel directs the piece, beginning previews at the American Airlines Theatre Aug. 31. An opening is set for Sept. 25.
Evan Hansen will keep different company.
Original company members of Broadway’s “Dear Evan Hansen” continue to depart the production. Laura Dreyfuss, who played Zoe Murphy from the musical’s Off-Broadway run, gave her final performance in the role on July 15, after announcing days prior she’d be leaving to film a television series. Olivia Puckett, who plays Alana full-time in the show, steps into the role of Zoe through July 29, before Mallory Bechtel assumes the track, making her Broadway debut. Additionally, the Tony-winning production announced that Lisa Brescia will return to Broadway in the role of Heidi Hansen beginning Aug. 7, succeeding Tony winner Rachel Bay Jones.
New Stoppard finds its new cast.
The previously-announced New York premiere of “The Hard Problem,” the new play by Tom Stoppard, has announced casting for its Off-Broadway run. The piece, which begins previews at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater Oct. 25, will star Eshan Bay, Adelaide Clemens, Nina Grollman, Katie Beth Hall, Karoline Xu, and Chris O’Shea, with more casting to be announced. Tony winner Jack O’Brien, represented on Broadway currently with “Carousel,” will direct.
“The Prom” will have its first dance at a different theater.
“The Prom,” the original new musical arriving on Broadway this fall, will now take its bow at a different Broadway theater. Though previously announced to run at the Cort Theatre, the Casey Nicholaw-directed tuner will now play the Longacre Theatre (vacating at the end of the summer with the closing of “A Bronx Tale”). Previews are still slated to begin Oct. 23, with an official opening set for Nov. 15.
A temporary Ti Moune heads to the island.
There’s a new Ti Moune in town—for a little while, anyway. The Tony-winning best revival will be led by Ti Moune understudy Lorey Lott, while star Hailey Kilgore recovers from a foot injury. It is not yet known how long Kilgore, who was Tony-nominated for her performance this year, will be sidelined from the production, though she took to Twitter to share that she broke her foot during a recent performance, as well as her regrets that “I will not be there every day to tell the story with my incredible family of a cast.”
Diana Rigg bids adieu to Eliza.
Diana Rigg, who was Tony-nominated this year for her role in the Lincoln Center revival of “My Fair Lady,” will play her final performance as Henry Higgins’ mother on Sept. 9. The announcement of her successor is to come.
School’s out for “School of Rock.”
Broadway’s “School of Rock,” based on the 2003 film of the same name, will play its final performance on Jan. 20, 2019. The musical, with a book by Julian Fellowes and score by Andrew Lloyd Webber, was nominated for four Tony Awards in 2016, including best musical. The closure frees up the cavernous Winter Garden Theatre, which may be good news for a number of this spring’s incoming productions that have yet to announce their houses, including “Tootsie,” “Hadestown,” and the probable transfer of “Moulin Rouge.”
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