GRACE NOTES - Friday, Feb. 25, 2011

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This weekend’s highlights:

Friday, Feb. 25

* Circle Mirror Transformation opens at Kansas City Rep.

* The Adventures of Pinocchio opens at LA's Deaf West Theatre.

* First Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival opens at LA's Circle X Theatre.

* Love Sucks opens at West Hollywood's Coast Playhouse.

* Prometheus Bound, starring Gavin Creel and Lea DeLaria, begins performances at ART.

* Kin begins previews at Playwrights Horizons.

* The Dream of the Burning Boy begins previews at Roundabout Underground.

* Yellowman begins previews at Trinity Rep.

* Lin-Manuel Miranda joins Freestyle Love Supreme at 7 PM at Irving Plaza.

* Being Harold Pinter reading, starring James Cromwell and Ed Harris, at 7:30 PM at LA Theatre Center.

* Dear Edwina closes at DR2 Theatre.


Saturday, Feb. 26

* A House Not Meant to Stand opens at LA's Fountain Theatre.

* How to Succeed... begins previews on Broadway at the Al Hirshfeld Theatre.

* Arcadia begins previews on Broadway at the Barrymore Theatre.

* Lost in Yonkers, starring Judy Kaye, begins performances at Arizona Theatre Company.

* Comedy of Errors begins previews at Glendale’s A Noise Within.

* Having It All, directed by Richard Israel, begins previews at NoHo Arts Center.

* Atlantic Theatre's A New York Idea closes at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

* Baby Wants Comedy, improvised musical, closes at SoHo Playhouse.

* Flora the Red Menace closes at Texas' Lyric Stage.

* LCT3's When I Come to Die closes Off-Broadway at the Duke on 42nd St.


Sunday, Feb. 27

* The Academy Awards at 8 PM (ET) on ABC. Print a ballot here.

* Songs from the Michael Cerveris-produced Nine Lives at 6 PM at Symphony Space.

* Where The Bison Run reading at 7 PM at Ars Nova. Reservations: rsvp@arsnovanyc.com.

* Gigi, starring Millicent Martin, Matt Cavenaugh and Jason Graae, closes at Reprise.

* Death of a Salesman begins previews at The Old Globe.

* Interviewing the Audience closes at the Vineyard.

* The Road to Qatar closes at the York Theatre.

* A Trip to Bountiful closes at Cleveland Playhouse.

* Cats closes at Long Beach's Musical Theatre West.

* Lucky Dick closes at South Coast Rep.

* Mistakes Were Made closes at Barrow Street Theatre.

* Rogue Machine's Dirt closes at LA's Theatre/Theater.

* The Author closes at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

* The Drowsy Chaperone closes at Fullerton's Plummer Auditorium.

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Victory at the Motion Picture Theatre Fund hospital – a true Hollywood David and Goliath story: http://bit.ly/fZCDbn

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The world premiere of The Next Fairy Tale will be presented by LA’s Celebration Theatre. Previews begin March 2, with an opening set for March 11.

The Next Faily Tale (Book, Music and Lyrics by Brian Pugach) will be directed by Michael Shepperd, with Music Direction and Vocal Arrangements by Wayne Moore and choreography by Jeffrey Polk. The cast features Rachel Genevieve, Christopher Maikish, Gina Torrecilla, Kendra Munger, Patrick Gomez, Charls Sedgwick Hall, Stephanie Fredricks, Nell Teare, Vash Bodie and Ben Caron.

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The Museum of the City of New York (1220 Fifth Avenue), in its forthcoming exhibition Joel Grey / A New York Life, examines the enduring impact that legendary actor Joel Grey and his adopted city have made on each other. Through rare artifacts from his stage and screen career, objects from his personal collection, and his own photography, MCNY offers a unique look at New York through Grey’s eyes as well as a visual retrospective of his career.

The exhibition’s opening night reception will take place on the evening of Monday, April 11, which is also Grey’s 79th birthday. It will open to the public the following day, and remain on display through Monday, Aug. 8.

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Things To Ruin: The Songs of Joe Iconis is returning to le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleeker St.) for four performances (Feb. 28 at 10 PM, March 7 at 7:30 PM, March 20 at 10:30 PM and March 28 at 10:30 PM). The show will celebrate the recent release of the "Things To Ruin" cast album by Sh-K-Boom/ Ghostlight Records (order here), and will feature many of the original cast members.

Things To Ruin is an incendiary collection of songs by Kleban and Larson Award Winner Joe Iconis (The Black Suits, ReWrite, Plant That Ate Dirty Socks, The Rock and Roll Jamboree, Bloodsong of Love). It is a theatrical rock concert about human beings who are messy, emotional, drugged up, knocked down, inspired, electric and who don't have nearly enough time to cause the kind of commotion they so desperately need to. Performed by a cast of viciously talented young singers and a highly flammable four-piece band led by Joe himself, Things To Ruin rocks with an occasionally profane and always heartfelt explosion of music and high drama.

The show features Nick Blaemire, Carrie Manolakos, Eric William Morris, Lance Rubin, Jason SweetTooth Williams, Starr Busby and Katrina Rose Dideriksen (Hairpsray). Things To Ruin is directed by John Simpkins, with musical supervision by Matt Hinkley and choreography by Jennifer Werner.

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The Off-Broadway production of the provocative new play, A Perfect Future, by David Hay, will give its final performance on Sunday evening, March 6 at 7 PM at the Cherry Lane Theater (38 Commerce Street).

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Gayfest NYC, the country’s premier arts organization devoted to the discovery, development and production of new LGBT-themed plays, has announced its Annual Gala, Spring At Last!, benefitting the students of Harvey Milk High School. The event will be held Monday, March 21 at Loews Regency Hotel (540 Park Avenue) with special guest appearances by Wanda Sykes, Michael Urie and Lance Horne.

The evening’s activities will feature cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, celebrity entertainment and silent & live auctions. Information and tickets: 212-352-3101

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The 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards, which will feature musical numbers from the nominated New York stage productions, will be held May 23 at 8 PM at the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center, located at 34th Street and 8th Avenue.

There will be a gala sit-down dinner, prepared by celebrity chefs, during which the awards will be presented to outstanding productions and creative talent for the 2010-2011 season.

The Drama Desk Awards ceremony, which will be directed by Jeff Kalpak, will be filmed in HD for a television special that will be given two primetime airings plus four additional national broadcasts on Ovation between June 2 and June 15.

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Tony Award winner James Earl Jones has been “elected” to play the former President of the United States in the upcoming Broadway revival of Gore Vidal's The Best Man in the spring of 2012.

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RIP. Max Wilk, a novelist, a nonfiction chronicler of show business subjects, playwright, screenwriter — and a dramaturg for the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center for more tham 25 years — died Feb. 19 at his home in Westport, CT, the O'Neill Festival reported. Mr. Wilk was 90.

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The Broadway revival of Chicago will welcome back two-time Tony nominee Christopher Sieber next month, who will again step into the role of Billy Flynn (replacing Brent Barrett) for a limited engagement beginning March 8 and continuing through March 25. Barrett will rejoin the show March 26.

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Video: How to Succeed… director-choreographer Rob Ashford in conversation with star Daniel Radcliffe: http://bit.ly/gYWsBG

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A by-invitation-only reading of the musical Hello Out There will be presented March 4 at 2 PM at Playwrights Horizons. Hello Out There has book and lyrics by Eric Price and music by Frank Terry. Industry only: HelloReadingMarch@gmail.com.

Benjamin Endsley Klein will direct a cast that features Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Ann Harada, Etai BenShlomo, Dana Steingold, Erik Liberman, Emily Shoolin and Jim Poulos.

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Casting has been announced for Liberty Smith, the musical comedy about a fictional patriot's encounters with figures from the American Revolution. Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, will produce the show March 23-May 21.

The musical — previously seen in developmental presentations in New York City — is based on an original story by Marc Madnick and Eric R. Cohen, with music by Michael Weiner, lyrics by Adam Abraham and book by Madnick, Cohen and Abraham.

Matt August will direct a cast that includes Kelly Karbacz as Betsy Ross' niece Emily Andrews, Gregory Maheu as George Washington, Christopher Bloch as Benjamin Franklin, Donna Migliaccio as Betsy Ross and Richard Pelzman as Paul Revere, plus Matthew A. Anderson, Michael Bunce, Drew Eshelman, James Konicek, Gia Mora, Tracy Lynn Olivera, Thomas Adrian Simpson, Bobby Smith, Lauren Williams and Harry A. Winter.

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Malcom Gets chats about Little Miss Sunshine at La Jolla Playhouse: http://bit.ly/fV0c9R

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Mark Linn-Baker, Jimmy Ray Bennett, Pamela Bob, Steven Booth, Kate Fisher, Julian Fleisher, Christa Justus, Richard Maltby, Jr., Cassie Wooley, and Karen Ziemba will be among the performers in Say We Flew: The Andrew Gerle Songbook Release Concert, to be presented at Joe's Pub on Sunday, March 27 at 7 PM.

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People's Improv Theatre will offer a one-night only performance of the new show, The Spidey Project, at People's Improv Theatre on Monday, March 14 at 8 PM. The performance will be offered free-of-charge and tickets will be available at the company's website (thepit-nyc.com) beginning March 4 at 12:01 AM.

As previously reported, this Spider-Man Smackdown was conceived by humorist and writer Justin Moran, working with writer Jon Roufaeal and composers Adam Podd and Doug Katsaros, who are writing, rehearsing, and performing a fully realized musical based on the character Spiderman in under 30 days with a budget of $0.

Video: First rehearsal: http://bit.ly/dJ8Fgf

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According to the New York Times, a third Spider-Man show will be making its New York debut this March. The Tank (W. 45th Street) will welcome Seattle import Spiderman (created by John Osebold) on March 13 for three performances. News of this third Spidey show comes just days after The Spidey Project was announced for a run at People's Improv Theatre on March 14. There is still no word if Broadway's Spider-Man will open as scheduled or if the show will see yet another delay.

Read the full NY Times article here.

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Berkshire Theatre Festival's summer/fall season:

* Songs From the Great American Songbook, June 2.
* Moonchildren, June 28-July 16, directed by Karen Allen
* The Who's Tommy, July 7-16, starring Randy Harrison, directed by Eric Hill.
* Sylvia, July 12-30
* Dutch Masters, July 19-Aug. 6
* In The Mood, Aug. 2-13
* Finian’s Rainbow, Aug. 9-27, directed by Kyle Fabel
* Tommy Tune in Steps In Time: A Broadway Biography In Song And Dance, Aug. 11
* Proof, Aug. 16-Sept. 3
* Birthday Boy (world premiere), Aug. 30-Sept. 3 & Sept. 29-Oct. 16.
* New York Times columnist Frank Rich, Oct. 9
* David Sedaris, Oct. 19
* Arlo Guthrie: Boys Night Out, Nov. 19

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The Red Bull Theater's "In the Raw" workshop of Margaret, A Tyger's Heart, exploring the role of the French Queen throughout Shakespeare's history plays, begins public performances Feb. 25 at the Theater at St. Clement's.

Michael Sexton directs the work, which has been adapted from Shakespeare's Richard III and Henry VI. Performances will run through Feb. 27.

The cast includes Randy Harrison, Kate Forbes, Craig Baldwin, Jacob Fishel, Jason Butler Harner, Robert Stanton, Michael Stewart Allen and David Townsend.

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A new Off-Broadway production of Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent will begin an open-ended run at New World Stage on July 14, according to The New York Times. It will open officially on Aug. 11 and will be directed by Michael Greif, who helmed the show's original production. Auditions will be held in March.

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Tony Award winner Julie White has joined the cast of the ABC comedy pilot "Smothered," which focuses on a young couple who find themselves smothered by their two very different sets of parents. White is scheduled to play the woman's scrappy mom. The show will also feature Kyle Howard.

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Andrea McArdle and her real-life daughter, Alexis Kalehoff, will play mother and daughter in TheatreZone's upcoming production of Willy Russell's musical Blood Brothers. The production, directed by Mark Danni, will play ten performances at the Naples, FL, venue March 10-20.

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Tony Award winners Katie Finneran and Dan Fogler have both been cast in television pilots.

Finneran will be one of the leads in Fox's comedy "I Hate My Teenage Daughter," which centers on two women who have daughters just like the girls who picked on them in high school.

Fogler has been cast as one of the leads in the ABC comedy "Man Up." Written by Chris Moynihan, the project centers on Will, a happily married father of two, his brother-in-law Kenny (to be played by Fogler) and Will's lovelorn pal Craig.

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