#21 - Big Theater Kid Energy!

We all have theater kid energy!
Broadway News:

Starting this season, Tony Awards voters must complete unconscious bias training in order to vote in any categories. The news, sent to voters last Friday, requires members to take a free, online training session led by inclusion strategist Vernā Myers. The course is meant to teach viewers how to identify unconscious or implicit bias in their own decision-making processes and how to correct it, according to the course description. 

Producers Stephen Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey announced that a new musical stage adaptation of Black Orpheus, featuring a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz, original music by Grammy Award winner and Brazilian icon Sergio Mendes, and direction and choreography by Tony Award winner Sergio Trujillo, is being readied for its world premiere production on Broadway during the 2022-2023 season. A developmental workshop and an out-of-town regional theatre run are being planned for 2022 before heading to Broadway in 2023.

James Snyder, who has been playing the role of Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child since a new, shorter version of the production reopened on Broadway on November 12, 2021, has had his contract terminated. The termination follows a complaint from fellow cast member Diane Davis, who has since also left the production by her own accord, regarding his conduct.

The Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf, directed and choreographed by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown will begin performances on Friday, April 1, 2022 at the Booth Theatre. The fully reimagined production will open on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. 

Casting:

Dennis Stowe steps into the role of Jafar in the Broadway production of Aladdin beginning this week at the New Amsterdam Theatre. He succeeds fellow original cast member Jonathan Freeman, who created the role on Broadway after voicing the part in the 1992 animated film. Freeman played his final performance on January 23.

NaTasha Yvette Williams will succeed Dawnn Lewis as Zelma, Tina Turner's mother, in Broadway's Tina: The Tina Turner Musical beginning February 4. Lewis is scheduled to play her final performance on January 30. Williams was last seen on Broadway in Chicken and Biscuits and has been a long-time Matron "Mama" Morton in Chicago. She starred as Becky during the original run of Waitress, and also appeared on Broadway in A Night With Janis Joplin, Porgy and Bess, and The Color Purple.

Follow @BwayPodNetwork on Twitter. Find co-hosts on Twitter at @AyannaPrescod, @CLewisReviews, and @TheMartinAcuna. Subscribe To BPN's newsletter HERE.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all have theater kid energy!

Broadway News:

Starting this season, Tony Awards voters must complete unconscious bias training in order to vote in any categories. The news, sent to voters last Friday, requires members to take a free, online training session led by inclusion strategist Vernā Myers. The course is meant to teach viewers how to identify unconscious or implicit bias in their own decision-making processes and how to correct it, according to the course description. 
Producers Stephen Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey announced that a new musical stage adaptation of Black Orpheus, featuring a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz, original music by Grammy Award winner and Brazilian icon Sergio Mendes, and direction and choreography by Tony Award winner Sergio Trujillo, is being readied for its world premiere production on Broadway during the 2022-2023 season. A developmental workshop and an out-of-town regional theatre run are being planned for 2022 before heading to Broadway in 2023.
James Snyder, who has been playing the role of Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child since a new, shorter version of the production reopened on Broadway on November 12, 2021, has had his contract terminated. The termination follows a complaint from fellow cast member Diane Davis, who has since also left the production by her own accord, regarding his conduct.
The Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf, directed and choreographed by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown will begin performances on Friday, April 1, 2022 at the Booth Theatre. The fully reimagined production will open on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. 

Casting:

Dennis Stowe steps into the role of Jafar in the Broadway production of Aladdin beginning this week at the New Amsterdam Theatre. He succeeds fellow original cast member Jonathan Freeman, who created the role on Broadway after voicing the part in the 1992 animated film. Freeman played his final performance on January 23.
NaTasha Yvette Williams will succeed Dawnn Lewis as Zelma, Tina Turner's mother, in Broadway's Tina: The Tina Turner Musical beginning February 4. Lewis is scheduled to play her final performance on January 30. Williams was last seen on Broadway in Chicken and Biscuits and has been a long-time Matron "Mama" Morton in Chicago. She starred as Becky during the original run of Waitress, and also appeared on Broadway in A Night With Janis Joplin, Porgy and Bess, and The Color Purple.

Follow @BwayPodNetwork on Twitter. Find co-hosts on Twitter at @AyannaPrescod, @CLewisReviews, and @TheMartinAcuna. Subscribe To BPN's newsletter HERE.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices