The appearance of the rapper in support of Keys’ musical “Hell’s Kitchen” led to a boost of excitement inside the arena but it now appears it was a piece of Hollywood trickery, undercutting the Broadway communities’ full-throated embrace of live singing and dancing.

A representative from Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and a producer at White Cherry Entertainment did not return messages seeking clarification on what happened Sunday night. A senior publicist for the telecast also did not return requests for comment on Monday.

“Hell’s Kitchen,” which won two awards Sunday night — for star Maleah Joi Moon and Kecia Lewis, who plays her mentor — is loosely based on Keys’ years growing up in that Manhattan neighborhood and contains old hits and new songs from the singer-songwriter. Keys is a producer but doesn’t appear in the show. The show ends with a rousing edition of “Empire State of Mind.”

Each best new musical nominee at the Tony Awards gets a slot performing and “Hell’s Kitchen” was first, with the cast playing a medley of songs — including her hit “Fallin’” — from the show.

Then Keys appeared at the piano on the stage of the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center and began singing her and Jay-Z’s 2009 smash. She soon got up and went down the steps of the stage and into the orchestra seat section and out the side of the auditorium — “Had to do something crazy. It’s my hometown,” she explained to the crowd — moments later apparently joining the rapper on some of the venue’s marble steps to wild applause. “Brooklyn, New York City in the Tonys tonight!” Jay-Z signed-off at the end.

The audience and media was inside the auditorium and no photos have surfaced of the two performers live. A version of the two finishing the song was beamed to the TV audience and a video screen inside the venue. Keys wore the same outfit she was wearing onstage. Jay-Z was never spotted entering the packed auditorium.

While some parts of the Tony telecast are pre-taped — technical awards handed out before the show, some advertising packages and often segments from the top nominated plays — the strong feeling is that the musical performances are what audiences will see when they come to Broadway, with no trickery.

New York Magazine first reported that the segment had been pre-taped.

The musical based on the beloved S. E. Hinton book is about rival gangs of haves and have-nots in 1960s Oklahoma. The win meant Angelina Jolie, a producer, landed her first Tony, too.

Producer Matthew Rego, in his acceptance speech, thanked Hinton, in the audience at Manhattan’s Lincoln Center: “Susie, I’m here to tell you that your story and its eternal message of love and family and staying gold has forever changed all of our lives.”

“Stereophonic,” the play about a Fleetwood Mac-like band recording an album over a turbulent and life-changing year, won best new play and had the night’s most total awards at five. It was written by David Adjmi, with songs by former Arcade Fire member Will Butler.

“Oh, no. My agent gave me a beta blocker, but it’s not working,” Adjmi said. He added the play took 11 years to manifest.

“This was a very hard journey to get up here,” he said. “We need to fund the arts in America.”

Two special guests electrified the crowd — Jay-Z and Hillary Rodham Clinton. The latter, a producer of a musical about suffragettes, presented “Suffs.”

“I have stood on a lot of stages, but this is very special,” Clinton said. “I know a little bit about how hard it is to make change.”

In the first musical presentation, Alicia Keys appeared at a piano as the cast of her semi-autobiographical musical, “Hell’s Kitchen,” presented a medley of songs. She sang her and Jay-Z’s 2009 smash “Empire State of Mind,” joining the rapper on interior steps to wild applause.

Later, newcomer Maleah Joi Moon won best leading actress for “Hell’s Kitchen,” brushing aside a challenge from veteran Kelli O’Hara. The 21-year-old, who plays a role loosely based on Keys’ life, dedicated her award to her parents.

Danya Taymor — whose aunt is Julie Taymor, the first woman to win a Tony Award for directing a musical — became the sixth woman to win the same award for “The Outsiders.”

Then Shaina Taub, only the second woman in Broadway history to write, compose and star in a Broadway musical, won for best score, the ninth woman to do so. The “Suffs” creator had already won for best book earlier in the night.

“If you are inspired by the story of ‘Suffs,’ please make sure you and everyone you know have registered to vote and vote, vote, vote!” she said. Taub said the win was for all the loud girls out there: “Go for it.”

Jeremy Strong took home the first big award of the night. The “Succession” star landed his first Tony for his work in the revival of Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 political play “An Enemy of the People.” The award for best lead actor in a play will sit next to his Emmy, Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe.

Kara Young, the first Black performer to be nominated for a Tony three consecutive years in a row, won this time as best featured actress in a play for “Purlie Victorious,” the story of a Black preacher’s plan to reclaim his inheritance and win back his church from a plantation owner.

“Thank you to my ancestors,” she said, giving thanks to a list that included playwright Ossie Davis and co-star Ruby Dee, who originated her role.

“Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe cemented his stage career pivot by winning featured actor in a musical, his first trophy in five Broadway shows. He won for the revival of “Merrily We Roll Along,” the Stephen Sondheim- George Furth musical that goes backward in time.

“This is one of the best experiences of my life,” Radcliffe said. “I will never have it as good again.” He also thanked his parents for playing Sondheim in the car growing up.

“Merrily” was also named best musical revival and earned Jonathan Groff his first Tony, for leading actor in a musical. Groff — previously nominated for “Spring Awakening” and “Hamilton” — thanked co-stars Lindsay Mendez and Radcliffe, both emotional in the audience.

Groff, who said he used to watch the Tonys in Pennsylvania as a kid, also thanked his parents and brother for letting him act out scenes from “I Love Lucy” as a child.

“Thank you for always allowing my freak flag to fly without ever making me feel weird about it,” he said.

Kecia Lewis, who plays a formidable piano teacher in “Hell’s Kitchen,” took home her first Tony, too. The 40-year veteran made her Broadway debut at 18 in the original company of “Dreamgirls.”

“This moment is the one I dreamed of for those 40 years,” she said. “Don’t give up!”

“Appropriate,” Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ show centered on a family reunion in Arkansas, was named best play revival. Jacobs-Jenkins also thanked Davis, saying there would be no “Appropriate” without “Purlie Victorious.”

“Appropriate” star Sarah Paulson added a best leading actress in a play Tony to her awards cabinet. Paulson said she was thrilled to be able to interrogate the human condition: “This is the heart and soul of what we do and I am so honored to be amongst you.”

Three-time Tony-honored Chita Rivera got a special tribute from Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Bebe Neuwirth. Images of her work in “Chicago,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “West Side Story” were projected while dancers performed her hit numbers. Host Ariana DeBose, who won an Oscar in Rivera’s “West Side Story” role of Anita, joined in.

DeBose, a three-time host, also co-choreographed the opening original number, “This Party’s for You.” The song cheered those who sacrifice for their art and took a gentle swipe at other entertainment types: “You’ll learn that film and TV can make you rich and make you famous. But theater will make you better.”

The performances also included an intense, creepy version of “Willkommen” from the “Cabaret” revival led by Eddie Redmayne, Pete Townshend playing guitar for “The Who’s Tommy” and a messy rumble from “The Outsiders” that included falling water, buckets of dirt, various carpets and an onstage truck.

The telecast teased upcoming shows, inviting Nicole Scherzinger — slated to star in a “Sunset Boulevard” revival — to sing the “In Memoriam” section. Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren — announced today as stars of 2025’s “The Last Five Years” — presented.

Scherzinger sang “What I Did for Love” as the names appeared, including playwright Christopher Durang and actors Alan Arkin,Glenda Jackson,Louis Gossett Jr., and Treat Williams.

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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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More on the Tony Awards: https://apnews.com/hub/tony-awards

Sunday night also saw theater history made for women as Broadway directors and score writers. Danya Taymor won a directing award for “The Outsiders.” Then Shaina Taub won for best score, for “Suffs.”

The musical of “Merrily We Roll Along” also won big, nabbing the revival award as well as trophies for Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff. The night included surprise appearances from Jay-Z and Hillary Clinton.

See the full list of this year’s winners:

Best Musical: “The Outsiders”

Best Play: “Stereophonic”

Best Revival of a Musical: “Merrily We Roll Along”

Best Revival of a Play: “Appropriate”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical: Maleah Joi Moon, “Hell’s Kitchen”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical: Jonathan Groff, “Merrily We Roll Along”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play: Sarah Paulson, “Appropriate”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play: Jeremy Strong, “An Enemy of the People”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical: Daniel Radcliffe, “Merrily We Roll Along”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical: Kecia Lewis, “Hell’s Kitchen”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play: Will Brill, “Stereophonic”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play: Kara Young, “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch”

Best Direction of a Play: Daniel Aukin, “Stereophonic”

Best Direction of a Musical: Danya Taymor, “The Outsiders”

Best Original Score: “Suffs,” music & lyrics: Shaina Taub

Best Book of a Musical: “Suffs,” Shaina Taub

Best Choreography: Justin Peck, “Illinoise”

Best Costume Design of a Play: Dede Ayite, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”

Best Costume Design of a Musical: Linda Cho, “The Great Gatsby”

Best Orchestrations: Jonathan Tunick, “Merrily We Roll Along”

Best Scenic Design of a Musical: Tom Scutt, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”

Best Scenic Design of a Play: David Zinn, “Stereophonic”

Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Hana S. Kim and Brian MacDevitt, “The Outsiders”

Best Lighting Design of a Play: Jane Cox, “Appropriate”

Best Sound Design of a Play: Ryan Rumery, “Stereophonic”

Best Sound Design of a Musical: Cody Spencer, “The Outsiders”

The June 19 concert, put on by the Broadway League, will take place at “the Crossroads of the World” from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (rain or shine).

This year’s celebration will include the presentation of the Juneteenth Legacy Award to Tony Award-winner Phylicia Rashad.

The concert lineup includes: Blu Allen, Donovan Louis Bazemore, Jace Bentley, Ronnie S. Bowman Jr., Maya Boyd, Tsilala Brock, Max Chambers, Taylor Colleton, Jay Copeland, Lorna Courtney, Charity Angél Dawson, Mariama Diop, Desmond Sean Ellington, Will Ervin Jr., Jerome Hermann-Hardeman, Dorian Harewood, Jackson Hayes, Najah Hetsberger, Afra Hines, Manny Houston, Jaylen Lyndon Hunter, Bre Jackson, Polanco Jones Jr., John-Michael Lyles, Mehret Marsh, Deja McNair, Alex Newell, Veronica Otim, Cristina Rae, Jelani Remy, William Rhem Jr., Albert Rhodes Jr., Walter Russell III, Antoine L. Smith, Nia Thompson, Lamont Walker II, Rachel Webb, NaTasha Yvette Williams, and Hailee Kaleem Wright.

The team of Broadway performers, from shows like “The Notebook,” “The Wiz,” and “Moulin Rouge!” will be joined by kids of Young Gifted and Broadway.

The Broadway League’s Black to Broadway initiative was started in 2019 with the goal of inspiring “deeper engagement with awareness of, and access to Broadway for all Black people.”

Dolly Parton is writing new songs to go along with some of her past hits and co-writing a stage story inspired by her life for a stage musical that she hopes to land on Broadway in 2026.

“I’ve written many original songs for the show and included all your favorites in it as well. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll clap, you’ll stomp, it truly is a Grand Ol’ Opera. Pun and fun intended,” she said in a statement.

Parton will team up with Maria S. Schlatte on the story. Schlatte won an Emmy for producing Netflix’s “Christmas on the Square,” which starred Christine Baranski.

“Hello, I’m Dolly” is the name of Parton’s debut album released in 1967, which had the songs ″Dumb Blonde″ and ”Something Fishy.″

Parton went on to become a national treasure, starring in movies, writing books, earning Grammys, becoming the first country artist to be named MusiCares Person of the Year and donating $1 million for coronavirus research.

Food & Drink May 14

Krispy Kreme teams up with Dolly Parton for new ‘Southern Sweets' doughnuts

Jan 19

Dolly Parton surprises fans with new music to celebrate her 78th birthday

With 52 Grammy nominations and 11 wins, she is the second-most nominated woman in Grammy history, only behind Beyoncé, who has 79 nods and 24 wins. The country icon earned the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award a decade ago.

Parton will have plenty of past hits to choose from, including her three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — “9 to 5,” “Here You Come Again” and “Islands in the Stream.” She also has 25 No. 1 Hot Country songs like “Yellow Roses,” “Think About Love,” “Tennessee Homesick Blues” and “Jolene.”

This won’t be the first time Parton’s music will be heard on Broadway. A stage version of “9 to 5” landed in 2009 starring Stephanie J. Block, Megan Hilty and Allison Janney, and the 1993 Christmas special “Candles, Snow & Mistletoe” contained her song “With Bells On.”

Parton’s show will be the latest musician bio on Broadway using their songs, joining such recent artists as Neil Diamond, Alicia Keys, Michael Jackson, Carole King and Gloria and Emilio Estefan.

She will join such pop and rock luminaries as Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, The Go-Gos, Sting, Alanis Morissette, Dave Stewart, Edie Brickell, Trey Anastasio, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim and Bono and The Edge with Broadway scores.

“Hello, I’m Dolly” will be produced by Parton, Adam Speers for ATG Productions and Danny Nozell for CTK Enterprises.

Clooney will play legendary TV journalist Edward R. Murrow in a stage adaptation of the 2005 movie that earned him directing and writing Oscar nominations and was among the best picture contenders.

“I am honored, after all these years, to be coming back to the stage and especially, to Broadway, the art form and the venue that every actor aspires to,” Clooney said in a statement.

The play “Good Night, and Good Luck” — with David Cromer directing — will premiere on Broadway in spring 2025 at a Shubert Theatre to be announced. It will be again co-written by Clooney and Grant Heslov.

The 90-minute black-and-white film starred David Strathairn as Murrow and is a natural to be turned into a play: The dialogue-heavy action unfolds on handful of sets. The title comes from Murrow’s signoff on the TV series “See It Now.”

A key part of Clooney’s film portrayed Murrow’s struggle to maintain support from CBS executives for critical reporting on Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy, known for accusing government employees of disloyalty. Clooney played “See It Now” co-creator Fred Friendly, who resisted intense pressure and ensured the reports got to air.

Murrow, who died in 1965, is considered one of the architects of U.S. broadcast news.

“Edward R. Murrow operated from a kind of moral clarity that feels vanishingly rare in today’s media landscape. There was an immediacy in those early live television broadcasts that today can only be effectively captured on stage, in front of a live audience,” Cromer said in a statement.

The Clooneys are boosters of journalism. Clooney’s father, Nick Clooney, worked as a TV news anchor and host in a variety of cities including Cincinnati, Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. He also wrote a newspaper column in Cincinnati and taught journalism students at American University.

At the time the movie came out, Clooney said his family took pride in how journalists held the government accountable during the paranoia of the 1950s communist threat. Clooney said he wanted to make a movie to let people hear some “really well-written words about the fourth estate again.”

A total of 28 shows earned a Tony nod or more, with the musical “The Outsiders,” an adaptation of the beloved S. E. Hinton novel and the Francis Ford Coppola film, earning 12 nominations; a starry revival of “Cabaret” starring Eddie Redmayne, nabbing nine; and “Appropriate,” Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ searing play about a family reunion in Arkansas where everyone has competing motivations and grievances, grabbing eight.

Rachel McAdams, making her Broadway debut in “Mary Jane,” earned a best actress in a play nomination, while “Succession” star Jeremy Strong, got his first ever nomination, for a revival of “An Enemy of the People.” Jessica Lange in “Mother Play,” Sarah Paulson in “Appropriate” and Amy Ryan, who stepped in at the last minute for a revival of “Doubt,” also earned nominations in the best actress in a play category.

“The Big Bang Theory” star Jim Parsons earned a supporting nod for “Mother Play,” and Daniel Radcliffe on his fifth Broadway show, a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” won his first nomination.

Redmayne in his second show on Broadway got a nod as best lead actor in a musical, as did Brian d’Arcy James for “Days of Wine and Roses,” Brody Grant in “The Outsiders,” Jonathan Groff in “Merrily We Roll Along” and 73-year-old Dorian Harewood in “The Notebook,” the adaptation of Nicholas Sparks romantic tearjerker. Harewood, in his first Broadway show in 46 years, landed his first Tony nomination.

Redmayne’s “Cabaret” co-star Gayle Rankin earned a nomination for best actress in a musical, as did Eden Espinosa in “Lempicka,” Maleah Joi Moon in “Hell’s Kitchen,” Kelli O’Hara in “Days of Wine and Roses” and 71-year-old Maryann Plunkett, who plays the elderly wife at the heart of “The Notebook.”

Steve Carell in his Broadway debut in a poorly received revival of the classic play “Uncle Vanya” failed to secure a nod, but starry producers who earned Tony nods include Keys, Angelina Jolie (for “The Outsiders”) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (for “Suffs”).

The best new musical crown will be a battle between “Hell’s Kitchen,” “The Outsiders,” the dance-heavy, dialogue-less stage adaptation of Sufjan Stevens’s 2005 album “Illinois,” “Suffs,” based on the American suffragists of the early 20th century, and “Water for Elephants,” which combines Sara Green’s 2006 bestseller with circus elements.

The best new play Tony will pit “Stereophonic” against “Mother Play,” Paula Vogel’s play about a mother and her kids spanning 1964 to the 21st century; “Mary Jane,” Amy Herzog’s humanistic portrait of a divorced mother of a young boy with health issues; “Prayer for the French Republic,” Joshua Harmon’s sprawling family comedy-drama that deals with Zionism, religious fervency and antisemitism; and “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy about the lives of West African women working at a salon.

The nominations marked a smashing of the Tony record for most women named in a single season. The 2022 Tony Awards had held the record for most female directing nominees, with four total across the two races — musical and play. Only 10 women have gone on to win a directing crown.

This year, three women were nominated for best play direction — Lila Neugebauer (“Appropriate”), Anne Kauffman (“Mary Jane”) and Whitney White (“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”) — while four were nominated in the musical category — Maria Friedman (“Merrily We Roll Along“), Leigh Silverman (“Suffs”) Jessica Stone (“Water for Elephants”) and Danya Taymor (“The Outsiders”).

A spring barrage of new shows — 14 shows opened in an 11-day span this year — is not unusual these days as producers hope their work will be fresh in the mind of voters ahead of the Tony Awards ceremony on June 16.

There were some firsts this season, including “Here Lies Love” with Broadway’s first all-Filipino cast, which earned four nominations, including best original score for David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim. And seven openly autistic actors starred in “How to Dance in Ohio,” a first for Broadway but which got no Tony love.

Academy Award winner and Tony Award-nominee Ariana DeBose, who hosted both the 2023 and 2022 ceremonies, will be back this year and will produce and choreograph the opening number.

This year’s location — the David H. Koch Theater — is the home of New York City Ballet and in the same sprawling building complex as Lincoln Square Theater, which houses the Broadway venue Beaumont Theater.

Like last year, the three-hour main telecast will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ from 8 p.m.-11 p.m. EDT/5 p.m.-8 p.m. PDT with a pre-show on Pluto TV, and some Tony Awards handed out there.

This season’s Broadway numbers — about $1.4 billion in grosses and 11.1 million tickets — is running slightly less than the 2022-23 season, off about 4% in grosses and down 1% in tickets.

Check out the full list of Drama Desk nominations below!

Outstanding Musical

Dead Outlaw

Illinoise, Park Avenue Armory

Lizard Boy, Prospect Theater Company

Teeth, Playwrights Horizons

The Connector, MCC Theater

The Outsiders

Outstanding Revival of a Play

Appropriate, Second Stage Theater

Doubt: A Parable, Roundabout Theatre Company

Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Irish Repertory Theatre

Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

Uncle Vanya, OHenry Productions

Outstanding Revival of a Musical

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Gutenberg! The Musical!

I Can Get It for You Wholesale, Classic Stage Company

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play

Nicole Cooper, Macbeth (an undoing), Theatre for a New Audience, Rose Theatre, and Royal

Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

William Jackson Harper, Primary Trust, Roundabout Theatre Company

Jessica Lange, Mother Play, Second Stage Theater

Rachel McAdams, Mary Jane, Manhattan Theatre Club

Tobias Menzies, The Hunt, St. Ann’s Warehouse and Almeida Theatre

Leslie Odom, Jr., Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

Sarah Paulson, Appropriate, Second Stage Theater

A.J. Shively, Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Irish Repertory Theatre

Juliet Stevenson, The Doctor, Park Avenue Armory

Michael Stuhlbarg, Patriots

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical

Andrew Durand, Dead Outlaw

Santino Fontana, I Can Get It for You Wholesale, Classic Stage Company

Brody Grant, The Outsiders

Brian d’Arcy James, Days of Wine and Roses, Atlantic Theater Company

Maleah Joi Moon, Hell’s Kitchen

Kelli O’Hara, Days of Wine and Roses, Atlantic Theater Company

Liam Pearce, How to Dance in Ohio

Gayle Rankin, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Ben Levi Ross, The Connector, MCC Theater

Ricky Ubeda, Illinoise, Park Avenue Armory

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play

Brittany Adebumola, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Manhattan Theatre Club

Marylouise Burke, Infinite Life, Atlantic Theater Company

Michael Esper, Appropriate, Second Stage Theater

Marin Ireland, Uncle Vanya, OHenry Productions

Will Keen, Patriots

Celia Keenan-Bolger, Mother Play, Second Stage Theater

Conrad Ricamora, Oh, Mary!

Sheila Tousey, Manahatta, The Public Theater

Bubba Weiler, Swing State, Goodman Theatre

Kara Young, Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical

Shoshana Bean, Hell’s Kitchen

Natalie Venetia Belcon, Buena Vista Social Club, Atlantic Theater Company

Dorian Harewood, The Notebook

Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Monty Python’s Spamalot

Kecia Lewis, Hell’s Kitchen

Bebe Neuwirth, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Steven Pasquale, Teeth, Playwrights Horizons

Maryann Plunkett, The Notebook

Thom Sesma, Dead Outlaw

Emily Skinner, Suffs

Outstanding Direction of a Play

Daniel Aukin, Stereophonic, Playwrights Horizons

Rupert Goold, The Hunt, St. Ann’s Warehouse and Almeida Theatre

Kenny Leon, Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

Lila Neugebauer, Appropriate, Second Stage Theater

Ciarán O’Reilly, Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Irish Repertory Theatre

Outstanding Direction of a Musical

David Cromer, Dead Outlaw

Rebecca Frecknall, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Daisy Prince, The Connector, MCC Theater

Jessica Stone, Water for Elephants

Danya Taymor, The Outsiders

Outstanding Choreography

Camille A. Brown, Hell’s Kitchen

Graciela Daniele and Alex Sanchez, The Gardens of Anuncia, Lincoln Center Theater

Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman, The Outsiders (includes fight choreography)

Lorin Latarro, The Heart of Rock and Roll

Justin Peck, Illinoise, Park Avenue Armory

Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll, Water for Elephants (includes circus choreography)

Outstanding Music

Jason Robert Brown, The Connector, MCC Theater

Justin Huertas, Lizard Boy, Prospect Theater Company

Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay & Zach Chance) and Justin Levine, The Outsiders

Shaina Taub, Suffs

David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna, Dead Outlaw

Outstanding Lyrics

Rachel Bloom, Eli Bolin, and Jack Dolgen, Rachel Bloom: Death, Let Me Do My Show

Jason Robert Brown, The Connector, MCC Theater

Michael R. Jackson, Teeth, Playwrights Horizons

Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay & Zach Chance) and Justin Levine, The Outsiders

David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna, Dead Outlaw

Outstanding Book of a Musical

Justin Huertas, Lizard Boy, Prospect Theater Company

Michael R. Jackson, Teeth, Playwrights Horizons

Michael John LaChiusa, The Gardens of Anuncia, Lincoln Center Theater

Rebekah Greer Melocik, How to Dance in Ohio

Itamar Moses, Dead Outlaw

Outstanding Orchestrations

Timo Andres, Illinoise, Park Avenue Armory

Will Butler and Justin Craig, Stereophonic, Playwrights Horizons

Andy Evan Cohen, The Greatest Hits Down Route 66, New Light Theater Project

Marco Paguia, Buena Vista Social Club, Atlantic Theater Company

Erik Della Penna, Dean Sharenow, and David Yazbek, Dead Outlaw

Michael Starobin, Shaina Taub (vocal arrangements), and Andrea Grody (vocal arrangements),

Suffs

Outstanding Music in a Play

Michael “Mikey J” Asante, The Effect, The Shed

S T A R R Busby and JJJJJerome Ellis, (pray), Ars Nova and National Black Theatre

Will Butler, Stereophonic, Playwrights Horizons

Dionne McClain-Freeney, The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents The 84th Annual Star-Burst

Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel, New Georges and The Movement Theatre Company

Ben Steinfeld, Pericles, Classic Stage Company and Fiasco Theater

Outstanding Revue

Amid Falling Walls, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene

Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play

Es Devlin, The Hunt, St. Ann’s Warehouse and Almeida Theatre

dots, Appropriate, Second Stage Theater

Derek McLane, Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

Scott Pask, Grey House

David Zinn, Stereophonic, Playwrights Horizons

Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical

AMP featuring Tatiana Kahvegian, The Outsiders

Paul Tate dePoo III, The Great Gatsby (includes projections)

Riccardo Hernández, Suffs

Arnulfo Maldonado, Dead Outlaw

Grace Smart, Good Vibrations: A Punk Rock Musical, Irish Arts Center

Outstanding Costume Design of a Play

Alex Berry, Macbeth (an undoing), Theatre for a New Audience, Rose Theatre, and Royal

Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

Karen Boyer, Warrior Sisters of Wu, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre

Enver Chakartash, Stereophonic, Playwrights Horizons

Lux Haac, Manahatta, The Public Theater

Rodrigo Muñoz, Sally & Tom, The Public Theater

Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical

Dede Ayite, Buena Vista Social Club, Atlantic Theater Company

Márion Talán de la Rosa, The Connector, MCC Theater

Loren Elstein, Once Upon a One More Time

David Israel Reynoso, Water for Elephants

Paul Tazewell, Suffs

Outstanding Lighting Design of a Play

Jane Cox, Appropriate, Second Stage Theater

Stacey Derosier, Uncle Vanya, OHenry Productions

Natasha Katz, Grey House

Lizzie Powell, Macbeth (an undoing), Theatre for a New Audience, Rose Theatre, and

Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

Eric Southern, Swing State, Goodman Theatre

Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical

Lap Chi Chu, Suffs

Heather Gilbert, Dead Outlaw

Bradley King, Water for Elephants

Brian MacDevitt and Hana S. Kim (projections), The Outsiders

Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, The Connector, MCC Theater

Outstanding Projection and Video Design

Eric Dunlap, Our Class, MART Foundation and Arlekin Players Theatre

Jared Mezzocchi, Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy, Vineyard Theatre

Peter Nigrini, Hell’s Kitchen

Olivia Sebesky, Melissa Etheridge: My Window

Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, The Connector, MCC Theater

Outstanding Sound Design of a Play

Adam Cork, The Hunt, St. Ann’s Warehouse and Almeida Theatre

Tom Gibbons, Grey House

Palmer Hefferan, The Comeuppance, Signature Theatre

Bray Poor and Will Pickens, Appropriate, Second Stage Theater

Ryan Rumery, Stereophonic, Playwrights Horizons

Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical

Jason Crystal, Suffs

Kai Harada and Joshua Millican, Dead Outlaw

Nick Lidster for Autograph, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Cody Spencer, The Outsiders

Walter Trarbach, Water for Elephants

Outstanding Wig and Hair

J. Jared Janas and Cassie Williams, Sally & Tom, The Public Theater

Charles G. LaPointe, Suffs

Nikiya Mathis, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Manhattan Theatre Club

Nikiya Mathis, The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents The 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in

the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel, New Georges and The Movement Theatre Company

Robert Pickens and Katie Gell, Stereophonic, Playwrights Horizons

Outstanding Solo Performance

Michael Cruz Kayne, Sorry for Your Loss

Madeleine MacMahon, Breathless, Theatre Royal Plymouth

Wade McCollum, Make Me Gorgeous!, triangle productions!

Robert Montano, SMALL, Penguin Rep Theatre

Patrick Page, All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain

Unique Theatrical Experience

A Eulogy for Roman, Through the Tollbooth Co.

A Simulacrum, Atlantic Theater Company

ADRIFT: A Medieval Wayward Folly, Happenstance Theater

I Love You So Much I Could Die, New York Theatre Workshop

Grenfell: in the words of survivors, St. Ann’s Warehouse, National Theatre, and KPPL Productions

Outstanding Fight Choreography

Michael G. Chin, Warrior Sisters of Wu, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre

Cha Ramos, Water for Elephants

Steve Rankin, The Who’s Tommy

Outstanding Adaptation

An Enemy of the People, by Amy Herzog

Macbeth (an undoing), by Zinnie Harris, Theatre for a New Audience, Rose Theatre,

and Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

The Comedy of Errors, by Rebecca Martínez and Julián Mesri, The Public Theater Mobile Unit

The Doctor, by Robert Icke, Park Avenue Armory

The Hunt, by David Farr, St. Ann’s Warehouse and Almeida Theatre

The Whole of Time, by Romina Paula, Joben Studios

Outstanding Puppetry

Matt Acheson, Hotel Happy, Houses on the Moon Theater Company

Adrian Kohler and Handspring Puppet Company, Life & Times of Michael K, St. Ann’s Warehouse,

Baxter Theatre Centre, and Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus

Ray Wetmore, JR Goodman, and Camille Labarre, Water for Elephants

David Valentine, Poor Yella Rednecks, Manhattan Theatre Club

SPECIAL AWARDS

Ensemble Award

The cast of Stereophonic – Will Brill, Andrew R. Butler, Juliana Canfield, Eli Gelb, Tom Pecinka, Sarah Pidgeon, and Chris Stack – who execute David Adjmi’s hypernaturalistic text with extraordinary care and precision, while also performing Will Butler’s music with the freshness and life that makes us believe we are witnessing, first-hand, the creation of a new American classic.

Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award

Cole Escola, who both wrote and stars in one of this season’s biggest hits Off Broadway, Oh, Mary! Following in the long legacy of queer artists who write themselves into American history, Escola’s new “gay fantasia on national themes” is a hilarious reminder of why we must continue to interrogate our past.

ADDITIONAL SPECIAL AWARDS

How to Dance in Ohio Authentic Autistic Representation Team – Sammi Cannold, Nicole D’Angelo, Becky Leifman, Ava Xiao-Lin Rigelhaupt, Liz Weber, and Jeremy Wein  – for their steadfast support of autistic theatermakers, and their strides toward true accessibility for neurodiverse individuals both on and offstage.

Lighting designer Isabella Byrd, whose self-described technique as a “darkness designer” has earned her a cache of nominations and awards in the United States and abroad. During this season, Byrd illuminated two Broadway shows done in the round, An Enemy of the People and Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. Off Broadway, her spotlight on quiet, small-scale stories both enchanted us in Primary Trust and mesmerized us in Infinite Life, with a parking-lot sky that marked the passage of time.

Lady Irene Gandy, for career achievement. A press agent extraordinaire for over five decades, Lady Irene has always demonstrated her passion, dedication, and love for theater. A Broadway producer and Sardi’s honoree, she is a zealous advocate for inclusion, diversity, and equity in the arts.

The Broadway icon’s estate in the woodsy, quiet town of Roxbury sold for the full asking price of $3.25 million, according to Klemm Real Estate. It was on the market for less than two weeks.

Sondheim, who brought us Broadway hits including “West Side Story,” “Gypsy,” “Sweeney Todd,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” and many more, died in Nov. 2021 at the age of 91.

Before his death, the famed composer lived in the state since 1984. It was learned in late 2023 that it would be hitting the market for the first time in more than 39 years, according to Klemm Real Estate.

The main house was built in 1792 and has been restored and expanded. It has 10 rooms, including three bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms and two fireplaces.

The estate is on more than nine acres and it has a two-car garage, a hot tub and a pool with a one-bedroom pool house.

“As you tour through this classic Connecticut home, you can almost hear the scores to so many iconic Broadway hits. This was Sondheim’s retreat for decades, and there is a welcoming warmth here that will surely embrace the next owners,” Carolyn Klemm, co-listing agent of Klemm Real Estate, said in a news release.

See the full listing here.

Take a look inside the home. All photos are courtesy of Klemm Real Estate & Michael Bowman Photography.

John Cardoza, who plays “younger Noah” in the Broadway adaptation of “The Notebook,” posted on his Instagram Stories that he was robbed around 1:45 p.m. on Sunday near 145th Street and Saint Nicholas Ave.

The NYPD confirmed the robbery telling NBC New York a man was buying food at the location when he was approached and asked for a dollar. Police said when the victim refused, the suspect “simulated a firearm in his pocket” and took the victim’s wallet before leaving the location.

Cardoza said he offered to buy the man lunch because he didn’t have cash on him, before the situation escalated.

“I’m fine,” Cardoza posted. “Ultimately, he didn’t make off with anything irreplaceable.”

In a subsequent post, Cardoza said the person who took his wallet made attempts to his credit card in stores along 145th Street.

“I was grateful to have a place to head immediately after, full of people I love, to do work that I love. So I’ve been in good hands :),” Cardoza said.

“The Notebook” is currently playing at the Schoenfeld Theatre on West 45th Street.

Police said there have been no arrests in the case, but the investigation is ongoing.

Fast-forward more than two decades and Iglehart found himself playing the first Genie on Broadway, killing it, and on his way to a Tony Award.

“To play the role that I loved so much and be able to be my full, silly self with the volume at 20 to 25 and go crazy was just so cathartic,” he says.

“Aladdin” turns 10 this month and it has done more than become Broadway’s go-to for young people experiencing their first musical. It has also become an incubator for Black actors like Iglehart leading a big Disney musical with joy and humor.

There are currently Genies on Broadway and on tour in the United Kingdom and United States, in Japan and Spain, all doing cartwheels, high kicking and singing “Friend Like Me.” They call it a Genie Brotherhood.

“I kind of just tell the guys, ‘Listen, make sure that you give your authentic self. You don’t have to play it like me,’” Iglehart says. “As long as you bring your brand of silliness and comedy and heart and realness to it, the audience will accept it.”

After ‘Aladdin,” Iglehart went on to land TV and voice work, the Broadway dual roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in “Hamilton,” King Arthur in the new “Spamalot” revival and will next star as Louis Armstrong in “A Wonderful World.”

“It’s made me the actor I am today. And it’s given me a legacy that I can be thoroughly proud of,” he says. “It changed my life.”

At the Tony Awards in 2014, Iglehart sang, danced and lifted one of the coveted statuettes for best featured actor in front of millions of viewers.

Hundreds of miles away, a Genie-to-be was watching, his life changing.

Marcus Martin was 16 at the time, an aspiring actor in Akron, Ohio, who sat transfixed as Iglehart filled the Tony stage.

“I was always told that I would have a hard time in this business because the best roles were for skinny white tenors, and I’m not any of those things,” says Martin. “So seeing James gave me permission to dream a new dream.”

He had grown up going to Broadway shows with his mom when they came through Ohio. Watching the Tony telecast, he decided he would one day play the Genie and began memorizing the music and lines. Naturally, he and his mom saw “Aladdin” when the first national tour came to Cleveland.

He graduated Baldwin Wallace University in May 2020 — not the best time to have a degree in performing live for large groups of people. But he persisted. He auditioned for Disney four times and got his dream role.

He is now the Genie on the second national tour.

He started in Schenectady, New York, and has performed in over 50 cities, from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Los Angeles. He’s geeked out over playing historic venues like The Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis and the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

“I’m such a theater nerd. I always say I’m a fan first, actor second,” he says. Martin likes to look for famous autographs on the walls or under desks in his new dressing rooms.

“All the greats, and some that I’ve even looked up to as a young performer, I’m now in the same space as them, sharing dressing rooms,” he says. “This is a very special way to start my career.”

He has become friends with Iglehart and the two were joined by a third Genie before Martin went to lead the tour. “They took me to lunch to kind of send me off and give me the secrets of the lamp,” says Martin.

That third Genie is Michael James Scott — the Genie that Martin and his mom saw when “Aladdin” came to Cleveland.

Disney has a gravitational pull in Orlando, Florida, where Scott grew up. He performed as a younger man in the theme parks and at special events, always readying for the spotlight in New York.

“Broadway was always a dream of mine since I was a little boy,” he says.

Scott is a Broadway veteran by now, with credits in “Mama Mia!” “Tarzan,” “Elf” and “Something Rotten!” But he calls Genie “one of those once-in-a-lifetime roles. It’s like everything in the kitchen sink in one role.”

He led the first national tour of “Aladdin” and played the Genie in London’s West End. He originated the role when the show went to Australia and was deeply moved when a group of Aboriginal children came to see him in their very first Broadway tour.

“The Genie is love, light, laughter and people want to have that right now,” Scott says. “To be that person for young people to look out to see and also as a person of color and what that really means in representation, is something I don’t hold lightly.”

These days, he’s the proud Genie on Broadway.

“If this little chocolate, chubby child from Orlando, Florida, could one day grow up to be the Genie in ‘Aladdin’ on Broadway and around the world, anything is possible,” he says.

As the show celebrates its 10th anniversary, Scott has an idea why it has lasted. “It does not apologize for being this big Broadway musical, epic comedy,” he says. “Don’t you want to have joy?”

After making her record-breaking Broadway debut in “Chicago” last year, Monsoon will reprise her role as Matron “Mama” Morton for a limited run this summer.

The “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winner returns to the Ambassador Theatre for a limited 20 performance run from June 27 to July 12.

“Most of my life, and my entire artistic career—I have known the roles I would play well, but I also knew the industry was not yet giving actors like me the chance to prove it,” Monsoon said in a statement. “Over the last decade, I, and queer artists like myself have been chipping away at the antiquated ideas of gender and performance—leading to my life-changing run as Mama Morton in ‘Chicago.'”

“During that one 10-week run, I learned so much about my craft and myself—and I cannot wait to take all of that back into this role and show. I am still just a kid, in shock and awe of this wonderful world I get to be a part of.”

Monsoon’s debut helped set record sales for the long-running musical, breaking box office records and playing to standing-room-only crowds, Playbill reports.

The current cast of “Chicago” features Ariana Madix as Roxie Hart, Amra-Faye Wright as Velma Kelly, Max von Essen as Billy Flynn, Lili Thomas as Matron “Mama” Morton, Red Concepción as Amos Hart, and R. Lowe as Mary Sunshine.

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The show, which plays at the Neil Simon Theatre, opened on Feb. 1, 2022 and has played to over 1 million patrons. It celebrates the music and legacy of Michael Jackson.

Elijah Rhea Johnson is currently starring in the musical in the role of MJ.

The production won four Tony Awards, including Best Choreography and Sound Design.

There are additional productions of the show in London, Hamburg, and Sydney, along with a national tour.

Fourteen beloved Broadway productions will be included in this year’s Kids’ Night on Broadway — where kids 18 and under can attend participating shows for free.

Tickets for this year’s Kids’ Night (happening on Feb. 13) are not on sale yet, but interested adults can sign-up for The Broadway Fan Club to be the first to learn when they’re available for purchase. Note on the list of shows below, two of the productions will be honoring Kids’ Night on different dates.

Kids get into any one of the 14 available shows when accompanied by a full-paying adult.

The night promises more free fun for kids and their families. There will also be talkbacks, sing-alongs, art projects and more activities to celebrate the night of theater.

Theater staff will also be handing out “My First Broadway Show” commemorative stickers that kids can add to their show’s Playbill to honor the occasion.

Participating shows include:

• A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical
• Aladdin
• & Juliet (dated Feb. 15)
• Back to the Future: The Musical
• Chicago
• Hamilton
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
• Kimberly Akimbo
• The Lion King
• MJ The Musical
• Moulin Rouge! The Musical
• SIX (dated Feb. 14)
• Spamalot
• Wicked

New York City Restaurant Week 2024 kicked off Tuesday, offering bargain prix-fixe dining deals for lunch and dinner at more than 600 restaurants across the five boroughs.

Here are the delectable details. Note: The deals don’t apply on Saturdays. They are optional for participating restaurants on Sundays, so you may want to call ahead.

NYC Restaurant Week 2024

NYC Restaurant Week offers prix-fixe two-course lunches and three-course dinners for $30, $45 and $60 at more than 600 restaurants across all five boroughs. It’s easy to sort your searches, filtering by location, cuisine and “weeks participating,” since the latter might vary by location.

You can also search by “meals offered,” “accessibility” and “ownership.” If thematics are your thing, there are a number of those as well: “James Beard Honorees,” “Wine Spectator Winners,” “NYC Restaurant Week Classics” and “Best of the Boroughs,” among other lists. See all participating restaurants here.

NYC Broadway Week 2024

Which theater-goers don’t love a two-fer? Actually, who doesn’t love a two-fer of any kind?

NYC Broadway Week also kicks off Jan. 16, offering 2-for-1 tickets to 23 shows.

Those include Wicked, Aladdin, Six the Musical, Chicago and Back to the Future, among others.

Score your 2-for-1s right here. Not sure what you want to see? Sort by comedy, drama, kid-friendly and more here.

NYC Must-See Week

This program offers 2-for-1 tickets at more than 60 museums, attractions, performing arts and tours. Participants include Carnegie Hall, Citi Field Tours, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Kings County Distillery, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York Botanical Garden, Summit One Vanderbilt, The Metropolitan Opera and more. Details here.

NYC Hotel Week

NYC Hotel Week offers 24% off standard retail rates now through February 6 at more than 160 hotels across all five boroughs. More information here.

The iconic album by the late great “Prince” will have a world premiere stage adaptation.

The musical will be based on the original screenplay of the 1984 movie by the same name.

When and where it will debut along with ticket information has not been released yet. However, it has been revealed that the stage adaptation will feature a book by two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and will be directed Tony Award-nominee Lileana Blain-Cruz. 

Additional details will be announced in the coming months.

Producers said Wednesday that they’ll wrap up the experience on Jan. 28 after 13 years and having welcomed more than 2 million visitors to the art installation-meets-theater-and-dance piece with elements of both Shakespeare and Alfred Hitchcock.

“Thirteen years ago, we could never have imagined the astonishing journey this show has been on. It’s had an incalculable impact on us all and will live on in our hearts, seep through our skin and sleep in the deepest parts of our imaginations,” producers Felix Barrett and Maxine Doyle said.

Broadway Nov 6, 2023

'80s icon Boy George is returning to Broadway in ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical'

Oct 20, 2023

How a ‘Back to the Future' fan's hand-built DeLorean time machine made it to Broadway

Created by the British theater troupe Punchdrunk, visitors to the fictional 100,000-square-foot McKittrick Hotel are handed Venetian-style masks to wear and are encouraged to explore. About 25 performers act out mostly wordless scenes inspired by Shakespeare’s play while dressed in 1930s outfits and giving off a film noir vibe and an “Eyes Wide Shut” feel. It became a draw for tourists and a blueprint for more immersive experiences in the city.

Over the years, the space became a multi-venue dining, nightlife and entertainment destination, with a rooftop garden restaurant and stages that attracted sets by everyone from Mumford and Sons and Sting to Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Brandi Carlile, Dua Lipa and Josh Groban.

For the intrepid, about 100 rooms have been carved out over several floors — some as small as a child’s bedroom and others as large as a ballroom. The outside has also been brought inside, with a gritty cemetery and a massive forest included in the mix. Guests are encouraged to rummage about the infirmary, taxidermist’s place, padded room, libraries, apothecaries, laundry and even a detective agency. Open the drawers, read the books in the shelves: Each room is decorated with no detail unspared. They even seem to have their own odor.

A production in Shanghai is in its seventh year.

The singer-songwriter whose hits include “Karma Chameleon” and “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” will play Moulin Rouge club owner Harold Zidler in the jukebox adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s hyperactive 2001 movie.

He starts Feb. 6 and ends May 12 at Broadway’s Al Hirschfeld Theatre, taking over the role from Tituss Burgess.

The show about the goings-on in a turn-of-the-century Parisian nightclub has been updated with tunes like “Single Ladies” and “Firework” alongside the big hit “Lady Marmalade.” It won 10 Tony Awards in 2021, including best new musical.

Boy George was last represented on Broadway in 2003 with “Taboo,” for which he wrote music and lyrics. Critics largely disliked the show, which told some of his life story. He also performed in that show, but did not play himself.

Producers of the show announced the date and new location Wednesday. Last year, the telecast was broadcast from the United Palace Theatre, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, many miles from Times Square and the theater district.

Next year’s location — the David H. Koch Theater — is the home of New York City Ballet and in the same sprawling building complex as Lincoln Square Theater, which houses the Broadway venue Beaumont Theater.

The Tony eligibility cut-off date for the 2023-2024 season is April 25, and nominations for the 2024 Tony Awards will be announced April 30.

The awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

President Joe Biden on Monday told a packed Broadway theater full of big-name stars hosting a fundraiser in his honor that he was running for reelection because Donald Trump was determined to destroy the nation.

Democracy is at stake, he told the audience at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater. Hate groups have been emboldened, he said. Books are being banned. Children go to school fearing shootings.

“Let there be no question, Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans are determined to destroy American democracy,” he said, referring to the former president’s slogan, “Make America Great Again.” “And I will always defend, protect and fight for our democracy.”

Biden also accused Trump and his allies of bowing down to authoritarians: “I will not side with dictators like Putin. Maybe Trump and his MAGA friends can bow down but I won’t.”

It was the among the president’s strongest rebukes of the Republican front-runner and former president, who is facing criminal charges for his role in the effort to overturn the 2020 election. And it comes as the political pressure is ramping up from Republicans in the House who have opened an impeachment inquiry into Biden in an effort to tie him to his son Hunter’s business dealings and distract from Trump’s legal peril.

Biden said he wanted to send the “strongest and most powerful message possible, that political violence in America is never never never acceptable.”

Biden, who is set to address the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, arrived in New York on Sunday evening so he could squeeze in the fundraisers as the end of the quarter for federal election reporting nears.

A Times Square billboard not far from the concert advertised “Broadway for Biden.” Sara Bareilles, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt were among those appearing on behalf of the president.

By turning to the New York theater community — overseen and contracted by the Actors’ Equity Association, whose some 51,000 American actors and stage managers remain on the job — Biden avoided Hollywood and the strike by members of the Writers Guild of America and actors from SAG-AFTRA.

Both Biden and first lady Jill Biden attended the event, with tickets ranging from $250 to $7,500. Biden also took part in a private fundraiser in Manhattan hosted by the Black Economic Alliance.

Biden walked on stage to the showstopper “All That Jazz,” and spoke about how when his sons were little they’d head up to New York twice a year to catch a show. Once, they brought their boys to see Bette Midler, whose act wasn’t exactly known to be family-friendly, and she singled them out.

“Who would bring two kids to a show like this?” she asked, according to Biden. It prompted a round of raucous laughter.

“My boys used that as a badge of courage,” he said. “Bette Midler picked us out of a crowd. … Families all over the world have memories like that to cherish.”

Biden was introduced by Jeffrey Seller, a theater producer best known for his work on “Rent,” “In the Heights” and “Hamilton.”

“President Biden, I am here to pledge to you that we in this theater — all 1,500 strong of us — are your warriors, are your troops in ensuring that we maintain, affirm and nurture the soul of our democracy and the soul of our nation,” Seller said, echoing a phrase Biden often invokes when he’s talking about why he’s running for reelection.

The event was full of performances by Tony-winning stars, but only the remarks by the president and Seller were open to the press.

Southern California, the home of extraordinary wealth and the engine of the film and television industry, has historically served as an ATM for the Democratic Party.

Since at least Bill Clinton, Democratic presidents have cultivated intimate ties with powerful figures in the Hollywood entertainment industry. Biden himself raised roughly $1 million during an early 2020 campaign fundraiser at the home of Michael Smith and James Costos, a former HBO executive. That event was attended by former DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, now a Biden campaign co-chair.

The ongoing actors and writers strike has ground that to a halt, at least for now. Writers have been on strike for 4 1/2 months over issues including pay, job security and regulating the use of artificial intelligence. SAG-AFTRA members went on strike on July 14.

Biden is the most vocally pro-union president in decades, and is mindful of staying on the right side of labor, a key constituency. As long as the strike goes on, he has been advised by Katzenberg to steer clear, according to three people with direct knowledge of the guidance who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal planning details.

Biden has kept a tepid fundraising schedule since announcing his reelection campaign in April, worrying some donors who believe the president needs to start stockpiling massive amounts of cash now for the brutal campaign that lies ahead. Still, campaign officials say they are raising plenty of money during big-dollar events –- just not anywhere near Los Angeles.

“Joe Biden is the most pro-labor president that I can recall in my lifetime. He is true to his word on that,” said Chris Korge, who serves a dual role as finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee and the Biden Victory Fund, the chief fundraising committee for Biden’s reelection. “The president will decide when is the right time to go, but it’s not impacting our fundraising ability at all.”

Some Biden allies worry that time is wasting. And they note Biden could still raise money from southern California donors who are not affiliated with the entertainment industry.

Even that could prove perilous. The potential of a picket line forming outside the gates of a multimillion-dollar home would present made-for-TV fodder that would only serve to underscore the reality that even a pro-labor president must raise cash from wealthy tycoons who have far more in common with Hollywood studio heads than rank-and-file union members.

Biden and the DNC raised more than $72 million for his reelection in the 10 weeks after he announced his 2024 candidacy, his campaign announced in July. It was a strong but not record performance by an incumbent.

Trump’s campaign raised more than $35 million for his White House bid during the second fundraising quarter, nearly double what he raised during the first three months of the year. Trump remains the GOP front-runner despite facing indictments in four different jurisdictions.

Biden will turn his attention to diplomacy on Tuesday and Wednesday at the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. After his Wednesday diplomatic engagements, Biden will squeeze in two more fundraisers in New York before returning to Washington.

___

Slodysko and Long reported from Washington.

Chris Peluso, who portrayed Sophie’s fiancé Sky in Broadway’s “Mamma Mia!” and toured in “Wicked” as Fiyero, died Aug. 15, according to Playbill and the University of Michigan Musical Theatre department. He was 40.

No cause of death has been shared.

Peluso’s death comes nearly a year after his friends Rebecca LaChance and Tim Oxbrow shared that the performer had stepped away from the stage due to a schizoaffective disorder.

“This diagnosis has resulted in Chris experiencing debilitating paranoia, which has kept him from performing in recent years,” LaChance and Oxbrow wrote in a September 2022 GoFundMe fundraiser. “As well as affecting his capacity to work in the field he built his career in over the last 18 years, Chris’s mental health has affected every aspect of his life.”

Peluso reposted the GoFundMe on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Prior to the post, his last social media activity traced back to January 2021. At the time, Peluso celebrated the birth of his daughter Aria Li Gomes-Peluso with a picture of her next to his beloved King Charles Cavalier Peety, who died later that year.

Celebrity Deaths: 2023’s Fallen Stars

In 2022, Peluso, who lived in London in pursuit of a West End performing career, moved to the United States in search of treatment. In addition to taking a break from his career—which at that point included appearances in productions “The Woman in White,” “Death Takes a Holiday,” “Show Boat” and the revival of “Miss Saigon”—Peluso’s relocation meant he had to move away from his wife Jessica Gomes and daughter.

“In recent months, the paranoia has consumed him to the extent that he is unable to work any job and has had to leave his wife and young child and return to America to seek treatment,” the GoFundMe read. “Chris has no health care insurance in the US and was recently hospitalized for about two weeks. Currently, he is seeking treatment at an inpatient mental health rehabilitation center.”

Peluso shared a message in the GoFundMe as well, expressing hope that his experience would reach others.

“Hopefully this helps bring some awareness to how so many suffer from mental illness in silence,” he wrote. “You never know what someone may be going through. Be kind to each other.”

A few months later, Peluso wrote in the GoFundMe that he had shown positive progress and was “able to hold down a job again and even began taping some auditions.”

In the wake of his passing, Peluso was mourned by his fellow performers, who remembered him as a gifted artist.

“This is devastating. I only have wonderful memories of Chris. I am holding tight to all of the light he shared. So kind. So funny. So giving. So talented and loving,” Toni Trucks commented on Michigan’s Instagram tribute to Peluso, an alumnus of the school. Desi Oakley also added, “i learned so much from his kindness & professionalism, i am sending so much love to all who walked closely with him.”

Peluso’s theater career stretched back to 2004, when he rose to fame as an understudy in the revival of “Assassins.” His credits also included performances in Broadway’s Beautiful “The Carole King Musical” and “Lestat,” as well as a role in the 2017 U.K. Tour of “Funny Girl.”

For Peluso, his love of theater was all-encompassing.

“Theatre is my life. It has provided me with friends, family, education, structure, meaning, and purpose,” he told Pocket Size Theatre in 2017. “If it were not for theatre I would not be the person I am today.”

Peluso is survived by his wife Jessica and their two children, daughter Aria and son Caio Lian Gomes-Peluso, according to Playbill.

This year, catch Broadway hits from the most recent Tony winner for best musical “Kimberly Akimbo,” to classics like “Wicked,” “The Lion King” and “Hamilton.” Every single musical on Broadway, except the very first performances of two of Broadway’s newest shows, is included on this list.

In order to claim this offer, you must purchase two tickets. The tickets that will be put on sale are likely ones the show finds the hardest to sell: balcony, mezzanine and side seats. There is an option to upgrade to better seats for $125 for tickets that normally would be significantly more expensive.

In addition to Broadway Week, a similar time is coming up for Off-Broadway shows as well. The next Off-Broadway week will extend from Oct. 3 to Oct. 15.

Here is a list of eligible Broadway shows:

• & Juliet
• Aladdin
• A Beautiful Noise – The Neil Diamond Musical
• Back to the Future: The Musical
• The Book of Mormon
• Chicago
• The Cottage
• Hadestown
• Hamilton
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
• Here Lies Love
• Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
• Kimberly Akimbo
• The Lion King
• MJ The Musical
• Moulin Rouge! The Musical
• Once Upon a One More Time
• Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
• Six: The Musical
• The Shark is Broken
• Shucked
• Some Like It Hot
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• Wicked

Nichelle Lewis will star in the national touring show this fall and then make her Broadway debut next year as the show’s heel-clicking heroine, following in the footsteps of such icons as Stephanie Mills and Diana Ross.

“It’s been a pretty crazy journey,” she told The Associated Press before her official unveiling Monday. “I’m honored to be making my debut as Dorothy. I know I’m following in some really big footsteps.”

“The Wiz” tours the U.S. starting this fall in Baltimore and will land on Broadway in 2024. Lewis joins a cast that includes Wayne Brady and Alan Mingo Jr. sharing the role of the Wiz, Deborah Cox as Glinda, Kyle Ramar Freeman as the Lion, Phillip Johnson Richardson as the Tin Man, and Avery Wilson as the Scarecrow.

Lewis, who grew up in Virginia and graduated from Molloy University in 2021, used her modest TikTok account to share her voice — one song was “Home” from “The Wiz” — and it came to the attention of casting agents, who invited her to audition.

“I’m so excited that this is a part of my story, because I feel like there’s so many people out there who started out with such a small following and I feel like they’re hard on themselves about it,” she said. “But I’m like, ‘You never know who’s watching those videos.’ I never knew that ‘The Wiz’ was looking at my videos.”

The show is adapted from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum, with a book by William F. Brown, and music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls.

Lewis says she identifies with Dorothy, who is alone on a journey of self-discovery in a new world while also helping others along the way find out who they are.

“I feel like it’s extremely important for people, especially right now, to see that they can be powerful just by being themselves and just by being individual and unique. So I think that’s how the show speaks to me,” she said.

“The Wiz” opened on Broadway in 1975 and won seven Tonys, including best musical. It has such classic songs as “What Would I Do If I Could Feel” and “Ease On Down the Road.” The original Broadway production featured Mills as Dorothy, Dee Dee Bridgewater as good witch Glinda and Andre De Shields as the Wiz.

A 1978 movie version of “The Wiz” starred Ross, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor as the Wiz. Michael Jackson co-starred as the Scarecrow, with Nipsey Russell as the Tin Man and Ted Ross as the Lion. NBC televised a live version in 2015 with Queen Latifah, Ne-Yo and David Alan Grier.

Lewis’ love of music was encouraged by her father, who died when she was young. At his service, she sang “My Help,” a song he sang when he was a child, and stunned the congregation.

“I don’t know what happened that day, but I guess just I had this voice come out of me that didn’t used to be there, but probably came from the millions of songs that I grew up listening to,” she says. “I felt like it was something that I could share with others and it was something that I noticed made other people happy.”

Lewis won a Golden Ticket on the most recent series of “American Idol” but didn’t progress from the Hollywood round. Now she’s earned another — leading a Broadway show.

Her mother, naturally, has been screaming and crying. “She’s like, ‘Your life is going to change.’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know. It probably will,’’ she says, laughing. ”I feel so blessed and I’m so glad I get to share it with her.”

The actor died early Wednesday morning, according to his sister Roxy Hall.

“His partner Richard, was singing to him the song Psalm 23 as he took his last breath this morning at 3:20 AM,” Hall wrote in a Facebook post. “He had a gorgeous smile on his beautiful face!! He went twirling into the afterlife ready to make his grand appearance as the star of his homecoming celebration!”

The circumstances around Oliver’s death aren’t clear, but he spent that last six weeks of his life in the hospital and in hospice care, according to Hall.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.

The Broadway League and Disney Theatrical announced Thursday afternoon that a tentative deal had been reached with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). The tentative agreement, which still needs to be ratified, was reached for what is called the “pink contract” that expired on July 2.

The union was set to vote Thursday night on a strike that would’ve begun Friday morning, but for that appears to have been averted.

The IATSE — which represents more than 1,500 stagehands, hair and makeup artists, and wardrobe workers who work across 45 productions on Broadway and on tour — had been calling for salary increases, health care, rest periods and housing for touring crews.

Had the IATSE gone on strike, the union would’ve been on the picket lines alongside the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, which have been on strike since May 2 and July 14, respectively, effectively shutting down most TV and movie productions.

That means that IATSE workers under the pink contract could be on strike starting Friday morning if they authorize a strike and no agreement is reached.

The Hollywood Reporter says the pink contract being negotiated covers about 1,500 stagehands, wardrobe personnel, and hair and makeup artists. The union members work across 45 productions currently on Broadway and on tour.

The union’s previous contact reportedly ended on July 2, and its members have been working under those terms in the weeks since.

The union needs to meet a 75% “yes” vote on the authorization to strike. Only then can the union’s president call a strike, THR said.

“We need to show strength and unity to ensure we win the wages, benefits and rights that all members at IATSE have earned and deserve,” IATSE International President Matthew D. Loeb told the outlet. 

The contract negotiations reportedly center around health care, increases wages and housing for touring crews.

If IATSE strikes, the union would be on the picket lines alongside the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, which have been on strike since May 2 and July 14, respectively.

When Jay-Z and Alicia Keys filmed the video for “Empire State of Mind,” their valentine to New York City, they naturally ended up in Times Square, singing on illuminated red glass steps. It was no mere set: It was two New York icons standing on another.

Their stage was the top of the TKTS booth, which has become part of the city’s visual and financial DNA and a key part in keeping Broadway going. This week that booth is celebrating its 50th birthday, with the city celebrating on Wednesday with songs and speeches.

“It is so intrinsically linked with the city,” says Victoria Bailey, executive director of the non-profit TDF, formerly known as the Theatre Development Fund, which runs the booth. “It has kind of always been a symbol.”

It’s a discount ticket booth where same-day Broadway and off-Broadway shows can be more affordable for those who balk at prices pushing past $300 a seat for some musicals. About 30% of the people who line up are first-time Broadway theatergoers.

Thousands of tickets are sold at the booth every day as the various commercial theater box offices calculate how many full-price tickets they can sell and then send the rest to TKTS. The theater gets all the ticket revenue and TDF gets a $7 service fee per ticket, which helps fund its education, community and outreach programs.

Some 68.6 million tickets have been sold from the booth during its 50 years, with more than $2.6 billion going back to the shows. Despite the rise of online rivals and apps hawking discounted theater tickets, lining up at the booth is as fundamental as cooing over the Statue of Liberty or taking a photo with a nearby costumed Elmo.

The current glass-enclosed booth opened in 2008, part of an $18 million renovation project that evokes a Greek amphitheater or Rome’s famous Spanish steps, where visitors can sit on the 27 steps and watch the street scene. Jay-Z and Keys may have had the steps to themselves in their video, but it is ordinarily a very crowded place.

“There’s so many people that keep coming back even after the pandemic and will stand on that line to come and see shows. And they thank us. That’s something that didn’t happen as often before. But it happens more now, and I love it,” says Ann Ramirez, a TKTS supervisor.

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TDF created satellite TKTS booths in Brooklyn, at the World Trade Center and in Lincoln Center, as well as helped develop booths in Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Denver, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, London and Sydney.

The first booth was a temporary experiment that stuck in Times Square. It opened for business on June 25, 1973, using an abandoned trailer donated by the Parks department with holes punched in it for ticket windows. The neighborhood was different then — seedy and dangerous.

“Broadway was falling apart then,” says Robert Mayers, who with business partner John Schiff designed the booth and the logo. “They wanted to do an experiment because the area was in disrepair.”

Mayers and Schiff were given just $5,000 for the capital budget, and they rented scaffolding to go around the booth. They wove a translucent plastic fabric with the iconic logo among the bars and clamped spotlights on the frame.

“It’s a very theatrical kind of vocabulary,” says Mayers. “We looked at it as a giant kite. It was supposed to be light hearted, related to the theater and make a visual statement in a very busy place.”

They thought it would stay up for a year or two, at best. Instead, it won design awards and lasted decades. Their influence can be seen in the abbreviated, vowel-less apps and company titles of today — Flickr to Unbxd and DNCE.

“I noticed whenever you see movies of the ‘70s or ’80s and they’re in New York, there’s always a scene in Times Square or Duffy Square where the camera goes by and you see the TKTS booth. I always get a kick out of that,” says Mayers.

If the booth was an attempt to stabilize the neighborhood, it is a still a sign that the city is open for business — important steps after events like 9/11, Superstorm Sandy and the coronavirus pandemic.

“You talk to ushers, you talk to wardrobe people, you talk to the people backstage and they talk about the booth as the thing that has over the years kept them employed,” said Bailey, who went to there for tickets in college and later sent tickets to the booth as a Broadway general manager.

These days, visitors make their picks from a list of shows on continually updating electronic boards. TDF also has a free phone app that lists its offerings in real time.

Staffers are on hand to help in red jackets or T-shirts with the TKTS logo and the printed slogan “Got questions?” They’re theater fans, having seen all the shows on offer and aware of the best and worst seats in the city’s various theaters. Most patrons get through the line in less than 45 minutes, longer on holidays.

The advice is to be flexible — have decided on two or three possible shows by the time you get to the window. Bailey notices that people in line often help each other out with recommendations and swap info on shows.

Tickets to mega-hits like “Hamilton” and “Wicked” typically won’t appear at the booth since they don’t need to offer discounts. New shows often do until they become a hot ticket, like after a Tony Award win or favorable reviews. But, eventually, most shows end up listed at the booth.

“There comes a point in the evolution of a show when they need help,” says Bailey, who earned a Tony this year for her work helping theater. “Shows like ‘A Chorus Line,’ ‘The Wiz,’ ‘Chicago,’ ‘The Phantom of the Opera,’ those shows ran extra years because of the booth.”

On a recent day, the booth had 50% discounts for “Camelot,” “A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical,” “Good Night, Oscar,” “Grey House,” “New York, New York,” “Once Upon a One More Time,” “Hadestown” and “Chicago.” Tickets for “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” with Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan were as little as $50.

Unlike other paid ticket sellers wandering around Times Square pushing one particular musical or play, TKTS representatives aren’t allowed to recommend a single show but instead offer a range of options appropriate to the visitor — family friendly, dramatic, light, scary.

Once at the window, ticket sellers quickly scan a blueprint of the theater for available seats and offer visitors options, like couples can sit apart with an unobstructed view or sit together with a “partial view” and risk missing something onstage.

In addition to catching shows herself, Ramirez loves seeing her regulars and learning what they’ve liked and what they haven’t.

“This is where we get a lot of information,” she says. “They will come back and tell me all the business, tell me who was in it, who was bad, who was good. Was it good, Was it not?”

Playbill Magazine and the Time Square Alliance announced their “Pride in Times Square” collaboration on a celebration of Pride at the Crossroads of the World. Together, the groups will host a series of free events Saturday and Sunday.

The weekend’s festivities include Broadway productions, Pride Piano Bar sessions, live DJ sets, a Drag Pride celebration, and the return of last year’s “The Big Broadway Disco.”

A new addition to the event line up this year is the “Anthems of Pride” concert. Hosted by award-winning actor and singer Tituss Burgess, the show will feature cast members from over 20 long-running classics and new smash-hit productions.

Then, on Sunday, the Playbill Pride Float returns to the NYC Pride March, supporting their partner Heritage of Pride. The Pride March participation helps to round out a weekend of diversity, equity, education, and celebration.

Attendees can also enjoy:

1. Pride Main Stage: The main stage will feature a rotating roster of groundbreaking performances, including Anthems of Pride on Friday and the NYC Gay Men’s Chorus on Saturday
2. Big Broadway Disco: A large-scale street party that invites revelers to dance through Times Square to classic and contemporary Broadway songs and performances
3. Pride Piano Bar Stage: Audiences will be able to take photos with the one-of-a-kind designed piano, and stay for piano sing-along performances and concerts led by top-Broadway musicians and performers

Data from The Broadway League released Tuesday shows many of the musicals and plays featured on the June 11 awards show benefited financially from getting valuable exposure in front of millions.

The top Tony winner, “Kimberly Akimbo,” about a teen who ages four times faster than the average human, won five awards including best new musical and grossed $695,405 over eight performances following the telecast, an increase of $169,229 over the previous week.

Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt,” which explores Jewish identity with an intergenerational story, won the best new play Tony and did even better: It earned $273,804 more than the week previously, ending up with $924,033 in the week after the Tonys.

The Hollywood writers’ strike left the storied awards show without a script but the Writers Guild of America allowed the show to go on without a picket line.

“& Juliet,” which reimagines “Romeo and Juliet” and adds some of the biggest pop hits of the past few decades, took in $205,694 more over the previous week, ending with a very healthy $1,339,854 after a rousing telecast performance and zero Tonys. while ”Shucked,” a surprise lightweight musical comedy celebrating corn and featuring newly minted Tony winner Alex Newell, earned $162,233 more than the previous week, finishing with a respectable $862,188.

“Some Like It Hot,” a musical adaptation of the cross-dressing comedy film, only saw a modest $103,039 increase despite J. Harrison Ghee’s historic win, and “New York, New York,” a love letter to Manhattan inspired by the 1977 film directed by Martin Scorsese, took in $141,105 over the previous week to a final $995,844 gross.

“Prima Facie,” which stars best actress winner Jodi Comer saw a bump of $161,576 to help it cross the $1 million threshold. Producers earlier Tuesday announced that the show had recouped its $4.1 million capitalization costs after 10 weeks and the show had set an eight-performance per week house record for the Golden Theatre with $1,107,829.

The telecast featured performances from all the nominated musicals and Will Swenson — starring on Broadway in a Neil Diamond musical — led the audience in a vigorous rendition of “Sweet Caroline.” Lea Michele of “Glee” and now “Funny Girl” fame also performed a soaring version of “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” The data was mixed on the last two entries: The Neil Diamond musical actually saw its take drop by almost $91,000 despite the exposure, while Michele’s show earned $1 million over the pre-Tony week, when Michele was absent.

Not all the numbers pointed to a telecast bump. “Parade,” a doomed musical love story set against the real backdrop of a murder and lynching in Georgia in pre-World War I, got a $108,734 increase to end last week with $1,168,463 after earning best revival of a musical and a Tony for director Michael Arden. But “Peter Pan Goes Wrong,” a farce that wasn’t featured at the awards show, go the same increase — $109,853.

The good news for many shows was tempered by some sad, including the imminent closing notices for two shows — “Life of Pi,” about a shipwrecked teenager who spends hundreds of days afloat in the Pacific in the company of a Bengal tiger, and “Fat Ham” — James Ijames’ adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” set at a Black family’s barbecue in the modern South.

The $500 million building, the next-to-last element of the World Trade Center redevelopment to open following the 2001 terrorist attacks, announced its inaugural season Wednesday.

“Cats” will appear in June and July 2024 directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, with choreography by Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles.

The musical will have reimagined staging set in Harlem’s drag Ballroom Culture. Bill Rauch, PAC’s artistic director, said Ballroom Culture will come across in the casting, staging and design.

“Certainly Ballroom beats will affect how some of the songs are orchestrated,” he said.

Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” closed on April 16 at the Majestic Theater after 13,981 performances, leaving the legendary composer with no shows on Broadway for the first time since 1979. The original “Cats” production ran for 7,485 performances from 1982-2000, and a revival in 2016-17 ran for 593.

The PAC, designed by Joshua Ramus of REX, is to open with a ribbon-cutting on Sept. 13. A five-night opening called “A Concert Series to Welcome the World,” with pay-as-you-wish seating, begins Sept. 19 with “NYC Tapestry: Home as Refuge” that includes Laurie Anderson, Raven Chacon, Natalie Diaz and Angélique Kidjo, among others.

“Watch Night,” a multidisciplinary piece composed by Tamar-kali, co-conceived, directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones, runs from Nov. 3-18 and melds spirituals, opera and poetry. Luna Pearl Woolf’s “Number Our Days” a multimedia oratorio, runs from April 12-14. “An American Soldier,” the Huang Ruo opera that premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in 2014, gets its New York premiere from May 12-19.

Among theater options, Laurence Fishburne premieres a one-man show “Like They Do in The Movies” from March 10-31. An evening with Brian Stokes Mitchell is scheduled for Oct. 5 and Anthony Roth Costanzo has a cabaret show Dec. 20.

The PAC is clad in translucent, veined Portuguese marble that creates amber light in the day and glows at night. It features three performance spaces that can be used separately or combined: the John E. Zuccotti Theater (seating 450), the Mike Nichols Theater (250), and the Doris Duke Foundation Theater (99).

With proscenium, thrust and in-the-round formations, there are 60 stage-audience arrangements of 90-950 seats. The space, launched with a $75 million gift from Ronald Perelman in 2016, includes a restaurant led by chef Marcus Samuelsson and designed by David Rockwell and the Rockwell Group. A lobby stage is open to the public for free performances.

The flexible space is similar but different from The Shed, which opened in 2019 at the Hudson Yards Development, and the Park Avenue Armory, which has presented arts programming since 2007.

“The Shed and the Armory work perfectly for big things,” said PAC chairman Mike Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, who contributed $130 million. “This, the scale is different. You can have a 20-person audience and a 20-person performance, and you can do that here. Number two, it is to some extent a different audience. This is downtown, that’s midtown. Lots of places to go midtown. Love ‘em all. Supported them all, probably. Visited them all. Go to them all. But downtown has never really had a lot of that. And if you think about it, you’ve got the Staten Island Ferry, you’ve got subways from four boroughs coming over, you’ve got the PATH tube from New Jersey. People can get here.”

The last building of the redevelopment, 2 World Trade Center, is projected to open in 2027.

Brady, a five-time Emmy winner and Grammy Award nominee, will start the show in San Francisco from Jan. 16 – Feb. 11. He’ll continue his role as the Wiz in Los Angeles from Feb. 13 – March 3, before hitting Broadway in spring of 2024.

Mingo will then pick up the role for the remaining cities, starting in Baltimore. The rest of the tour includes Cleveland; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh; Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta; Greenville, South Carolina; Chicago; Des Moines, Iowa; Tempe, Arizona; and San Diego.

The Wiz originally debuted in 1974 as an adaptation of 1900 novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

The story follows Dorothy and her adventures through Oz with Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow, set to a combination of rock, gospel and soul music. The movie adaptation, released in 1974, starred Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as Scarecrow.

The Hollywood writers’ strike has left much of Sunday’s telecast with unknowns. There will be performances from the nominated musicals, pre-recorded montages of the plays and acceptance speeches. Everything else seems up in the air.

Striking members of the Writers Guild of America have agreed not to picket but won’t allow its writers to work on the Tonys, leaving Broadway’s biggest night without an established script. Any banter will have to be impromptu.

But if any group of people are best equipped to handle the stress from a live event, it’s the Broadway community. Going on without a net just doesn’t scare them.

“I think the theatrical community is the one artistic community that is absolutely capable of pulling off a show like this and not having it feel like, ‘Oh, I’m so scared and nervous!’” says Wayne Brady, who has been on Broadway in “Kinky Boots” and “Chicago” and will be leading a new “The Wiz.” It’s like, ‘No, this is what we do. This is what we do.’ And I can’t wait to see it.”

Ariana DeBose’s second stint as host is likely to be far different from last year. The Academy Award winner and Tony Award nominee will be tasked with gluing it all together.

There’s plenty of time to eat up: A 2 1/2-hour pre-show on Pluto TV from 6:30-8 p.m. EDT hosted by Julianne Hough and Skylar Astin, and then the three-hour main event led by DeBose on CBS and Paramount+ starting at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT.

Performances are slated from the nominated casts of “Camelot,” “Into the Woods,” “& Juliet,” “Kimberly Akimbo,” “New York, New York,” “Parade,” “Shucked,” “Some Like It Hot” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

In addition, Joaquina Kalukango, the winner of last year’s Tony for best performance by a leading actress in a musical, will sing, as well as casts from “A Beautiful Noise” and “Funny Girl.” That means there’ll be plenty of star power, from Josh Groban to Lea Michele.

A total of 26 Tony Awards will be handed out for a season that had 40 new productions — 15 musicals, 24 plays and one special engagement. It was the first full season since Broadway returned from the COVID-19 shutdown.

“Some Like It Hot,” a musical adaptation of the cross-dressing movie comedy that starred Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, goes into the night with a leading 13 Tony Award nominations.

Broadway shows rely on the Tony Award telecast for exposure, and this year the need is even heightened, with a drop in tourism leaving many shows lighter at the box office than usual.

Stark Sands, who has twice been nominated and will attend this year as part of the musical “& Juliet,” calls the telecast “an annual national commercial for Broadway.”

“We know how much it means in ticket sales even if you don’t win — just the performance on national television in front of that 3 or 4 million people that are watching,” he says.

“I’m bummed that it’s not going to be the Tonys that we know, but I’m grateful that they got it over the line and that we will have those very clickable moments of the performances.”

Even the location this year — the United Palace Theatre, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan — is a new one for the ceremony, many miles from Times Square and the theater district. A morning telecast rehearsal — usually open to the public — has been nixed. The red carpet will be photos only and a list of presenters has not been released.

The strike has darkened late-night TV shows like “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert “and “Saturday Night Live” and delayed the making of scripted TV shows.

The big first awards show during the current strike was the MTV Movie & TV Awards, which had no host and relied on recycled clips and a smattering of pre-recorded acceptance speeches. The strike has also disrupted the PEN America Gala and the Peabody Awards.

Producers may take tips from the 1988 awards, which were also broadcast during a Writers Guild of America walkout. Host Angela Lansbury started the show with an impromptu personal story that connected many of that season’s shows as dancers from them appeared behind her.

Among the stars appearing that night were Bernadette Peters, Matthew Broderick, Joel Grey, Gregory Hines, Madonna, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Mandy Patinkin, Chita Rivera and Kathleen Turner. Performances included songs from “Anything Goes,” Sarafina“ and “Into the Woods” and a salute to director and choreographer Michael Bennett, who had died the year before.

The performances were longer than time allotted in recent years and the presenters or winners didn’t use prompters. There was a rawness to the telecast, with presenters talking over each other and some poorly framed shots. “The Phantom of the Opera” won best new musical.

There are connections to that night 35 years ago. On Sunday, “Into the Woods” is a nominee, Grey will be honored with a special Tony for lifetime achievement, and audiences this season said goodbye to “The Phantom of the Opera.”

While Biden plans to use his comments to celebrate the contributions of Jewish Americans, he also will reflect on how his decision to run for the White House in 2020 was shaped by a 2017 neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to a White House official who previewed the president’s speech on condition of anonymity.

The president, who just weeks ago announced he would run for reelection, spoke frequently during the 2020 campaign about the “Unite the Right” rally led by white nationalists bearing torches. Clashes between that group and a large gathering of counterprotesters led to the death of counterprotester Heather Heyer when a white nationalist drove his car into the crowd.

Biden is also expected to highlight his appointment of America’s first ambassador-level special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, increased federal funding to help secure synagogues, Jewish community centers and Jewish day schools, and convening a White House summit on combating hate-fueled violence.

Biden late last year established an inter-agency group to better coordinate U.S. government efforts to counter antisemitism, Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination within the United States. The administration is expected to soon release its national strategy to counter antisemitism.

Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, both 2023 Tony Award nominees for their performance in “Parade,” are to perform at the reception. The musical centers on the trial and imprisonment and lynching in the early 20th century of Jewish American factory manager Leo Frank. Composer Jason Robert Brown will accompany Diamond and Platt.

The White House recruited James Beard-winning chef Michael Solomonov, who specializes in Israeli cuisine, to design the menu for Tuesday’s celebration.

The actor who plays Kendall Roy in the HBO television series “Succession” has signed on to play a man who tries to expose water contamination in a Norwegian spa town in Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play “An Enemy of the People.”

The play — with a rewrite from Amy Herzog, whose adaptation of Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” just won a Tony nomination — will premiere on Broadway in early 2024 at a theater to be revealed later, producers said. The rest of the cast will be announced later. Sam Gold, who won a Tony directing “Fun Home,” will helm the revival.

It will be Strong’s second time on Broadway. He was in “A Man for All Seasons” in 2008 with Frank Langella and Patrick Page. Since then, his work on “Succession” has earned him an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

Strong will play a public-minded doctor in a small town who discovers the water supply for the public spa is contaminated and may have made tourists — the community’s economic lifeblood — ill. But his efforts to clean up the mess pit his ethics against political cowards and the media, leaving his family suffering.

The Hollywood Reporter says the Writers Guild of America denied the production a waiver that would have allowed the show to air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ amid the ongoing writers’ strike.

A meeting is reportedly scheduled by the Tony Awards Management Committee for Monday to discuss possible next steps forward.

The waiver decision follows two weeks of a writers’ strike throughout much of the entertainment industry as members of the guild seek better pay and advancement opportunities, among other issues, from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

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There are two options reportedly being discussed among the show’s producers: hold a non-televised ceremony on the same date or postpone the show until the strike ends.

The Tony Awards is now the second live awards show impacted by the writers’ strike. On Sunday, the MTV Movie Awards shifted to a pre-taped format and host Drew Barrymore opted to skip her duties in solidarity with the writers.

Traditionally held in Radio City Music Hall, this year’s Tony Awards was set to take place at the United Palace in Washington Heights. Ariana DeBose would return as host.

With songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and starring Christian Borle and J. Harrison Ghee, who all got nominations, the show follows two musician friends who disguise themselves as women and join an all-girl band to flee Chicago after witnessing a mob hit. Like the movie, there are men in dresses trying to pass as women. But this time, the dress awakens something in Ghee’s character, akin to a transformation from a caterpillar to a butterfly.

Three shows tied with nine nominations each: “& Juliet,” which reimagines “Romeo and Juliet” and adds some of the biggest pop hits of the past few decades, “New York, New York,” which combined two generations of Broadway royalty in John Kander and Lin-Manuel Miranda, and “Shucked,” a surprise lightweight musical comedy studded with corn puns. The critical musical darling “Kimberly Akimbo,” with Victoria Clark playing a teen who ages four times faster than the average human, rounds out the best musical category.

In the best new play category, nods were distributed to Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt,” which explores Jewish identity with an intergenerational story, and “Fat Ham,” James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize-winning adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” set at a Black family’s barbecue in the modern South.

The rest of the category is made up of “Ain’t No Mo,’” the short-lived but critical applauded work by playwright and actor Jordan E. Cooper, Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Between Riverside and Crazy” and “Cost of Living,” parallel stories of two caretakers and their respective patients.

“Parade,” a doomed musical love story set against the real backdrop of a murder and lynching in Georgia in pre-World War I, earned six nods, starring newly nominated Ben Platt, hoping to win a second Tony after his triumph in 2017 with “Dear Evan Hansen,” and rising star and first-time nominee Micaela Diamond.

Wendell Pierce, who has won a Tony for producing “Clybourne Park,” earned his first nomination as an actor on Broadway for a blistering revival of “Death of a Salesman” and Jessica Chastain, an Oscar-winner for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” got her first Tony nomination for a stripped down version of “A Doll’s House.”

Pierce will face-off against both stars of Suzan-Lori Parks’ “Topdog/Underdog” — Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Corey Hawkins — as well as former “Will & Grace” star Sean Hayes from “Good Night, Oscar,” and Stephen McKinley Henderson, who earned his second nomination, having goten one in 2019 for “Fences.”

Jodie Comer, the three-time Emmy nominated star of “Killing Eve” earned a nomination in her Broadway debut — although her play, “Prima Facie,” did get a best new play nod — and Audra McDonald, who has won six Tony Awards can extend her reign if she beats Comer as best leading actress in a play for “Ohio State Murders.” The last slot in the category went to Jessica Hecht, staring in the play “Summer, 1976.”

Two shows that closed quickly nevertheless picked up nominations — “KPOP,” which put Korean pop music on Broadway for the first time, and “Ain’t No Mo,’” in which the United States government emails every Black citizen with the offer of a free plane ticket to Africa and each scene explores how various personalities respond to the offer. “KPOP” got three — including best original score — and “Ain’t No Mo’” nabbed six, including a best new play nomination.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s frothy and widely panned “Bad Cinderella” earned zero nods, as did “A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical,” a stage biography of the singer-songwriter who has had dozens of top-40 hits. But Samuel L. Jackson earned his first Tony nod for “August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson.”

Two well-received revivals from the late Stephen Sondheim — “Sweeney Todd” with Annaleigh Ashford and Josh Groban, and a star-studded “Into the Woods,” were recognized. “Sweeney Todd” received eight nominations including for Groban and Ashford, and “Into the Woods” earned six, including for Brian d’Arcy James and Grammy Award-winning Sara Bareilles, her third Tony nomination.

“Almost Famous,” the stage adaptation of Cameron Crowe’s autobiographical coming-of-age story, earned just one nomination — for music by Tom Kitt and lyrics by Crowe and Kitt. And choreographer Jennifer Weber had two reasons to smile Tuesday: She earned nominations for “& Juliet” and “KPOP,” her first Broadway shows.

Ariana DeBose will host the June 11 awards celebration from New York City’s United Palace theater live on CBS and on Paramount+. It is her second-straight stint as host.

___

“Phantom” ends its historic 35-year run on Sunday on a high note: the musical has been the highest grossing show on Broadway for the past 12 weeks. Tickets for its final performances went for as much as $4,000.

Initially, the beloved musical was set to take its final bow on Feb.18, soon after celebrating its 35th anniversary, but producers managed to extend the run for an additional eight weeks to April 16.

The longest-running show in Broadway history, “Phantom” opened at the Majestic Theatre on 44th Street in January 1988 and has played more than 13,000 performances to date. The closing performance will be No. 13,981.

Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, producers say the musical has been seen by 20 million people and grossed more than $1.4 billion.

Two days before the final curtain call, Andrew Lloyd Webber was awarded a key to the City of New York City by Mayor Eric Adams.

“I think it’s very, very rare in a musical, very, very rare, for all of the ingredients to come together in the same way that Phantom did. The production, the lighting, the choreography.” Webber told NBC’s Lester Holt.

The legendary composer said the show costs about $1 million a week to run, which, combined with dwindling ticket sales, contributed to its closing.

It’s estimated the production created 6,500 jobs in New York City, including those of 400 actors, some of which have been in the musical since opening night.

The final cast for Sunday’s performance includes Ben Crawford (The Phantom), Emilie Kouatchou (Christine) and John Riddle (Raoul), with Nehal Joshi (Monsieur André), Craig Bennett (Monsieur Firmin), Raquel Suarez Groen (Carlotta), Maree Johnson (Madame Giry), Carlton Moe (Piangi), Sara Esty (Meg Giry) and Julia Udine (Christine at certain performances).

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After more than three decades, Broadway’s longest-running musical, “The Phantom of the Opera,” is coming to an close on Sunday.

The show is going out with a bang, too — it’s been the highest-grossing Broadway show for the past 12 consecutive weeks. On its final weekend, some tickets are going for nearly $4,000 each on third-party resell sites.

For the week ended April 9, the show’s eight performances ran at full capacity, raking in a cool $3.65 million, according to the Broadway League. For comparison, this time last year, the show brought in just over $1 million for the week ending April 17, 2022.

The show’s total ticket sales significantly increased after the announcement of its closing and extension, with a weekly gross above $2 million since mid-December and above $3 million since mid-March.

“Phantom” has been sold out for weeks, resembling its success in 1988, press agent Mike Borowski told CNBC.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical has played to over 145 million people worldwide in 41 countries, 183 cities and in 17 languages . It has received 70 major theater awards including seven Tony Awards and four Olivier Awards. In total, “Phantom” has grossed $1.3 billion in ticket sales in its lifetime.

The show also lays claim to the title of the biggest job producer in U.S. theatrical history. During its run, “Phantom” created an estimated 6,500 jobs, including those of 400 actors, in New York City. Some have been with the musical since opening night in 1988.

But it might not be farewell forever — in a recent interview with Spectrum News NY1, Lloyd Webber hinted that audiences may see Phantom’s chandelier “rise again somewhere in New York – much sooner than people might think.”

On March 2, Broadway‘s revival of “Funny Girl,” starring Lea Michele, Ramin Karimloo, Jared Grimes and Tova Feldshuh—announced its plans for one last curtain call.

“Hey, gorgeous! We’re having so much fun with you on Broadway, we’re sticking around until September 3rd!” read a statement shared on the show’s Instagram page. “Don’t miss @leamichele, @raminkarimloo, @grimeystepz, and @tovahfeld! Get your tickets now. #FUNNYGIRL.”

Following the show’s Broadway run, the production will begin a North American tour. The cast has not yet been announced.

Though Michele was only expected to stay on until the end of spring as Fanny Brice—a role she took on in September 2022, weeks after Beanie Feldstein’s exit in July 2022—she ultimately ended up extending her run.

“I was originally only supposed to stay until June,” Michele said on ‘Live With Kelly and Ryan‘ March 2. “Signing on to this and taking on this role with a toddler. I haven’t been on Broadway in 15 years. I really didn’t know how this was going to all sort of feel and be for us as a family and being back in New York.”

The actress, who shares son Ever Leo Reich, 2, with husband Zandy Reich, added, “But I’m having such an amazing time and we have the most amazing cast and it is just such a beautiful experience. So myself, Tova Feldshuh, Ramin and Jared, we’ve all decided that we are going to see this to the end September 3rd.”

Michele, who, like her former “Glee” character Rachel Berry, is a longtime fan of the musical, has earned praise for her performances in “Funny Girl” from critics. She also received a congratulatory letter from Barbra Streisand, who originated the role of Fanny in the 1964 Broadway production and also portrayed the character in its 1968 movie adaptation, for which she won her first Oscar.

“She wrote me this beautiful letter,” Michele said on ‘Late Night With Seth Meyers‘ Dec. 5. “But one thing she said in was, ‘It’s really wonderful when your dreams come true, isn’t it?'”

She added that she fell to her knees and called “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy, her mom, her BFF Jonathan Groff and Michael Mayer. Groff starred with Michele in “Glee” and met her while working with her in the ’00s Broadway show “Spring Awakening,” which Mayer directed.

“Like, these are the people who need to know,” Michele said. “It was great.”

The actress meanwhile has post-“Funny Girl” plans in which she will fulfill another career goal. On Oct. 30, Michele will make her solo Carnegie Hall debut. She recently announced the news on her Instagram Stories, adding, “Another dream come true.”

“I painted my dressing room pink so that it’s a very bright and warm and joyful place to be, so that I can leave what happens on the stage on the stage,” he says.

Platt deserves all the joy he can grab while playing the doomed lead anti-hero in the musical “Parade,” adapted from a true story that took place in Atlanta just before World War I.

He plays Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-born Jewish factory manager falsely accused of murdering a young girl. He is tried and convicted, has his death sentence commuted but then is lynched by a Southern mob who dislikes his religion and Northern values.

“It’s really a human story about how people — because of the traumas of their past — can’t escape the prejudice of their present,” says the show’s director, Michael Arden.

The musical is being revived on Broadway just as the nation endures another wave of anti-Semitism, which has brought darkness even to the theater’s front door. The show’s first preview was marred by a few neo-Nazi protesters outside.

That has only proven to Platt and the rest of the “Parade” team that bringing this musical back in front of an audience is the right thing to do in the face of bigotry and bullying.

“I think both in terms of specifically anti-Semitism and in terms of just the horrors of social media and online mob mentality, it feels all too contemporary,” Platt says. “I think everybody could feel very palpably that this was the piece for right in this very moment and that there was really a reason to be doing it.”

This is Platt’s first return to Broadway since his star-making turn in “Dear Evan Hansen,” which earned him a Tony and a Grammy and propelled his career to TV shows like “The Politician” and a record deal with Atlantic Records. The new musical opens March 16 at at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.

Platt calls “Parade” a “hidden gem” in musical theater and grew up listening to its songs. It was mostly well-received by critics in 1998 when it first arrived — and later won Tonys for best book and score — but closed within a few months, despite a story by “Driving Miss Daisy” writer Alfred Uhry and music and lyrics by multiple Tony-winner Jason Robert Brown. Platt says it was ahead of its time.

“I think maybe people just weren’t ready to hear it at that point,” he says. “There’s a lot of gray in the show, and it’s also a piece that holds racism and anti-Semitism in the same conversation and highlights that they are both products, particularly in America, of the same system of white supremacy.”

Behind the legal drama, there is a second — the story of two people, Frank and his wife, Lucille, whose relationship gets stronger as their lives get more difficult. Micaela Diamond stars here as Lucille, and it is the first time Jewish actors have led a professional production of “Parade” of this scale.

“I’m hopeful that this will be an opportunity for those who didn’t already appreciate it, to find it and for it to get some of the due that it maybe should have gotten in the first place,” Platt says.

What viewers will find is a complex portrayal of Frank, a fussy, often unpleasant man who dislikes the South and who complains about the food when he is first thrown in jail. That challenge attracted Platt.

“There’s some moral challenge and ambiguity,” says Platt. “I think it’s an important message when you’re representing anyone who’s been oppressed or victimized, let alone a real person, to say that just because somebody isn’t perfect and entirely virtuous, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t deserving of justice and truth.”

Arden grew up in Midland, Texas, listening to Broadway cast albums and was “just transported by the score” of “Parade.” He watched a video capture of the original show and saw a version mounted by the Donmar Warehouse in 2007.

“It is rare when we get an opportunity to go to the theater and truly be challenged to reflect on our own shortcomings in this way and kind of stir up the darkness of our past,” he says. “We must reexamine our past or else we repeat it.”

Arden hopes his direction has focuses on the intimacy of the marriage, and he has stripped the musical down, without a lot of set design and without a heavy hand.

“We’re sort of presenting this play as evidence for an audience to make up their own minds about something, as opposed to trying to necessarily fully paint the picture in a way that a film could or perhaps the original production attempted to,” he says.

It is a challenging, often wrenching show and Platt gets into character each night in his pink dressing room with some key items: A framed photo of Leo and Lucille Frank taken at their happiest.

“I think it helps me to remember that the main purpose here is to honor them and to show the love between them and the humanity between them as much, if not more, than the tragedy that befell them,” he says.

There’s also a photo of him and his fiance, Noah Galvin, and of his family, including one from his brother’s bar mitzvah. He calls them “reminders of where I come from and what I get to go home to, that Leo didn’t get to go home to.”

“As traumatic and and dark as this particular story is, my greatest joy in life is to be in the theater,” he adds. “Even going through something like this and emotionally finding my way through it, I do go home with such a fulfillment and satisfaction because this is really my dream.”

___

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

Kevin, Nick and Joe Jonas announced Friday they’ll use each night at the Marquis Theatre to focus on a different album, including “Jonas Brothers,” “A Little Bit Longer,” “Lines, Vines and Trying Times,” “Happiness Begins” and their upcoming collection due in May, simply called “The Album.”

They are scheduled to be on Broadway from March 14-18.

The brothers released the song “Wings” from “The Album,” which is being executive produced by Jon Bellion.

Nick Jonas is no stranger to Broadway, having starred in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” in 2012, as well as roles in “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Les Misérables.” He and his wife, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, helped produce the short-lived 2021 play “Chicken & Biscuits.”

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Producers and the star of “Parade” are condemning antisemitism after a group of neo-Nazi protesters harassed theatergoers as they were lined up ahead of the show Tuesday. Someone who tried to video the protesters reportedly had their phone yanked away and thrown on to the street.  

A member of the audience posted a video the hate-filled demonstration outside the Bernard Jacobs Theater on West 45th Street and described the moments of fear.

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“I know they have the right to protest but I can still be bothered by it,” said Elena Kaplan.

Those who demonstrated yelled, carried banners and handed out fliers that claim the show glorifies pedophilia.

The protesters were targeting “Parade,” a musical about the true story of Leo Frank — a Jewish man lynched in 1915 after he was wrongfully convicted for the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl. Later legal review confirmed that Frank had been wrongfully charged.

“The irony should not be lost on anyone that these antisemitic extremists decided to protest a play that details the true story of the lynching of an innocent Jewish man by an antisemitic mob and used it as an opportunity to spread conspiracy theories and hate,” the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement.

For one woman, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, the protesters gave her even more reason to support the production.

“I was going to get them anyway but it’s also my form of protest to say you don’t get to push me out of my own country,” said Nina Mogilnik. “It’s a hard thing to digest.”

Tony Award winner Ben Platt stars in the production and said in a video shared on Instagram “it was definitely very ugly and scary but a wonderful reminder of why we are telling this story and how powerful art and theater can be.”

Producers of the show went on to say that “if there is any remaining doubt out there about the urgency of telling this story in this moment in history, the vileness on display (Tuesday night) should put it to rest.”

NYPD officers were on the scene Tuesday night, but it was not clear if they would have special patrols again on Wednesday.

Tina Fey just revealed that in addition to adapting the musical version of her 2004 film “Mean Girls” into its own movie, she’ll also be reprising her role of Ms. Norbury. And she’s not the only OG cast member returning.

“Me and Tim Meadows are gonna be back,” she announced during her Feb. 16 appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” “We couldn’t age out, teachers work forever.”

Fellow “Saturday Night Live” alum Meadows portrayed Principal Duvall in the original movie. Additionally, Fey gave further details about the cast of the Paramount+ film, which she said starts shooting in March.

“I’m super excited about this cast,” Fey shared. “Reneé Rapp from “Sex Lives of College Girls” and [a] pop star is gonna play Regina George. Angourie Rice, who you may know from “Mare of Easttown” and “Senior Year,” is gonna play Cady. Jaquel Spivey, who was [in] Strange Loop on Broadway. Oh, and Auli’i Cravalho—it’s an incredible cast.”

If Rapp and “Mean Girls” sound familiar together, that’s because she’ll be reprising the role she previously played in the Broadway adaptation. And Auli’i, who will take on the role of Janis Ian, has also proven her vocal chops as the star of “Moana.”

While the parts originated by Rachel McAdams, Lindsay Lohan, Daniel Franzese and Lizzy Caplan have already been cast, it’s currently unclear who will be playing Karen Smith, Gretchen Wieners and Aaron Samuels—a.k.a. Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert and Jonathan Bennett.

During her conversation with Seth Meyers, Fey also detailed some of the differences between the 2017 stage version and the upcoming musical movie.

“The songs are sounding more pop,” she explained. “It’s a fascinating process, because in Broadway, everything has to play to the back of the house and in movies you can come back in and things can play really intimately.”

Go back to the world of the Plastics when “Mean Girls: The Musical: The Movie” inevitably airs on Paramount+.

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Justin David Sullivan declined eligibility, according to Playbill, refusing to be categorized as male or female.

Sullivan, who identifies as non-binary, stars in “& Juliet” at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre and plays a non-binary character.

“I was told that I had to choose [the category in which] I felt comfortable, and in that process, I struggled a lot,” Sullivan told Playbill. “I felt like I couldn’t choose. I didn’t feel right being in either category because it didn’t resonate with me. I decided the only thing that felt right to me would be to abstain from nomination consideration.”

Sullivan said part of the rationale for the decision was to empower other non-binary people and performers.

The Broadway League and The American Theatre Wing, who put on the Tony Awards, said in a statement that they are discussing how to make the awards categories more inclusive, but that it was too late to make any changes for this year's awards.

“We recognize that the current acting categories are not fully inclusive, and we are currently in discussion about how to best adjust them to address this,” the groups said. “Unfortunately, we are still in process on this and our rules do not allow us to make changes once a season has begun. We are working thoughtfully to ensure that no member of our community feel excluded.”

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WARNING: We’re halfway through New York City Restaurant Week 2023 (the winter one) already.

That means you’ve got just two weeks to enjoy more for less at nearly 500 restaurants across the five boroughs as part of the annual seasonal winter foodie special. Two-course lunch for under $30? Three-course dinner for $60?

We’re in. This year’s winter restaurant week wraps on Feb. 12 (because, of course, Valentine’s Day crowds spend big). NYC Broadway Week ends the same day. Did all the restaurants and shows already? How about NYC Must-See Week?

Here are the delectable details. (And don’t worry, NYC Restaurant Week 2023 continues over the summer. We’ll have more on that as we get closer, but for now, get the next two weeks of your life straightened out.(

NYC Restaurant Week 2023

NYC Restaurant Week offers prix-fixe two-course lunches and three-course dinners for $30, $45 and $60 at nearly 500 restaurants across all five boroughs. It’s easy to sort your searches, filtering by location, cuisine and “weeks participating,” since the latter might vary by location.

You can also search by “meals offered,” “accessibility” and “ownership.” If thematics are your thing, there are a number of those as well: “James Beard Honorees,” “Wine Spectator Winners,” “NYC Restaurant Week Classics” and “Best of the Boroughs,” among other lists. See all participating restaurants right here. You can also book reservations now.

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NYC Broadway Week 2023

Which theater-goers don’t love a two-fer? Actually, who doesn’t love a two-fer of any kind?

NYC Broadway Week also kicked off Jan. 17, offering 2-for-1 tickets to 22 shows. New shows added this year include the following: & Juliet; A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical; Between Riverside and Crazy; Collaboration; Hamilton; Kimberly Akimbo; Pictures from Home; Some Like It Hot and Take Me Out.

Returning shows for 2023 include Aladdin, Chicago, Funny Girl, Hadestown, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Leopoldstadt, MJ The Musical, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Six the Musical, The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, The Piano Lesson and Wicked.

Score your 2-for-1s right here. Not sure what you want to see? Sort by comedy, drama, kid-friendly and more here.

Remember, it’s your last chance to see a host of shows before the curtains close this month. See the list.

NYC Must-See Week

This program offers 2-for-1 tickets at more than 40 museums, attractions, performing arts venues and tours. Participants include Carnegie Hall, Citi Field Tours, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Kings County Distillery, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York Botanical Garden, Summit One Vanderbilt, The Metropolitan Opera and more. Details here.

NYC Hotel Week

NYC hotel week offers 23% off standard retail rates through Feb. 12 at more than 140 hotels across all five boroughs. New hotels on offer for 2023 include Hard Rock Hotel New York and Le Méridien New York, Fifth Avenue. Returning properties include The Hoxton, Williamsburg; Lotte New York Palace; The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel; The Langham, New York, Fifth Avenue; New York Marriott Marquis; The William Vale; The Opera House Hotel; The Rockaway Hotel; Hilton Garden Inn New York/Staten Island; and more. More information here.

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We all love discounts on our favorite things — and assuming food is one of those for you, we’ve got good news.

New York City Restaurant Week 2023 kicked off Tuesday, offering bargain prix-fixe dining deals for lunch and dinner at nearly 500 restaurants across the five boroughs.

Broadway Week also kicked off Jan. 17, featuring 2-for-1 theater tickets to nearly two dozen of the Great White Way’s greatest shows, including newbies “Take Me Out” and “A Beautiful Noise” and older favorites like “Wicked” and “The Lion King.”

And if that’s not enough, we’ve also got NYC Must-See Week, which offers 2-for-1 tickets at more than 40 museums, attractions, tours and performing arts venues, like Carnegie Hall, citywide. The official programs run through Feb. 12.

There’s a Hotel Week, too, that is already underway.

Here are the delectable details.

NYC Restaurant Week 2023

NYC Restaurant Week offers prix-fixe two-course lunches and three-course dinners for $30, $45 and $60 at nearly 500 restaurants across all five boroughs. It’s easy to sort your searches, filtering by location, cuisine and “weeks participating,” since the latter might vary by location.

You can also search by “meals offered,” “accessibility” and “ownership.” If thematics are your thing, there are a number of those as well: “James Beard Honorees,” “Wine Spectator Winners,” “NYC Restaurant Week Classics” and “Best of the Boroughs,” among other lists. See all participating restaurants right here. You can also book reservations now.

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NYC Broadway Week 2023

Which theater-goers don’t love a two-fer? Actually, who doesn’t love a two-fer of any kind?

NYC Broadway Week also kicks off Jan. 17, offering 2-for-1 tickets to 22 shows. New shows added this year include the following: & Juliet; A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical; Between Riverside and Crazy; Collaboration; Hamilton; Kimberly Akimbo; Pictures from Home; Some Like It Hot and Take Me Out.

Returning shows for 2023 include Aladdin, Chicago, Funny Girl, Hadestown, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Leopoldstadt, MJ The Musical, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Six the Musical, The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, The Piano Lesson and Wicked.

Score your 2-for-1s right here. Not sure what you want to see? Sort by comedy, drama, kid-friendly and more here.

Remember, it’s your last chance to see a host of shows before the curtains close this month. See the list.

NYC Must-See Week

This program offers 2-for-1 tickets at more than 40 museums, attractions, performing arts and tours. Participants include Carnegie Hall, Citi Field Tours, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Kings County Distillery, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York Botanical Garden, Summit One Vanderbilt, The Metropolitan Opera and more. Details here.

NYC Hotel Week

NYC hotel week offers 23% off standard retail rates now through February 12 at more than 140 hotels across all five boroughs. New hotels on offer for 2023 include Hard Rock Hotel New York and Le Méridien New York, Fifth Avenue. Returning properties include The Hoxton, Williamsburg; Lotte New York Palace; The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel; The Langham, New York, Fifth Avenue; New York Marriott Marquis; The William Vale; The Opera House Hotel; The Rockaway Hotel; Hilton Garden Inn New York/Staten Island; and more. More information here.

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We all love discounts on our favorite things — and assuming food is one of those for you, we’ve got good news.

New York City Restaurant Week 2023 kicks off next week, offering bargain prix-fixe dining deals for lunch and dinner at nearly 500 restaurants across the five boroughs.

Broadway Week kicks off the same day, Tuesday, Jan. 17, featuring 2-for-1 theater tickets to nearly two dozen of the Great White Way’s greatest shows, including newbies “Take Me Out” and “A Beautiful Noise” and older favorites like “Wicked” and “The Lion King.”

And if that’s not enough, we’ve also got NYC Must-See Week, which offers 2-for-1 tickets at more than 40 museums, attractions, tours and performing arts venues, like Carnegie Hall, citywide. The official programs run through Feb. 12.

There’s a Hotel Week, too. That one is already underway.

Here are the delectable details.

NYC Restaurant Week 2023

NYC Restaurant Week offers prix-fixe two-course lunches and three-course dinners for $30, $45 and $60 at nearly 500 restaurants across all five boroughs. It’s easy to sort your searches, filtering by location, cuisine and “weeks participating,” since the latter might vary by location.

You can also search by “meals offered,” “accessibility” and “ownership.” If thematics are your thing, there are a number of those as well: “James Beard Honorees,” “Wine Spectator Winners,” “NYC Restaurant Week Classics” and “Best of the Boroughs,” among other lists. See all participating restaurants right here. You can also book reservations now.

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NYC Broadway Week 2023

Which theater-goers don’t love a two-fer? Actually, who doesn’t love a two-fer of any kind?

NYC Broadway Week also kicks off Jan. 17, offering 2-for-1 tickets to 22 shows. New shows added this year include the following: & Juliet; A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical; Between Riverside and Crazy; Collaboration; Hamilton; Kimberly Akimbo; Pictures from Home; Some Like It Hot and Take Me Out.

Returning shows for 2023 include Aladdin, Chicago, Funny Girl, Hadestown, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Leopoldstadt, MJ The Musical, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Six the Musical, The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, The Piano Lesson and Wicked.

Score your 2-for-1s right here. Not sure what you want to see? Sort by comedy, drama, kid-friendly and more here.

Remember, it’s your last chance to see a host of shows before the curtains close this month. See the list.

NYC Must-See Week

This program offers 2-for-1 tickets at more than 40 museums, attractions, performing arts and tours. Participants include Carnegie Hall, Citi Field Tours, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Kings County Distillery, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York Botanical Garden, Summit One Vanderbilt, The Metropolitan Opera and more. Details here.

NYC Hotel Week

Already underway, NYC hotel week offers 23% off standard retail rates now through February 12 at more than 140 hotels across all five boroughs. New hotels on offer for 2023 include Hard Rock Hotel New York and Le Méridien New York, Fifth Avenue. Returning properties include The Hoxton, Williamsburg; Lotte New York Palace; The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel; The Langham, New York, Fifth Avenue; New York Marriott Marquis; The William Vale; The Opera House Hotel; The Rockaway Hotel; Hilton Garden Inn New York/Staten Island; and more. More information here.

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There’s an unusually large number of shows leaving in January, some due to limited engagements and others due to weak ticket sales.

Among the closing crop is “A Strange Loop,” which won over audiences and critics alike. The musical won a Pulitzer Prize and the Tony award for Best Musical. There are a handful of performances left before the show closes Jan. 15.

Audience favorite “Beetlejuice” ends its run on Broadway Jan. 8.

The show opened in 2019 at the Winter Garden Theatre, closed with the rest of Broadway after COVID-19 swept through New York City in 2020, and reopened at the Marquis Theatre last year.

A national tour of the show is going on now, with several international productions in the works.

Here are some of the productions closing in January:

• 1776 (1/8)
• Almost Famous (1/8)
• Beetlejuice (1/8)
• Into the Woods (1/8)
• Death of a Salesman (1/15)
• Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool (1/15)
• The Music Man (1/15)
• Ohio State Murders (1/15)
• A Strange Loop (1/15)
• Topdog/Underdog (1/15)
• The Piano Lesson (1/29)

Off-Broadway audiences are mourning a number of high-profile departures as well.

After a run that spanned four decades and probably hundreds of trash cans, “Stomp” plays its final show at the Orpheum Theatre on Jan. 8.

The percussion and dance show first opened in Feb. 1994, with a run that’s included around 12,000 performances. And while the off-Broadway production is closing, “Stomp” will continue to tour.

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