The Actors’ Equity Foundation has announced its 2024 Performance Award recipients, honoring outstanding performances on and off-Broadway this past season.  The Richard Seff Awards for two veteran actors go to Kecia Lewis (Miss Liza Jane in Hell’s Kitchen), and Ciaran O’Reilly (S.B. “Screwballs” O’Donnell in Philadelphia, Here I Come!). The Clarence Derwent Awards for the two most promising performances of the season are given to Hannah Cruz (Inez Milholland in Suffs and Robin in The Connector) and Andrew Durand (Elmer in Dead Outlaw). The Callaway Awards for the two best performances in a classical play have been awarded to a pair of actors from two different productions of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya: Marin Ireland (Sonya in O’Henry Productions’ Loft production of Uncle Vanya) and Jonathan Hadary (Waffles in Lincoln Center Theater’s Uncle Vanya). "It is our great pleasure to be able to honor these hardworking artists," said Judy Rice, president of the Actors' Equity Foundation, in a statement. "The Foundation celebrates them in a theater season filled with unforgettable performances." The Foundation will hold an awards ceremony on June 24 in New York City. The Judges Panel included Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Theatre …

Jose Llana will take on the role of Thomas Andrews in the Encores! production of Titanic this June, replacing the previously announced Conrad Ricamora. The show will have a two-week run at New York City Center from June 11 through June 23. Llana was last seen on Broadway earlier this season as Ferdinand Marcos in Here Lies Love, which he performed in alongside Ricamora. His Broadway credits also include Rent, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and The King and I. Ricamora will come to Broadway this summer in Cola Escola's hit comedy Oh, Mary! Performances begin June 26 at the Lyceum Theatre.  Featuring music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and book by Peter Stone, Titanic offers a heartrending portrait of the individuals whose dreams of America were dashed in the Atlantic. The musical opened on Broadway in 1997, going on to win five Tony Awards including for Best Musical. The Encores! production will be directed by Anne Kauffman with choreography by Danny Mefford and Rob Berman leading The Encores! Orchestra as guest music director. The Encores! cast will feature Bonnie Milligan (Alice Beane), Ramin Karimloo (Frederick Barrett), Judy Kuhn (Ida Straus), Chuck Cooper (Captain E.J. Smith), Eddie …

Sugar Daddy, comedian Sam Morrison's one-man show, will open at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, CA this fall ahead of a projected Broadway mounting in 2025. Performances at the Wallis will run from September 20 through October 13 with an official September 29 opening. Tony nominee Stephen Brackett directs.  Sugar Daddy was a hit of the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and went on to have an extended off-Broadway run at SoHo Playhouse in 2023, directed by Ryan Cunningham. Scenic design is by Arnulfo Maldonado, lighting design is by Jennifer Schriever, sound design is by Sinan Zafar and video and projection design is by Alex Basco Koch. One summer in the gay paradise of Provincetown, MA, Sam met the sexy silver zaddy of his dreams, igniting a romance for the ages. But in the midst of the pandemic, the love of his life tragically died from COVID. Devastated, Sam realized the only way to cope was through comedy. Done live on stage. In front of thousands of strangers. All around the globe. And to call the show Sugar Daddy. Broadway venue and dates are yet to be announced. 

A Tony Awards simulcast event, “Broadway Fanfare,” will be held in Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. American Express hosts the event as the Official Payments Partner of 77th Annual Tony Awards. Open to the general public, the free simulcast event will begin at 7:30pm ET on June 16 with a pre-show featuring performances and appearances by Broadway talent. Exclusive perks will be offered to American Express Card Members. The 77th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Ariana DeBose, will air live from the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City on Sunday, June 16 (8:00-11:00 PM ET/5:00-8:00 PM PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S.  Click here for the complete list of 2024 Tony Award nominees. And for answers to your essential Tony Awards questions, read Broadway.com's Tony FAQs here. 

Broadway actor and singer Jason Danieley has announced his marriage to Andrea Nunes. “Life is full of surprises!” Danieley wrote in an Instagram announcement on May 7. “Andrea and I tied the knot on her birthday! Simple civil ceremony at city hall in NYC, followed by small gathering of friends and a few family members. (Her brother and sister flew in from Brazil and mom from Alabama.)” After starring in Floyd Collins off-Broadway in 1996, Danieley made his Broadway debut in 1997 as the title character in Candide. Danieley’s Broadway credits also include Brigadoon, The Visit, Next to Normal and, most recently Pretty Woman. Danieley conceived, wrote and will direct the upcoming Boston Pops concert Broadway Today! Broadway’s Modern Masters, which will highlight the music of the composers Adam Guettel, David Yazbek, Steven Lutvak and Robert L. Freedman, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Jeanine Tesori, Anaïs Mitchell, Michael R. Jackson, Jason Robert Brown and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Victoria Clark, Mandy Gonzalez, Scarlett Strallen, Bryce Pinkham, Darius de Haas and Joshua Henry will perform in the concerts at Symphony Hall in Boston on June 6 and 7 as well as a reprise concert at Tanglewood …

This week, a literary legend and an anticipated Broadway revival come to The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal. But first, it’s a head-first dive into Tony season. Meet a few of this year’s Tony Award nominees as Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief sits down with the stars of the season. Watch Mother Play's Jessica Lange, Appropriate's Sarah Paulson, Merrily We Roll Along's Jonathan Groff, Cabaret's Eddie Redmayne, Purlie Victorious' Leslie Odom Jr. and more take in the magnitude of their nominations as Tony season begins. The Outsiders author S.E. Hinton S.E. Hinton, legendary author of The Outsiders, joins Wontorek for a conversation at The Rum House in the heart of the Theater District. Hear Hinton reminisce about the teenage version of herself who crafted the indelible characters now residing at Broadway’s Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Samm-Art Williams’ 1979 play Home becomes the first production of the 2024-25 Broadway season, launching its Kenny Leon-directed revival at Roundabout Theatre Company’s Todd Haimes Theatre on May 17. See Leon, alongside members of his cast, reflect on the legacy of Williams’ “big, joyous, life-affirming theatrical poem.” The Road to the Jimmys continues with Kiara Brown-Clarke, coordinator …

Broadway veteran Jackie Burns has joined the UK cast of Burlesque the Musical, a stage adaptation of the 2010 movie of the same name. Burns will play club owner Tess, the role made famous by Cher in the film. The show will play Manchester Opera House from June 13 through June 29, followed by a run at Glasgow Theatre Royal from September 11 through September 28 and a return Manchester engagement from October 3 through November 2. Dates for the musical's subsequent West End run have not yet been announced.  Burns is best known as longest running Elphaba in the Broadway production of Wicked, a role she also played on tour. She also performed in the 2009 revival of Hair and served as Idina Menzel's understudy in the 2014 musical If/Then, which she also later performed on tour. Burns was most recently seen as Celine Dion in the off-Broadway hit Titanique. As previously announced, the cast of Burlesque the Musical will also feature Jess Folley as Ali Rose, Todrick Hall as Sean, George Maguire as Vince, Michael Mather as Jackson and Nina Ann Nelson as Nikki and the Alternate Ali Rose. Rounding out the ensemble are Joe Atkinson, …

The Public Theater's 2024-25 season is set, featuring a New York premiere from Pulitzer Prize winner James Ijames, a quartet of short plays by Caryl Churchill and an encore engagement of Elevator Repair Service's Gatz.  The season will open with the North American premiere of Belvoir St Theatre's Counting and Cracking, written by S. Shakthidharan and directed by Eamon Flack. A multi-generational journey of a Sri-Lankan Australian family from 1956 through 2004, the show comes to New York following acclaimed productions in Australia and the UK. Performances will run at NYU Skirball from September 6 through September 22. The cast will feature Rodney Afif, Prakash Belawadi, Antonythasan Jesuthasan, Nadie Kammallaweera, Ahi Karunaharan, Abbie-Lee Lewis, Gandhi MacIntyre, Radhika Mudaliyar, Shiv Palekar, Dushan Philips, Sukhbir Singh Walia, Nipuni Sharada, Kaivu Suvarna, Raj Velu, and Sukania Venugopal. They will be joined by musicians Kranthi Kiran Mudigonda, Janakan Raj, and Venkhatesh Sritharan. James Ijames, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright behind Fat Ham, will present the New York premiere of Good Bones, directed by Ijames' Fat Ham collaborator, Tony nominee Saheem Ali. Exploring gentrification and the growing price of the American dream, the production will run from September 19 through October 13.  Australian playwright David Finnigan …

Academy Award winner Robert Downey Jr. will make his Broadway debut in McNeal, a new play by Tony nominee and Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar (Junk, Disgraced), directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher. The production will begin performances at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on September 5, with an official opening set for September 30. The limited engagement will run through November 24. Downey recently won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer. In a decades-spanning career, he has amassed more than 110 acting credits including Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sherlock Holmes in the Sherlock Holmes films and Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin as well as roles in Less Than Zero, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Tropic Thunder. He made his stage debut aged 17 in Alms for the Middle Class at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, and had a number of off-Broadway roles before his Hollywood career took off. Good writers borrow, great writers steal. Jacob McNeal (Downey) is a great writer, one of our greatest, a perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. But McNeal also has an estranged son, a …

In the new Broadway musical The Outsiders, now playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, Emma Pittman plays Cherry Valance, the sensitive, red-headed cheerleader in a world of battle-ready boys. Now, she’s giving fans an insiders' look at The Outsiders. In the third episode, Emma checks in with the show's booth singers, Sky Lakota-Lynch shows off his new ink and—in a Broadway.com vlog crossover event—the Water for Elephants team throws a Sunday night Broadway mixer. Emma also learns about the safety measures behind the church scene and gets the lowdown about the copy of S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders given away to an audience member at every show. Plus, we join the team's celebrations for the show's staggering 12 Tony nominations. Episodes premiere weekly on Tuesday. You can also catch highlights every weekend on The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal.

The Tony Award-winning actor and singer Billy Porter will receive the 2024 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award in recognition of his outstanding dedication and contributions as an activist and spokesperson for the LGBTQ+ communities. The Isabelle Stevenson Award is presented annually to a member of the theater community who has made a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian, social service or charitable organizations. “Billy Porter has made extraordinary contributions as an activist for the LGBTQ+ community and we are truly honored to present him with this year’s Isabelle Stevenson Award,” said Jason Laks, interim president of The Broadway League and Heather Hitchens, president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, in a joint statement. Porter won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for his performance as Lola in Broadway’s Kinky Boots, and a second Tony in 2022 for Best Musical as a producer on A Strange Loop. He also won an Emmy Award for Lead Actor for his role in FX’s Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated drama Pose. He is set to co-write and star in a James Baldwin biopic. Porter serves as an ambassador for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS …

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ 2024-25 season will feature the world-premiere stage adaptation of Schmigadoon!, the Emmy Award-winning Apple Original musical comedy series that starred Cecily Strong, Keegan-Michael Key and a host of Broadway veterans. The show will be presented as part of the Kennedy Center's Broadway Center Stage series.  Schmigadoon! will feature book, music and lyrics by Emmy Award winner and Grammy nominee Cinco Paul, who co-created the television series with Ken Daurio. The show will be directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli (Death Becomes Her, Newsies) and run January 31 to February 9, 2025 at the Eisenhower Theater in Washington, D.C. In Schmigadoon!, New York doctors Josh and Melissa go backpacking in a last-ditch attempt to save their failing relationship, but instead get lost in the woods and end up trapped in Schmigadoon, a magical town that’s a classic Golden Age musical come to life. The show will feature hits from the Grammy–nominated score—including the Emmy-winning “Corn Puddin’”—plus new songs. Schmigadoon! is produced by special arrangement with Broadway Video. Casting and creative team are yet to be announced. The Broadway Center Stage season will also include …

The 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama has been awarded to Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust. Making the announcement, Pulitzer administrator Marjorie Miller described the play as “a simple and elegantly crafted story of an emotionally damaged man who finds a new job, new friends and a new sense of worth, illustrating how small acts of kindness can change a person’s life and enrich an entire community.” Primary Trust premiered off-Broadway at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre last year, starring Tony nominee William Jackson Harper (Uncle Vanya), Jay O. Sanders, April Matthis (Mary Jane) and Eric Berryman. Booth is a graduate of Juilliard's playwriting program and the University of Vermont. For the eighth consecutive year, the Pulitzer winner and finalists selected did not include any Broadway productions. The two other finalists for the prize were the documentary drama Here There Are Blueberries, conceived and directed by Tony and Emmy nominee Moisés Kaufman and co-written by Emmy nominee Amanda Gronich, and Public Obscenities, written and directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury. Here There Are Blueberries, inspired by the real-life story of a photo album delivered to a Holocaust museum, premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in 2022 …

A roster of Broadway veterans will perform at PBS' annual National Memorial Day Concert, honoring the country's veterans and military families. The concert premieres on May 26, broadcasting live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on PBS at 8:00 PM ET / 7:00 PM CT. It will also be made available to the troops serving around the world on the American Forces Network and be available to stream live on YouTube, the PBS app and PBS.org. The concert will be hosted by Tony Award winner Joe Mantegna (Glengarry Glen Ross) and Oscar nominee Gary Sinise (co-founder of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company). Performers include Tony winners Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple, Wicked feature films), Ruthie Ann Miles (The King and I) and Patina Miller (Pippin), along with Gary LeVox of Rascal Flatts, Tony nominee Mary McCormack (Boeing-Boeing) and singer-songwriter Jamey Johnson, a veteran of the Marine Corps Reserve. Artists will be backed by the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductor Jack Everly. Two-time Tony winner Bryan Cranston (Network) will additionally lead a World War II tribute, spotlighting the story of U.S. Army Veteran John T. …

New York Stage and Film (NYSAF), a vital incubator for new theatrical works, has announced its 2024 summer season, including a number of new works by artists familiar to Broadway audiences. The season will kick off in July at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. On July 19, Emmy-nominated actress and comedian Margaret Cho will perform her self-penned Mommy, A One Woman Cho, about the things she wishes her mother had said. Suffs' Tony-nominated director Leigh Silverman and Seonjae Kim will co-direct. July 21 will see a presentation of Bigfoot, a musical about a small town mayor scapegoating Bigfoot, with a book by Amber Ruffin (The Wiz, Some Like It Hot) and Kevin Sciretta, music by David Schmoll and lyrics by Ruffin, who also directs. Justin Guarini (Once Upon a One More Time) will star. On August 1, Tony nominee Jessica Hecht (Summer, 1976) will star in Tulipa, about 17th-century Tulipmania written by Kate Douglas and directed by Kate Whoriskey, who collaborated on this year’s The Apiary. August 2 and 3 will see a presentation of The Heart, a musical that follows the transplant of a human heart. The …

On May 4, Moulin Rouge! star Derek Klena announced on Instagram that he and his wife Elycia are expecting their second child in the fall. "New lil 'boo' joining our fam this Halloween!" he wrote, captioning a slideshow of beach photos featuring the couple with their young son Dax and the words "BIG BRO" carved in the sand. Derek and Elycia, former UCLA classmates, married in 2018 and welcomed their first son in September 2022.  Klena leads the Broadway cast of Moulin Rouge! as the bohemian Christian opposite Courtney Reed as Satine. He rejoined the company in February after having performed two prior stints in the role in 2022 and 2023. His Broadway credits also include Wicked, The Bridges of Madison County, Anastasia and Jagged Little Pill, for which he earned a 2020 Tony nomination.   

Television personality, actress and author Ariana Madix will return to the Broadway cast of Chicago as Roxie Hart. Madix broke box office records for Chicago during her first appearance as Roxie, her extended Broadway debut, earlier this year. Madix will take over the role from Bianca Marroquín, returning to the Ambassador Theatre from August 1 through August 27. Best known as a cast member of Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules and a finalist on the most recent season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, Madix is also preparing to open a sandwich shop in West Hollywood. In a conversation with The Broadway Show in March, she hinted that she would return to Chicago. “Musical theater is what I've wanted to do my whole life,” she said. Madix will join a cast that includes Robyn Hurder as Velma Kelly, Max von Essen as Billy Flynn, Natasha Yvette Williams as Matron "Mama" Morton, Red Concepción as Amos Hart and R. Lowe as Mary Sunshine. As previously reported, Jinkx Monsoon will take over the role of “Mama” Morton from June 27 to July 12. Recently celebrating its 27th year on Broadway, Chicago is directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie and choreographed …

The recipients of the 39th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were announced on May 5 at a ceremony at NYU Skirball. Ars Nova and National Black Theatre's (pray) led with three awards, including Outstanding Musical. Stereophonic and Hell's Kitchen, which have transferred to Broadway since their off-Broadway runs, were also recognized with awards. Honoraray awards were presented to actor-playwright Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Lifetime Achievement Award), playwright Dominique Morisseau (Playwrights’ Sidewalk Inductee) and off-Broadway incubator Ars Nova (Outstanding Body of Work). The full list of winners can be found below in bold and preceded by an asterisk. Outstanding Play *The Comeuppance Plays For The Plague Year Primary Trust Stereophonic Wet Brain Outstanding Musical *(pray) Buena Vista Social Club Dead Outlaw Hell's Kitchen Teeth Outstanding Revival Danny and the Deep Blue Sea I Can Get It for You Wholesale Philadelphia, Here I Come! Sunset Baby *Translations Outstanding Solo Show *All the Devils Are Here - How Shakespeare Invented the Villain I Love You So Much I Could Die Make Me Gorgeous! Sorry For Your Loss Triple Threat Outstanding Director Daniel Aukin – Stereophonic David Cromer – Dead Outlaw *nicHi douglas – (pray) Eric Ting – The Comeuppance Dustin Wills – …

The fans have spoken! Broadway.com readers have selected the nominees for the 2024 Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards. Leading the way is the The Great Gatsby with 11 nominations, including for Favorite New Musical and multiple noms for Favorite New Song. The Notebook received nine noms, with several of its stars earning recognition for their performances and one of composer Ingrid Michaelson's tunes also making the short list for Favorite New Song. Back to the Future, one of the first musicals to open this season, joins The Great Gatsby and The Notebook at the top of the list with seven nominations, including a nod for its young star, Casey Likes. Since performers are eligible in several categories, 21 of this season’s stars received multiple nominations: Josh Gad (Gutenberg! The Musical!) picked up four, in the categories of Favorite Performance of the Year (Musical), Favorite Leading Actor in a Musical, Favorite Funny Performance and Favorite Onstage Pair with co-star Andrew Rannells, who is also nominated in the funny category. Find out who else you nominated in the complete list below. Then cast your vote. Polls close at 11:59pm ET on May 19. Winners will be announced on May 20. Click here …

Olivier-winning actress Elaine Paige is giving Broadway.com listeners a chance to hear her BBC Radio 2 show Elaine Paige on Sunday. This week, Paige chats about Shakespeare, Eurovision and your furbabies. Plus, she has plenty of your favorite show tunes, movie songs and the latest news from stage and screen. Catch the full episode by clicking the link below!