NYC On Broadway – SDM MAGAZINE

AMERICAN BALLET THEATER’S NEW YORK SUMMER INTENSIVE at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts (July 26, noon and 2:30 p.m.). Curious about the next generation of dancers? Two afternoon performances wrap up Ballet Theater’s 24th annual training program, directed by Kate Lydon, for dancers ages 12 to 20. Students of the five-week intensive, under the instruction of former company members including Cynthia Harvey, Leslie Browne, Lupe Serrano and Cheryl Yeager, will perform selections from “Coppélia,” “Don Quixote,” “Giselle,” “La Bayadère,” “Swan Lake,” “The Sleeping Beauty” and August Bournonville’s “Le Conservatoire.”
212-477-3030, ext. 3416; abt.org

BOY BLUE at Gerald W. Lynch Theater (Aug. 1-3, 7:30 p.m.). This East London hip-hop group, last seen at the 2018 White Light Festival, returns to Lincoln Center for an encore of its acclaimed political and virtuosic “Blak Whyte Gray.” Presented this time by the Mostly Mozart Festival, the company explores themes of oppression, identity and transcendence. Michael Asante (also known as Mikey J) is credited with creative direction and music, while Kenrick Sandy (who goes by H2O) is the piece’s choreographer.
212-721-6500, lincolncenter.org/mostly-mozart-festival

YOSHIKO CHUMA AND THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS at the Invisible Dog (July 26, 7 p.m.). Chuma, a veteran experimental choreographer and conceptual artist, presents the final presentation of “My Diary: Secret Journey to Tipping Utopia.” In it, musicians, dancers and designers interact, but never directly as fragments of sound, text and action — a metaphor for the cycle of life — fluctuate between states of utopia and war. Chuma has been in residency at the Invisible Dog since July 1.
theinvisibledog.org

COMPAGNIE HERVÉ KOUBI at Prospect Park Bandshell (July 27, 8 p.m.). For the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, this company led by Koubi, a French-Algerian choreographer, presents his evening-length “What the Day Owes to the Night.” With a cast of 12 French-Algerian and African dancers, this vibrant production combines capoeira, martial arts, hip-hop and contemporary dance; it’s Koubi’s signature work and his second collaboration with street dancers from Algeria and Burkina Faso.
718-683-5600, bricartsmedia.org

JACOB’S PILLOW DANCE FESTIVAL in Becket, Mass. (through Aug. 25). This weekend, the festival hosts the Paul Taylor Dance Company in repertory works and the tap choreographer Caleb Teicher with the composer and pianist Conrad Tao for their collaboration “More Forever” (both performances run through Sunday). In the coming week, “The Day,” an anticipated piece by the cellist Maya Beiser, the dancer Wendy Whelan and the choreographer Lucinda Childs, has its premiere; the production, which features music by David Lang, explores memory and resilience (Wednesday through Aug. 4). Also, A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham offers a mixed repertory program, which includes his own works as well as one by Andrea Miller (Wednesday through Aug. 4).
413-243-0745, jacobspillow.org

MADE IN N.Y.C. 2.0: NEXT GENERATION TRADITIONS at Hearst Plaza (July 28, 1 p.m.). As part of its Heritage Sunday series, Lincoln Center Out of Doors presents this free, mixed bill featuring Redobles de Cultura, a collective of three New York City Afro-Puerto Rican bomba practitioners; Sri Lankan Dance Academy of New York, an intergenerational group based in Staten Island; Michael Winograd & the Honorable Mentshn, a Brooklyn klezmer group; and Inkarayku, an Andean band that performs Quechua folk songs and dance music. This presentation highlights the art and culture of first- and second-generation New Yorkers.
212-721-6500, lincolncenter.org

92Y MOBILE DANCE FILM FESTIVAL at the 92nd Street Y (July 27, 4, 5:30 and 7 p.m.). How often have you lost track of time watching dance videos on your smartphone? Here’s an opportunity to see three programs’ worth — 48 films in all — at the 92Y’s second annual festival celebrating works shot on mobile devices. Its international jury considered more than 100 submissions from 14 countries, including Argentina, Cuba, France, Greece and Japan. The selected films include David Fernandez’s “The Clock,” Rebecca Gillespie’s “The French Girl,” and Roma Flowers and Nina Martin’s “Secondary Surfaces Redreamed.”
212-415-5500, 92y.org

YOUNG DANCEMAKERS COMPANY at various locations (July 26, 7 p.m.; July 28 and 31 and Aug. 1, 2 p.m.; July 30, 1 p.m.; through Aug. 3). This dance ensemble, which comprises students from New York City public high schools, continues its 24th annual touring season, taking place at different locations across four boroughs, from the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan on Friday to the Kumble Theater in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Since the end of June, the young dance artists have developed original choreography under the guidance of Alice Teirstein and Jessica Gaynor, as well as the 2019 guest artist John Heginbotham, and now present the end result in these free public showings.
youngdancemakerscompany.org

The drama about systemic racism in America begins performances Oct. 6, starring Kerry Washington, Steven Pasquale, Eugene Lee and Jeremy Jordan.

A handful of big names will bolster the ranks of Broadway producers for American Son, which marks Kerry Washington’s return to the New York stage. Shonda Rhimes, Jada Pinkett Smith, Gabrielle Union-Wade and her husband, NBA star Dwyane Wade, have joined an existing team that includes Washington’s Simpson Street, Jeffrey Richards, Rebecca Gold and Will Trice. Also newly on board is businessman Steve Stoute and NFL veteran-turned-actor and producer Nnamdi Asomugha, who is married to Washington.

The team of heavy hitters stands to draw added attention to Broadway newcomer Christopher Demos-Brown’s intense four-character drama set in a Florida police station, where an estranged married couple converge in the middle of the night in a desperate search for their missing 18-year-old biracial son.

In February, the producers of the Broadway musical “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” proudly announced that Okieriete “Oak” Onaodowan, a member of the original “Hamilton” cast, would step into the show’s lead male role after the departure of Josh Groban. But this week, the producers abruptly cut short Mr. Onaodowan’s expected nine-week tenure, saying that during his final three weeks, he would be replaced by a major Broadway star, Mandy Patinkin, who became famous with “The Princess Bride,” won a Tony Award for “Evita,” and is now featured in television’s “Homeland.”

Although producers periodically replace lesser-known performers with big-name actors in the hopes of selling more tickets, the move at “The Great Comet” is prompting outrage among some black actors, who have turned to social media to express their concern that Mr. Onaodowan, who is African-American, was not given sufficient opportunity to succeed before being replaced by a white actor. There are multiple complicating factors. Mr. Onaodowan’s tenure was always going to be short — it just got shorter. Mr. Patinkin is unquestionably better known on Broadway, which could boost publicity for the show and ticket sales during a traditionally slow end-of-summer period. (On Thursday, for example, he was interviewed on NBC’s “Today” show.) And the show is among the most diverse on Broadway, with an African-American actress, Denée Benton, playing Natasha, and multiple other nonwhite actors in the company. But some performers are arguing that the casting change reflects a larger problem in the entertainment business. The move “raises questions about how Black actors are valued and supported within Broadway,” declared the website BroadwayBlack.“It’s like the integration of baseball, where a player has to be twice as good,” Mr. Casal said in a phone interview.

Mr. Onaodowan, who spent months preparing for the role, including learning to play the accordion, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The show’s grosses have, to no one’s surprise, dropped since Mr. Groban’s departure. The show had been bringing in about $1.2 million a week with Mr. Groban in the role of Pierre; it brought in $923,571 last week, with Mr. Onaodowan as Pierre. That’s still higher than for most Broadway shows, and still more than the show’s running costs, but not as much as the show is likely to bring in with Mr. Patinkin in the role. Mr. Patinkin is scheduled to play Pierre from Aug. 15 to Sept. 3.

The producers have not said who will play Pierre after Labor Day, but they appear to be considering the occasional use of well-known performers in key roles to excite interest — a strategy many other shows use. This summer, in addition to Mr. Onaodowan, the show has brought in the singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson to play a key role (Natasha’s cousin Sonya). The most prominent performer to express concern is the actress Cynthia Erivo, who won a Tony Award last year for her performance in a revival of “The Color Purple.” Ms. Erivo posted a series of seven messages on Twitter on Wednesday, suggesting the changeover was unfair to both Mr. Onaodowan and Mr. Patinkin.

“I honestly am flabbergasted,” she posted. She added, “The disrespect of both actors is highly concerning.”

Category: NYC On Broadway

Shonda Rhimes, Jada Pinkett Smith, Gabrielle Union-Wade Sign on as Producers of Broadway’s ‘American Son’

The drama about systemic racism in America begins performances Oct. 6, starring Kerry Washington, Steven Pasquale, Eugene Lee and Jeremy Jordan.