Welcome to today’s edition of ShentonSTAGE Daily, e-mailed to subscribers (send email to ShentonStageMailingList@gmail.com to be added), and also posted here.

‘Normal’ service has been restored with this (usually daily) newsletter, though there is nothing normal about the current theatrical environment.  To (try to) keep track of a very fluid situation on both sides of the Atlantic and around the UK, I have updated and will continue to maintain a newly-organised list of opening (and returning) productions in the West End and on Broadway, plus selectively in the UK regions, which you can find here:  https://shentonstage.com/theatre-openings-2022/

SEASON PREVIEW: LONDON

While the first openings out of the criticall gates in 2022 are, in fact, ones that had been postponed from their planned opening before Christmas (Force Majeure at the Donmar Warehouse opened  a week ago last Wednesday, while next week brings critics to the thrice-delayed Moulin Rouge at the Piccadilly), other theatres are lining up new productions that typically involve smaller casts with solo shows like Ruth Wilson in The Human Voice and Jodie Cromer in Prima Facie (both at the Pinter Theatre in consecutive runs) or two-handers like A Number (at the Old Vic), or are revivals of previous established hits like Jerusalem (bringing Mark Rylance back to the Apollo), Small Island (being revived at the National), Cyrano de Bergerac (with James McAvoy reprising his title role performance in Jamie Lloyd’s production) and Dirty Dancing (returning for a West End season to the Dominion) and Anything Goes (due back at the Barbican this summer).

Also arriving are the Broadway hit productions of To Kill a Mockingbird and My Fair Lady as well as a London season for last summer’s Chichester revival of South Pacific.

Details of all these productions and more can be found here, including links to websites and press contacts: https://shentonstage.com/theatre-openings-2022/

SEASON PREVIEW: BROADWAY

Meanwhile, a Broadway season, of sorts, is emerging from the wreckage of the last two years, with many of the new or returning productions that had already opened since live performances resumed either pausing for a couple of months or closing entirely. Broadway’s next round of openings will see the long-awaited (and hugely overpriced) revival of The Music Man at the Winter Garden and the Michael Jackson revue MJ; new musicals Paradise Square and Mr Saturday Night (co-written by and starring Billy Crystal, reprising his film role); a transfer of the London production of Funny Girl; and a new production of Macbeth, starring Daniel Craig in the title role. 

Details of all these productions and more can be found here, including links to websites and press contacts: https://shentonstage.com/theatre-openings-2022/

SEE YOU ON MONDAY
See you in your inbox on Monday. But if you can’t wait that long, you can find me on Twitter @ShentonStage (though not as often on weekends)