Curtain Call: Denzel Washington’s ‘Othello’ Breaks Box Office Records At Broadway, Rachel Zegler To Appear At the west end
Broadway: A new production of Othello starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal has broken the record for the top-grossing play in Broadway history. With a gross of $2.818 million over eight performances in the week ending Sunday, March 9, and an average ticket price of $338.09, the play surpassed the previous record holder, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which grossed $2.718 million in 2023. The production will officially open on Sunday, March 23, 2025, for a limited run through to Sunday, June 8, 2025.
The Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC) has released a Toolkit on Theater Practices to identify challenges and create a more inclusive environment for AAPI communities. This was produced after it was found that only 5.5% of AAPI artists believed the theater environment was inclusive enough. “We must continue to bring attention to the link between harmful practices and portrayals in art and the consequences experienced by our communities,” the AAPAC stated. “The toolkit flags areas where more cultural awareness may be needed to tell Asian stories, from the way predominantly white theaters market the show to the sense of belonging they create for AAPI/Asian artists in their spaces. It also highlights tools implemented at some theaters that respondents have found particularly useful.”
Newcomer Jasmine Amy Rogers will be making her Broadway debut as Betty Boop in the upcoming Boop! The Musical, after wowing critics during tryouts in Chicago. The musical will depict the iconic 1930s cartoon character being transported from her black-and-white world into ours, where she will have to adjust to the present day and grow as a result. “It’s so personal to me,” Rogers stated, “because I get to bring Jasmine to it. I think that’s what brings her to life the most.”
Nine-time Grammy Award nominee Durrell “Tank” Babbs has made his Broadway debut in Hell’s Kitchen, the hit musical from Alicia Keys based on her life and music. Babbs has stepped in to replace Brandon Victor Dixon in the role of Davis, who had been nominated for a Tony Award for the role. Babbs, who will be appearing at Broadway’s Schubert Theater from Tuesday, March 11, 2025, will appear alongside Maleah Joi Moon, who is also stepping down at the end of the month.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta star and member of Xscape, Kandi Burruss, has moved on to working as a Broadway producer, having recently worked on Thoughts of a Colored Man and The Piano Lesson. She hopes to attract a new audience for Broadway through her other media roles, stating, “I definitely feel like I did contribute to helping it become popular with people who didn’t normally think about going to a Broadway show. You have to allow people to know that Broadway is for everyone.”
PBS announced the latest additions to the cast for its one-night concert, Broadway’s Leading Ladies, which will celebrate women who have helped to define modern-day Broadway. The cast includes Mandy Gonzalez, Solea Pfeiffer, Adrianna Hicks, Amber Iman, and Helen J. Shen. Held on Monday, 10 March, in New York, the concert is to be aired on PBS at a later date.
Brian Stokes Mitchell has joined the cast for Encores! production of Love Life, which is playing in New York over the end of March. Mitchell has replaced Nicholas Christopher, who had previously been playing the role of Sam, but has been forced to step back due to personal conflicts. The play, which showed in New York for the first time in over 75 years, is considered the first concept musical and is now showing after being postponed due to the pandemic.
Cindy Cheung - David Gordon
Off-Broadway: Atlantic Theater Company and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) have announced a tentative agreement, which will allow for significant increases to compensation and benefits, and if successful, will end two months of strikes and will make the Atlantic the first nonprofit theater company producing solely Off-Broadway shows to have a fully unionized production crew. There are nearly 100 production workers employed by the company, with the agreement pending ratification by them.
The cast has been announced for the upcoming production of Bus Stop from Classic Stage Company (CSC), the National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO), and Transport Group (TG), in the first production to feature an all-Asian American cast. Delphi Borich and Rajesh Bose will be starring alongside Cindy Cheung, David Lee Huynh, Dorcas Leung, Michael Hsu Rosen, David Shih, and Moses Villarama. Bus Stop runs May 8, 2025-June 8, 2025, with an opening night set for Sunday, May 18, 2025, at CSC’s Lynn F. Angelson Theater.
Beau the Musical is to begin its Off-Broadway premiere in June, running June 6, 2025-July 27, 2025, at 154 Christopher Street in New York. Conceived by Douglas Lyons, with music by himself and Ethan D. Pakchar, the musical features a cast of eight actor-musicians and is to be directed and choreographed by Drama Desk Award nominee Josh Rhodes, with music supervision by Chris Gurr.
Manhattan’s Vineyard Theater and the National Black Theater have announced the world premiere for Bowl EP. This ambitious new play from Nazareth Hassan will see the Vineyard Theater transformed into a 360-degree skate bowl by scenic designers, providing a unique and intimate view of the performance incorporating live skateboarding along with music from Free Fool. The play will be running May 1- June 8, 2025, with an opening night scheduled for Sunday, May 18, 2025.
Norm Lewis is to star in a new production of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, the 1969 Pulitzer Prize finalist by Lonne Elder III, which will be playing in New York City for the first time in nearly 40 years. The play will be directed by Clinton Turner Davis and will run from 11 April to 18 May 2025, with an opening night scheduled for Friday, 18 April 2025, at the Theater at St. Clement’s. The cast will also feature Jeremiah Packer, Calvin M. Thompson, and Bryce Michael Wood.
K. Todd Freeman - David Gordon
Regional: Aubrie-Mei Rubel joined the National Tour of Peter Pan earlier this month in the role of Wendy Darling. Rubel took over the role of Wendy on Friday, March 21, playing at the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City, opposite Kruz Maldonado as Peter Pan. The new adaptation has been adapted by playwright and choreographer Larissa FastHorse.
The Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, which was founded in the mid-‘70s, has announced plans for its 50th anniversary. These include the return of numerous longtime ensemble members and a new production of Amadeus, which will run November 6-January 4, 2026, and stars Ian Barford, Robert Breuler, and K. Todd Freeman. There will also be world premieres for several new plays, including Windfall by Tarell Alvin McCraney, the playwright behind Moonlight.
Rachel Zegler - XNY/Star Max
International: Rachel Zegler is set to make her London theater debut in a new production of the musical Evita. The play, directed by Jamie Lloyd, tells the story of Eva Perón, First Lady of Argentina from 1946 to 1952, until her untimely death at the age of 33. Zegler, who will be starring in the upcoming film adaptation of Snow White, will be among the highest-paid actresses on the London stage this summer in a production that has already sold $4 million worth of tickets. Zegler has called the opportunity “an honor unlike any other,” stating that “Evita has been such an important musical to me since I was a little girl, when my dad and I would sing ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’ together on my back patio.” Evita will be playing at the London Palladium from June 14-September 6, 2025.
Lynette Linton, the outgoing creative director of the Bush Theater in London, has spoken about her hopes to start a conversation on the disproportionate impact dementia has on Black Britons through the new play, Miss Myrtle’s Garden. The play comes following a report finding that Black Britons have a 22% higher incidence of dementia recorded than white Britons. Linton has been a long-standing advocate for greater diversity in UK theater, with her final season also including the plays Sweetmeats, which focuses on a romance between two middle-aged South Asian characters, and House of Jenin, written and performed by Alaa Shehada.
Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh has been announced as among the cast for the new play An Oak Tree, which will be playing at London’s The Young Vic Theater from Tuesday, May 6-Saturday, May 24. This marks the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking play from Tim Crouch, in which cast members performed without having seen or read the play prior. Andoh will be appearing alongside such other big names as Jessie Buckley, Mark Gatiss, and Indira Varma.
Burlesque the Musical is to open at the West End in London for a limited run this summer. Based on the 2010 film from Christina Aguilera and Sia, the musical is to be shown at the Savoy Theater and will be running from Thursday, July 10, to Saturday, September 6, 2025.
Nigerian playwright and director Ibi Kontein is staging a new production of her 2022 play Back for Ground, which explores sex work and social dynamics. This latest production is held at the Muson Center in Lagos, Nigeria, on Saturday, April 19, and Sunday, April 20, 2025, and will feature updated stage and sound design elements, as well as new cast members.
The Epstein Theater in Liverpool, England, is to be reopening after a deal agreeing to a £1 million ($1.294 million) investment for new refurbishments to the theater. This comes after the 112-year-old Grade II listed theater had its funding withdrawn by the City Council last year, with a gala night held on Friday, September 19. Now leased to Theatrical Times Ltd., the theater will be celebrating its reopening with a special gala night to be held on Friday, September 19, 2025.
Industry: Jesse L. Kearney Jr., a playwright and activist for championing diverse voices, has died at the age of 49 after complications following brain surgery. A recipient of the Dramatists Guild’s Jonathan Larson Musical Theater Fellowship and vice president of the advocacy group Black Broadway Men United, he died on Thursday, 6 March 2025, at a hospital in Newark, New Jersey. His death was announced by his wife, Jacquelyn Bell Kearney, who is co-founder of the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. An attorney as well as a writer and activist, Kearney worked as an acquisition manager with Audible, where he helped to champion diversity and to found the streaming platform The STAGE Network. He has been described as “consistently rooted in the mission of celebrating, educating, and motivating Black men of the Broadway and theater community.”
