No Me Diga! Lin-Manuel Miranda Returns to Broadway

For those of you who, like me, don't follow the off-Broadway world as well as they should, there is some big news.  Lin-Manuel Miranda has been performing at the Public Theatre in a show he wrote about Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.  The show will be playing an extended, sold-out run at the Public through early May.

But the big news here is that the show has been announced for a Broadway run.  The show will move into Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre after that theater's current tenant, If/Then, vacates after its March 22nd performance.  There has been a lot of buzz about why the show, which was a quick success, didn't fast track itself for Broadway and a more commercial success.  For that answer, you can read Playbill's interview with the writers and producers of the show here.

Casting Updates

Two shows have announced some interesting casting updates.

The first is Aladdin -- Disney's stage adaptation of its 1992 hit film.  The show, which was nominated for five Tony Awards and won one for James Monroe Iglehart's supporting performance as the Genie, has extended the contracts of its four principal actors.  Adam Jacobs, Courtney Reed, James Monroe Iglehart, and Jonathan Freeman will continue to play Aladdin, Jasmine, the Genie, and Jafar through February 21, 2016.

In other news, it has been announced that Nathan Lane will return to It's Only a Play.  The comic actor left the show after the January 4th performance to perform in a production of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh at BAM opposite Brian Dennehy.  Lane will return to It's Only a Play beginning on March 31st and is expected to stay with the show through the remainder of its run through June 7th.

Closing This Weekend

There are a few shows closing this weekend:  the revival of The Elephant Man starring Bradley Cooper finishes its highly acclaimed run on Saturday night, while revivals of A Delicate Balance and You Can't Take it With You close after their Sunday matinees.

Two Shows Coming to Town

Dear Readers -- You are in for a treat.  Two shows have announced that they will be aiming for Broadway next season.  The first is the long-awaited Broadway arrival of Allegiance -- a new musical that premiered at the Old Globe in San Diego in 2012.  So far, the only casting that has been announced for the Broadway transfer is George Takei, who starred in the San Diego production and upon whose life experiences the show is based.  The San Diego production also starred Lea Salonga and friend-to-this-blog Telly Leung.  No casting or production team has been announced for the Broadway production.  The show features a book by Marc Acito and a score by Jay Kuo.

The second production to have announced plans to tread the Broadway boards is a revival of Falsettos. That production began with an interesting conversation between writer James Lapine and producer Jordan Roth.  You can read about it here.

Expect to see Allegiance this fall and Falsettos next spring.