Big whoop, you can't see 'Hamilton', but here are 10 shows you can get into and 'really' enjoy.
1. Tony nominee Rob McClure is the new star of Something Rotten! He plays ambitious and frustrated Elizabethan playwright Nick Bottom, and that alone is reason enough to go back to the Tony-nominated comedy. McClure doing what he does best: making people laugh and dancing his butt off. Running at Broadway’s St. James Theatre.
2. Chicago
is the other big B'way musical welcoming a new leading man this month. Jane the Virgin’s dashing dad, Jaime Camil, is slick lawyer Billy Flynn, and there’s nothing like what a sexy Billy Flynn does for this long-running revival. Running at Broadway’s Ambassador Theatre.
3. One of New York’s favorite summer pastimes is back, and this June it’s all about the ladies. The Public Theater’s Shakespeare In the Park presents an all-female The Taming of the Shrew
, starring Tony and Olivier winner Janet McTeer, The Good Wife’s Cush Jumbo, Orange Is the New Black’s Adrienne C. Moore, Judy Gold, and BBox fave Anne L. Nathan. Running at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre through June 26.
4. Joe Morton gives a performance critics and audiences are going absolutely wild for in the off-Broadway play Turn Me Loose. The Scandal Emmy winner plays groundbreaking comic Dick Gregory, who rose to fame as the first black comedian to expose white audiences to racial comedy. It’s a can’t-miss production that only runs through July 3. Running at off-Broadway’s Westside Theatre.
5. The Rockettes are back for the summer in the all-new New York Spectacular, written by laugh riot Douglas Carter Beane (Xanadu, Little Dog Laughed, Cinderella). The NYC extravaganza stars mega-talented Broadway vets Euan Morton, Kecia Lewis, Kacie Sheik, Danny Gardner, and Lilla Crawford—yeah, the stage return of Annie and Little Red, you better be there. Running at Radio City Music Hall through August 7.
6. Feinstein’s/54 Below hosts two musicals this month that you are going to want to see. First up is Josh Grisetti as J. Pierpont Finch in 54 Sings How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on June 5. (How perfect is that?!) Then on June 26, Ciara Renee, Arielle O’Keefe, and Ariana Taxman debut their original musical Anything But Love
, which tells the stories of three women trying to navigate the complexities of love and relationships through society’s prescribed paradigms for both.7. Those whose hearts were broken when Barbara Cook canceled her big off-Broadway bio-musical this summer are in luck after all because the Tony winner is taking the stage at 54 for one-night-only on June 21. The theatrical event celebrates the publication of her eagerly anticipated memoir, Then and Now, and will feature the Golden Age icon singing those signature soprano tunes.
8. Who needs Spotify when you’ve got Broadway Sings? The crew returns to Highline Ballroom on June 6 for Best of Broadway Sings, featuring showstoppers from the series’ previous 11 concerts—so you’ll hear B’way babies singing Adele, Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse, P!NK, Sara Bareilles, Beyonce, and Whitney Houston. #PraiseHands
9. Frank DiLella is back at Birdland for an exciting new Show Biz After Hours
. This time, the NY1 personality will kiki with Falsettos’ Andrew Rannells, Evan Hansen’s Rachel Bay Jones, and recent OCC winner James Lecesne. Ya never know what’s going to go down after hours.10. 10 years after making headlines around the world with Rufus Does Judy At Carnegie Hall, Rufus Wainwright returns to the New York landmark for an encore performance June 16 and 17. It’s more than a concert, it’s more than an event, it’s a gay high holy day.
NJ BONUS
Matt Doyle and Belinda Allyn lead the company of Paper Mill Playhouse’s West Side Story
, and really what summer is complete without the Jets, the Sharks, Anita, Graziella, and Velma? Running at the Paper Mill Playhouse through June 26.
