Broadway

Rock on! And on! And on! Broadway currently sports three very different shows featuring rock music, a diverse and exciting genre that never gets old. Not to mention, the shows feature rock legends like Pete Townshend, Huey Lewis, and (sort of) Fleetwood Mac.

These shows include the new musical [*The Heart of Rock and Roll*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/36584-the-heart-of-rock-and-roll) at the [James Earl Jones...

Rock music takes the stage in three Broadway shows this spring

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Songs by rock bands The Who and Huey Lewis and The News appear in high-energy musicals alongside a new play with music inspired by the 1970s rock scene.

Welcome to the Russian countryside! Here's your first look at [*Uncle Vanya*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/33211-uncle-vanya) on Broadway, with [Steve Carell](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/steve-carell) making his Broadway debut in the title role. The starry cast, directed by Lila Neugebauer, also includes [Anika Noni Rose](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/anika-noni-rose) (*Caroline, or Change*), [Alfred...

See photos of Steve Carell and the cast of 'Uncle Vanya' on Broadway

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The star of *The Office* makes his Broadway debut in the latest revival of the classic play, which also stars Anika Noni Rose, Alfred Molina, and more.

You're gonna hear her roar! Maya Boyd will be the next Juliet in [*& Juliet*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/25598-and-juliet-tickets) on Broadway, beginning performances on May 14 at the [Stephen Sondheim Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/stephen-sondheim-theatre).

Boyd made her Broadway debut earlier this year in the cast of *Merrily We Roll Along*. In *& Juliet*, she will now replace [Lorna...

Maya Boyd to join '& Juliet' Broadway cast

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After making her Broadway debut earlier this year, the actor will now replace Tony Award nominee Lorna Courtney in the title role of the acclaimed musical.

See two stars, alike in dignity! [Rachel Zegler](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/rachel-zegler) and [Kit Connor](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/kit-connor) will lead a new revival of [*Romeo + Juliet*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/40696-romeo-and-juliet-on-broadway) on Broadway. The Shakespeare production, directed by Sam Gold, will run this fall, with a theatre and dates to be announced.

Zegler is best known for starring as Maria in Steven...

Rachel Zegler, Kit Connor to star in ‘Romeo + Juliet’ on Broadway

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The *West Side Story* and *Heartstopper* stars will play Shakespeare’s tragic young lovers in the production, which features music by Jack Antonoff.

As the star of *The Office*, [Steve Carell](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/steve-carell) may be known for his comedic chops, but the roles he's played since that show’s Emmy Award-winning run have shown he can do so much more. He earned an Oscar nomination for playing a maniacal wrestling coach in *Foxcatcher*, played the father of a drug addict (played by Timothée Chalamet) in *Beautiful Boy*, and now makes his Broadway debut in the title role in Anton Chekhov’s [*Uncle...

All the celebrities who have starred in 'Uncle Vanya,' including Steve Carell

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The award-winning actor, best known for starring in *The Office*, is the latest person to tackle the coveted title role of Chekhov's classic family drama.

Great news for Huey Lewis fans: You can hear his music live again. For the first time since Meniere's disease impaired the '80s rock star's ability to hear music, forcing him to stop performing with his band The News, his songs are back on not one stage, but two.

Lewis isn't singing them, but those familiar with the Huey Lewis and The News hits "The Power of Love" and "Back in Time" will thrill to hear them nonetheless. Both those songs appear in this season's Broadway musical adaptation of...

How Huey Lewis shaped 'The Heart of Rock and Roll' on Broadway

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The new musical is set to nearly 30 hits by Huey Lewis and The News, and the band's frontman was a crucial and active collaborator throughout its journey.

Family trees are in bloom on Broadway this spring. Beginning with Joshua Harmon’s *Prayer for the French Republic* at the top of the year, numerous family dramas have proved the staying power of the fertile, timeless genre. Not to mention, these shows' families include the likes of actors Steve Carell, Jessica Lange, and Sarah Paulson.

Playing right now are Paula Vogel’s [*Mother Play*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/31354-mother-play-on-broadway) at the [Hayes...

Learn about all the family dramas on Broadway this season

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Each play in the genre is just as unique as any given family, as evidenced by this spring's star-studded shows *Mother Play*, *Appropriate*, and *Uncle Vanya*.

And they were roommates! Per an April 11 [report from the New York Post](https://nypost.com/2024/04/11/entertainment/patti-lupone-mia-farrow-to-star-in-broadways-the-roommate/), three-time Tony Award winner [Patti LuPone](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/patti-lupone) and seven-time Golden Globe nominee Mia Farrow will co-star in the new Broadway play *The Roommate* this fall. According to the report, performances will run at the [Booth...

Patti LuPone, Mia Farrow reported to star in 'The Roommate' on Broadway

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According to a report in the New York Post, the actresses will perform in the 2015 play by Jen Silverman for a limited engagement beginning in August.

Home to historic rock bands like The Velvet Underground and The Ramones, New York City is a rock and roll lover’s paradise. Even though many of the popular venues that used to host rock and punk artists in the ‘60s and ‘70s have since closed, there are still plenty of ways to enjoy the history of rock and roll while visiting New York City. 

Take your own rock-and-roll tour of NYC with these classic rock attractions, with something for every rock fan. Pick up some records; pay homage to late,...

Check out these classic rock musicals and attractions in NYC

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Make a day out of seeing a rock show on Broadway, including *The Who's Tommy*, Huey Lewis's *The Heart of Rock and Roll*, or the '70s rock-inspired *Stereophonic*.

Photos have been released of [*Patriots*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/38891-patriots) on Broadway, starring *Boardwalk Empire* and *Dopesick*'s [Michael Stuhlbarg](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/michael-stuhlbarg). Russia meets New York at the [Barrymore Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/barrymore-theatre), where this new play by Peter Morgan is in performances through June 23.

The playwright, who created Netflix's Emmy Award-winning show...

See photos of Michael Stuhlbarg and the cast of 'Patriots' on Broadway

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The Emmy and Tony Award-nominated actor stars as the late Russian politician Boris Berezovsky in the newest play from the creator of Netflix's *The Crown*.

The <a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/news-features/audra-mcdonald-to-return-to-broadway-in-adrienne-kennedys-ohio-state-murders" target="_blank">previously announced Broadway production</a> of Adrienne Kennedy's <a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/ohio-state-murders" target="_blank">Ohio State Murders</a>, starring six-time Tony Award winner <a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/actor-profile/audra-mcdonald" target="_blank">Audra McDonald</a>, has set its venue and dates. The show will reopen the newly christened <a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/james-earl-jones-theatre" target="_blank">James Earl Jones Theatre</a>, formerly called the Cort Theatre, in November.Performances will begin November 11 ahead of a December 8 opening night. The full cast and creative team have yet to be announced.Directed by Kenny Leon, Ohio State Murders centers on a professor, Suzanne Alexander (McDonald), returns to her alma mater to discuss violence in her writing. While there, she is met with a real-life dark mystery that highlights the destruction wrought by racism.The production, which was first announced in November, marks 91-year-old experimental playwright Adrienne Kennedy's Broadway debut. Kennedy has had a 65-year career in the theatre, with her Off-Broadway shows winning her three Obie Awards, plus a Lifetime Achievement Obie Award, and a place in the American Theater Hall of Fame.McDonald is the most Tony-winning theatre actress of all time with six prizes, and at least one in all four female acting categories. She was last on Broadway in the 2019 revival of <a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/frankie-and-johnny-in-the-clair-de-lune" target="_blank">Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune</a>, opposite <a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/actor-profile/michael-shannon" target="_blank">Michael Shannon</a>.

Get *Ohio State Murders* tickets now.

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'Ohio State Murders,' starring Audra McDonald, to play the James Earl Jones Theatre

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Children under 4 are not permitted in the theatre.

Ohio State Murders starring Audra McDonald on Broadway - NYC

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Ohio State Murders starring Audra McDonald on Broadway

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With a 65-year long career as a playwright under her belt, Adrienne Kennedy finally makes her Broadway debut with&nbsp;Ohio State Murders in New York. Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald stars in the production, directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon. Get&nbsp;Ohio State Murders&nbsp;tickets on New York Theatre Guide.Ohio State Murders&nbsp;is a play about a fictional Black writer, Suzanne Alexander, who goes to deliver a talk about the violence in her writing at Ohio State University. When she arrives, she is met with a sinister mystery, one that reveals racism to be an antagonist in and of itself. Through the work, Kennedy explores the extent of just how destructive of a force racism is in the United States. Kennedy is known for her distinctive surrealist style, writing plays that lack a clear plot and instead symbolically portray historical and mythical figures to explore the Black experience. However,&nbsp;Ohio State Murders&nbsp;is less explicitly surreal, though the play still avoids a clear-cut, linear narrative and focuses on Suzanne's "process of turning memory into meaning," as Alisa Solomon, a Columbia University professor, wrote in the foreword to a collection of some of Kennedy's plays.Kennedy is also known for writing "autobiographically inspired" work, and Ohio State Murders&nbsp;is no exception. In some ways, Suzanne Alexander and her experiences reflect Kennedy, herself a 1931 graduate of Ohio State University. In fact,&nbsp;Ohio State Murders&nbsp;is one of four plays that centers on the character.&nbsp;She Talks to Beethoven, The Film Club (a monologue), and The Dramatic Circle (a radio drama)&nbsp;are known, together with&nbsp;Ohio State Murders, as "the Alexander plays" after their common main character.&nbsp;Beethoven&nbsp;was published in 1989, and the rest came out in 1992. Kennedy also wrote a&nbsp;letter from Suzanne Alexander's perspective, "Letter to My Students on My Sixty-First Birthday by Suzanne Alexander," in 1992.Ohio State Murders&nbsp;and the Alexander plays are just a small portion of Kennedy's theatrical canon. She has written three Obie Award-winning plays: her most famous work,&nbsp;Funnyhouse of a Negro, won the 1964 Obie for&nbsp;Distinguished Play, and June and Jean in Concert and Sleep Deprivation Chamber both won the Best New American Play Obie Award&nbsp;in 1996.&nbsp;Some of her other works include The Owl Answers, A Rat's Mass, and The Lennon Play,&nbsp;among many others. All this work led to Kennedy being honored with a&nbsp;Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Obie Awards and an induction into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2018.

## Who is Audra McDonald?

Audra McDonald, who stars in *Ohio State Murders* as Suzanne Alexander, is a six-time Tony Award-winning actress. She has the most Tonys of any actor in Broadway history and is the only person to have won all four major acting categories: Best Leading and Best Featured Actress, in a Play and Musical. She is known for stage appearances in *Carousel* and *Ragtime* and screen appearances in *The Good Fight* and *The Gilded Age*.

## How long is *Ohio State Murders* on Broadway?

*Ohio State Murders* runs 75 minutes with no intermission.

Get tickets to&nbsp;Ohio State Murders&nbsp;on Broadway now.

Ohio State Murders - NYC - New York Theatre Guide

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Find dates and book tickets to see the show Ohio State Murders on Broadway at James Earl Jones Theatre from New York Theatre Guide.

Ohio State Murders on Broadway Tickets | James Earl Jones Theatre | New York Theatre Guide

Kenny Leon directs the six-time Tony-winning actress Audra McDonald in this crime drama by Adrienne Kennedy, making her Broadway playwriting debut at 91. Writer Suzanne Alexander shares the terrifying truth about a crime that happened while she was in college when she returns to speak there decades later. Get tickets and witness the destructive nature of racism in this suspenseful play.

Kennedy often writes "autobiographically inspired" plays, with fictional storylines loosely informed by her life experiences. Like Suzanne in *Ohio State Murders*, Kennedy attended Ohio State University, graduating in 1931.

The *Ohio State Murders* play is set at the titular university, where writer Suzanne Alexander returns years after she graduated. While she was a student, she experienced a brutal crime, but she comes back to give a talk about violence in her writing, and the mystery of what really happened all those years ago finally comes to light.

While *Ohio State Murders* premiered 30 years ago, this production marks its first Broadway bow. The show opened in 1992 at the Great Lakes Theater Festival. Signature Theatre Company included the play in its 1995-96 season, dedicated entirely to Kennedy's work, but the production never officially opened. Its official Off-Broadway debut was in 2007 with Theatre for a New Audience, starring LisaGay Hamilton.

Kennedy's other plays include three Obie Award winners: *Funnyhouse of a Negro*, *Sleep Deprivation Chamber*, and *June and Jean in Concert*. These acclaimed Off-Broadway works and more earned her a Lifetime Achievement Obie Award in 2008.

*Ohio State Murders* on Broadway stars Audra McDonald, winner of a record six Tony Awards. She is the only performer to win in all four major acting categories: Best Leading and Featured Actress, in both a play and a musical. She has received an additional three nominations, including for her most recent Broadway appearance in *Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune*.

## What to Watch For

- *Ohio State Murders* is the most traditional of Kennedy's plays; her works are mostly surrealist, with non-linear plots and imagery and allegory that explore the Black experience. *Ohio State Murders* jumps around in time, but there is a single plot, centered on how Suzanne's memories affect her present career.
- The *Ohio State Murders* set resembles a university library. Designer Beowulf Boritt bought actual books to fill the shelves on stage, and they're fastened in place so they won't fall on the actors.
- In 2022, Kennedy became the first female playwright, and only one of five total playwrights, to earn the Gold Medal for Drama from the Academy of Arts and Letters for all-around excellence in her body of work. (The others are Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, and Edward Albee.)
- *Ohio State Murders* is one of four plays about Suzanne Alexander. Collectively titled The Alexander Plays, the group also includes the conventional play *She Talks to Beethoven*, the monologue *The Film Club*, and the radio play *The Dramatic Circle*.
- Kennedy and McDonald are both Theater Hall of Fame inductees. McDonald was inducted in 2017, and Kennedy in 2018.
- *Ohio State Murders* is the first show to play the newly renamed and renovated James Earl Jones Theatre, formerly called the Cort Theatre and now named for the EGOT-winning star of stage and screen.

Ohio State Murders - NYC - TodayTix

The most important thing to highlight about [*Ohio State Murders*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/24218-ohio-state-murders-tickets) on Broadway is that it is here. At long last, it is here, with a trio of Black theatre icons (and icons, period) attached. Two are [Audra McDonald](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/audra-mcdonald), the six-time Tony-winning star of the production, and [James Earl Jones](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/james-earl-jones-theatre), for whom the theatre housing *Ohio State Murders* has just been renamed.

And finally, there's Adrienne Kennedy, who wrote such masterworks as *Funnyhouse of a Negro* in her decades-long Off-Broadway career that pushed the boundaries of theatrical writing. At 91 years old, she is now a Broadway playwright. With a Theater Hall of Fame induction and multiple other lifetime achievement awards under her belt already, it's an honor long overdue.

One can wager various guesses as to the delay. [Kennedy herself cites racism](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/t-magazine/adrienne-kennedy-broadway.html), and she would know — parts of *Ohio State Murders* are based on her own experiences facing academic discrimination as an aspiring writer at her alma mater of the title. Another is the belief that mainstream audiences (and even theatremakers) might not know what to make of Kennedy's experimental writing, which often abandons realism in favor of symbolism, allegories, and pretzel-like twists of time and space to explore the Black experience.

Not that that's any particular excuse. We can't expand what flies as Broadway theatre if no one dares to try. This Kenny Leon-directed production is imperfect, but it deserves credit for trying and for what it gets right, including McDonald's riveting lead performance.

*Ohio State Murders*, which features one of Kennedy's more linear plots, is a good choice for testing the waters. This still being Kennedy, of course, it's told out of chronological order, by the writer Suzanne Alexander (McDonald). Suzanne is giving a lecture on why violence features so heavily in her works: because she's also a grieving mother whose twin daughters were murdered, and the memory still weighs heavily on her mind.

An out-of-order retelling makes sense for such a story: Suzanne is trying to piece together multiple fragmented, traumatic memories — of getting underestimated for her talents, then rejected from the English program, then pregnant, then expelled, then undone by loss — in real time as she talks about all this openly for the first time.

*Ohio State Murders* is at its best when Suzanne is unraveling her memories for the audience. The short scenes of dialogue, most of which are with her English professor Robert Hampshire, stall the play's momentum. In those moments, Leon can't quite seem to decide whether his *Ohio State Murders* is closer to a memory play or a theatrical memoir.

But we can't disregard Hampshire, though he's unremarkably aloof and Bryce Pinkham plays him as such. He's also the father of Suzanne's twins (this isn't a spoiler), and is, theatrically, her perfect foil.

He and Suzanne each deliver lectures during *Ohio State Murders*, both with a certain emotionlessness. But while his matter-of-fact tone is disinterested, Suzanne's is anything but. There is a palpable, thinly veiled rage simmering beneath most of McDonald's expertly layered performance. Rage at Ohio State for dismissing her writing talents because of her Blackness, at Hampshire for tossing her aside the minute she became pregnant, at everyone involved in covering up the identity of her child's murderer because they were (you guessed it) white.

McDonald is so transformative that in her few moments of bygone joy, such as when she convincingly plays with a pink scarf as though it were a real child, we momentarily forget Suzanne's anger. But when it brings her to her knees as she finally, for one piercing moment, lets all her pain boil over, we're reminded anew that the most violent force in *Ohio State Murders* is racism itself. "Did you write this yourself?" Hampshire doubts, for example, of a brilliant assignment Suzanne submits for his class. Small microaggressions and murderous acts are all rooted in the same hatred.

Kennedy lets this point suggest itself, and Leon's direction of the actors smartly preserves the subtlety of her writing. Beowulf Boritt's set, too, with library stacks akimbo in front of a gaping, dark ravine and snowfall, sets the sinister tone without a word, aided by Allen Lee Hughes's lighting.

If you're looking for a show that announces its themes with pomp and circumstance, *Ohio State Murders* isn't it. Such an even-keeled approach might make a longer show dull, but at just 75 minutes, *Ohio State Murders* holds attention overall amid its muddy moments. And as McDonald's performance attests, nothing is as it seems on the surface. There's plenty bubbling below. This is a murder mystery of sorts, after all, so put on your detective's hat and keep your eyes and ears peeled for the clues.

[*Ohio State Murders* is at the James Earl Jones Theatre through February 12. Get *Ohio State Murders* tickets on New York Theatre Guide.](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/24218-ohio-state-murders-tickets)

*Photo credit: Audra McDonald in Ohio State Murders. (Photo by Richard Termine)*

'Ohio State Murders' review — Audra McDonald chills and thrills in Adrienne Kennedy drama

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Audra Ann McDonald&nbsp;was born on July 3, 1970 in West Berlin, Germany and is a six-time Tony Award-winning Broadway veteran.

McDonald was born in Germany as her American father was&nbsp;stationed there with the United States Army;&nbsp;however, she was raised in Fresno, California, attending the Theodore Roosevelt High School and graduating from the Roosevelt School of the Arts program. She went on to study&nbsp;classical voice at New York City's famed Juilliard School and graduated in 1993.

McDonald is primarily known for her work on Broadway. She&nbsp;made her Broadway debut in 1992, assuming the role of Ayah in the Broadway premiere of&nbsp;The Secret Garden&nbsp;and reprising the role on the show's national tour. Her breakthrough performance was as&nbsp;Carrie Pipperidge in the 1994 revival of Rodgers and&nbsp;Hammerstein's&nbsp;Carousel, for which she won her first Tony Award, alongside a Drama Desk and Theatre World Award. Since then, she has gone on to win an additional five&nbsp;Tony Awards for her performances as Sharon in&nbsp;Master Class&nbsp;(1996), Sarah in&nbsp;Ragtime&nbsp;(1998), Ruth Younger&nbsp;in&nbsp;A Raisin in the Sun&nbsp;(2004),&nbsp;Bess&nbsp;in The Gershwins'&nbsp;Porgy and Bess&nbsp;(2012), and&nbsp;Billie Holliday in&nbsp;Lady Day at Emerson's Bar &amp; Grill&nbsp;(2014). She has won more Tony Awards than any other actor in Broadway history and is also the only person to have won Tonys in all four acting categories, justifying her moniker as "Mama Broadway."

Her other Broadway roles include the titular character of the 1999 premiere of&nbsp;Marie Christine,&nbsp;Lady Percy in the 2003 revival of&nbsp;Henry IV,&nbsp;Lizzie Curry in the 2007 revival of&nbsp;110 in the Shade, and&nbsp;Lottie Gee in the 2016 premiere of&nbsp;Shuffle Along, Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed. She has appeared off Broadway in&nbsp;The Vagina Monologues&nbsp;at the <a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/westside-theatre">Westside Theatre</a> and&nbsp;as Olivia in the Public's 2009 Shakespeare in the Park&nbsp;production of&nbsp;Twelfth Night.&nbsp;She made her West End debut&nbsp;reprising her performance as Billie Holliday in&nbsp;Lady Day at Emerson's Bar &amp; Grill&nbsp;from June to September 2017, earning her first Olivier Award nomination for her efforts. In 2017, she was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.

McDonald has also enjoyed a prolific career as a recording artist, having released a total of six studio albums to date and headlined countless solo concerts and tours both nationally and internationally. Her recording of Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny&nbsp;won the Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album&nbsp;and Best Opera Recording&nbsp;in 2008.

On screen, McDonald is perhaps best known for her TV role as&nbsp;Dr. Naomi Bennett on ABC's Private Practice, appearing in 77 episodes&nbsp;from 2007 to 2013,&nbsp;and as Liz Reddick-Lawrence on CBS's&nbsp;The Good Fight&nbsp;in 2018, having first debuted in the role on The Good Wife&nbsp;in 2013.&nbsp;She won an Emmy Award in 2015 for her performance in Live from Lincoln Center&nbsp;and earned Emmy nominations for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar &amp; Grill&nbsp;(2016), Live from Lincoln Center: Carousel&nbsp;(2013), A Raisin in the Sun&nbsp;(2008), and Wit&nbsp;(2001). Her other notable screen credits include the role of&nbsp;Madame Garderobe in Disney's 2017 live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast,&nbsp;Sally in the 2017 film adaptation of Hello Again,&nbsp;and appearances in Ricki and the Flash,&nbsp;Rampart,&nbsp;Grey's Anatomy,&nbsp;Kidnapped,&nbsp;The Bedford Diaries,&nbsp;Mister Sterling,&nbsp;Law &amp; Order: Special Victims Unit, and Cradle Will Rock,&nbsp;among others. She also starred as&nbsp;Mother Superior in NBC's The Sound of Music Live!&nbsp;in 2013.

McDonald returned&nbsp;to Broadway to star as Frankie alongside Michael Shannon&nbsp;in a revival of Terrence McNally's&nbsp;Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune&nbsp;at the <a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/broadhurst-theatre">Broadhurst Theatre</a> from May 4 through July 28, 2019.

Audra McDonald - NY

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Recommended for 12+. Children under 4 not admitted.

Gutenberg! The Musical on Broadway - NYC

Gutenberg! The Musical on Broadway

The James Earl Jones Theatre, formerly called the Cort Theatre, officially opened on December 20, 1912, with *Peg o' My Heart* starring Laurette Taylor. The venue was originally named after John Cort, founder of the Northwestern Theatrical Association. He commissioned Thomas W. Lamb to design the theatre, which would mirror the Petit Trianon in Versailles. 

The Shubert Organization acquired the theatre in 1927, two years before Cort’s death. It has always been used as a traditional theatre except for the years from 1969 to 1972, when it became a television studio with the broadcast of *The Merv Griffin Show*.

Renovation work began at the Cort Theatre in 2021, and the venue reopened in 2022 under its new name. The building is now named for James Earl Jones, the Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award-winning actor known for voice roles in *The Lion King* and *Star Wars* films and stage performances in shows including *The Great White Hope* and *Fences*, which both earned him Tony Awards. He also earned a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2017.

## How to get to the James Earl Jones Theatre on Broadway

The James Earl Jones Theatre is closest to the 47-50 Sts - Rockefeller Center stop on the B, D, F, and M lines. The closest bus stops are 6th Ave/W 49th St. on the M50 line and 6th Ave/W 47th St. on the M5 and M7 lines.


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The previously announced Broadway production of Adrienne Kennedy's Ohio State Murders, starring six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, has set its venue and dates.

'Ohio State Murders,' starring Audra McDonald, to play the James Earl Jones Theatre

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