The spring season has officially ended on Broadway, but there's no shortage of great theater to see across the country! Check out this week's regional highlights from all over the United States, from a star-studded Mame revival just outside Philly to a Royale world premiere in Los Angeles.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Roger Rees Brings Russia to the Twin Cities
Jet to Russia without the pricey plane fare: Head to the Guthrie Theater, where Tony-winning actor-turned-director Roger Rees is helming the new drama The Primrose Path by Crispin Whittell. Based on Ivan Turgenev's novel Home of the Gentry, the play tells the story of Lavretsky (Kyle Fabel of The Farnsworth Invention), his cousin Maria (Sally Wingert of La Bete) and her irresistible daughter Liza (Suzy Kohane). Catch this world premiere through June 15.
MEDIA, PA
Andrea McArdle Begins Her Mame Reign
Audiences know Andrea McArdle best as Broadway's favorite redhead—no, not Jesse Tyler Ferguson—Annie! Now the Tony nominee returns to a suburb of her Philadelphia hometown to take on the eccentric and fabulous title Auntie in Jerry Herman's 1966 musical Mame, opposite Lea DeLaria as bosom buddy Vera Charles. Catch them at the Media Theatre through May 19, then at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA, from May 23 through June 9.
LOS ANGELES, CA
Get the Royale Treatment
Robert Gossett (The Closer) and Keith Szarabajka (Argo) star in the world premiere of Marco Ramirez's boxing drama The Royale. Directed by Daniel Aukin (4000 Miles) and inspired by the story of Jack Johnson, the drama centers on a black boxer who fights for a shot at the world title in the early 1900s, when black and white boxers did not compete. Get a ringside seat at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre through June 2.
MILWAUKEE, WI
Walk Like an Egyptian With John McGivern
Emmy-winning storyteller John McGivern teams up with Norman Moses for some Old English (slash Egyptian)-style hilarity in a revival of Charles Ludlam's The Mystery of Irma Vep at Next Act Theatre. Directed by David Cecsarini, the production includes werewolves, lighting fast costume changes, a mad gothic organist and of course, mummies. See the duo in action May 3 through May 26.
OMAHA, NE
The Great Plains Goes Psycho
Ahhhhh! Playwright Beaufield Berry is unleashing the crazy in Psycho Ex-Girlfriend, a new dark comedy about a young woman with big (and possibly irrational) dreams of true love. Starring Katie Beacom Hurst, Nick Lemay, Kaitlyn McClincy and Katlynn Yost, the insanity continues at the Shelterbelt Theatre, a company that specializes in developing new works, through May 12.