Krysta Rodriguez to Star in Broadway Production of Anthony McCarten’s “The Collaboration” 

Krysta Rodriguez is working on a new collaboration

The 38-year-old Latina actress/singer and Broadway star and Erik Jensen will complete the cast of the upcoming Broadway production of Anthony McCarten’s The Collaboration starring the previously announced actors Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope.

Krysta Rodriguez,The play, a hit in London, depicts the artistic collaboration of painters Andy Warhol (Bettany) and Jean-Michel Basquiat (Pope), will make its American premiere in a Manhattan Theatre Club production beginning previews on Tuesday, November 29 ahead of a Tuesday, December 20 opening at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

Rodriguez will play Basquiat’s girlfriend “Maya” and Jensen will portray “Bruno Bischofberger,” the art dealer and gallery owner who brings Warhol and Basquiat together. Kwame Kwei-Armah directs.

The casting announcement was made today by Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) and the Young Vic Theatre, Kwame Kwei-Armah (Artistic Director) and Lucy Davies (Executive Director) by special arrangement with Eleanor Lloyd Productions, Anthology Theatre, Stanley Buchthal, and Denis O’Sullivan.

Rodriguez’s previous Broadway credits include Spring Awakening, Into The Woods, Hercules, A Chorus Line and The Addams Family.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s “Lackawanna Blues” Extends Its Limited Broadway Run by a Week

There are more Blues in Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s future…

The 64-year-old half-Puerto Rican actor, playwright and director’s critically acclaimed Lackawanna Blues is extending its limited Broadway engagement by a week, making up for the recent performances canceled due to the star’s back injury.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson

The solo show, which began previews on September 14 with a planned opening of September 28 bumped to October 7, will continue playing through Sunday, November 7 at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, a week longer than originally scheduled October 31 closing.

Earlier this month, Santiago-Hudson canceled some performances of the show due to a recurring back injury. He resumed performances Oct. 12.

The play stars Santiago-Hudson as the many characters who lived in and around the boarding houses owned by the kind-hearted woman who raised him.

Matthew López to Make Feature Directorial Debut with Film Adaptation of Best-Selling LGBTQ+ Novel “Red, White & Royal Blue”

Matthew López is embracing the red, white and (royal) blue

The 44-year-old Puerto Rican playwright and screenwriter, who made history as the first Latinx playwright to win the Tony Award for Best Play, will make his feature directorial debut on the LGBTQ+ romantic comedy Red, White & Royal Blue.

Matthew Lopez

The Amazon Studios production is a film adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s 2019 best-selling novel of the same name.

It centers on a star-crossed power couple — the Latinx character of Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of the president of the United States, and his relationship with Prince Henry, grandson of the Queen of England.

López rewrote a draft of the script by Ted Malawer in addition to being tapped to direct the film.

Here’s the official logline: “What happens when America’s Prince falls in love with an actual prince? The film follows Alex Claremont-Diaz who, upon his mother’s election as president, was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, brilliant―his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a long-running feud with his royal counterpart across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S.-British relations take a turn for the worse. Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instagram-able friendship grows into something more meaningful than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could complicate his mother’s re-election campaign, upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all?”

Lopez has a busy dance card. He’s penning a remake of The Bodyguard for Warner Bros., collaborating with songwriting duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and Amber Ruffin on a musical-adaptation of Some Like it Hot, and scripting a feature film adaptation of the novel Leading Men, which centers on the relationship between Tennessee Williams and his longtime partner

López will also executive produce the film.

The Inheritance, a two-part epic about the AIDS crisis, is set to make its Los Angeles premiere at the Geffen Playhouse in 2022. In New York, López’s work has been seen Off Broadway with The Whipping Man (Manhattan Theatre Club), and The Legend of Georgia McBride (MCC Theater). He previously signed an overall television development deal with Amazon Studios in October of last year

Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s “Lackawanna Blues” to Open on Broadway in September

Ruben Santiago-Hudson is bringing the Blues to The Great White Way this fall…

The 64-year-old half-Puerto Rican actor, playwright and director’s Lackawanna Blues will begin performances at Manhattan Theatre Club on September 14, the first day of Broadway’s post-shutdown reopening.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson

It’s the fifth show set to begin performances post-COVID-19 pandemic.

The play – written, performed and directed by Santiago-Hudson (Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) – will be the season’s first Broadway production by a nonprofit theater company.

Lackawanna Blues will begin performances Tuesday, September 14, and open Tuesday, September 28, at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The play will feature original music by Bill Sims, Jr. performed on stage by blues guitarist Junior Mack.

MTC will follow health and safety guidance of New York City, New York State, and the CDC, with flexible ticket refund and exchange policies in place.

Tickets for Lackawanna Blues go on sale to the general public beginning Tuesday, August 10.

As described by MTC, Lackawanna Blues features a solo performance by Santiago-Hudson in a play “celebrating the strong, big-hearted woman who raised him: Miss Rachel. In a 1950s boarding house outside Buffalo, Nanny, as she was affectionately called, opened her doors to anyone and everyone in need of kindness, hope, compassion, and care.” Santiago-Hudson plays more than 20 characters.