What’s hot at Broadway Licensing Global? Check out the top trending titles of the week from Broadway Licensing, Dramatists Play Service, and Playscripts.
The Curious Savage by John Patrick
Mrs. Savage has been left ten million dollars by her husband and wants to make the best use of it, in spite of her grown-up stepchildren’s efforts to get their hands on it. Knowing that the widow’s wealth is now in negotiable securities, and seeing they cannot get hold of the fortune, the stepchildren commit her to a sanatorium hoping to “bring her to her senses.” In the sanatorium Mrs. Savage meets various social misfits, men and women who just cannot adjust themselves to life, people who need the help Mrs. Savage can provide. In getting to know them, she realizes that she will find happiness with them and plans to spend the rest of her life as one of them. But when the doctor tells her there is no reason why she should remain, she hesitates to go out into a hard world where people seem ready to do anything for money. The self-seeking stepchildren are driven to distraction by their vain efforts to browbeat Mrs. Savage, but she preserves her equanimity and leads them on a merry chase. At last her friends conspire to get rid of her stepchildren, and through their simple belief in the justice of her cause, they enable Mrs. Savage to carry out her plans to establish a fund to help others realize their hopes and dreams. The dominant mood is high comedy, and the audience is left with a feeling that the neglected virtues of kindness and affection have not been entirely lost in a world that seems at times motivated only by greed and dishonesty.
Disenchanted! Book, Music, and Lyrics by Dennis T. Giacino
Not Snow White and her posse of disenchanted princesses in the hilarious hit musical that’s anything but Grimm. The original storybook heroines are none-too-happy with the way they’ve been portrayed in today’s pop culture so they’ve tossed their tiaras and have come to life to set the record straight. Forget the princesses you think you know – these royal renegades are here to comically belt out the truth. Received an “Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical” nomination (Outer Critics Circle Awards) and a “Best New Off-Broadway Musical” nomination (Off Broadway Alliance). Contains adult language and content.
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage
In a new comedy from the Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright of Ruined, Lynn Nottage draws upon the screwball films of the 1930s to take a funny and irreverent look at racial stereotypes in Hollywood. BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK is a seventy-year journey through the life of Vera Stark, a headstrong African-American maid and budding actress, and her tangled relationship with her boss, a white Hollywood star desperately grasping to hold on to her career. When circumstances collide and both women land roles in the same Southern epic, the story behind the cameras leaves Vera with a surprising and controversial legacy scholars will debate for years to come.
Continuity by Bess Wohl
It’s magic hour in the New Mexico desert as an exhausted film crew races against the setting sun to shoot their blockbuster (but artsy) action movie, which takes place on an arctic (Styrofoam) ice floe, and features an eco-terrorist plotting a bombing mission to save all of humankind (supposedly). As the clock ticks and the desert sun beats down on the not-so-frozen landscape, personalities clash, artistic vision meets Hollywood demands, and the gap between fiction and science grows wider than ever. A dark but hilarious “play in six takes,” CONTINUITY interrogates the role of storytelling in a world on the brink of actual environmental crisis.
Prodigal Son by John Patrick Shanley
A 17-year-old boy from the Bronx suddenly finds himself in a private school in New Hampshire. He’s violent, gifted, alienated, and on fire with a ferocious loneliness. Two faculty members wrestle with the dilemma: Is the kid a star or a disaster? A passionate, explosive portrait of a young man on the verge of salvation or destruction.
Stage Door by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman
The play concerns a group of young girls who have come to New York to study acting and find jobs. The scene is Mrs. Orcutt’s boarding house, where the hopes and ambitions of sixteen young women are revealed in scenes of entertaining comedy. Contrasted with this are the cases of the girl without talent and the elderly actress whose days are over. The central plot has to do with courageous Terry Randall, who fights against discouragement to a position in the theater where we are sure she will conquer. One of her fellow aspirants gives up in despair, one gets married, and one goes into pictures, but Terry, with the help of idealistic David Kingsley, sticks to her guns. Color and contrast are offered by Mattie, the maid; Frank her husband; a few young men callers; a movie magnate; and young Keith Burgess, the playwright who “goes Hollywood.”
The House That Will Not Stand by Marcus Gardley
In early nineteenth-century New Orleans, a widowed mother, Beartrice, struggles to manage her headstrong daughters after the death of her second husband. But as the matriarch takes her place as head of the household, a more ominous transfer of power transpires in the region. The French-owned Louisiana Territory is about to be acquired by the United States, threatening the liberty of the free African-Americans residing on the land. A gripping examination of intersecting captivities, THE HOUSE THAT WILL NOT STAND follows four women in mourning as they look ahead to an uncertain and haunting future.
God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton
A playground altercation between eleven-year-old boys brings together two sets of Brooklyn parents for a meeting to resolve the matter. At first, diplomatic niceties are observed, but as the meeting progresses, and the rum flows, tensions emerge and the gloves come off, leaving the couples with more than just their liberal principles in tatters.
Judy Moody & Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt by Allison Gregory
When the Moody family takes a weekend trip to “Artichoke” Island, third-grader Judy and her little brother Stink don’t know what to expect. But what they find is a pirate, and he sends them on a treasure hunt, racing against rivals Tall Boy and Smart Girl! Can they find the hidden clues, crack the secret codes, and solve the tricky puzzles before time runs out? A funny, adventurous play for young audiences based on the Judy Moody books by Megan McDonald.
Where the Sky Meets the Sea by Mandy Conner
Five Greek children find themselves abandoned on an island until an oracle sends then on a mystical quest to seek their release–at the cost of a sacrifice.
