Odds & Ends: The Wiz Live! Star Shanice Williams to Make Off-Broadway Debut & More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you may have missed today.

The Wiz Live! Star Shanice Williams to Make Off-Broadway Debut
Shanice Williams, the rising star who won over TV viewers as Dorothy in TV's The Wiz Live!, will take on her first off-Broadway stage role this spring. Williams will appear in the New York premiere play Little Rock, written and directed by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj. Performances will begin on May 30 with an opening slated for June 14 at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture. Little Rock tells the true story of The Little Rock Nine, the first black students to attend their city's formerly segregated Little Rock Central High School three years after the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision ruled that separating students based on race was unconstitutional. Joining Williams in the cast will be Rebekah Brockman, Justin Cunningham, Brandon Gill, Charlie Hudson III, Crystal Lucas-Perry, Quentin Mare, Ashley Robinson and Stephanie Umoh. Little Rock will play a limited engagement through September 8.

Benedict Cumberbatch to Take the New York Stage in Letters Live
Stage-and-screen star Benedict Cumberbatch is the first cast member announced for the upcoming New York run of Letters Live, a touring work set to appear at NYC's Town Hall on May 18 and 19 at 8:00pm. Inspired by Shaun Usher’s best-selling Letters of Note series and Simon Garfield’s To the Letter, Letters Live is a celebration of the power of literary correspondence. Each show features an array of talented performers reading remarkable letters written over the centuries and from around the world. Additional stars for the Town Hall run of Letters Live will be announced at a later date.

Chris McCarrell Will Return to Feinstein's/54 Below with Both Sides Now
Strong-voiced Lightning Thief alum Chris McCarrell will lead a new cabaret, Both Sides Now: A Modern Musical Odyssey, set to play midtown venue Feinstein's/54 Below on April 28 at 9:30pm. The concert will include the music of Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, Alan Watts, Joni Mitchell, Stephen Sondheim and more. Joining McCarrell onstage will be stage stars Jill Paice, Adrian Bumpas, Jessica Joy Dyer, Julia Hines, Jillian Kates, Jude McCormick and Rosie Upton. In addition to his rockstar turn in The Lightning Thief, McCarrell's credits include Broadway's Les Misérables, TV's Peter Pan Live and regional productions of Sweeney Todd, Summer of '42 and Bubble Boy: the Musical.

Alice Ripley Will Return to the Cabaret Stage with Ripley Prescription
Next to Normal Tony winner Alice Ripley will offer up fierce vocals from a variety of her Broadway appearances in the new solo cabaret Ripley Prescription, set to play Feinstein's/54 Below on May 9 and 12 at 9:30pm. Drawn from personal accounts and carefully chosen “musical remedies,” Ripley Prescription will feature the Tony winner revealing funny and poignant stories of how musical theater can heal our broken hearts. The cabaret will include songs from many of Ripley's hit shows, including Next to Normal, The Who’s Tommy and Sunset Boulevard.

Tony Kushner to Appear at 92Y with Authors of The World Only Spins Forward
Tony Kushner, the Tony- and Pulitzer-winning playwright whose masterwork Angels in America is back on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre, will make a special appearance at NYC's 92nd Street Y on May 4 at 7:30pm. Joining Kushner will be Isaac Butler and Dan Kois, authors of The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America, a new oral history of Angels as told by the artists who created it (including Kushner himself). The World Only Spins Forward was released on February 13.

Andrew Keenan-Bolger Directs Moving Short Film Sign
Stage alum and former Broadway.com vlogger Andrew Keenan-Bolger has teamed up with composer Adam Wachter for the new short film Sign. Directed by Keenan-Bolger, the silent romance centers on the love story between a hearing man (played by off-Broadway alum Preston Sadleir) and a deaf man (John McGinty, currently appearing in Children of a Lesser God). The cast also includes Tony nominee Tony Sheldon, Sydney Morton, Maleni Chaitoo, Joshua Castille, Craig Fogel and Jennifer Smith. Watch below, and find out more about Sign here. SIGN - a silent film from Andrew Keenan-Bolger on Vimeo.