Odds & Ends: Jenn Colella & Chilina Kennedy Will Team Up for Call It Love & More

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

Jenn Colella & Chilina Kennedy Will Team Up for Call It Love
Broadway sweethearts Jenn Colella (Come From Away) and Chilina Kennedy (Beautiful, This Ain't No Disco) will share their talents with audiences at midtown jazz club Birdland this fall. Colella will star in Call It Love, a new song cycle composed by Kennedy, on September 10 at 8:30pm. The show grapples with the way we love, both ourselves and others, and how we self-identify and create family in our complex age of information and reputation. Call It Love is arranged by Rick Fox (Jesus Christ Superstar) and directed by Mark Schnieder (Miss Saigon).

Khris Davis & DeWanda Wise to Lead Donja R. Love's Fireflies
Casting is set for Fireflies, part two of Donja R. Love's trilogy which began with the acclaimed Sugar in Our Wounds. Fireflies will begin previews on September 26 with an opening set for October 15 at Atlantic Theater Company. The cast will include Khris Davis (Sweat) and DeWanda Wise (She’s Gotta Have It). Set amid the Jim Crow South, Fireflies follows pregnant Olivia, whose fierce speechwriting is the sole force behind her charismatic husband Charles and his successful movement to galvanize people to march towards freedom. When four little girls are bombed in a church, Olivia and Charles' marriage is threatened—as this tragedy and years of civil unrest leave Olivia believing that “this world ain't no place to raise a colored child.” Fireflies will play a limited engagement through November 11.

Mary Bridget Davies to Reprise Tony-Nommed Turn in A Night with Janis Joplin
Mary Bridget Davies, the breakthrough talent who earned a 2014 Tony nom for her turn in the title role of A Night with Janis Joplin, will return to the role in a staging at La Mirada Theatre in Los Angeles. Director Randy Johnson and choreographer Patricia Wilcox will reprise their work for the production, running from September 14 through October 7. The cast will also include Aurianna Angelique, Ashley Támar Davis, Tawny Dolley, Paige McNamara and Jennifer Leigh Warren.



Phillipa Soo to Write Afterword to New Eliza Hamilton Picture Book
Phillipa Soo, the multi-talented actress who earned Tony nom as Hamilton's first Eliza, has signed on to write a foreword for Eliza: The Story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, a new picture book written by Margaret McNamara and illustrated by Esme Shapiro. In the book, McNamara employs the letter-writing style of the period to tell the story of Eliza, who was born into a family of considerable wealth, power and influence in Albany in 1757. The book is due out on October 2.

Dawnn Lewis & More to Lead And the World Goes 'Round at Reprise 2.0
Casting has been announced for Reprise 2.0's upcoming staging of the Lucille Lortel Award-winning Kander & Ebb revue And the World Goes 'Round. Richard Israel will direct and John Todd will choreograph the previously announced production, slated to run from September 5 through September 16 at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. The ensemble cast will include Dawnn Lewis (A Different World), Valerie Perri (Evita), Larry Cedar (Deadwood), Kelley Dorney (Annie) and Michael Starr (Bright Star). And the World Goes 'Round features classic Kander & Ebb tunes such as "Mr. Cellophane," "My Coloring Book," "All That Jazz," "Kiss of the Spider Woman," "Money, Money,” "Maybe This Time," "Cabaret" and "New York, New York."

P.S. Get a first look at Band's Visit Tony winner Tony Shalhoub in season two of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.