Odds & Ends: Ramin Karimloo and Alice Ripley Lead Kalevala: The Musical Concept Album

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

Ramin Karimloo and Alice Ripley to Star in Kalevala: The Musical Concept Album
Tony and Olivier nominee Ramin Karimloo and Tony winner Alice Ripley will headline the upcoming concept album for Kalevala: The Musical. The new work, which features music and lyrics by Johanna Telander, based on the epic national poem of Finland named Kalevala. Broadway's Jewelle Blackman, Marina Pires, Natalie Toro and Kay Trinidad will also lend their voices to the album. The musical, which is combines pop, folk, world music and jazz, follows two children on a fantasy adventure through an ancient haunted forest.

The Old Vic Theatre Announces Back Together Season Plans
London audiences will be able experience the Old Vic's upcoming season through a hybrid of online and in-person productions. An In Camera production of Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter will begin the season in July. Starring Daniel Mays and David Thewlis, the show will have a small live studio audience. The season will also include two world premieres: Emma Rice's Bagdad Cafe and Bess Wohl’s Camp Siegfried. Jack Thorne's Christmas Carol will once again return for live audiences this holiday season. Lyndsey Turner will direct Caryl Churchill’s A Number, starring Paapa Essiedu and Lennie James. Longtime collaborators Terry Gilliam and Leah Hausman are set to co-direct Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods. Click here for more information on the upcoming season.

The Public Theater Announces New York Premiere of A Thousand Ways (part Two): An Encounter
The Public Theater will host the New York premiere of A Thousand Ways (part Two): An Encounter beginning on June 8. The in-person production is a continuation of Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone's 600 Highwaymen, which engages two remote participants in an hour-long phone call. A Thousand Ways pairs strangers together to share physical space to create a private piece of theater. Seated in an empty room, at opposite ends of a table, and separated by a pane of plexiglass, participants follow prompts on a set of notecards, venturing together into cinematically vivid bouts of imagination. The production will take place in several locations at the Public and is set to run through August 15.

Watch Darren Criss Sing Out from the Bridgerton TikTok Musical
Do you burn for stage and screen star Darren Criss? He recently got together with Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, the creators of the viral Bridgerton TikTok musical, to sing a tune from the upcoming concept album. Watch Barlow and Criss duet "Burn for You," a song that is between Simon the Duke of Hastings and Daphne Bridgerton.

@abigailbarlowww

Surprise!! @darrencriss is on tiktok and we burn for him. #bridgertonmusical @emilythebear

♬ original sound - Abigail Barlow