Odds and Ends: The Book of Mormon Mystery Week, Law Roach Joins Cats: The Jellicle Ball Team & More Broadway News

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

Ring Them Bells

Hello! To celebrate 15 years on Broadway, The Book of Mormon will host a “Magical Mormon Mystery Week” from June 9–14 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre. The show’s authors Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez announced this unique theatrical event on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. On the same episode, Tony nominee Andrew Rannells sang “I Believe” from the show, having originated the part of Elder Price. Each Mystery Week performance will feature surprise appearances from Rannells, Tony nominee Josh Gad (the original Elder Cunningham) and Tony winner Nikki M. James (the original Nabulungi). The trio of theater favorites will perform select scenes and songs alongside the current cast. There will also be appearances from Park, Stone and Lopez throughout the week, with more surprise guests to be revealed. The winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, The Book of Mormon follows two idealistic missionaries who attempt to spread the good word of Joseph Smith to an impoverished village in Uganda.

Law Roach Gets His Claws Out

Stylist and media personality Law Roach has joined the producing team of Cats: The Jellicle Ball on Broadway. Known for his sartorial collaborations with show business bigwigs like Zendaya and Céline Dion, Roach has been a leading force in celebrity fashion for over a decade. He joins a star-studded producing team that includes Cynthia Erivo, Lena Waithe, John Legend, Jeremy Pope and LaChanze. The Jellicle Ball turns Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical into an immersive celebration of the ballroom community. Roach is no stranger to this world, having served as a judge on the HBO Max voguing competition Legendary. Ballroom royalty Leiomy, known as the “Wonder Woman of Vogue,” was also a judge on Legendary and will perform in The Jellicle Ball as Macavity. She will be joined by Tony winner André De Shields and a host of other Ballroom royals, including "Tempress" Chasity Moore and Junior LaBeija. “Fashion, performance and identity have always been part of the same conversation,” said Roach. “Ballroom culture has shaped the world for decades. I’m proud to be part of a production that centers the people who actually lived it.” In addition to Legendary, Roach has served as a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race and Project Runway. Cats: The Jellicle Ball began performances on March 18 at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre, with opening night set for April 7. Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch direct, with choreography by Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles.

Backwards and in Heels

Kara Young, Dylan Mulvaney and John-Andrew Morrison have joined the stacked line-up of performers who are taking part in Broadway Backwards’ 20th anniversary celebration. Held at the Gershwin Theatre, Broadway Backwards has raised millions of dollars for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (The Center). Hosted by Tony nominee Jenn Colella, the one-night-only event offers audiences an evening of gender-reversed performances that celebrate queer visibility. Young holds the distinction of being the first Black performer to win two back-to-back Tony Awards for her star turns in Branden Jacobs Jenkins’ Purpose and Ossie Davis’ Purlie Victorious. She is slated to return to Broadway later this month in Proof alongside Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle. Mulvaney attained virality through her “Days of Girlhood” TikTok series and has been performing her head off as Ann Boleyn in the Broadway smash SIX: The Musical. Morrison received a Tony nomination for his supporting role in A Strange Loop and is currently starring on Broadway in Oh, Mary! as President Abraham Lincoln. Robert Bartley, the creator of Broadway Backwards, will direct and choreograph the show.

Sign of the Times

Speaking of Jenn Colella... the Come From Away star will perform in a concert of the new musical Signs of Life at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall on April 12. Written by Christopher DeLair, Signs of Life explores a young man’s journey to self-actualization through the guidance of twelve divinely feminine zodiac signs. Colella will be joined by Grammy winner and Tony nominee Shoshana Bean (The Lost Boys, Hell’s Kitchen), Leif Coomer (Mrs. Doubtfire in Seattle), Bella Coppola (Smash), Charity Angél Dawson (Waitress), Tony nominee Amber Iman (Lempicka), Alexa Green (Wicked) and Sabrina Shah (Kimberly Akimbo). Signs of Life began as a concept album featuring the vocal contributions of Bean, Colella, Coomer, Coppola, Green, Grammy nominee/unsinkable Titanique diva Deborah Cox, Jinkx Monsoon, Solea Pfeiffer and Emmy/Tony/Grammy nominee Vanessa Williams, among others. Additional performers and guests will be announced at a later date.

Who's Afraid of Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup?

Drinks, anyone? Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is getting a major West End revival. Gillian Anderson (The X Files, The Crown) and Billy Crudup (Almost Famous, Jay Kelly) will star in a limited run of the drawing room drama at @sohoplace under the direction of Tony winner Marianne Elliott. Crudup and Anderson will play George and Martha, the barb-swapping couple who enact psychological warfare on young newlyweds visiting their abode. Josh Dylan and Phoebe Horn will join them onstage as Nick and Honey, the unsuspecting victims of George and Martha's vicious parlor games. The revival will feature scenic and costume design by Miriam Buether, lighting design by James Farncombe and sound design by Ian Dickinson. Though Anderson is best known for her work in film and television, she began her career in theater and has starred in London productions of A Doll's House, A Streetcar Named Desire and Ivo van Hove's All About Eve. Crudup made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and received Tony nominations for his work in The Elephant Man and The Pillowman. Elliott helmed the most recent Broadway revivals of Company and Angels in America, both of which transferred from the West End. Widely regarded as one of the most important theatrical works of the 20th century, Virginia Woolf won Best Play at the 1963 Tony Awards and was subsequently adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1966 starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Opening is set for September 30, and the production will run through December 19.

P.S.

The Sally Bowles of the '70s, the pride of Vincente and Judy, the muse of Kander and Ebb and Halston and Warhol, the survivor, the chanteuse, the Single Lady, Miss Liza May Minnelli is coming to New York for one night only. The Cabaret Oscar winner will be appearing at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center on March 23 to sing songs, share stories and promote her recently published memoir Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!. She will be joined by piano man Michael Feinstein, who helped develop the book with her. A bonafide Broadway legend, Minnelli won Tonys for her leading performances in Flora the Red Menace and The Act.