Odds and Ends: Bryce Pinkham & Ephraim Sykes Star in Trading Places Musical Presentations, André De Shields Reunites With Hadestown Team

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

Show Me the Money

Trading Places, a Broadway-bound musical based on the 1983 comedy of the same name by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod, is holding two invite-only presentations in New York on May 14 and May 15. The show was previously staged in Atlanta, where it had its 2022 premiere. Bryce Pinkham, who currently plays the Arbiter in Chess on Broadway, will perform in the presentation as Louis Winthorpe III, the role played by Dan Aykroyd in the film. Ephraim Sykes, currently on Broadway in The Fear of 13, takes on Billy Ray Valentine—the role made famous by Eddie Murphy. The presentation will also feature Mark Evans, Marc Kudisch, Jennifer Sánchez, Lenny Wolpe and Broadway.com vlogging alums McKenzie Kurtz (Schmigadoon!) and Josh Lamon (Death Becomes Her). The ensemble includes Jimmy Ray Bennett, Wendi Bergamini, Reid Clarke, Dana Costello, Julia Grondin, Arica Jackson, Raymond J. Lee, James Luc, Xavier Reyes, Michael McCorry Rose, Laughton Royce and Kevin Zak. Trading Places follows a street smart hustler and an out-of-touch commodities broker who find themselves in each other’s shoes when they become pawns in an elaborate bet orchestrated by a pair of scheming brokers. Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner (First Date) penned the score, with prolific script doctor Thomas Lennon on book duty. Kenny Leon directs.

Gods of the Theater, Smile on Us

André De Shields won a Tony for playing Hermes in Hadestown and also voices the god of luck on the Greek mythology-themed podcast Live From Mount Olympus. The seventh season, Live From Mount Olympus: Athena & Artemis, will be a musical, featuring original songs by Magdalini Giannikou. Rachel Chavkin, who also copped a Tony for Hadestown, co-directs the forthcoming season with Josiah Davis. Rounding out the crossover is Hadestown alum Kimberly Marable voicing Leto. Ato Blankson-Wood, last seen on Broadway as Cliff in Cabaret, voices Apollo. Live From Mount Olympus: Athena & Artemis begins streaming on May 12. You can see De Shields in the flesh at the Broadhurst Theatre, where he holds court as Old Deuteronomy in Cats: The Jellicle Ball.

The Guilded Age

Congratulations are in order for Bess Wohl, Lisa Kron, Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, all of whom are recipients of the 2026 Dramatists Guild Award. For Liberation, Wohl will receive the Hull-Warriner Award, which honors an author whose theatrical output involves the political, religious or social mores of the times. Kron will be honored with the Flora Roberts Award, which is presented to a theater professional in recognition of distinguished work in the field. Kron wrote the acclaimed autobiographical play Well and contributed the book and lyrics to the Tony-winning musical Fun Home. Real Women Haves Curves composers Huerta and Velez get to put the Frederick Loewe Award on their mantles, a prize awarded in recognition of achievement in a theatrical score presented in the previous calendar year. The coming-of-age musical about a Mexican-American teen with journalistic ambitions transferred from Los Angeles to Broadway last spring. Outside of the immediate Broadway-sphere, other honorees include the playwrights Kimber Lee, Victor I. Cazares and Migdalia Cruz, the latter of whom has earned the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. College students Maggie Marie Lawson and Liberty Welch are set to receive the Legal Defense Fund Defender Award (say that three times fast!) for their decision to barrel ahead with a production of the queercentric play Boy My Greatness after it had been brought to a halt by their university. Mazel, everyone!

Some Enchanted Evening

Principal casting has been locked and loaded for the MUNY’s summer staging of South Pacific. Paulo Szot and Mean Girls Tony nominee Taylor Louderman lead the cast as Emile de Becque and Nellie Forbush, respectively. Szot previously played the French expat in a 2008 Broadway revival, which earned him a Tony Award. Joan Almedilla will bring “Happy Talk” as Bloody Mary, with Michael Canu as Lt. Joseph Cable, Bobby Conte as Luther Billis, Michaela Marfori as Liat, Robert Crenshaw as Stewpot, John El-Jor as Professor, Michael James Reed as Capt. George Brackett, Jeffrey Cummings as Cmdr. William Harbison, Grace Moore as Ngana and Josiah Paik as Jerome. A beloved entry from Broadway’s Golden Age, South Pacific depicts the complicated romances that unfold on a tropical military base during World War II. The show’s Rodgers and Hammerstein score launched standards like “Some Enchanted Evening,” "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" and "There Is Nothing Like a Dame." South Pacific will run at the MUNY in St. Louis from July 6–12.

Break a Leg!

Netflix has announced the release date for the coming-of-age dramedy Don’t Say Good Luck, which can be streamed globally on August 14. Sunny Sandler stars as a student who seeks the spotlight in her high school’s musical, but must also contend with drama at home. The stacked cast includes Melanie Lynskey, Max Greenfield, Jack Champion, Stephanie Beatriz, Scarlett Estevez, Jon Lovitz, Emma McNulty, Elyse Bell, Steve Buscemi and Tony-winning Chicago legend Bebe Neuwirth. Julia Hart directs from a screenplay she co-wrote with Laura Hankin and Jordan Horowitz. We’ve been told there will be a musical theater sequence or two, so we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled as we continue to refurbish our Bebe shrine.