Tag Archives: Francois Battiste

Bobby Cannavale to Star in First Staging of Stephen Sondheim’s Final Musical, “Here We Are”

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Bobby Cannavale is here…

The 53-year-old half-Cuban American Emmy-winning actor will star in Here We Are, the first production of Stephen Sondheim’s final musical.

Bobby CannavaleCannavale is among a roster of cast members that include Francois Battiste, Tracie Bennett, Micaela Diamond, Amber Gray, Jin Ha, Rachel Bay Jones, Denis O’Hare, Steven Pasquale, David Hyde Pierce and Jeremy Shamos are set for the show, which will make its world premiere on September 28 for a limited Off Broadway engagement at The Shed.

Sondheim’s final, long-awaited musical will be directed by two-time Tony winner Joe Mantello.

Formerly known as Square One, the final musical composed by Sondheim before his death in 2021 features a book by David Ives and is inspired by the two films The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel by Luis Buñuel.

Executive Producers for Here We Are are Sue Wagner, John Johnson and Jillian Robbins, and the musical will be co-presented by The Shed; Artistic Director Alex Poots, President and COO Maryann Jordan, and Chief Executive Producer Madani Younis.

Here We Are will be the latest in a string of Sondheim musicals to receive New York stagings since the Broadway legend’s death, including Company and Into the Woods. Sweeney Todd is currently in previews on Broadway, and revival of Merrily We Roll Along will begin Broadway previews in September.

Shortly before his death, Sondheim appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and confirmed that the musical, then called Square One, was being readied for staging. He told Colbert that he’d been working on the musical for “a couple of years.” A workshop was held in 2016, and Nathan Lane said in 2021 that he Bernadette Peters had recently participated in a reading of the musical.

Monica Raymund to Star in “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial”

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Monica Raymund is headed to court…

The 36-year-old half-Dominican American actress will star in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.

Monica RaymundRaymund, the star of Starz’s Hightown, is part of a roster of new cast additions that includes Lance Reddick, Griffin Dunne, Elizabeth Anweis, Lewis Pullman, Francois Battiste and Gabe Kessler.

They join previously announced leads Keifer Sutherland, Jake Lacy, and Jason Clarke.

Led by director William Friedkin, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, originally written in 1951 by Herman Wouk, is being retold for modern times and will follow the United States Navy while on trial for mutiny. Until now, there has never been a mutiny on record within the U.S. Navy.

While the USS Caine was engulfed in a deadly typhoon off the coast of Iran, Maryk invoked Article 184 of Naval Regulations to relieve his superior, Lt. Commander Phillip Francis Queeg (Sutherland), of duty. Maryk, self-righteous and insistent that his extreme actions were justified, argued Queeg was mentally unstable and that his paranoid delusions were endangering the ship and crew.

As a result, Maryk took command and in doing so, steered The Caine directly into the storm. Fortunately, the ship and her entire crew survived, giving Maryk a deep belief that his actions were warranted. Through a series of witness examinations and deep prodding at the inner psyche of a career Naval Commander, Greenwald is able to poke holes in the mutiny charge against his client.

Raymund will portray Challee, a Lieutenant with a sharp legal mind and eye for detail who serves as the prosecuting attorney during the court-martial, doing their best to argue that Commander Queeg was wrongfully relieved of his duties.

The project hails from Paramount Global Content Distribution for Showtime.