Two female Hamlets, a new rock musical & other shows happening at Cape Cod theaters

The summer theaters are fully in gear now, and we will (or will have, once opening dates are past) online reviews of as many of them as we can at www.capecodtimes.com/entertainment.

The just-opened shows include College Light Opera Company’s season starter in Falmouth of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta of romance and mix-ups “The Gondoliers”; Cape Playhouse’s production in Dennis of Noel Coward’s comedy about reunited ex-spouses, “Private Lives”; and Cotuit Center for the Arts’ comic-strip-based musical “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

Opening last weekend were the Academy of Performing Arts’ classic Depression-era musical romance “Guys and Dolls” in Orleans; and the Harbor Stage Company season season starter of Sam Shepard’s darkly comic “Buried Child” in Wellfleet.

Reviews of shows having their final performances this weekend include “Straight White Men” at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater and “Steel Magnolias” at Chatham Drama Guild. CLOC will continue "The Gondoliers" just this weekend and on Tuesday is due to begin its June 28-July 2 production of Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me Kate,” a musical based on Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.”

Reviews: Musical romance & more: 3 Cape Cod theater shows critics say you should see

And here’s a preview of other shows opening this week:

A Shakespeare twist debuts in Provincetown

New York actresses Jennifer Van Dyck and Kate Levywill star in Provincetown Theater’s staging of the world premiere of Sarah Schulman’s comedy “The Lady Hamlet,” opening Monday, June 27 and directed by David Drake, the theater’s artistic director.

The show is described as having “one foot in screwball and the other in a cerebral fencing match.” The actresses will portray a pair of stage divas at the turn-of-the-century in the midst of a fierce battle to see who will be the first — and best — female Hamlet on Broadway. (And who will win the off-stage hand of the actress playing Ophelia.)

Schulman developed “The Lady Hamlet” in part through the theater’s new-play program. Her work includes the novels “After Delores” and “Rat Bohemia,” and nonfiction “Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York.”

Rounding out the cast will be John Shuman (Broadway’s “La Cage Aux Folles,” TV’s “Boardwalk Empire”), local musician/actress Anne Stott (who has appeared in the films “Don’t Look Up,” “The Mothership” and “Crookedfinger”), Laura Scribner and Brandon Cordeiro.

The show will play 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays June 27-July 21 at  Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St. Tickets and information: provincetowntheater.org.

Van Dyck (playing Margo Stayden Burns) has appeared on Broadway in the original casts of “Two Shakespearean Actors,” “Dancing at Lughnasa,” “The Secret Rapture” and in Nicholas Martin’s revival of “Hedda Gabler.” Off Broadway, she has appeared over a decade in the plays of Charles Busch, including hits “The Divine Sister” and “The Confession of Lily Dare.” Film credits include “Michael Clayton,” “Across the Universe,” “Bullets Over Broadway” and she’s appeared on multiple TV shows.

Levy (playing Madame Helene de Montpelier) was most recently in the Broadway company of Theresa Rebeck’s “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” standing by for Tony Award winner Janet McTeer. She has appeared in shows at numerous Off Broadway and regional theaters and multiple TV shows, including “Succession,” “Blue Bloods” and “Younger.”

‘Lily’ rock musical stops in Cotuit

A “campfire version” of Dana McCoy’s rock musical “Lily the Tiger” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 28 in the outdoor theater of Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Falmouth Road (Route 28). The evolving show features McCoy’s original songs and a story described as being “filled with poignancy and humor” as “Lily” navigates a parade of catastrophes.

McCoy will bring in New York talent, including rock musicians Albert Bouchard of Blue Oyster Cult, Alec Morton of Raging Slab and Monster Magnet, and Mike Fornatale of The Losers’ Lounge NYC, Dot Wiggin Band and The Left Banke. McCoy, a part-time area resident and writer/composer/actor in a local production of “A Woman’s Heart,” will take the show on tour to the United Kingdom and New York City later this year.

Tickets: $35; $30 for members; $33 for seniors and veterans. Reservations and information: https://artsonthecape.org/explore/lily-the-tiger.

Broadway stars back in Provincetown

After a sold-our show with Broadway star at Provincetown Town Hall over Memorial Day weekend, Mark Cortale's "Broadway @" series in town begins in earnest this weekend with a concert/interview show featuring Andrea McArdle with music director/host Seth Rudetsky from Sirius XM radio.

McArdle won multiple awards, including a Tony, as the original title character in "Annie," and was also seen on Broadway in "Starlight Express," "State Fair," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Les Miserables."  Subbing for the originally scheduled Rachel Bay Jones, McArdle will join Rudetsky to kick off the summer 2022 series season at 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Art House, 214 Commercial St. Tickets and information: https://provincetownarthouse.com/.

Cape Cod Theatre Project is back  in Falmouth

At the end of the week on June 30, the Cape Cod Theatre Project new-play development program is back in Falmouth for the first time in three years. Although it continued virtually for 2020 and 2021 summers, the season of staged readings will again be Thursdays through Saturdays for four weeks at Falmouth Academy.

First up for the 28th season is "The Violet Sisters" by Drama League winner Gina Femia and directed by 2021 LPTW Lucille Lortel Award recipient Taylor Reynolds. The play about siblings will star Lucy DeVito (Hulu's "Deadbeat," Freeform's "Melissa and Joey") as Sam and Sarah Schenkkan (Amazon Studio's "Z," "Gotham") as Pam. Set post-Hurricane Sandy in Red Hook Brooklyn, Pam returns home after an attempt to "make it" in Los Angeles and is greeted by an angry sister, a dilapidated house and a past she cannot escape.

Shows are June 30-July 2 in the academy's Simon Center. All-access season passes: $100; $25 individual tickets. Reservations and information: https://capecodtheatreproject.org/

Two shows start in repertory for White Heron

White Heron Theatre Company on Nantucket starts its summer season with not one show, but two.

The North American premiere of “The Half,” about an actor recalling his life in the theater, written by “Game of Thrones” actor Richard Dormer, will run June 26-July 17.

Then, running in repertory June 29-July 20, will be the world premiere of Mark Shanahan’s “See Monsters of the Deep,” a fantasy about a man who ventures in a small boat to confront a mysterious monster in Nantucket Harbor and soon becomes part of an infamous prank.

Tickets and information on both: www.whiteherontheatre.org or 508-825-5268.

Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod theaters: 2 female Hamlets, a rock musical, White Heron opens