'Most ambitious lineup' yet: Audra McDonald, Chita Rivera headline summer of 40-plus stars at Provincetown's Art House, Town Hall

More than 40 Broadway, comedy, music, TV and drag stars will be part of a summer series at Provincetown’s Art House in what’s being described as the “largest and most ambitious lineup of music and comedy superstars yet” for producing artistic director Mark Cortale.

Audra McDonald, Chita Rivera, Stephanie J. Block, Jessica Vosk, Bianca Del Rio, the Indigo Girls, Sasha Velour, Victoria Clark, Lillias White, Rachel Bay Jones, Donna McKechnie and Melissa Errico are among the performers announced this week for a busy summer season that will run from Memorial Day through September.

And for the first time, Cortale — in his 11th season at the Art House — will offer a “Virtuoso” series spotlighting six musicians who are being called the “brightest stars” of solo classical music.

At the center of the schedule is the “Broadway @” series that Sirius XM radio star Seth Rudetsky has taken to a dozen venues around the world after creating its signature concert/chat format in Provincetown. The schedule will be split between the Art House at 214 Commercial St., and Provincetown Town Hall (260 Commercial St.).

Tickets and information for all shows: www.ptownarthouse.com or 800-838-3006.

Memorial Day weekend

The season will kick off on the holiday weekend that opens the Cape Cod summer season with local performer Zoë Lewis and her “A Slice of Ptown” show (“30 years of songs and stories inspired by one incredible little spit of land”) on May 27-28 with Parker Ousley and Roxanne Layton; and indie rock star Melissa Ferrick returning for the 11th year on May 28.

The Broadway @ series and more

At Town Hall: Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald — “The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess” and “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” on Broadway and TV’s “The Gilded Age” and “The Good Fight” — will open the Town Hall series on May 29 with Rudetsky as music director and host.

That series will again raise funds for Sandy Hook Promise, which fights gun violence.

Other stars playing at that venue will be Bianca Del Rio, champion of Season 6 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” in her "Unsanitized" world tour on July 3; Stephanie J. Block, Tony winner for her title role in “The Cher Show” and star of “Falsettos,” on July 10 (back after a storm-cancelled Town Hall debut last summer), with Rudetsky; and, on Aug. 7 with Rudetsky, Chita Rivera, two-time Tony winner who originated the Broadway roles of Anita in “West Side Story,” Rosie in “Bye Bye Birdie” and Velma in “Chicago.”

Also at Town Hall, on Aug. 14, Sasha Velour, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 9 champion, will make her Provincetown debut over Carnival Weekend; on Aug. 21, Grammy Award-winning recording stars Indigo Girls will perform; and on Sept. 4, Rudetsky will be joined by Jessica Vosk (Elphaba in Broadway’s “Wicked”).

They'll try again:'Coming home': Broadway star Stephanie J. Block returns to live concerts in Provincetown

Broadway @ the Art House: Shows at the smaller venue will include, with Rudetsky: June 24-25, Rachel Bay Jones (Tony for “Dear Evan Hansen,” star of “Pippin”); July 1-2, Victoria Clark (Tony for “The Light in the Piazza,” star of “Sister Act,” “Gigi”); July 8-9, Christy Altomare (“Anastasia,” “Mamma Mia”); July 30-31, Donna McKechnie (Tony winner as Cassie in the original “A Chorus Line”); Aug. 12-13, Lillias White (Tony for “The Life” and star of “Cats,” “Carrie”); and Sept. 30-Oct. 1, Beth Malone (Tony nominee for “Fun Home,” star of “Angels in America”).

Concerts with Broadway stars

Several Broadway stars will bring concerts with other accompaniment, and other shows  to the Art House for the "Broadway @" series. These will include, in July, July 17-18, Faith Prince (Tony for “Guys and Dolls”) and Jason Graae (“A Grand Night For Singing,” “Falsettos”) in “You & Me But Mostly Me!”; July 18, comedian and singer/actor Roderick Ferguson in “Man Overboard”; and July 22-23, Tony nominee Melissa Errico (star of “Amour,” “My Fair Lady” and “Passion”) in “No One Is Alone: Melissa Errico Remembers Stephen Sondheim.”

Later in the summer/fall will be Aug 5-6, Tony-nominated sisters Ann Hampton Callaway and Liz Callaway in “Broadway the Calla-way!”; Aug. 26-27, Max von Essen (Tony and Grammy nominee best known for “American in Paris” and “Anastasia”); Sept. 16-17, Hannah Corneau (Elphaba in “Wicked”); and Sept. 23-24, Mauricio Martinez, Mexican Emmy-winning actor and recording artist who starred on Broadway as Emilio Estefan in “On Your Feet! The Story Of Emilio & Gloria Estefan.”

More concerts

Other Art House shows will include Aug. 19-20, Edmund Bagnell of singing/strings-playing group Well-Strung in a new solo show; Aug. 23-Sept. 4, cabaret legend and Grammy nominee Marilyn Maye (in her 11th Provincetown summer) for “94: Of Course There’s More”; Sept. 3, singer Nicolas King; and Sept. 9-10, Daniel Shevlin, of Well-Strung in a solo show.

Indomitable at 94:Cabaret legend Marilyn Maye returns to Provincetown

Comedy and music

Comedy and music shows, some settling in for longer runs at the Art House, will include comedian Judy Gold; "RuPaul's Drag Race" stars Ginger Minj and Miz Cracker; comedy trio Unitard, July 12-13, in "Dangerous Adult Comedy"; and Steven Brinberg’s “Simply Barbra” show, Sept. 1-2.

A classical music repertoire

Cortale's new “Virtuoso” series will feature soprano Kelly Glyptis on June 23; flutist Eric Maul on July 7; pianist Alissa Leiser on July 21; cellist Daniel Lelchuk on Aug. 7; marimba player Brian Calhoon on Aug. 25; and soprano Marisol Montalvo on Sept. 8.

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