• GRACE NOTES: Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026

     

    Today’s Highlights:

     

      Beauty and the Beast national tour, directed & choreographed by Matt West, featuring Kyra Belle Johnson (Belle, Fergie L. Philippe (Beast), Stephen Mark Lukas (Gaston), Danny Gardner (Lumiere), Javier Ignacio (Cogsworth), Harry Francis (Le Fou), Holly Ann Butler (Madame), Cameron Monroe Thomas (Babette), and Levi Blaise Coleman & Kanoa Edgar (alternating as Chip), Christina Rose Hall (Mrs. Potts), and Aaron Kaburick (Maurice), with Vinny Andaloro, Benjamin Cheng, Spencer Dean, Julian Marcus De Guzman, Michael Dikegoros, Leigh-Ann Esty, Masumi Iwai, Darrell T. Joe, Emily Larger, Lena Matthews, Caleb McArthur, Melaina Rairamo, Ellen Roberts, Grace Marie Rusnica, Ben Sears, Michael Seltzer, Jasmine Pearl Villaroel, and Kate Wesler, opens at LA’s Pantages Theatre.

     

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       Broadway Grosses for the week ending Aug. 9.

     

    Click here for the complete analysis.

     

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       The cast album of Dylan MarcAurele ‘s Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody will release its original cast album on Sept. 18. The critically acclaimed production has been has been extended twice, and is playing at Off-Broadway’s The Culture Club  (530 W 27th St.) through Sun. Nov. 1.

     

      Jay Armstrong Johnson (Iya Rozanov) and Jimin Moon (Shane Hollander), with Ryann Redmond, Cherry Torres, Ryan Duncan, Shelby Acosta and Daniel Brackett.

     

       Video:  “Gym Song.”

     

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     The forthcoming publication of Everybody, by Pulitzer Prize–, Tony Award– and MacArthur Fellow Branden Jacobs-Jenkins will  be published by TCG Books on Aug. 25, and is available now for pre-order here.

     

       Inspired by the 15th-century morality play Everyman, the play is an inventive and deeply moving meditation on mortality, identity, and the human experience. At each performance, the role of Everybody is assigned by lottery from among five actors, making every production uniquely unpredictable.

     

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      Meet Me in St. Louis continues through Aug.13 at the St. Louis Muny, directed by Maggie Burrows.

     

     Patti Murin, Colin Donnell, Katerina McCrimmon, Beth Leavel, Stan Brown, Andrew Poston, Kyla Stone, Ilan Eskenazi, Lilah Levinson and Joylin Bass. Also rounding out the cast are Kaley Bender, Chloe Chamberlin, Jason Goldston, Beau Harmon, Ava Noble, Ben Nordstrom, Sandra Valeska Orozco, Jasmine Overbaugh, Gregory Lee Rodriguez, Ronan Ryan, Michael Santomassimo, Leann Schuering, Gordon Semeatu, Drew Tanabe, Bronwyn Tarboton, Allie Villhard and Justus Wheatley.

     

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       Faydra, by Sarah Ruhl, will run in Feb. 2027 (dates TBA) at New York City Center Stage I, directed by Les Waters.

     

      Julianne Moore and one more TBA.

     

      Aphrodite aims her bow at Faydra and lets an arrow of love fly. Nothing is ever the same. Mostly because the object of Faydra’s sudden, all-devouring lust is her soon-to-be stepson.

     

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      The Echo Theater Company will present the world premiere of Janine Nabers’ The Peterson Show will run Sept. 19 – Oct. 26 at the Atwater Village Theatre , directed by Michelle Bossy.

     

      Kelly McCreary, Tamberla Perry,and, John Clarence Stewart, Kristen Ariza, Deanna Reed-Foster, and Journee Rose.

     

      Five former child stars reunite as the legacy of their beloved television father collapses into scandal. With cameras swarming outside and decades of unresolved history inside, they confront old rivalries, buried secrets and the complicated bonds forged while growing up on America’s favorite sitcom. At once hilarious and heartbreaking, The Peterson Show raises a difficult question: What happens to a family when the person who held it together becomes the one who tears it apart?

     

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       Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes will take place Thurs. October 1 at  7:30 PM at NYC’s 92nd Street Y, conceived by Scott Wittman and written by Jeffrey Richman, with music direction & arrangements by Joseph Thalken & Brad Phillips.

     

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      A new adaptation of Damon Horowitz’s Becoming Hamlet, directed by Sybille Bruun, will begin previews Oct. 5 and 0pen Sept. 10 at Five Angels Theater, directed by Sybille Bruun.

     

      The Audience (Hamlet),  David H. Littleton (Claudius), Désirée Baxter Gertrude),  Jim Pratzon (Polonius), Steven Lamont (Laertes), Judith Feingold (Ophelia), Tyler Moss (Horatio), Truman Gaudoin (Guildencrantz;), Equiano Mosieri (Ghost/Gravedigger),and Damon Horowitz (Hamlet Guide), with Tristan Andre Addy Paul Jenkins, Emily Jackoway, and Sevans Martinez as the Facilitators.

      The play reimagines Shakespeare’s masterpiece as a participatory event in which audience members assume the role of the troubled Danish prince. Through guided participation, spoken text, and direct interaction with a professional ensemble, audiences experience Hamlet’s journey from the inside—grappling with grief, love, betrayal, indecision, family, and the search for purpose. A groundbreaking theatrical experience in which the audience doesn’t simply watch Hamlet—they become Hamlet.

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      Due to popular demand, The  Gazillion Bubble Show has extended through Jan. 18, 2027 at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages.

     

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      Come From Away will run Sept.2-21 at Virginia Stage, directed by  Tom Quaintance.

     

       TBA.

     

      The  remarkable true story of what happened when American airspace closed on September 11, 2001, and thousands of passengers were diverted to the tiny town of Gander, Newfoundland. What happened next was extraordinary. Locals opened their homes. Schools became shelters. Food appeared. Friendships formed. And in the middle of an incredibly difficult moment, thousands of complete strangers found reasons to laugh, sing, dance, and take care of each other.

     

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       LA’s Celebration Theatre will present a benefit reading of Bruce Vilanch’s Captain Show Biz on Thurs. Aug. 20 at 8 PM at Harmony Gold, directed by Nell Teare.

     

    Marilu Henner,  Sally Struthers, Grant Show, Jai Rodriguez, Alec Mapa; Disney star Garrett Clayton (King Cobra, Hairspray Live!); Sharon McNight, and Jason Michael Snow.

     

      The story follows Harlon Star, a colorfully flamboyant and egotistical producer (loosely based on the late Oscar producer Alan Carr) whose grand dream of producing the Academy Awards spectacularly blows up in his face