This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, December 2
The Sound of Music, directed by Mark S. Hoebee, featuring Ashley Blanchet (Maria Rainer), Graham Rowat (Captain Georg von Trapp, Cáitlín Burke (Mother Abbess), Emily Borromeo (Elsa Schraeder), Gavin Lee (Max Detweiler), Analise Scarpaci (Liesl von Trapp), Andrew Alstat (Rolf Gruber), Stacia Fernanez (Frau Schmidt), Christopher Gurr (Herr Zeller), Paul Slade Smith (Franz), Mark Banik (Admiral von Schreiber), Coleman Simmons (Friedrich), Jacey Sink (Louisa), Cody Braverman (Kurt), Tara Rajan (Brigitta), Austin Elle Fisher (Marta), and Charlotte Sydney Harrington (Gretl), with Charlotte, Ethan Joseph, Griffen Binnicker, Dean Cestari, Brittany Conigatti, Nick Davis, Vincent DePeri, Madeleine Doherty, Eric Michael Gillett, Gina Hanzik, Katie Horner, May Illes, Meredith Lustig, Kate Mazza, Christine Price, Chandler Reeves, Emily Royer, Kayleen Seidl, Arian Vales, and Kai B. White, opens at NJ’s Paper Mill Playhouse.
A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas, adapted & performed by Paul Morella, opens at MD’s Olney Theatre.
Invincible – the Musical, world premiere by Bradley Bredeweg, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene, featuring Khamary Rose (Romeo), Kay Sibal (Juliet), Sharon Leal (Madame Capulet), Dionne Gipson (Madame Montague), Brennin Hunt (Paris), Ari Notartomaso (Benvolio), Julia Harriman (Nura), Jon Patrick Walker (Friar), Aaron Alcaraz (Mercutio), and Josh Strobl (Taybalt), with Steven Agdeppa, Gillian Bozajian, Cameron Field, Sophia Hall, Nadja Hayes, Eric Myrick, Ian Paget, Lyric Rachae, Krystle Rose Simmons, Kelsey Lee Smith, Ian Ward, and Kendyl Sayuri Yokoyama, opens at Beverly Hills’ The Wallis.
Winter Wishes – A Holiday Cabaret Theatre, directed by Victoria Lavan, featuring Luis Anduaga, Amanda Boutaud, Harleigh Ford, Stella Grimaldi, Cody Kelepolo, Mimi Kmet, Robert W. Laur, Constance Mellors, Zoe Mibner, Scottie Nevil, Alyssa Rubert, and Michael Van Duzer, opens at LA’s Theatre West.
Cinderella, directed by Peggy Hickey, featuring Emily Grace Tucker (Ella), Tracy Lore (Madame), Joanna Johnson (Charlotte), Aviva Pressman (Gabrielle), Patrick Ortiz (Prince Topher), Perry Ojeda (Sebastian), Daebreon Poiema (Marie), Nick Tubbs (Lord Pinkleton), and Jalon Matthews (Jean-Michel), with Richard Bulda, Michael Bullard, Rorey Chavarria, Quintan Craig, Lauren Decierdo, Erin Dubreuil, Missy Marion, Sarah Morgan, Alejandro MullerDahlberg, Noelle Elizabeth Roth, Callula Sawyer, and Adam Winer, previews at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West.
Saturday, December 3
Cinderella, directed by Peggy Hickey, featuring Emily Grace Tucker (Ella), Tracy Lore (Madame), Joanna Johnson (Charlotte), Aviva Pressman (Gabrielle), Patrick Ortiz (Prince Topher), Perry Ojeda (Sebastian), Daebreon Poiema (Marie), Nick Tubbs (Lord Pinkleton), and Jalon Matthews (Jean-Michel), with Richard Bulda, Michael Bullard, Rorey Chavarria, Quintan Craig, Lauren Decierdo, Erin Dubreuil, Missy Marion, Sarah Morgan, Alejandro MullerDahlberg, Noelle Elizabeth Roth, Callula Sawyer, and Adam Winer, opens at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West.
Ain’t Misbehavin’, directed by Wren T. Brown, featuring Yvette Cason (Nell), Rogelio Douglas Jr. (Andre), Connie Jackson (Armelia), Marty Austin Lamar (Ken), and Angela Wildflower (Charlene), opens at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre.
A Christmas Carol, adapted by Geoff Elliott, directed by Jeff Elliott & Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, featuring Geoff Elliott (Ebenezer Scrooge), Jeremy Rabb (Marly), Bert Emmett (Bob Cratchit), Emily Kosloski (Mrs. Cratchit), Rafael Goldstein (Fred), Sydney A. Mason (Fred’s Wife), Stanley Andrew Jackson III (Ghost of Christmas Present), Deborah Strang (Ghost of Christmas Past), and Frederick Stuart (Narrator), with Clifton Adams, Stella bullock, José Donado, Cynthia San Luis, Amalia Anne Morris, Kwayi Ndjamen, Roshni Shukla, and Andrea Somera, opens at Pasadena’s A Noise Within.
Ensemble Theatre Company‘s A Christmas Carol, adapted by Patrick Barlow, directed by Jamie Torcellini., featuring Mark Capri (Scrooge), Regina Fernandez, Bo Foxworth, Louis Lotorto, and Jenna Cardia, opens at Santa Barbara’s New Vic.
Tammy Faye, by James Graham, Elton John & Jake Shears, directed by Rupert Goold, featuring Katie Brayben, Andrew Rannells, Zubin Varla, Kelly Agbowu, Amy Booth-Steel, Ashley Campbell, Peter Caulfield, Danny Collins, Richard Dempsey, Fred Haig,Georgia Louise, Robyn Rose, Nicholas Rowe, Martin Sarreal, Steve John Shepherd, and Gemma Sutton, closes at London’s Almeida Theatre.
Sunday, December 4
The Neil Diamond Musical: A Beautiful Noise, by Anthony McCarten, directed by Michael Mayer, featuring Will Swenson (Neil Diamond), Mark Jacoby (Neil Diamond – Now), Robyn Hurder (Marcia), and Linda Powell (Doctor), Jessie Fisher (Jaye Posner), Michael McCormick (Fred Colby/Tommy ORourke), Tom Alan Robbins (Bert Berns/Kieve Diamond), Bri Sudia (Ellie Greenwich/Rose Diamond), and Nick Fradiani (Neil Diamond on Wed. evenings), with Neal Benari, Ninako Donville, Kalonjee Gallimore, Samantha Gershamn, Alex Hairston, Makai Hernandez, Jess LeProtto, Tatiana Lofton, Aaron James McKenzie, Mary Page Nance, Robert Pendilla, Max Sangerman, and MiMi Scardulla, opens at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre.
Becky Nurse of Salem, by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Rebecca Taichman, featuring Tina Benko, Candy Buckley, Alicia Crowder, Deirdre O’Connell, Thomas Jay Ryan Sanchez, and Bernard White, opens at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi Newhouse Theatre.
Life of Pi, by Lolita Chakrabarti, directed by Max Webster, featuring Brian Thomas Abraham (Cook/Voice of Richard Parker), Rajesh Bose (Father/Ghost Father), Avery Glymph (Father Martin/Admiral Jackson), Mahira Kakkar (Nurse/Amma/Orange Juice), Kirstin Louie (Lulu Chen), Salma Shaw (Mrs. Biology Kumar/Zaida Khan), Sathya Sridharan (Mamaji/Pandit-ji), Daisuke Tsuji (Mr. Okamoto/Captain), and Sonya Venugopal (Rani/Ghost Rani), with Usman Ali Ishaq, Mahnaz Damania, Ema Paranjpe, David Shih, Nikki Calonge, Fred Davis, Rowan Magee, Jonathan David Martin, Betsy Rosen, Celia Mei Rubin, Scarlet Wilderink, and Andrew Wilson, begins previews at Cambridge’s A.R.T.
Camp Siegfried, by Bess Wohl, directed by David Cromer, featuring Johnny Berchtold and Lily McInerny, closes at Off-Broadway’s Tony Kiser Theatre.
Boswell, by Marie Kohler, directed by Laura Gordon, featuring Phoebe González, Rebecca Hurd, Josh Krause, Miriam A. Laube, Brian Mani, and Triney Sandoval, with Liz Days, R. Ward Duffy, Emily Fury Daly, Ty Fanning, and Rex Young, closes at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters.
A Ghost Story, by Danny Robin, directed by Matthew Dunster, featuring Constance Wu (Jenny), Anna Camp (Lauren), Adam Rothenberg (Ben), and Finn Wittrock (Sam), closes at LA’s Ahmanson Theatre.
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An all-new production of The Wiz, by William F. Brown & Charlie Smalls, with additional material by Amber Ruffin, will launch a national tour in Fall 2023 before returning to Broadway for a limited run in 2023-24 season, directed by Schele Williams, with choreography by Jaquel Knight. and music supervision by Joseph Joubert.
Casting and additional information TBA.
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New York Film Critics Circle 2022 Award winners. Click here for the complete list of winners (may be still updating).
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London’s Crazy for You will transfer to the Gillian Lynne Theatre for a limited West End engagement, June 24, 2023 – Jan. 20, 2024 (opening July 3), directed by Susan Stroman.
Charlie Stemp (Bobby Child), Carly Anderson (Polly Walker), Matthew Craig (Lank Hawkins), Tom Edden (Bela Zangler), and more TBA.
Stroman talks about Charlie Stemp: “My goodness, I would really have to go back to film song-and-dance men. He’s really like a cross between Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. He’s a combo platter, and he is able to do everything that they could do — and to be quite honest, he’s probably the best song-and-dance man I’ve ever worked with.”
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Off-Broadway’s Transport Group will present Joe Landry’s adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life on Mon. Dec. 12 at 8 PM at NYC’s Sheen Center, directed by Jack Cummings III.
Donna Lynne Champlin (George Bailey), Marc Kudisch (Nick the Bartender), Maryann Plunkett (Clarence), Mary Testa (Henry F. Potter), Barbara Walsh (Ma Bailey), Nick Westrate (Violet Bick), Michael Mastro (Uncle Billy), Barbara Andres (Mr. Gower), and Sherry D. Boone (Mary Hatch, with George Abud, Lauren Blackman, Michael Hartung, Colin Hanlon, Christopher Innvar, Tiny Johnson, Kelly McAndrew, Jennifer Piech, Blair Ross, Tally Sessions, Cheryl Stern, and Tatiana Wechsler, Tina Chilip, Tim Dolan, David Huynh, Francesca James, Kyra Kennedy, Erica Knight, Danny Kornfeld, Emma Orelove, Nancy Shayne and John Wellman.
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Audio: Jessie Buckley & Luke Evans sing “Later Never Comes” from the “Scrooge: A Christmas Carol” soundtrack, which streams on Netflix.
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Fun Home will run Dec. 6-18 at CA’s Coachella Valley Rep, directed by Adam Karsten, with music direction by Michael Reno.
Kristen Howe (Alison), Victor Wallace (Bruce), Leslie Tinnaro (Helen), Cecily Dowd (Medium Alison), Keeley Karsten (Small Alison), Charlotte Wallace (Joan), Griffen Campbell (Christian), CJ Wealand (John), and Blake Devin Dwyer (Roy).
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Video: The Broadway cast of Almost Famous, featuring Solea Pfeiffer, Chris Wood, Drew Gehling, Casey Likes, and more, performs “Tiny Dancer”
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Irish Rep has announced 2 upcoming productions:
The Smuggler (Jan. 18 – Feb. 6, opening Jan. 26), by Ronán Noone, directed by Conor Bagley, featuring Michael Mellamphy.
Endgame (Jan. 25 – Mar. 12, 2023, opening Feb. 2), by Samel Beckett, directed by Ciarán O’Reilly, starring Bill Irwin & John Douglas Thompson, with Joe Grifasi and Patrice Johnson.
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Darius de Haas: The Holiday Concert will take place Tues. Dec. 20 at 9:30 PM at NYC’s 54 Below, with music direction by Tedd Firth.
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Christmas on the Rocks, conceived & directed by Rob Ruggiero, continues through Dec. 23 at TheaterWorks Hartford, and includes two new stories by Judy Gold and Jenn Harris.
Harry Bouvy, Jen Cody, and Ted Lange.
This years production features seven playwrights each adding their own spin to the canon of holiday traditions past.
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Warren Leight’s Home Front will run Jan. 7 – Feb. 19 (opening Jan. 13) at Burbank’s Victory Theatre (link TBA), directed by Maria Gobetti.
Austin Highsmith Garces, C.J. Lindsey, and Jonathan Slavin.
VJ Night, 1945. On a night like this, anything can happen — the world is never going to be the way it was. a white woman and an African American soldier who fall in love the night WWII ends — a time of euphoria for Americans after years of devastating conflict. But can that sense of good will and new beginnings wipe away the racial mistrust and discrimination in a county still deeply mired in the Jim Crow Era?
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Upcoming cast changes in Broadway’s Moulin Rouge at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre:
Aaron Tveit returns Jan. 7 – Mar. 25.
Derek Klena returns Apr. 11.
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Theatre West‘s production of ESENHOWER: This Piece of Ground, written & directed by Richard Hellesen, has been extended through Dec. 9 at its new location at LA’s Hudson Mainstage.
John Rubinstein (General Eisenhower).