This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, January 7
Piano Men, by Mark Clements, directed by Steve Watts, featuring Steve Watts and Nygel D. Robinson, opens at Milwaukee Rep.
John Lloyd Young: Mostly Soul concert opens at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club.
Gavin Creel in concert at Westport Country Playhouse, airs at 9 PM on PBS (check local listings).
“Tomorrow,” a new music-filled podcast set five years after the events of Broadway’s Annie, by David Kreizman, Ben Strouse, Donn Swajeski & Marla Kanelos, directed by directed by Kreizman & Claire McClanahan, featuring Laura Benanti (Miss Hannigan), Abbie-Grace Levi (Annie), Lance Reddick (Daddy Warbucks), Lila Fields (Molly), Gabriella Scott (Tessie), Bobbi Bordley (Pepper), Sam Zaslow Braverman (Adam), Alan Ruck (Drake), Anne Beyer (Maura), Jon Lindstrom (Senator Jeffries), and Anjali Jay (Venita Dewan), begins streaming on all podcast platforms (for one year).
Saturday, January 8
Broadway the Calla-way concert, starring Liz & Ann Hampton Callaway, closes in person, but also livestreamed at 8 PM ET at NYC’s 54 Below.
“The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal” with special guests Heidi Blickenstaff, Jason Gotay, Aléna Watters, and Lea Michele, airs here (through Jan. 9).
A Christmas Carol, adapted by Jack Thorne, directed by Matthew Warchus, featuring Stephen Mangan, Bridgette Amofah, Geraint Downing, Nicola Espallardo, Karen Fishwick, Amanda Hadingue, Nick Hart, Oli Higginson, Rachel John, Andrew Langtree, Jack Shalloo, Rose Shalloo, James Staddon, Samuel Townsend, Casey-Indigo Blackwood-Lashley, Rayhaan Kufuor-Gray, Eleanor Stollery, Suri White, closes at London’s Old Vic.
The Prince of Egypt, directed by Scott Schwartz, featuring Luke Brady (Moses), Liam Tamne (Ramses), Christine Allado (Tzipporah), Alexia Khadime (Miriam), Joe Dixon (Seti), Debbie Kurup (Tuya), Oliver Lidert (Jethro), Mercedesz Csampai (Yocheved), Adam Pearce (Hotep), Nardia Ruth (Nefertari), and Silas Wyatt-Barke (Aaron), with Simbi Akande, Casey Al-Shaqsy, Jordan Anderton, Joe Atkinson, Danny Becker, Felipe Bejarano, Pàje Campbell, Catherine Cornwall, Adam Filipe, Sophia Foroughi, Natalie Green, George Hankers, Jack Harrison-Cooper, Kalene Jeans, Christian Knight, Jessica Lee, Daniel Luiz, Jay Marsh, Scott Maurice, Carly Miles, Alice Readie, Samuel Sarpong-Broni, Christopher Short, Molly Smith, Marco Venturini, Ricardo Walker, Niko Wirachman and Sasha Woodward together with young performers Chenai Broadbent, Cian Eagle-Service, Maiya Eastmond, Jersey Blu Georgia, Taylor Jenkins, George Menezes Cutts, Iman Pabani, and Vishal Soni, closes at London’s Dominion Theatre.
John Lloyd Young: Mostly Soul concert closes at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club.
Sunday, January 9
Roundabout Theatre‘s Trouble in Mind, by Alice Childress, directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, featuring LaChanze (Wiletta Mayer), Chuck Cooper (Sheldon Forrester), Millie Davis (Jessica Francis Dukes), Simon Jones (Henry), Don Stephenson (Bill O’Wray), Michael Zegan (Al Manners), Danielle Campbell (Judy Sears), Brandon Michael Hall (John Nevis), and Alex Mickiewicz (Eddie Fenton), closes at Broadway’s American Airlines Theatre.
Jeremy Jordan concludes his run as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors at Off-Broadway’s West Side Theatre.
Once Upon a Once More Time, by John Hartmere, directed & choreography by Keone & Mari Madrid, featuring Briga Heelan (Cinderella), Justin Guarini (Prince Charming), John Glover (Narrator), Emily Skinner (Stepmother), Aisha Jackson (Snow White), Brook Dillman (The O.F.G), and Mimi Scardulla (Belinda), Tess Soltau (Betany), Ashley Chiu (Sleeping Beauty), Raymond J. Lee (Clumsy), Wonu Ogunfowora (Rapunzel), Ryan Steele (Prince Erudite), Morgan Weed (Princess and the Pea), Lauren Zakrin (Little Mermaid), Adriana Weir & Mila Weir (sharing the role of Little Girl), Belinda Allyn (Belle), Stephen Brower (Prince Suave), Jennifer Florentino (Little Red Riding Hood), Selene Haro (Gretl), Joshua Johnson (Prince Brawny), Amy Hillner Larsen (Goldilocks), Kevin Trinio Perdido ( Prince Mischievous), and Stephen Scott Wormley (Prince Affable), with Matt Allen, Salisha Thomas, Matthew Tiberi, and Diana Vaden, closes at Philadelphia’s Shakespeare Theatre Company.
A Strange Loop, by Michael R. Jackson, directed by Stephen Brackett, featuring Antwayn Hopper (Thought 6), L. Morgan Lee (Thought 1), John-Michael Lyles (Thought 3), James Jackson Jr. (Thought 2), John-Andrew Morrison (Thought 4), Jason Beasey (Thought 5), and Jaquel Spivey (Usher), with Christopher Michael Richardson, closes at DC’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
Good People, by David Lindsay-Abaire, directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky, featuring Alison Blanchard, Scott Facher, Michael Kerr, Suzan Solomon, Mariko Van Kampen, and Charlotte Williams, closes at Beverly Hills’ Theatre 40.
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Reviews for Poirot and More, A Retrospective at London’s Harold Pinter Tehatre:
Evening Standard (Nick Curtis): This evening of undemanding reminiscence from David Suchet is baggy in all the wrong places, but it’s being done for all the right reasons… It’s refreshing to see a serious actor at ease with a defining, popular character… Suchet is serious but unpretentious about his craft, seeing himself as a conduit for the writer’s thoughts, rather than his own or a director’s vanities… to spend time with an actor whose talent has always seemed in inverse proportion to his ego. Even if he goes on a bit.
TimeOut (Andrzej Lukowski): …Where McKellen’s show On Stage was flashy and funny and heavy on laughs and audience interaction, Suchet’s Poirot and More is rather more modest. He doesn’t take questions, and rather than solo it, he’s brought along his mate Geoffrey Wansell to act as interlocutor in an evening that has the air of a two-and-a-half-hour after-dinner speech. But actually that’s fine… It’s an old-fashioned but charming evening, divided into two halves that groan with polished bon mots from a fascinating career…
What’s On Stage (Sara Crompton): …A staggering billion people have watched the 70 films he (David Suchet) made over 25 years, which are playing at every moment of every day somewhere on the planet… It’s a benign affair, slightly peculiar in the way it is constructed (mainly) as a conversation with an old friend Geoffrey Wansell, who in bow tie and velvet jacket looks rather grander than the casually dressed star… Suchet himself is an engaging and vivid raconteur, and once he hits his stride, he commands attention.
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& 
NYC’s Harlem Stage has announced its 2022 season:
LIVE EVENTS:
Uptown Nights concert series: featuring Immanuel Wilkins (Jan. 29), Carla Cook (Mar. 12), Maimouna Youssef (Mar. 19), Queen Esther (Apr. 30), Gerald Clayton’s piedmont Blues: A Search for Salvation (May 19-20)… and more TBA.
En El Tiempo de las Mariposas / In the Time of the Butterflies (Mar. 23). 
A fictionalized account of the Mirabal sisters during the time of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic.
E-Moves (Apr. 15-16 & 21-23), featuring dance works by Dormeshia, Dormeshia, Leslie Cuyjet, Sydnie L. Mosley, Vinson Fraley, and Du’Bois A’Keen.
A Drop of Midnight (June 6-11), by Jason “Timbuktu” Diakite. The piece follows the hip-hop artist, born to interracial American parents in Sweden, and his story of growing up in a frail cultural and racial divide.
STREAMING EVENTS:
Bryant Park/Bank of America Picnic Performances (Jan. 22-31)
Carnegie Hall Afrofuturism Festival (Feb. 19-28)
Uptown Nights performances by Natu Camara (Feb. 5-14)
Matthew Whitaker (Mar. 26 – Apr. 4)
Vuyo Sotashe & Chris Pattishall (May 7-16)
The Sole’s Partido (June 18-27)
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Video: Clip of Greg Kinnear in Broadway’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
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Due to COVID-19 outbreaks, Chicago’s Porchlight Music Theatre has announced new dates for upcoming projects:
Blues in the Night (Feb. 9 – Mar. 13, opening Feb. 11), by Sheldon Epps, directed & choreographed by Kenny Ingram.
Clear (Spring dates TBA) reading, by Paul Oakley Stovall, directed by Kenny Ingram. Stoval has fused his personal life experience with his life-changing political odyssey as part of the Obama administration. The musical is for everyone who wants to say yes to life, continue searching for joy and live in their truth.
Passing Strange (Spring dates TBA), by Stew and Heidi Redewald, directed by Donterrio, with choreography by Terri Woodall, and music direction by Justin Akira Kono.
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Bernardo Cubría’s The Play You Want will run Feb. 8 – Mar. 27 at North Hollywood’s Road on Magnolia, directed by Michael John Garcés.
Peter Pasco (Bernardo), Chelsea Gonzalez (Vera), Nathalie Llerena (Chloe/Mija/Jlo), Jonathan Nichols (gilbert Cruz/Alfred Molina), Roland Ruiz (Lin-Manuel Miranda/Mijo/Pablo/John Leguizamo), Christopher Larkin (Sam Gold/Chay Yew/Variety Reporter), and Stewart J. Zully (Oskar Eustis/Scott Rudin.
Fed-up by the theatre world’s desires to box him in, Mexican playwright Bernardo Cubría sarcastically pitches “Nar-Cocos” a play about drug dealers on Día de los Muertos. Much to his surprise, the Public Theatre picks it up. With financial pressures mounting and a newborn at home, this is his chance at a commercial success. But when Scott Rudin offers him a Broadway run on the condition he further exploit his identity and the headlines, he must decide just how much he’s willing to compromise in order to finally be accepted.
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Complete casting has been announced for To Kill a Mockingbird, to begin previews Mar. 10 and open Mar. 31 at the Gielgud Theatre, directed by Bartlett Sher.
Rafe Spall (Atticus Finch), Harry Attwell (Mr. Cunningham/Boo Radley), Amanda Boxer (Mrs Henry Dubose), Poppy Lee Friar (Mayella Ewell), John Hastings (Bailiff), Simon Hepworth (Mr Roscoe/Dr Reynolds), Laura Howard (Miss Stephanie/Dill’s Mother), Lloyd Hutchinson (Link Deas), Gwyneth Keyworth (Scout Finch), Tom Mannion (Sheriff Heck Tate), David Moorst (Dill Harris), Pamela Nomvete (Calpurnia), and Jim Norton (Judge Taylor).
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A biopic of Audrey Hepburnis in the works at Apple, written by Michael Mitnick and directed by Luca Gradagnino. Further details, timeline, release date, and casting TBA.
Rooney Mara (Audrey Hepburn) and more TBA.
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James Valcq & Fred Alley’s The Spitfire Grill will run Jan. 26 – Feb. 13 (opening Jan. 30) at Laguna Playhouse, directed by Steve Steiner, with music direction by Glen Rovinelli.
Julia Hoffman (Percy Talbott), Missy McArdle (Hannah Ferguson), Anneliese Moon (Shelby Thorpe), Alex Canty (Caleb Thorpe), Noah Berry (Sheriff Joe Sutter), Sarah Godwin (Effy Krayneck), Grant Brown (The Visitor), and Glen Rovinelli (The Musician).
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Click here for the complete list of winners for the Broadway World 2021 Cabaret Award Winners.
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Rita Kalneijais’ This Beautiful Future will run Jan. 13-30 (opening Jan. 15) at Theaterlab, directed by Jack Serio.
Austin Pendleton (replacing Bill Buell, who has withdrawn from the production), Justin Mark, and Angelina Fiordellisi.
The play is set in the middle of a war as two teenagers take shelter from a divided world. Elodie is French and 17. Otto, a German soldier, is 15. Safe from the debris outside, they meet secretly for one night, fall in love, and fall through time.
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Due to the spread of COVID-19, Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons has delayed the start of Dave Harris’ Tambo & Bones by one week. The production, directed by Taylor Reynolds, will now run Jan. 19 – Feb. 27.
W. Tré Davis (Tambo) and Tyler Fauntleroy (Bones), with Brendan Dalton and Dean Linnard.
The piece roasts American capitalism’s desire for certain Black narratives, highlighting the narrow confines within which Black characters are placed. As Tambo and Bones test the limits of the frameworks they’re given, Harris’ play wrestles with the country’s racist past and present, and explodes its post-racial future.
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Audio: Britain’s The Queen’s Six performs “Stand By Me”
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This year’s Golden Globe ceremony will not be livestreamed when the awards are presented Sunday, meaning no one outside of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association can view the ceremony. The Globes will be a private event.
The HFPA, which nominates and chooses the recipients of the Golden Globes, was accused by key figures in Hollywood of financial impropriety and a decided lack of diversity in its membership. In May, NBC announced it would not televise the award show over the controversy surrounding the HFPA.
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Due to the steep rise in COVID-19 cases, Chicago Shakespeare Theater has postponed the world premiere of Ingrid Michaelson & Bekah Brunstetter’s The Notebook, which was to have premiered in March. The production will now run Sept. 6 – Oct. 16, directed by Michael Greif & Schele Williams.
Casting TBA.
The musical chronicles the decades-long love story between a mill worker named Noah and a privileged debutante named Allie. Beginning with a whirlwind summer romance, their love affair spans an entire lifetime-in spite of the differences that threaten to pull them apart.
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. Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater‘s next podversation, “Much Ado About Benedick with Grantham Coleman,” will livestream Wed. Jan. 19 at 7:30 PM ET, moderated by Nathan Winkelstein.
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Due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, Chicago Shakespeare Theater has postponed its upcoming world premiere of Ingrid Michaelson & Bekah Brunstetter’s The Notebook. The musical will now run Sept. 6 – Oct. 16, directed by Michael Greif & Schele Williams.
Casting and additional information TBA.
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Ins Choi’s Kim’s Convenience will run July 5-17 at Westport Country Playhouse (link TBA), directed by Nelson T. Eusebio III.
Casting TBA.
The play examines a family-run, Korean-owned convenience store in the Regent Park neighborhood of Toronto.
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. Dan Gillespie & Tom MacRae’s Everybody Loves Jamie will run Jan. 16 – Feb. 20 (opening Jan. 21) at the Ahmanson Theatre, directed by Jonthan Butterell.
Layton Williams (Jamie), Roy Haylock (Hugo/Loco Chanelle), Melissa Jaques (Margaret), Shobna Gulati (Ray), Gillian Ford (Miss Hedge), David O’Reilly (Laika Virgin), Leon Craig (Sandra Bollock), Richard Appaih-Sarpong (Cy), Zion Battles (Levi), Ryan Hughes (Mickey), Jodie Knight (Fatimah), Harriet Payne (Bex), Adam Taylor (Sayid), George Sampson (Dean), Kazmin Borrer (Vicki), and Talia (Palamathanan (Becca), with Simeon Beckett, Rachel Seirian, and Emma Robotham-Hunt.
Jamie New is sixteen and lives in public housing in Sheffield, England. Jamie doesn’t quite fit in, he’s terrified about the future and he’s going to be a sensation. Supported by his loving mum and surrounded by his friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies, and steps out of the darkness and into the spotlight. Inspired by a true story.
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The North American tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical has been delayed due to a COVID-19 breakout in the company. Slated to begin performances on Feb. 26 at Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre, the tour will now begin performances Mar. 19.
Conor Ryan (Christian), Courtney Reed (Satine), and more TBA.
Click here for the complete tour schedule.