This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, November 1
F*ck7thGrade, by Jill Sobule & Liza Birkenmeir, directed by Lisa Peterson, featuring Jill Sobule, Julie Wolf, Kristen Ellis-Henderson, and Nini Camp, opens at Off-Broadway’s the Wild Project.
Loneliness Was a Pandemic, world premiere by Olivia Haller, directed by Alex Kopnic, featuring Emily Sullivan, Andrew Moorhead, Cleopatra Boudreau, and Yi Ming Sofyia Xue., opens at Off-Broadway’s Theaterlab (357 W. 36th S., 3rd floor)
Puttin’ On the Ritz: Steve Ross Sings Fred Astaire and Friends concert opens at the UK’s Phesantry.
“The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day” concert, performed by the Boston Pops, featuring Shereen Ahmed, Kate Rockwell, Nicholas Rodriguez, and Daniel Yearwood, begins airing on PBS stations and the PBS app.
Strategic Love Play, by Miriam Battye, directed by Katie Posner, featuring Heléne Yorke and Michael Zegen, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Minetta Lane Theatre.
A Christmas Story the Musical, by Joseph Robinette, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, directed by Hunter Foster, featuring John Scherer (Jean Shepard), Christopher Riley (Ralphie), Jim Stanek (The Old Man), Jenn Gambatese (Mother), Camilo Velasquez Escamilla (Randy), and Rashidra Scott (Miss Shields), with Jenniellen Beattie, Kyle Caress, Jack Casey, Sy Chounchaisit, Marjorie Failoni, Thomas Goldbach V, Laura Guley, Treston J. Henderson, Gavin Holwitt, Addie Jaymes, Ian Knauer, Gabriel Lafazan, Oliver Logue, Izzy Pike, Jesse Swimm, Tommy Betz, and Paris Martino, previews at CT’s Goodspeed.
Little Piece of You — An Atypical Musical, by Melissa Leilani Larson, Kjersti Long, Jeremy Long, Melissa Leilani Larson, Chantry Johnson, Michelle Zarlenga, Wendy Parr, Paul Moak, and Hunter Wolf, directed byJennifer Tang & Joshua Long, closes at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
Sunset Boulevard, directed by Paul Warwick Griffen, featuring Sarah Brightman (Norma Desmond), Tim Draxl (Joe Gillis), Robert Grubb (Max Von Mayerling), Ashleigh Rubenach (Betty Schaefer), Jarrod Draper (Artie Green), Paul Hanlon (Cecil B. DeMille), and Silvie Paladino ( Norma at select performances), with Regan Barber, Amy Berrisford, Billy Bourchier, Campbell Braithwaite, Benjamin Colley, Grace Driscoll, Madison Green, Peter Ho, Leah Lim, Mary McCorry, Charlotte Page, Morgan Palmer, Caity Plummer, Taylor Scanlan, Tom Sharah, Lisa Sontag, Troy Sussman, Riley Sutton, and Dean Vince, closes at Australia’s Sydney Opera House.
Saturday, November 2
LA Opera‘s Romeo and Juliet, conducted by Domingo Hindoyan & Lina González-Granados , featuring Amina Edris (Juliet), Duke Kim (Romeo), Justin Austin (Mercutio), Craig Colclough (Lord Capulet), Justin Austin (Mercutio), Craig Colclugh (Lor Cabulet), Wei Wu (Friar Laurence), Yuntong Han (Tybalt), Vinicius Costa (Duke of Verona), Margaret Gawrysiak (Gertrude), Laura Krumm (Stephano), Laura Krumm Stephano), Nathan Bowles (Benvolio), and Ryan Wolfe (count Paris), opens at LA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now, with music direction by Andrew Byrne, featuring Laura Bell Bundy, Kerry Butler, and Marissa Jaret Winokur, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages.
Fauci and Kramer benefit reading, by Drew Fornarola, directed by Khanisha Foster, featuring Sal Viscuso and Jack Plotnick, at 8 PM at Hollywood’s LGBT Center.
“A Streetcar Named Desire” screening & talk-back, at 7 PM at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater.
Mint Theater‘s Sump’n Like Wings, by Lynn Riggs, directed by directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges, featuring Julia Brothers, Andre Gombas, Traci Hovel, Lukey Klein, Richard Lear, Mariah Lee, Mike Masters, Leon Pintel, Buzz Roddy, Lindsey Steinert, and Joy Avigail Sudduth, closes at Off-Broadway’s Minetta Lane Theatre.
That Parenting Musical, by Graham and Kristina Fuller, directed byJen Wineman, featuring Natalie Bourgeois, Max Crumm, McKenna OGrudnik, Brian Owen, Dwayne Washington, Mia Gentile, and Branden R. Mangan, closes at Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row.
Puttin’ On the Ritz: Steve Ross Sings Fred Astaire and Friends concert closes at the UK’s Phesantry.
Becoming Nancy, by Elliot Davis, George Stiles & and Anthony Drewe, directed & choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, featuring Joseph Peacock (David Starr), Joseph Vella (Maxie Boswell), Paige Peddie (Frances Bailey), Rebecca Trehearn (Kath Starr), Genevieve Nicole (Aunt Val), Mathew Craig (Eddie Starr), Stephen Ashfield (Hamish McClarnon), Daisy Greenwood (Abigail Henson), Layla Armstrong-Hughes (Marcia Tubbert), Isaac Elder (Squirrel), Tom Andrew Hargreaves (Bus Conductor/Mr. Boswell), Sebastian Harwood (Jason Lancaster), Lucas Impey (Dennis Gordon), Dominique McIntyre (Chrissie Starr), Richard Meek (Bob Lord), and Rachel Rawlinson (Muriel/Mrs. Boswell), with Shannon Bourne, Joseph Craig, Cameron Gabriel, Ollie Hart-Bradford, Peter Lavery, Zara McLellan, Harry Warburton, Elliot Copeland, Jessica Daugirda, and Jordan Isaac, closes at the UK’s Birmingham Rep.
falcon girls, world premiere by Hilary Bettis, directed by May Adrales, featuring Annie Abramczyk, Teddy Cañez, Juan Sebastián Cruz, Angela Lanza, Alexa Lopez, Sophia Marcelle, Alyssa Marek, Gabrielle Policano, and Anna Roman, closes at Yale Rep.
This Piece of Ground, written & directed by Richard Hellese, starring John Rubinstein, closes at MD’s Olney Theatre.
Blood/Love, by Carey Sharpe, Dru DeCaro, Erin Boehme & Adam “Snake” Kobylarz, directed by Daniel LeClaire, featuring Cam Anthony, Brennin Hunt, and Daniel Franzese, closes at Hollywood’s The Crimson (6356 Hollywood Blvd).
Sunday, November 3
View From the Bridge, directed by David Ellenstein, featuring Richard Baird (Eddie Carbone), Lowell Byers ((Marco), Frank Corrado (Alfieri), Steve Froehlich (Mike/Tony/ Immigration Officer), Coby Rogers (Rodolpho), Matthew Salazar-Thompson (Louis/First Immigration Officer), Margot White (Beatrice), and Marie Zolezzi (Catherine), opens at Laguna Playhouse.
Hughie, by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Michael Rothaar, featuring Anthony Foux and Stuart W. Howard, opens at Venice CA’s Pacific Resident Theatre.
Brace Brace, by Oli Forsyth, directed by Daniel Raggett, featuring Phil Dunster, Craige Els, and Anjana Vasan, closes at London’s Royal Court Theatre.
Kimberly-Akimbo, by David Lindsay-Abaire & Jeanine Tesori, directed by Lear deBessonet, featuring Carolee Carmello (Kimberly), Miguel Gil (Seth), Jim Hogan (Buddy), Emily Koch (Debra), Dana Steingold (Pattie), Grace Capeless (Delia), Sky Alyssa Friedman (Teresa), Darron Hayes (Martin), and Pierce Sheeler (Aaron), with Sarah Lynn Marion, Regene Seven Odon, Marcus Phillips, Bailey Ryon, aBrandon Springman., with Valerie Wright (Kimberly’s standby), closes at LA’s Pantages Theatre.
Our Class, by Tadeusz Slobodzianek, directed by Igor Golak, featuring Gus Birney (Dora), Andrey Burkovskiy (Menachem), José Espinosa (Rysiek), Tess Goldwyn (Zocha), Will Manning (Heniek), Stephen Ochsner (Jakub Katz), Alexandra Silber (Rachelka/Marianna), Richard Topol (Abram), Ilia Volok (Władek) and Elan Zafir (Zygmunt), closes at Off-Broadway’s Classic Stage Company.
Frankinland, by Lloyd Suh, directed by Chika Ike, featuring Noah Keyishian, Mason Reeves, and Thomas Jay Ryan, closes at Off-Broadway’s Ensemble Studio Theatre.
Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Melissa Rain Anderson, featuring Rob Riordan (Seymour), Mary Kate Moore (Audrey), Dion Simmons Grier (Audrey II), Mark Ivy (Mushnik), Dan DeLuca (Dentist), Simone Gundy (Crystal), Sarah Sachi (Ronnette), and Kiara Caridad (Chiffon), with John Ryan Del Bosque, Tyler Ray Lewis, Braden Tanner, Glendaliris Torres-Greaux, and Holland Vavra, closes at Houston’s TUTS.
Jersey Boys, directed by Michael Bello, featuring Daniel Quadrino (Frankie Valli), Ben Diamond (Bob Gaudio), Robert Lenzi (Nick Massi), Jake Bentley Young (Tommy DeVito), Nick Duckart (Gyp DeCarlo), and Jeremy Gaston (Bob Crewe), with Amber Ardolino, Kelly Belarmino, Holli’ Conway, Hugh Entrekin, Kaitlyn Frank, Nathan Lucrezio, Andrew Martin Maguire, Jarran Muse, Tyler Okunski, and Reagan Pender, closes at NJ’s Paper Mill Plahouse.
Dracula, adapted by Kate Hamill, directed by Melissa Mowry, featuring Brianna-Lynn Baker (Marilla), rober Beitzel (Dracula), Victoria Blake (Miller/Merchant), Madeline Calais-King (Mina Harker), Dan Cimo (Dr. George Seward), Eric Harrell (Jonathan Harker), Darlene Hope (Doctor Van Helsing), Yayra McGodfred (Maid), Lizzie Morgan (Lucy Westerna), Komal Smruti (Drusilla), and Anna Sosa (Renfield), closes at Virginia Stage.
Ain’t Misbehavin’, directed & choreographed by Ron Kellum, featuring Eric B. Anthony (André), Chante Carmel (Nell), Marty Austin Lamar (André), Amber Liekhus (Armelia), and Fredericka Meek (Charlaine), closes at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West.
Babbitt, world premiere by Joe DiPietro, directed by Christopher Ashley, featuring Matthew Broderick (George F. Babbit), Mara Davi (Storyteller #5), Ann Harada (Storyteller #1), Nehal Joshi (Storyteller #2), Judy Kaye (Storyteller $6), Matt McGrath (Storyteller #3), Chris Myers (Storyteller #7) and Ali Stroker (Storyteller #4), closes at DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Kill Move Paradise, by James Ijames, directed by Gregg T. Daniel, featuring Ulato Sam, Aheki Togun, Jonathan P. Sims, and Cedric Joe, closes at LA’s Odyssey Theatre.
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Reviews for Ragtime at NY City Center:
New York Times (Jesse Green): To say that a singer blows the roof off a theater, as Joshua Henry does in the revival of Ragtime … is to understate what great musical performers do. It’s not a matter of so-called pyrotechnics, as if their vocal cords were dynamite sticks. Nor is it a matter of volume, so easily finessed these days. Also beside the point are ultrahigh notes and curlicue riffs, which are too often signs of not enough to sing. As it happens, Henry offers all those things almost incidentally in this exhilarating gala presentation directed by Lear deBessonet… But what makes his performance as the tragic Coalhouse Walker Jr. so heart-filling and eye-opening … is the density of emotion he packs into each phrase…
Theatermania (Zachary Stewart): …Ragtime is not the story of a period of extraordinary change and turbulence, because constant disruption is ordinary in the United States. But it is a great American musical — perhaps the most comprehensive reflection of our national character ever conveyed in that form — now receiving an excellent concert staging… Real-life social activist Emma Goldman (Shaina Taub, impressively convincing us that the leftist firebrand was actually a happy warrior)… Henry gave me chills multiple times with his rich baritone… Uranowitz captures both the exuberance and rage of Tateh, delivering a transcendent moment of musical theater bliss with “Gliding”…
Vulture (Jackson McHenry) : City Center is deploying Ragtime for maximum thematic impact, enlisting a battalion of theater stars to praise those wheels of a dream to the high heaven. I wish it generated more feeling than a sense of blowing the speakers out, both literally and thematically… deBessonet works with a bare stage and generally on-the-nose choreography from Ellenore Scott. Her onstage pictures cut to the chase: We first see a piano where a Black boy and a white boy meet and start to play together. As they’re introduced in the prologue, the three groups of main characters (white, Black, largely Jewish immigrants) circle one another and then blend into mixed groups, contrapuntally. America, we’re a melting pot.
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Othello will run Feb. 24, 2025 – June 8 (opening Mar. 23) at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, directed by Kenny Leon.
Denzel Washington (Othello), Jake Gyllenhaal (Iago), Molly Osborne (Desdemona), Andrew Burnap (Cassio), Anthony Michael Lopez (Roderigo), Daniel Pearce (Brabantio), and Kimber Elayne Sprawl (Emilia).
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The Last Laugh, written & directed by Paul Hendy, will run Feb. 25 – Mar. 25, 2025 at the Noël Coward Theatre.
Bob Bolding (Eri Morecambe), Damian Williams (Tommy Cooper) and Simon Cartwright (Bob Monkhouse).
The play reimagines the lives of three of Britain’s greatest comedy heroes – Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse.
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A semi-staged concert presentation of Jo – The Little Woman Musical, the new musical adaptation of Louis May Alcott’s “Little Women,” will take place in the West End in 2025 (dates & location TBA), directed by JoAnn M. Hunter. Center Stage Records will also release a studio album on a date TBA.
Christine Allado ( Jo March), Chris Mann (Professor Bhaer), and Sophie Pollono (Amy March)
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Cambridge’s A.R.T. will present Diary of a Tap Dancer Dec. 12 – Jan. 4, 2025 (opening Dec. 18), written & choreographed by Ayodele Casel, and directed by Torya Beard.
Ayodele Casel, Naomi Funaki, Afra Hines, Quynn L. Johnson, Funmi Sofola, Liberty Styles, Annaliese Wilbur, and Ki’Leigh Williams.
This electric new play shares the story of Ayodele’s life and career—from her roots in The Bronx and Puerto Rico to her stage triumphs—as well as the often-overlooked histories of the extraordinary women tap dancers who came before her. Experience this groundbreaking world premiere that weaves together dance, narrative, and song to explore the power of reclaiming language, culture, and one’s own identity.
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An Evening with Sir Stephen Hough will make his debut with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on Nov. 24 at the David Geffen Hall.
Masterworks by Chopin and Liszt anchor the program, which also features miniatures by pioneering Romantic composer Cécile Chaminade as well as a world premiere written by Hough himself and commissioned by CMS. The Viano Quartet—currently members of the Bowers Program, CMS’s residency for outstanding early-career musicians—joins Hough for this first performance of his Piano Quintet (Les Noces Rouges).
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Video: “Don’t Let There be Light” from Broadway’s Tammy Fay, featuring Katie Brayben and Christian Borle. The musical opens Nov. 14.
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A Christmas Carol will run Nov. 26 – Dec. 24 at Milwaukee Rep, directed by Mark Clements, with music direction by Dan Kazemi.
Matt Daniels (Evenezer Scrooge), Aja Alcaraz (Belle), Jordan Anthony Arredondo (Fred), Mark Corkins (Ghost of Marley), Todd Denning (Ghost of Chreistmas Present, Kevin Kantor (Ghoset of Christmas Past), George Lorimer (Young Scrooge), Reese Hadigan (Bob Cratchit), Nicole Powell (Brs. Cratchit), James Pickering (Bob Cratchit), Nicole Powel (Mrs. Cratchit), James Pickering (Mr. Fezziwig), Tami Workentin(Mrs. Fezziwig), Savanah Carlson (Emily Cratchit), Quincey Christenson (Turkey Kid), Luke Drope (Tiny Tim), Hannah Finley (Belinda Cratchit), Finnegan Fondow (Matthew Cratchit) Averu Lauren (Want), Scarlet Hirano (Sniffer/Ignorance), Connor Keigher (Thomas), Lil Landis (Teen Scrooge), Rocco Onorato (Peter Cratchit), Quin Sison (Martha Cratchit), and Lainey Techtmann (Boy Scrooge), with Lileth Gayle, Ziva Lavoe, Nora Nelles, Vivian Staffeldt, Charlie Van Den Elzen, Harold Wagner, Jace White, Joseph Antonio, Gabriel Armstrong, Nina Giselle, Kenna Harrington, Dayana Morales, Jonathan Perkins, Davis Wood and Natalie Zimmerman.
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A semi-staged concert presentation of Christina Harding, John Gabriel Koladziej & Dan Redfeld’s Jo – The Little Women Musical will take place in London in 2025 (dates TBA), directed by JoAnn M. Hunter. Center Stage Records will also release a studio album of the musical. Click here to learn more about the musical.
Christine Allado (Jo March), Chris Mann (Professor Bhaer), Sophie Pollono (Amy March), and more TBA.
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The world premiere of Cyndi Lauper & Theresa Rebeck’s Working Girl (a musical version of the 1988 film) will run Nov.-Dec. 2025 (exact dates TBA) at La Jolla Playhouse, directed by Christopher Ashley.
Casting and creative teams TBA.
The musical has been in the works as far back as 2017.
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Hamlet will run Feb. 8 – Mar. 29, 2025 (opening Feb. 18) at the Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by Rupert Goold.
Luke Thallon, (Hamlet), Nancy Carroll (Gertrude), Jared Harris (Claudius), anton Lesser (Ghost/first Player, Elliot Levey (Polonius), Kel Matsena (Horatio), Lewis Shepherd Laertes), and Nia Towle (Ophelia).
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Cindi Lauper & Theresa Rebeck’s Working Girl (adapted from the 1988 film), will open in Fall 2025 (dates TBA) at La Jolla Playhouse, directed by Christopher Ashley.
TBA.
Tess McGill is a Staten Island secretary with big dreams and even bigger ideas, but when her scheming boss Katharine Parker steals one, Tess decides to take matters into her own hands. With Katharine unexpectedly out of town, Tess seizes the chance to prove herself, making a bold business move that could change her life forever. With some help from her savvy friends and a charming businessman, she’s got one shot to pull it off – before the boss returns!