GRACE NOTES: Friday, November 11, 2022

This Weekend’s Highlights:

Friday, November 11

Beehive: The 60’s Musical, by Larry Gallagher, directed by Laura Braza, featuring Jackey Boelkow, Sarah Lynn Marion, Tess Marshall, Jamie Mercado, Desiree Tolodziecki, and Amaya White, opens at Cleveland’s Stackner Cabaret.

Ohio State Murders, by Adrienne Kennedy, directed by Kenny Leon, featuring Audra McDonald (Suzanne Alexander), Bryce Pinkham (Robert Hampshire), Lizan Mitchell (Mrs. Tyler/Miss Dawson/Aunt Lou), Mister Fitzgerald (David/Val), and Abigail Stephenson (Iris Ann), with Brett Diggs, Brooke Gardner, Christina Pedersen, and Gayle Samuels, begins previews at Broadway’s James Earl Jones Theatre.

The Play That Goes Wrong, by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer & Henry Shields, directed by Fred Sullivan Jr, featuring Kelby T. Akin, Alexa Cadete, Nora Eschenheimer, Dan Garcia, Mitch Kiliulis, Michael Leibhauser, Marc Alexander Pierre, and Dan Whelton, with Margaret Clar, Patrick French, and Matt C. Ryan, previews at Boston’s Lyric Stage.

Griswold benefit reading, by Angela J. Davis, starring Annette Bening, with Sean Carvajal and Emma Ramos, at 7 PM at NYC’s Cooper Union.

“To Steve With Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim” album released on all digital platforms. The CD is available here.

Saturday, November 12

A Christmas Carol, directed by Leora Morris, featuring Andrew Benator (Ebenezer Scrooge), Emberlynn Wood (Tiny Tim), Austin Barocas (Lamplighter’s Son), Caleb Maumann (Matthew Watkins), Chloe Gia Bremer (Tiny Tim Cratchit), Lena Castro (Wyatt Cratchit), Caitlin Hargraves (Missy Watkins), Christopher L. Morgan (Bob Cratchit), Thomas Neal Antwon Ghant (Tom Watkins, Mr. Fezziwig), Maggie Larson (Martha Cratchit/Belle), Margaret Ivey (Mrs. Dilber/Mrs. Fezziwig), Clare Latham (Mrs. Cratchit), Lizzie Park (Melinda Cratchit), Kevin Qian (Peter Cratchit/Dick Wilkins), Mary Lynn Owen, Brad Raymond, Matthew Morris, Christopher Hampton (Mr. Pritchitt), Clare Latham, Rhyn Mclemore, Asia Rogers, Caleb Baumann, Caleb Clark (Fred), Asia Rogers (Alice), Dane Troy, Lyndsay Ricketson, Eugene H. Russell, and Matthew Morris, opens at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre.

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas UK tour, directed by Ian Talbot, featuring Lorna Luft (Martha Watson), Jay McGuiness (Bob Wallace), Michael Starke (General Waverly), Dan Burton (Phil Davis), Jessica Daley (Betty Haynes), and Monique Young (Judy Haynes), with Simon Anthony, Tom Bales, Lydia Bannister, George Beet, Imogen Bowtell, Isabel Canning, Gabrielle Cocca, Joseph Craig, Beth Devine, Steve Fortune, Ashton Harkness, Connor Hughes, Owen McHugh, Benjamin Mundy, James Revell, Sadie-Jean Shirley, Matthew Sweet, Lucy Warway, David Winters, and Alex Wright, opens at Cornwall’s Truro Hall.

Mrs. Dilber’s Fabulous Bedcurtains, world premiere by Arthur M. Jolly, directed by Tor Brown & Marc Leclerc, featuring Antwan Alexander II, Lemon Baardsen, Macedonia Bullington, Isaac Deakyne, Jennifer DeRosa, Raymond Donehey, Madylin Sweeten Durrie, Jay Hoshina, Robert Jolly, Maia Luer, Benjamin Marshall, Matthew Monaco, Ignacio Navarro, Sara Nilsen, TJ O’Brien, Bree Pavey, and Natasha Renae Potts, opens at North Hollywood’s Loft Ensemble.

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, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters.

Merciful Delusions presentation, a series of one acts by Tennessee Williams, directed by Lorraine Serabian, featuring Elizabeth Bove, JR Carter, Elena Clark, Josh Freed, Marie-Claire Giraud, Steven J. Harris, Janelle (Jyan) Jung, Michelle Oppedisano, Aurora Quintard, Martin Riofrio, Joey Welsh, Letty Ferrer, Nicole Gut, and Natalie Neckyfarow, at 4 PM Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row.

Shucked, world premiere by Robert Horn, Brandy Clark & Shane McAnally, directed by Jack O’Brien, featuring John Behlmann (Gordy), Kevin Cahoon (Peanut), Andrew Durand (Beau), Caroline Innerbichler (Maizy), Ashley D. Kelley (Storyteller 1), Alex Newell (Lulu), and Taylor Trensch (Storyteller 2), with Miki Abraham, Dwayne Clark, Rheaume Crenshaw, Kaitlyn Davidson, Jaygee Macapugay, Scott Strangland, Esteban Suero, Yasmeen Sulieman, Quinn VanAntwerp, and Alan Wiggins, closes at Salt Lake City’s Pioneer Theatre Company.

Sunday, November 13

The Old Man and the Pool, written by & starring Mike Birbiglia, directed by Seth Barrish, opens at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre.

The New Group‘s Evanston Salt Costs Climbing, by Will Arbery, directed by Danya Taymor, featuring Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Jeb Kreager, Ken Leung, and Rachel Sachnoff, opens at Off-Broadway’s Signature Center.

Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, directed by Joel Grey, featuring Steven Skybell (Tevye), Jennifer Babiak (Golde), Lisa Fishman (Yente) Michael Nigro (Fyedke), Ben Liebert (Motl), Stephanie Lynne Mason (Hodl), Rosie Jo Neddy (Khave), Bruce Sabath (Leyzer-Volf), Drew Seigla (Pertshik), Rachel Zatcoff (Tsaytl), Kirk Geritano (Avrom), Raquel Nobile (Shprintse), Jonathan Quigley (Chaim), Nick Raynor (Yosl), Adam B. Shapiro (Der Rov), Jodi Snyder (Beylke/Frume-Sore), James Monroe Števko (Mendl), Lauren Jeanne Thomas (Der Fidler), Bobby Underwood (Der Gradavoy), Mikhl Yashinsky (Nokhum/Mordkhe), and Jonathan Cable (Sasha), with Abby Goldfarb, Yael Eden Chanukov, Ron Tal and John Giesige, returns to Off-Broadway’s New World Stages.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas, directed by James Vásquez, featuring Andrew Polec (The Grinch), Tyrone Davis Jr. (Young Max), John Treacy Egan (Old Max), and Issa Ally & Harper Quinn (alternating as Cindy-Lou Who), Kevin Solis (Grandpa Who), Bets Malone (Grandma Who), Julia Davis & Leila Manuel (alternating as Annie), Chloe Oh & Pearl Salonga (alternating as Betty-Lou Who), Ari Gimbel & Faizi Mahalingham (alternating as Boo Who), Ryan Hafner & Landon Tweet (alternating as Danny Who), and Joelle Dana Advento & Ali Nelson (alternating as Teen Who), and many more, opens at San Diego’s Old Globe.

A delicate Balance, by Edward Albee, directed by Jack Cummings III, featuring Tina Chilip, Carmen M. Herlihy, Paul Juhn, Mia Katigbak, Manu Narayan, and Rita Wolf, closes at Off-Broadway’s Transport Group.

National Black Theatre‘s The Gospel Woman workshop production, by TyLie Shider, directed by Adrienne D. Williams, featuring Kala Ross (Ruth), Carla R. Stewart (Orpah), Charles E. Wallace (Fowler), Ronald Emmile (Wino), and Wendell Jordan (Benjamin/Bidder), closes at Off-Broadway’s Chelsea Factory.

Titanique, by Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli & Tye Blue, directed by Tye Blue, featuring Marla Mindelle (Céline Dion), Constantine Rousouli (Jack), Frankie Grande (Victor Garber), Kathy Deitch (Molly Brown), Ryan Duncan (Ruth), Alex Ellis (Rose), John Riddle (Cal), and Jaye Alexander (The Iceberg), with Courtney Bassett, Donnie Hammond, and Dimitri Moise, with Courtney Bassett, Donnie Hammond, and Dimitri Moise, closes at Off-Broadway’s Asylum Theatre.

38th Marathon of One-Act Plays closes at Off-Broadway’s Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Swing State, world premiere by Rebecca Gilman, directed by Robert Falls, featuring Mary Beth Fisher (Peg), Kirsten Fitzgerald (Sheriff Kris), Anne E. Thompson (Dani), and Bubba Weiler (Ryan), with Jennifer Engstrom, Jessica Ervin, Laura T. Fisher, and Jack Lancaster, closes at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.

Love Among the Ruins, world premiere by Robert A. Papazian & James G. Hirsch, directed by Michael Arabian, featuring JoBeth Williams (Jessica Midlicott), Peter Strauss (Sir Arthur Granville-Jones), Ava Burton (Stenographer), CJ Blaine Eldred (Alfred Pratt), Martin Kildare (George Druise), Tom Shelton (Judge Philip Tandy), Katy Tank (Hermione Davis (Tyee Tilghman (Sir John Francis Dive), Patrick Merck Vest (Herbert/Bailiff), and Wendy Worthington (Fanny Pratt), with Nick Molari, closes at Laguna Playhouse.

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, by August Wilson, directed by Lili-Anne Brown, featuring Maurice Emmanuel Parent (Seth Holly), Shannon Lamb (Bertha Holly), Robert Cornelius (Bynum Walker), Lewis D. Wheeler (Rutherford Selig), Stewart Eavn Smtih (Jeremy Furlow), Robert Ricardo Milord (Herald Loomis), Gray Flaherty & Alana Ross (alternating as Zonia Loomis, al-nisa Petty (Mattie Campbell, Eli Lapaix & Joshua McKenna (alternating as Reuben Mercer), Dela Meskienyar (Molly Cunningham), and Patrese D. McClain (Martha Pentecost), with Kadahj, Kelsey Fonise, David Kelly, Melanie Loren, and Damon Singletary, closes at Boston’s Huntington Theatre.

North Carolina Theatre‘s Steel Magnolias, directed by Lauren Kennedy, featuring Felicia Finley (Truvy), Alison Fraser (Clairee) Angela Pierce (M’Lynn), Meadow Nguy Shelby), Kathleen Garrett (Ouiser), and Carl Crissom (Annelle), with Bonnie Webster, Ali Evarts, and Susannah Hough, closes at Raleigh’s Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

In the Heights, directed & choreographed by Luis Salgado, featuring Ryan Reyes (Usnavi), Luis Pablo Garcia (Sonny), Mariana Herrera Juri (Salgado), Laura Lebrón (Vanessa), Susan Oliveras (Daniela), Yan Carlos Diaz (Carla) Danny Bolero (Kevin), Laura Castrillián (Camilla Rosario), Corinne Miller (Nina), Jeffrey Nunez (Piragua Guy), Pranjaal Luna’rai (Yolanda), Suzanna Guzmán (Abuela Claudia), and Jalon Matthews (Benny), with Bryan Menjivar, Racquel Williams, Pranjaal Luna’rai, Malachi Durant, Jovany Ramirez, Jose Carlos Rivera, Ximena Valentina Alvear, Raegan Delgado, and Dreamer Wilson, closes at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre.

Write Act Rep‘s The Atheist Mother, by Willard Manus, directed by Judith Rose, featuring Sam Aaron (Irwin), Carlos Chavez (Billy), Taylor Donlan (Madelyn Murray O’Hair, Kevin Kelly (George), Helen Siff (Teresa & Woman Messenger), closes at LA Brick House Theatre.

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Reviews for Kimberly Akimbo at Broadway’s Booth Theatre:

NY Times (Jesse Green): …the profoundly funny and heartbreaking new nerdical… Though an underground river of sorrow gives “Kimberly Akimbo” its keenness, the surface is shiny comedy… Jessica Stone has turned up the hilarity dial as well, to keep all that emotion in balance… Clark is responsible for the carpe diem part, and it need hardly be said if you saw her Tony Award-winning performance in The Light in the Piazza in 2005 that her singing is phenomenally rich and specific… But what has become even richer since Kimberly Akimbo premiered at the Atlantic Theater Company last year is her profound and uncritical immersion in youthfulness. Leaving the ironies to us, she refuses to condescend to the character…

Variety (Naveen Kumar): The prospect of dying by age 16 hardly seems like obvious fodder for musical comedy. But Kimberly Akimbo… is the sort of refreshingly unexpected musical that makes an exhilarating case for the vibrancy and potential of the form. It asks big questions about family and mortality. It’s unabashedly heartfelt and irresistibly funny. Like life, it’s inherently sad and a little absurd, and like its subject, Kimberly Akimbo is exceedingly rare and almost impossible not to love… a knockout turn from Victoria Clark… striking a delicate balance in a tightrope acting challenge.

NY Daily News (Chris Jones)… the fascinating new Broadway musical… a truly remarkable opportunity for actress Victoria Clark… a gorgeous score by Jeanine Tesori… Tesori’s signature formative excellence and rich emotional layering, the curiousness of the situation has been subsumed by a meditation on what adulthood really means and on how we’re all taken from this earthly life not just at a time and place not of our choosing, but without regard to our deserving it… It’s a great truth that acting is not so much about people but people in motion. And that’s what is so enthralling about the luminous work of both Clark and Cooley…

Theatermania (David Gordon): If there were to be a class on how to turn a very good musical into an excellent one, I would hope the instructors are David Lindsay-Abaire, Jeanine Tesori, and Jessica Stone… they dug in for Broadway, reinvestigating every moment and making tiny surgical changes to help the material achieve its fullest comic and tragic potential. Kimberly Akimbo was lovely before; it’s magnificent now… a life-affirming investigation of mortality and loss accentuated with the kind of laughs that make you stomp your feet with delight… extremely clever book and sweet-sounding score… Milligan still finds ingenious ways to steal every scene she’s in, but it’s all grounded in Lindsay-Abaire’s absurdist reality…

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Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, recently seen at The Old Globe, will begin previews Mar. 2, 2023 and open Mar. 19 at the Music Box Theatre, directed by Wayne Cilento, with music direction by Justin Hornback.

Yeman Brown, Peter John Chursin, Dylis Croman, Jovan Dansberry, Karli Dinardo, Tony d’Alelio, Aydin Eyikan, Manuel Herrera, Gabriel Hyman, Kolton Krouse, Mattie Love, Krystal Mackie, Yani Marin, Nando Morland, Khori Michelle Petinaud, Ida Saki, ron Todorowski, and Neka Zang, with more TBA.

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Video: Rob McClure (Seymour) and Lena Hall (Audrey) perform “Suddenly Seymour” from Off-Broadway’s Little Shop of Horrors.

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A world premiere staged reading of Keliher Walsh’s Life on Earth will take place Fri. Nov. 18 at 8 PM at LA’s Pico Playhouse, directed by James Eckhouse. required: lifeearth23@gmail.com

Eve Gordon, Arye Gross, Erin McIntosh, Amy Pietz, and Todd Waring.

Two couples out in the desert on a birthday celebration camping trip. Dinosaur eggs and infidelities are unearthed, old wounds get opened up. and a visit from a local cult member provokes a confrontation with the couples’ morality.

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Sharr White’s Pictures from Home will begin previews Jan. 10, 2023 and open Feb. 9 at Studio 54 (link TBA), directed by Bartlett Sher.

Nathan Lane, Danny Burstein and Zoë Wanamaker.

A comic and dramatic portrait of a mother, a father and the son who photographed their lives. Based on the photo memoir by Larry Sultan, Pictures From Home will evoke memories of childhood, parenthood, and the vicissitudes that comprise familial relationships.

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Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater has announced that bidding will open Fri. Nov. 25 for its annual virtual Holiday Silent Auction.

This year, bidders will have an opportunity to win such items as autographed memorabilia; a seven-night Cruise from Viking Cruises; a round of golf with Richard Kind at The Bridge; a script review by Bay Street Artistic Director Scott Schwartz; signed martini glasses by Tovah Feldshuh, star of Funny Girl on Broadway; a 90-minute playwriting session with Will Pomerantz; Blade Helicopter transportation to or from City Airports; and much more!

100+ items will be available here.

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Red Bull Theater has announced updated casting for its one-night-only benefit performance of Hal Hester, Danny Apolinar & Donald Driver’s Your Own Thing, to take place Mon. Dec. 12 at 7:30 PM NYC’s Symphony Space, directed by Gabriel Barre, with music direction by Greg Pliska.

Michael Cerveris, Robert Cuccioli, Tovah Feldshuh, Richard Kind, Ken Page, Patrick Page, Estelle Parsons, Jay O. Sanders, Mary Testa, John Douglas Thompson, and Bruce Vilanch

Eddie Cooper, Lilli Cooper, Santino Fontana, Jennifer Sánchez, Lesli Margherita, Simon Pearl, Michael Pilato and Vaden Thurgood.

A storm shipwrecks an up-and-coming music duo, twins Viola and Sebastian. The pair end up in the land of Illyria, which looks very much like New York City, circa 1968. And the rest is Shakepeare’s Twelfth Night – well, kind of.

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Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman will run June 10 – Sept 2, 2023 at the Duke of York’s Theatre, directed by Matthew Dunster.

Lily Allen, Steve Pemberton, and more TBA.

Set in a totalitarian state, the play follows a writer who is being questioned by authorities about a series of murders. Why is the writer suspected? The murders are eerily similar to her short stories.

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A concert presentation of Angel Lam & Richard Caliban’s Lost Shanghai will take place Mon. Dec. 2 at NYC”s Merkin Concert Hall, directed by Richard Caliban.

Austin Ku, Kai An Chee, Madarin Wu, and Gen Parton-Shin.

A love story set during the pre-revolution period prior to the fall of Shanghai. Two unlikely lovers, a nightclub singer who has been forced into service by the secret police, and an innocent young man, grapple with their shared fate as the world around them descends into revolution.

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Victoria Clark‘s new album of Maury Yeston’s song cycle, “December Songs,” newly orchestrated for a 37-piece orchestra by Larry Hochman, and conducted by Ted Sperling, will be released digitally today and Nov. 25 on CD on all platforms. the CD here.

Audio: “I Am Longing”

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Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre & Tricia Paoluccio’s Here You Come Again will run Jan 12-29, 2023 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, directed & choreographed by Barre.

Tricia Paoluccio and Jamison Stern.

A touching and rollicking funny musical celebration of the humor and wit of Dolly Parton. In the piece, Dolly appears to a struggling NYC comedian quarantining in his parents’ Texas attic after a break-up. Dolly uses her trademark charm to guide Kevin as he rediscovers hope in a trying time. They sing and swap stories – and while hand sanitizer may be scarce, laughter and rhinestones are not.

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After 33 years in London, Stephen Mallatratt’s The Woman in Black, directed by Robin Herford, will close Mar. 4, 2023, after more than 13,000 performances at the West End’s Fortune Theatre.

Julian Forsyth (Arthur Kipps) and Matthew Spencer (The Actor).

The thriller concerns a young solicitor winding up the affairs of a bleak and lonely estate on a remote stretch of the coast. He soon discovers, to great personal cost, that the house is haunted… by a woman in black.

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A concert presentation of Angel Lam & Richard Caliban’s Lost Shanghai will take place Fri. Dec. 2 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s Merkin Concert Hall, directed by Richard Caliban.

Austin Ku, Kai An Chee, Mandarin Wu, and Gen Parton-Shin.