Today’s Highlights:
Friday, November 12
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, directed by John Tiffany, featuring James Snyder (Harry Potter), Diane Davis (Ginny Potter), James Romney (Albus Potter), David Abeles (Ron Weasley), Jenny Jules (Hermione Granger) and Nadia Brown (Rose Granger-Weasley), Aaron Bartz (Draco Malfoy) and Brady Dalton Richards (Scorpius Malfoy) with Oge Agulué, Kevin Angulo, Chelsey Arce, Quinn Blades, Michela Cannon, Will Carlyon, Lauren Nicole Cipoletti, Judith Lightfoot Clarke, Ted Deasy, Kira Fath, Stephanie Gomérez, Steve Haggard, Ben Horner, Edward James Hyland, Jax Jackson, Jack Koenig, Spencer LaRue, Rachel Leslie, Sarita Amani Nash, Alexandra Peter, Dan Piering, Kevin Matthew Reyes, William Rhem, Antoinette Robinson, Stephen Spinella, Tom Stephens, Maya Thomas and Karen Janes Woditsch, resumes performances at Broadway’s Lyric Theatre.
The Last Five Years, by Jason Robert Brown, directed by Leigh Barrett, featuring Jared Troilo (Jamie) and Kira Troilo (Cathy), opens at Boston’s Lyric Stage.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical, directed by Alex Timbers, featuring Liisi LaFontaine (Satine), Jamie Bogyo (Christian), Clive Carter (Harold Zidler), Jason Pennycooke (Toulouse-Lautrec), Simon Bailey (The Duke), Elia Lo Tauro (Santiago), Sophie Carmen Jones (Nini), Zoe Birkett (Arabia), Jonathan Bishop (Baby Doll), and Timmika Ramsay (La Chocolat), with Femi Akinfolarin, Robson Broad, Ian Carlyle, Jonathan Cordin, Anthony Cragg, Katie Ella Dunsden, Adam Gillian, Luke Jackson, Alicia Mencía, Ciro Lourencio Meulens, Georgia Morgan, Melissa Nettleford, Ian Oswald, Craig Ryder, Tinovimbanashe Sibanda, Katie Singh, Ope Sowande, Tanisha Spring, Toyan Thomas-Browne, Amy Thornton, Misty May Tindall, Jon Tsouras, Tommy Wade-Smith, and Lily Wang, begins previews at London’s Piccadilly Theatre.
A Christmas Carol, newly adapted by David Bell, directed by Leora Morris, featuring Andrew Benator (Ebenezer Scrooge), Chloe Gia Bremer (Tiny Tim), Austin Barocas (Lamplighter’s Son), Caleb Baumann (Mathew Watkins), Maggie Birgel (Martha Cratchit/Belle), Lena Castro (Wyatt Chratchit), Josh Clark (Fred/Young Scrooge), Thomas Neal Antwon Ghant (Tom Watkins/Mr. Fezziwig), Christopher Hampton (Mr. Pritchitt), Caitlin Hargraves (Missy Watkins/Bess/Mudge), Margaret Ivey (Mrs. Dilber/Mrs. Fezziwig), Clare Latham (Mrs. Cratchit), Rhyn McLemore (Ghost of Christmas Pas), Christopher L. Morgan (Bob Cratchit), Matthew Morris (Jacob Marley), Lizzy Park (Melinda Cratchit), Kevin Qian (Peter Cratchit/Young Wilkins), Lyndsay Ricketson (Ghost of Christmas Future), Asia Rogers (Alice/Fan), and Eugene H. Russell, IV (Ghost of Christmas Present), with Jake Berne, Elizabeth Beyer, Chase Byrd, James Arthur Douglas, Marissa Dunson, Jessi Little, and Parris Sarter, begins previews at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre.
Ebony Rep‘s Blues in the Night, by Sheldon Epps, directed by Wren T. Brown, featuring Vivian Reed (The Lady from the Road), Clinton Derricks-Carroll ( The Man in the Saloon), Karole Foreman (The Woman of the World), and Jenna Gillespie Byrd (The Girl with a Date), previews at LA’s Nate Holden PAC.
“Randy Rainbow: A Little Brains, A Little Talent” album released here.
Samantha Barks‘ new album, “Into The Unknown,” released. Order here.
Manhattan Theatre Club‘s Lackawanna Blues, written, directed by & starring Ruben Santiago-Hudson, closes at Broadway’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
Saturday, November 13
Head Over Heels, adapted & directed by Jennie Koons, featuring Alaska 5000, Lea DeLaria, Yurel Echezarreta, Tiffany Mann, and Shanice Williams, opens at Pasadena Playhouse.
Ebony Rep‘s Blues in the Night, by Sheldon Epps, directed by Wren T. Brown, featuring Vivian Reed (The Lady from the Road), Clinton Derricks-Carroll ( The Man in the Saloon), Karole Foreman (The Woman of the World), and Jenna Gillespie Byrd (The Girl with a Date), opens at LA’s Nate Holden PAC.
Is There Still Sex in the City, written by & starring Candice Bushnell, directed by Lorin Latarro, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Daryl Roth Theatre.
White Noise, by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Polly Findlay, featuring James Corrigan, Ken Nwosu, Faith Omole, and Helena Wilson, closes at London’s Bridge Theatre.
Sunday, November 14
Assassins, directed by John Doyle, featuring Adam Chanler-Berat (John Hinkley, Jr.), Eddie Cooper (The Proprietor), Tavi Gevinson (Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme), Andy Grotelueschen (Samuel Byck), Judy Kuhn (Sara Jane Moore), Steven Pasquale (John Wilkes Booth), Ethan Slater (Lee Harvey Oswald/The Balladeer), Will Swenson (Charles Guiteau), Wesley Taylor (Giuseppe Zangara), and Brandon Uranowitz (Leon Czolgosz), with Brad Griovanine, Bianca Horn, Whit K. Lee), Rob Morrison, and Katrina Yaukey, opens at Off-Broadway’s Classic Stage Company.
Baby, site-specific production, directed & choreographed by Ethan Paulini, featuring Julia Murney (Arlene), Elizabeth Flemming (Lizzie), Johny Link (Danny), Jamila Sabares-Klemm (Nicki), Robert H. Fowler (Alan), and Danielle Summons (Pam), with Jorge Donoso, Marisa Kirby, and Jewell Noel, opens at Off-Broadway’s Theatrelab (357 West 36th Street, 3rd Floor).
A Turtle on a Fence, by Hank Morris, Austin Nuckols & Lily Dwoskin, directed by Gabriel Barrie, featuring Garth Kravits (Hank), David Aron Damane (Z), Erik Gratton (Johnson), Joanna Glushak (Rita), Kate Loprest (Leslie), Josh Marin (Chasten), and Richard E. Waits (Sars), with Janet Aldrich, Joel Newsome, and Robbie Serrano, opens at Off-Broadway’s Theater 555.
Macbeth in Stride, world premiere by Whitney White, directed by Tyler Dobrowsky & Taibi Magar, featuring Whitney White, Charlie Thurston, Phoenix Best, Kira Helper, and Reggie D. White, with Billy Finn and Yewande Odetoyinbo, closes at Cambridge’s A.R.T.
Huntington Theatre‘s Witch, by Jen Silverman, directed by Rebecca Bradshaw, featuring Barzin Akhavan (Sir Arthur Banks), Lyndsay Allyn Cox (Elizabeth Sawyer), Gina Fonseca (Winnifred), Javier David Padilla (Frank), Nick Sulfaro (Cuddy Banks), and Michael Underhill (Scratch), closes at Boston’s Calderwood Pavilion.
Black Fest’s Hands Up: Seven Playwrights, Seven Testaments, by Nathan Yungerberg, Idris Goodwin, Eric Holmes, and more, directed by Isabel A. Curley-Clay and Moriah Curley-Clay, featuring Brandon Burditt, Marlon Andrew Burnley, London Carlisle, Sean M. Dale, Charence Higgins, Marcus Hopkins-Turner, Jessenia Ingram, Kala Ross, and Josh Turner, concludes streaming at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre.
Sister Act, directed & choreographed by Dan Knechtges, featuring Simone Gunder (Deloris Van Carter), Alan H Green (Curtis), Anthony Alfaro (Pablo), Jamall Houston (Eddie Souther), Logan Keslar (Joey), Susan Koozin (Mother Superior), Trey Morgan Lewis (TJ), Joline Murica (Mary Patrick), Cathy Newman (Mary Lazarus), Raven Justine Troup (Mary Robert), and LaBraska Washington (Monsignor O’Hara), with Miles Marmolejo, Yasmyn Sumiyoshi, Hallie D Chapman, Courtney Chilton, Trey Harrington, T.J. Newton, Kim Stengel, and Holland Vavra, closes at Houston’s TUTS.
Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski, by Clark Young & Derek Goldman, directed by Goldman, starring David Strathairn, closes at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.
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Reviews for Nollywood Dreams at Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater:
NY Times (Jesse Green): …a giddy if wobbly comedy… If this sounds more like a soap opera than a film, that’s because Nollywood in the early 1990s, when the play is set, was still in its artistic infancy… Half the fun of Saheem Ali’s staging…, which opened on Thursday night, is in seeing how those drawbacks, when borrowed by West Africans, become selling points of a new aesthetic…. Nollywood Dreams is spirited and casual, with the knockabout rhythms and narrative shortcuts of Hollywood in its early years, before flickers became films.
Variety (A.D. Amorosi): …connecting gleeful, even goofy, spiritualized comedy to soap opera-ish scenarios is this pair’s [Jocelyn Bioh & Saheem Ali] stock-in-trade… Bioh’s often bedazzled, broad-stroked characters — narrowly avoiding cliché thanks to the finessed and dexterous abilities of their actors… Harmonizing like a finely tuned musical ensemble scoring a screwball comedy with a message, the Nollywood sextet and its offstage creatives hit all of the right notes with genuinely funny fluidity and physical humor.
Theatermania (Zachary Stewart): …Unfortunately, Bioh leaves…open questions, never allowing the comic stakes to mount before the central conflict is settled by a deus ex machina. It’s hard not to feel a little disappointed by the squandered potential… And yet what Bioh does well, she does really well, which is to dramatize the interplay between West African lives and the cultural hegemony of the United States… Bioh also provides the actors sturdy platforms in the characters she writes… isn’t the sidesplitting comedy of the year, but it will keep you laughing throughout an amusing and zippy 90 minutes.
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Chicken & Biscuits will close earlier than planned due to the financial impact caused by the previously announced show cancellations, which now have been extended until Nov. 19 at Circle in the Square Theatre. The show will now end its run on Nov. 28.
Producers have hinted that Douglas Lyons’ comedy will return elsewhere in some form.
The cast and crew will continue to be tested during the hiatus to ensure maximum safety for all upon the show’s return. In the meantime, all tickets for canceled performances will be refunded at the original point of purchase.
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Ben Stiller and Cate Blanchett are teaming up to adapt the 1960s TV series “The Champion” into a film, directed by Stiller.
Casting, timeline, release date, and additional information TBA.
The film, which will pay homage to the TV series, follows three United Nations agents whose plan crashes into the Himalayas. Upon being rescued by an advanced civilization secretly living in Tibet, they are granted enhanced intellectual and physical abilities. When the agents return to the outside world, they use their new superhuman abilities to become champions of law, order, and justice.
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& 
Sing Out For Freedom, in support of ACLU and NYCLU, will take place Mon. Nov. 22 at 7:30 PM ET in NYC’s Town Hall, directed by Jess McLeod, and hosted by Peppermint.
Laura Benanti, Nikki M. James, Judy Kuhn, Adrian Moayed, Aydoele Casel, November Christine, Kayla Davion, Somáh Haaland, Lauren Molina, Alba Ponce de León, Nikhil Saboo, Arya Shahi, Liana Stampur, Shaina Taub, Alexandria Wailes, Kuhoo Verma, and Princess Sasha Victomé.
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MasterVoice‘s streaming production of Adam Guettel’s Myths and Hymns, is now available to stream for the first time in its entirety on PBS All Arts, conducted by Ted Sperling.
Norm Lewis, Kelli O’Hara, Renée Fleming, Joshua Henry, Shoshana Bean, Daniel Breaker, Theresa McCarthy, Michael McElroy, Mykal Kilgore, Jennifer Holliday, and Larry Owens.
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Sandy Rustin’s A Jolly Holiday: Celebrating Disney’s Broadway Hits will run Dec. 1 – Jan. 2, 2022 (opening Dec. 5) at NJ’s Paper Mill Playhouse, directed by Casey Hushion, with choreography by Kenny Ingram, and music direction by Geoffrey Ko.
Major Attaway, Dan DeLuca, Kara Lindsay, Jarran Muse, Killy Simmons, Cailen Fu, and Dion Simmons Grier.
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The Hollywood Bowl (link TBA) has announced its initial 2022 Summer season:
July 4th Fireworks Spectacular (July 2-4), with special guests Steve Martin and Martin Short, with the LA Philharmonic (conducted by Thomas Wilkins), and guest artists The Steep Canyon Rangers and keyboardist Jeff Babko.
The Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival (June 25-26), formerly known as the Playboy Jazz Festival.
Smooth Summer Jazz (Aug. 28)
Movie Night (Sept. 4)
Sing-A-Long screening of “The Sound of Music” (Sept. 17), hosted by Melissa Peterman.
…and more TBA…
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Video: A new trailer for “Being the Ricardos,” written & directed by Aaron Sorkin, which will be released Dec. 10 in movie theaters, and Dec. 21 on Amazon Prime.
Nicole Kidman (Lucille Ball), Javiar Bardem (Ricky Ricardo), Nina Arianda (Vivian Vance), JK Simmons (William Frawley), and Christopher Denham (), with Tony Hale (Jess Oppenheimer), Alia Shawkat (Madelyn Pugh), and Jake Lacy (Bob Carroll Jr.), with Clark Gregg, Linda Lavin, Robert Pine, John Rubenstein, and Chirstopher Denham.
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The world premiere of Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant, Alan Zachary & Michael Weiner’s Trading Places, an adaptation of the film, will run May 25 – June 26, 2022 at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, directed by Kenny Leon, with choreography by Fatima Robinson.
Casting TBA.
Based on the 1983 film starring Eddie Murphy, this is a re-imagining of the prince and the pauper fable. Billie Rae Valentine, a savvy hustler down on her luck, and Louis Winthorpe III, a minted commodities-trading firm director have their lives deliberately switched by the devious Duke brothers to settle a petty bet.
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Complete casting has been announced for Love Actually Live, a multi-media concert celebration, to run Nov. 17 – Dec. 31 at Beverly Hills’ The Wallis, directed by adapted by Anderson Davis, with music supervision and arrangements by Jesse Vargas.
Rex Smith, James Byous, Gabriela Carriollo, Tomasina Abate, Emily Lopez, Aaron Lazar, Briank McKnight Jr., Anthony Fedorov, Michael Thomas Grant, and Nina Nelson Cheyenne Wells, with Sha’Leah Nikole Stubblefield, Darrell Morris Jr., Parissa Koo, Ian Ward, Zola Odessa, and Conor Jack Kowalski.
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South Pacific will tour through the U.K. and Ireland in 2022, directed by Daniel Evans. Additional creative team and casting TBA.
Julian Ovenden (Emile) and Gina Beck (Nellie), with more TBA.