This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, Nov. 22
The School for Scandal, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, directed by Mikey Mulhearn, featuring Libby Wahlmeir (Lady Sneerwell), Shannon Woo (Lady Teazle), Michael Kachingwe (Sir Peter Teazle), Nick Molari (Joseph Surface), Mac Rogers (Rowley), Linden Waddell (Mrs. Candour), Gavin Michael Harris (Backbite), Daria Good (Maria), Sarah Hinchcliff (Crabtree), Daria Good (Maria), Ben Raanan (Snake), and Mickey Mulhearn (Charles Surface), opens at Hollywood’s Actors Co-op.
A Very Streaming Christmas, written & directed by Gregg Ostrin, featuring Meredith Riley Stewart, David Clayberg, Katy Downing, Sarah Brooke, Michael Rothhaar, Taubert Nadalini, and Fern Lim, opens at Venice, CA’s Pacific Resident Theatre.
The Merchant of Venice, adapted & directed by Igor Golyak, featuring T.R. Knight (Antonio), Richard Topol ( Shylock), Alexandra Silber (Portia), Gus Birney (Jessica), Tess Goldwyn (Nerisa), José Espinosa (Bassanio), Stephen Ochsner (Launcelot Gobbo), and Noah Pacht (Lorenzo), with Delilah Napier and Elan Zafir, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Classic Stage Company.
Steve Ross: L’Amour, the Merrier! concert closes at Off-Broadway’s Kaufman Theatre. Info & tix: Call (212) 246-8949
Saturday, Nov. 23
What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, by Nathan Englander, directed by Patrick Marber, featuring Joshua Malina (Phil), Caroline Catz (Debbie), Dorothea Myer-Bennett (Shoshana), Simon Yadoo (Yerucham), and Gabriel Howell (Trevor), closes at London’s Marylebone Theatre.
Juno and the Paycock, by Seán O’Casey, directed by Matthew Warchus, featuring Mark Rylance (“Captain” Jack Boyle) and J. Smith-Cameron (Juno Boyle), Paul Hilton (“Joxer” Daly), Aisling Kearns (Mary Boyle), Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty (Johnny Boyle), Ingrid Craigie (Mrs. Tancred), Anna Healy (Mrs. Maisie Madigan), Chris Walley (Charles Bentham), Seán Duggan (“Needle” Nugent), and Leo Hanna (Jerry Devine), with Jessica Cervi, Caolan McCarthy, Bryan Moriarty, John Rice, and Jacinta Whyte, closes at London’s Gielgud Theatre.
The Z Team, by Jeff Foy & Jacob Foy, directed by Jeff Whiting, featuring Allie Trimm, Tyler Cruz, Ze’ev Barmor, Jakob Martinez-Cooper, Kaelee Albritton, Darby McDonough, Joe Mucciolo, Drew Starlin, Daniel Arana, and Gabrielle Filloux, closes at Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row.
Drunk Dracula, by Lisa Klages Calhoun, David Hudson, & Scott Griffin, directed by Lisa Klages Calhoun, featuring Preston Mulligan (Dracula), Sarah Goldstein (Van Yuengling), Aubrey Lace Taylor (Mina/Lucy), Chris Trindade (Harker/Seward), and Nate Betancourt (Narrator), with Christian Roberts and Ben Salus, closes at Off-Broadway’s Ruby Theater.
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), Nathan Bowles (Benvolio), and Ryan Wolfe (count Paris), closes at LA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Sunday, Nov. 24
An Afternoon with Heather Headley concert, at 2 PM at at NYC’s 92NY.
McNeal, by Ayad Akhtar, directed by Bartlett Sher, featuring Robert Downey Jr. (Jacob McNeal ), Ruthie Ann Miles (Sahra Grewal), Andrea Martin (Stephie Banic), Rafi Bavron (Harlan McNeal), and Brittany Bellizeare (Natasha Brathwaite), closes at Broadway’s Vivian Beaumont Theater.
Yellow Face, by David Henry Hwang, directed by Leigh Silverman, featuring Daniel Dae Kim (DHH), Kevin Del Aguila (Actor A,) Ryan Eggold (Marcus), Francis Jue (HYH), Marinda Anderson (Actor B), Greg Keller (Reporter), and Shannon Tyo (Leah), closes at Broadway’s Roundabout Theatre.
Second Stage‘sWalden, by Amy Berryman, directed by Whitney White, featuring Emmy Rossum (Stella), Zoë Winters (Cassie), Motell Foster (Zoë Winters). & Foster Motell (Bryan), closes at Off-Broadway’s Tony Kiser Theater.
The Beacon, by Nancy Harris, directed by Marc Atkinson Borrull, featuring Kate Mulgrew (Beiv), Zach Appelman Colm), Sean Bell (Donal), David Mattar Merten (Ray), and Ayana Workman (Bonnie), closes at Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep.
I’ll Take You There: Stax Record Co. cabaret, directed by Sean-Maurice Lynch, featuring Isaac “Deacon Izzy” Bell and Kanysha Williams, closes at DC’s Signature Theatre.
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, closes at Off-Broadway’s Theaterlab (357 W. 36th S., 3rd floor).
I, Daniel Blake, adapted by Dave Johns, directed by Simon Levy, featuring JD Cullum, Makara Gamble, Janet Greaves, Wesley Guimarães, Pyilicia Saunders, and Adam Segalle, closes at LA’s Fountain Theatre.
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Reviews for Death Becomes Her at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre:
NY Times (Jesse Green): …The musical, which opened on Thursday, stars the two comic treasures as lifelong frenemies for whom the “lifelong” part is an understatement. Their animosity is eternal. That Hilty and Simard make it so jolly is a big relief and a big surprise… And, fatally, the film is not very funny…For its first 30 minutes, the musical is nothing but… The staging, by Christopher Gattelli, goes so breathtakingly over the top — costume changes, key changes, cameos by both Liza and Judy — that half the lyrics get lost in the laughs… Hilty is an inventive and beguiling comedian, putting a warm spin on even the meanest zingers… Simard is simply brilliant. I say “simply” advisedly; it takes a lot of craft and homework to stand next to Hilty and not be outdone… Happily, her Helen is an astonishing creation of disappointment and disparagement…
Variety (Frank Rizzo): … in a major glow-up produced by Universal Theatrical Group, the story has been reconceived, refreshed and reborn by a savvy creative team led by director Christopher Gattelli as a big Broadway musical. The transformative difference between the two is that the just-skin-deep characters are now free to be much more extravagant in a musical-comedy way — with the accent on comedy — that much better matches the audaciousness of the death-defying premise… Hilty hysterically shows the diva’s shameless pandering as well as her obsession with the spotlight… Humor — both black and camp — is the key here, unlike the often-leaden film… The tuneful score and witty lyrics are by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, making an impressive Broadway bow… wickedly funny book… That sense of fun, and ego for its own sake, is the show’s go-to…
Theatermania (Zachary Stewart): …the funniest new musical comedy on Broadway. It features an uncommonly brassy score by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, instantly legendary performances by Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard, and an outrageous book by Marco Pennette that will have you screaming with laughter… Pennette, Mattison, Carey, and director-choreographer Christopher Gattelli know exactly what story they’re telling and for whom, making it explicit in the production number “For the Gaze,” which features Hilty executing a dizzying number of costume changes (she’s both Judy and Liza) while sugar-voiced chorus boys tap-dance around her. The scene depicts Madeline onstage in a Broadway musical titled “Me! Me! Me!,” allowing Mattison and Carey to indulge in a style of songwriting that has gone out of fashion but is still immensely satisfying… In addition to smartly condensing and theatricalizing the screenplay, Pennette’s book is full of howlers. “Love her like a twin,” Helen says about Madeline, “who stole my nutrients in the womb.”
Chicago Tribune (Chris Jones): …As penned by Marco Pennette, with music and lyrics from the rising and talented young team of Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, the show has been nicely nipped, tucked and lifted, and deftly de-flabbed… a silly, campy, go-for-broke show that’s filled with hearty laughs (especially in the stronger Act 1) and a pair of gutsy, zesty and highly skilled lead performances from Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard that land right where a good chunk of the Broadway-going public believe divas like these two should be landing… Nothing about this show is remotely subtle and it could not give a fig about dramaturgical rule-keeping, but Hilty and Simard feel every inch of the roles of withering frenemies…. Director Christopher Gattelli was determined to deliver the special effects from the movie and the show does so… Act 2 suffers from too much plot and the show still lacks an eleven-o’clock number for Hilty, perhaps because the show wants to keep everything equitable…
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Mark Rosenblatt’s Giant will run Apr. 26 -Aug. 2, 2025 (opening May 1) at the Royal Court Theatre, directed by Nicholas Hytner.
John Lithgow and Elliot Levey.
A world-famous children’s author under threat. A battle of wills in the wake of scandal. And one chance to make amends… It’s the summer of 1983, “The Witches” is about to hit the shelves and Roald Dahl is making last-minute edits. But the outcry at his recent, explicitly antisemitic article won’t die down. Across a single afternoon at his family home, and rocked by an unexpectedly explosive confrontation, Dahl is forced to choose: make a public apology or risk his name and reputation. Inspired by real events, Giant explores with dark humour the difference between considered opinion and dangerous rhetoric offering a complicated portrait of a fiendishly charismatic icon.
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Michael Griffo’s Pen Pals will run Dec. 5 – Feb. 9, 2025 at Theatre at St. Clements, directed by SuzAnne Barabas.
Rotating cast schedule:
Johanna Day & Nancy McKeon (Dec. 2 – 22)
Catherine Curtin & Sharon Lawrence (Dec. 23 – 29)
Nia Vardalos (Dec. 30 – Jan 12, 2025)
Mary Beth Peil (Jan 15 – 26)
Pauletta Washington (Jan 27 – Feb 2.)
Nancy McKeon (Feb 3 – 9)
Each pair of performers will bring their unique chemistry to the roles of Bernie and Mags, two lifelong friends whose deep connection is formed entirely through letters exchanged over five decades.
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Screenings of Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie, directed by Justin Martin, will take place Nov. 23, Dec. 8, & Jan. 25, all at 3 PM, at UCLA‘s James Bridges Theatre.
Jodie Comer.
Tessa is a young, brilliant barrister. She has worked her way up from working class origins to be at the top of her game; defending; cross examining and winning. An unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge.
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A Christmas Story the Musical, by Joseph Robinette, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, continues through Dec. 29 at CT’s Goodspeed, directed by Hunter Foster.
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.
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Free tickets will be available this weekend only for Tom Chiodo
& Joe Nedder’s Adventures in the Great Beyond: A Divine Musical Comedy at Hollywood’s Mainstage Theatre, directed by Tom Chiodo.
Michael Deni (Sam), Krista Unverferth, and Sean Jasko.
A rebellious Gen Z drops out of college to find herself. She crosses the country and checks into an ashram in the middle of the Arizona desert. This truth-seeking student of the new age, as taught through social media memes, hopes to discover the meaning of life by following a gregarious guru and a band of soul- searching pranksters, right out of central casting from a Burning Man Festival. Her over-bearing mother hunts her daughter down. And in a comical kidnap scheme, tries to rescue her daughter from cult culture. Hoodwinked into confronting her own journey of self-realization, mother and guru develop a frolicking passion for harmony and understanding in this lifetime, and the next.
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Amas Musical Theatre will present developmental readings of Charlie Romano & Harold Hodge, Jr.’s Call Me From the Grave, to take place Dec. 9 (6 PM) and 10 ( 12 & 5 PM) at NYC’s Ripley-Grier Studios, directed by Tiffany Nichole Green, with music direction by Paul Byssainthe, Jr.
TBA
The story of mysterious and influential Bluesman Robert Johnson and his legendary deal with the Devil at the Mississippi crossroads.
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Kate Hamill’s The Odyssey will run Feb. 9, – Mar. 15, 2025 at Cambridge’s A.R.T., directed by Shana Cooper.
TBA.
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A screening and conversation of “The Piano Lesson” will take place Tues. Dec, 3 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s 92NY.
Director Malcolm Washington
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Christmas is … Not your average Holiday Show will take place Tue. Dec. 17 at 8:30 PM at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club, hosted by Dianne Fraser & Robyn Spangler, with music direction by Todd Schroeder.
Kevin Fisher, Jane A. Johnston and Shawn Ryan.