This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, Nov. 7
Beau The Musical, by Douglas Lyons & Ethan D. Pakcha, directed by Josh Rhodes, featuring Amelia Cormack (raven) Andrea Goss (Le0Ann/Nurse), Myuki Miyagi (Daphney), and Derek Stoltenberg (Dess), Ryan Halasver (Larry), Max Sangerman (Ferris), with Luke Carnell, Seth Eliser, Tyler Conovan McCall and Ace Baker at select performances, opens at Off-Broadway’s St. Luke’s Theatre.
Amas Musical Theatre‘s Dare To Be Different festival, opens at Off Broadway’s A.R.T. New York Theatre (502 W. 53rd St).
Pointy Scissors, world premiere written & directed by Carla Rodriguez, featuring Angela Bruning, Anibal Silverya, Richy Storrs, Monika Vidakovic, and Danielle Weeks, opens at LA’s Theatre West.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, by William Finn & Rachel Sheinkin, directed by Danny Mefford, featuring Justin Cooley (Leaf Coneybear), Kevin McHale (William Barfée), Philippe Arroyo (Chip Tolentino), Leana Rae Concepcion and (Marcy Park), Justin Cooley (Leaf Coneybear), Kevin McHale (William Barfée), Philippe Arroyo (Chip Tolentino), and Leana Rae Concepcion (Marcy Park), Jasmine Amy rogers (Olive Ostrovsky), Autumn Best (Logaininne Schwartzgrubenierre, and Matt Manuel, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages.
Tartuffe, newly adapted by Lucas Hnath, directed by Raja Feather Kelly, featuring Matthew Broderick (Tartuffe), David Cross ( Orgon), Emily Davis (Mariane), Bianca del Rio (Mme Pernelle), Amber Gray (Elmire), Ryan Haddad (Damis), Francis Jue (Cleante), Lisa Kron (Dorine, and Ike Ufomadu ( Valére), begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop.
Saturday, Nov. 8
Messy White Gays, by Drew Droege, directed by Mike Donahue, featuring Drew Droege, James Cusati-Moyer, Aaron, Jackson, Zane Phillips, and Pete Zias, opens at Off-Broadway’s Duke on 42nd Street.
Nepo Baby, world premiere by Nick Bisa, directed by Beejan Land, featuring Theodore Bouloukos (Augustas Nepopoulos) and Nick Bisa (Baby, opens at Off-Broadway’s The New Stage.
Lyrics & Lyricists’ Motown’s Heat Wave: The Songs of Holland-Dozier-Holland concert, directed by Brian Harlan Brook, featuring Derrick Baskin, Najah Hetsberger, Melrose Johnson, Ephraim Sykes, and Curtis Wile, opens at NYC’s. 92NY.
English, by Sanaz Toossi, directed by Arya Shahi, featuring Neagheen Homaifar, Sahar Milani, Afsheen Misaghi, Anahita Monfared, and Pantea Ommi, closes at TheatreWorks Hartford.
The Rocky Horror Show, directed by Mark Fleischerr, featuring Alexander Podolinski (Dr.Frank ‘N’ Furter), Spenser Millay (Brad Majors), Kat Harkins (Janet WEiss), Connor McCanlus (Riff Raff), Laura Frye (Magenta), Sam Carter (columbia), Michael Greer (Rocky Horror), Matthew Hydzik (Eddie/Dr. Scott), and Dixie Surewood (Narrator), with Marissa Buchhett and Benjamin Kent Pimental, closes at Pittsburgh CLO.
Sunday, Nov. 9
The Queen of Versailles, by Stephen Schwartz & Lindsey Ferrentino, directed byMichael Arden, featuring Kristin Chenoweth (Jackie), Murray Abraham (David), Melody Butiu (Sofia), Stephen DeRosa( John), Greg Hildreth (Gary), Tatum Grace Hopkins (Jonquil), Isabel Keating (Debbie), and Nina White (Victoria), opens at Broadway’s St. James Theatre.
The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire, by Anne Washburn, directed by Steve Cosson, featuring Jeff Biehl (Simon), Bartley Booz (Paul), Chricket Brown (Gracie), Connetta Lavinia Grays (Diana), Bruce McKenzie (Thomas), Bobby Moerno (Milo), Tom Pecinka (Will), and Marianne Rendón (Mari). opens at Off-Broadway’s Vineyard Theatre.
Red Bull Theater‘s Richard II, adapted & directed by Craig Baldwin, starring Michael Urie, opens at Off-Broadway’s Astor Place Theatre.
You Will Be Found benefit concert, with music direction by Brad Ellis, featuring Eydie Alyson, Owen Bakula, David Burnham, Chelsea Field, Kate Flannery, Emily Goglia, Jane Lynch, James Snyder, Shannon Warne, and Nita Whitaker, at 7:30 PM at LA’s Catalina Jazz Club.
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, by Jocelyn Bioh, directed by Whitney White, featuring Victoire Charles (Rice), Claudia Logan (Mrs. Cee and others), Michael Oloyede (James and Others), Dominique Thorne (Marie), Nana Mensah (Aminata), Brittany Adebumola (Miriam), Maechi Aharanwa (Ndidi), Rachel Christopher (Jennifer), Kalyne Coleman (Chrissy/Michelle/Laniece), and Zenzi Williams (Sista Bea), closes at LA’s Mark Taper Forum.
Strategic Love Play, by Danny Gavigan, directed by Matthew Gardiner, featuring Danny Gavigan (Man) and Gligh Voth (Woman), closes at DC’s Signature Theatre.
Covenant, by York Walker, directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden, featuring Brittany Deneen (Violet, Deidrie Henry (Mama), Jade Payton (Avery), Alaysia Renay Duncan (Ruthie), and Nick Sanders (Honeycomb” James), closes at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre.
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, created and performed by Julia Masli, closes at Pasadena Playhouse.
Emma, by Kate Hammill, directed by Tom Quaiantance, featuring Anna Vrivelli (Emma Woodhouse), Rishan Dhanjja (George Knightly), Amelia Kenworghty, and more closes at Virginia Stage.
Million Dollar Quartet, by Colin Escott & Floyd Mutrux, directed by Creg Sclavi, featuring Blake Burgess (Johnny Cash), Teddy Grey (Elvis Presley), Alexander LaPlante (Jerry Lee Lewis), and Will Riddle (Carl Perkins), with Jonathan Fisher (Sam Phillips), Andrea Fleming (Dyanne), David Lamoureux (Fluke), and Jordan Lamoureux (Jay Perkins), closes at Ventura, CA’s Rubicon Theatre.
Perfect World, A New Musical, by Alan Edmunds &Richard Winzeler, directed by directed & choreographed by Kay Cole, featuring Gabbie Adner, Darcy Rose Byrnes, Dia Day, Michael Deni, Adam Hollick, Catherine Last, Elizabeth Last, Sammy Linkowski, Charley Rowan McCain, Guy Noland, Brent Schindele, Erika Schindele, and Michael Well, closes at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre.
**********************
Red Bull Theater will present a benefit concert of The Boys From Syracuse on Mon. Dec. 15 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s Symphony Space, directed by Jesse Berger, with music direction by Greg Pliska, and choreography by Ted Pappas.
Murray Abraham, Delphi Borich, Steven Boyer, Eddie Cooper, Nikki Renee Daniels, Damon Daunno, Stephen DeRosa, Christopher Fitzgerald, Santino Fontana, Julie Halston, Nikki M. James, Ben Jones, Mark Linn-Baker, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Bonnie Milligan, Sarah Stiles, John Yi, and more TBA.
**********************
A staged reading of Bobby Daniel Rodriguez’s Bodegueros on Mon. Nov. 10 at 7 PM at Off-Broadway’s Shiva Theater, directed by Javier Molina.
Paul Calderón, Molly Collier, Ana Sophia Colón, Onika Day, Alfredo Diaz, Alejandro Hernández, Robert Montana, Alfredo Narciso, Neil Tyrone Pritchard, Dario Torres and Viviana Valeria.
For more than thirty years, The Hermanos Rivera Deli & Grocery has been a cornerstone of its neighborhood. When the landlord decides to sell the building, the bodega’s owner and his longtime regulars are forced to confront the reality that New York City—and their place within it—is changing. Both funny and deeply human, Bodegueros captures a neighborhood in transition and the enduring spirit of those who call it home.
**********************
LA’s Interact Company Theatre will present The Prize Winners, featuring Pulitzer & Tony Award-winning plays, fully staged, to run January – May at t CA’s Studio City Branch Library. Casting TBA.
:
Fairview (Jan. 19 at 2 PM), by Jackie Sibblies Drury, directed by Michael A. Shepperd.
The Gin Game (Feb. 14 at 2 PM, by D. L. Coburn, directed by Anita Khanzadian.
Sticks and Bones (Mar. 14 at 2 PM), by David Rabe, directed by Rob Brownstein.
‘Night Mother (Apr. 11 at 2 PM), by Marsha Norman, directed by Cate Caplin.
The Humans (May 9 at 2 PM), by Stephen Karam, directed by Rob Adler.
**********************
New York Rep will present The american Soldier, written & performed by Douglas Taurel, Dec. 2-21 (opening Dec. 4) at Off-Broadway’s A.R.T (502 W. 53rd Street).
In 90 minutes, playwright and actor Douglas Taurel performs 14 different characters – men, women, and children – affected by various wars. He exposes their scars with darkness and humor while transporting the audience to a dozen different wartime eras – from the sweltering jungles of Vietnam to the freezing fields of Valley Forge. Taurel masterfully portrays the stories of those most deeply touched by the scourge of war, including a father in the wake of his veteran son’s suicide, a soldier dealing with the loss of his limb, a wife and son coping with a deployed father’s absence, a grieving mother remembering her son at the Vietnam Memorial Wall, a perilously shell-shocked World War II veteran, a female combat veteran sharing her struggles with PTSD and experiences as a woman on the front lines, and many more. Created through exhaustive research, actual letters sent from soldiers to their loved ones, and verbatim language lifted from countless interviews with veterans, the play is an intensely personal look at the humanity behind the specter of war. The American Soldier is decidedly not a political play but a profoundly human story – a piece of theater created to honor our veterans and their families and to deepen our collective understanding of their experiences.
**********************
John Tartaglia & Shannon Lewis’ Elf: The Musical will run Nov. 21 – Jan. 4, 2026 at Bucks County Playhouse, directed by Tartaglia, with choreography by Lewis Lewis.
Chris Stevens (Buddy), Brian Ray Norris (Santa), Juson Williams (Store Manager), John Bolton (Walter Hobbs), Ann Sanders (Emily Hobbs), Savy Jackson ( Jovie), Jenny Lee Stern (Deb) Charlemagne Fadner & Michael Hurst (sharing the role of Michael Hobbs), and William Ryall (Mr. Greenway), with Olivia Lacie Andrews, Mathew Blasio,, Jake Bryan, Johnny Doty ), Sabrina Kalman (, Danielle Kelsey (, Ian Liberto, Ellie Pearlman, Jillian Reef, Manuel Santos, Nicolette Smith, and Jesse Swimm.
**********************
Manhattan Theatre Club‘s Queens, directed by Trip Culman, has been extended through Dec. 7 at Off-Broadway’s City Center.
Bloom, Anna Chlumsky, Sharlene Cruz, Marin Ireland, Julia Lester, Nadine Malouf, Andrea Syglowski, and Nicole Villamil.
An epic drama about hunting for the American Dream, finding family, and facing the ghosts you lef behind. In an illegal basement apartment in Queens, mulitple generations of immigrant women fight to launch a new life. But when a young Ukrainian woman comes searking for the mother who abandoned her years ago, she forces a reckoning with the impossible choices the women made to survive.
**********************
An invitation-only reading of 2 new musicals will take place Nov. 22 at CA’s Musical Theatre West, Casting TBA.
The Postman’s Daughter, by Danielle Koenig, Justin D. Cook, and Rails, directed by TBA. A one-act, sung-through musical dramedy told entirely through written correspondence.
Rails, by Tom Kenaston & Tom Paitson Kelly the story of a troubled man caring for his aging grandmother takes a wild ride through the stories of her past as he struggles to determine her future.