This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, October 15
Seth Rudetsky’s Seth’s Broadway Breakdown opens at Off-Broadway’s Asylum NYC.
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), opens at Boston’s Calderwood Pavilion.
It’s a Grand Night for Singing, directed by Jason Graae, featuring Joan Almedilla, Richard Bermudez, Kelley Dorney, Jacob Haren, and Natalie Wachen, opens at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West.
5-Star Theatricals‘ Mamma Mia!, directed by Richard Israel, featuring Kim Huber (Donna Sheridan), Eric Martsolf (Sam Carmichael), Nicolette Norgaard (Sophie Sheridan), Max Deloach (Sky), Brayden Hade (Harry Bright), Christopher Robert Smith (Bill Austin), Sandy Bainum (Tanya), Lisa Dyson (Rosie), Alexa Vennanoweth (Ali), Tyler Marie Watkins (Lisa), Christopher Jewell Valentin (Pepper), Anthony Broccoli (Eddie, and Julian Xavier (Father Alexandrios), with Parker Blakely, James Everts, Kristi Hawkesworth, Cassicy Love, Tyler Luff, Kaitlin Maxwell, Nathaniel Marks, AJ Morales, Taleen Shrikian, Stephanie Urko, and Racheal Yeomans, opens at CA’s Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.
The Calorie Counters, world premiere by Molly Wagner, directed by Danielle Ozymandias, featuring Tor Brown, Madylin Sweeten Durrie, Carlos Gomez Jr., Matt Lorenzo, Natasha Renae Potts, and Matthew J. Tucker, opens at North Hollywood’s Loft Ensemble.
Pride & Prejudice* (*Sort Of), by Isobel McArthur, directed by McArthur & Simon Harvey, featuring Isobel McArthur (Darcy/Mrs. Bennet), Tori Burgess (Mr. Collins), Christina Gordon (Lady Catherine de Bourgh/Jane), Hannah Jarrett-Scott (Charlotte/Charles Bingley), and Meghan Tyler (Lizzie Bennet), begins previews at London’s Criterion Theatre.
Fannie (The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer), adapted by Cheryl L. West, directed by Henry Godinez, featuring E. Faye Butler, with musicians Deonté Brantley, Morgan E. and Felton Offard Oct. 15 -31) and Michael Ross (Nov. 3-14), begins previews at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.
Designing Women, by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, directed by Amy Herzberg & Harry Thomason, featuring Carmen Cusack (Julia Sugarbaker), Amy Pietz (Suzanne Sugarbaker), Sarah Colonna (Mary Jo Shively), Elaine Hendrix (Charlene Frazier), Carla Renata (Cleo Bouvier), Kim Matula (Haley McPhee), and Elizabeth Ofodile (Alfie), continues in person, and now available to stream at Theater Fayetteville.
“Let It Be,” the final release of the Beatles’ original catalog, released here.
Saturday, October 16
Ain’t Too Proud, directed by Kenny Seymour, featuring Nik Walker (Otis Williams), James Harkness (Paul Williams), Jawan M. Jackson (Melvin Franklin), Matt Manuel (David Ruffin), and Jelani Remy (Eddie Kendricks), with Saint Aubyn, Esther Antoine, Shawn Bowers, E. Clayton Cornelious, Tiffan Francès, Taylor Symone Jackson, Marcus Paul James, Jahi Kearse, Elijah Ahmad Lewis, Jarvis B. Manning Jr., Morgan McGhee, Joshua Morgan, Christian Thompson, Correy West, Drew Wildman Foster, Curtis Wiley, Jamari Johnson Williams, and Candice Mari Woods, resumes performances at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre.
The Visitor, world premiere by Tom Kitt, Brian Yorkey & Kwame Kwei-Armah, directed by Daniel Sullivan, featuring Ari’el Stachel (Tarek), David Hyde Pierce (Walter), and Alysha Deslorieux (Zainab), with Jacqueline Antaramian, Robert Ariza, Anthony Chan, Delius Doherty, C.K. Edwards, Will Erat, Brandon Espinoza, Sean Ewing, Crystal Joy, Marla Louissaint, Ahmad Maksoud, Sahar Milani, Dimitri Joseph Moïse, Takafumi Nikaido, Paul Pontrelli, and Katie Terza, begins previews (re-scheduled from Oct. 14) at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater.
The Complete Unknowns — A Tribute to Bob Dylan concert, featuring Michael Weiskopf, Randolph Hudson III, Stuart Sherman, Taka Shimizu, Alex Sarkis, and Lauren Matzen, with assorted guest performers, at 8 PM ET at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre.
A Ghost Story, by Danny Robins, directed by Matthew Dunster, featuring Lily Allen (Jenny), Hadley Fraser (Sam), Julia Chan (Lauren), and Jake Wood (Ben), closes at London’s Noël Coward Theatre.
SpeakEasy Stage‘s The Sound Inside, by Adam Rapp, directed by Bryn Boice, featuring Nathan Malin and Jennifer Rohn, closes at Boston’s Calderwood Pavilion.
Sunday, October 17
Dana H., by Lucas Hnath, directed by Les Waters, and starring Deirdre O’Connell, opens at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre.
Songs for a New World, by Jason Robert Brown, directed by Mark S. Hoebee, featuring Roman Banks, Carolee Carmello, Andrew Kober, and Mia Pinero, with Dion Simmons Grier and Olivia Hernandez, opens at NJ’s Paper Mill Playhouse.
Sh-Boom! Life Could Be a Dream, by Roger Bean, directed & choreographed by Jonathan Van Dyke, featuring Willie Beaton II (Wally), Alex Fullerton (Denny), Noah A. Lyon (Eugene), Dorian Quinn (Duke), and Sophia Swannell (Lois), opens at La Jolla Playhouse.
Dear Jack, Dear Louise, by Ken Ludwig and, Hold These Truths, by Jeanne Sakat, directed by Seema Sueko, featuring Dan Fenaughty (Jack) and Larissa Klinger (Louise)… and Greg Watanabe, open in rep at Virginia Stage.
Sara Bareilles concludes her run in Waitress at Broadway’s Barrymore Theatre.
The Last Five Years, directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, featuring Molly Lynch and Oli Higginson, closes at London’s Vaudeville Theatre.
What to Send Up When It Goes Down, by Alesha Harris, directed by Whitney White, featuring Rachel Christopher (One/Made), Ugo Chukwu (Six/Miss), Kambi Gathesha (Two), Denise Manning (Eight/Song Leader), Javon Q. Minter (Seven), Adrianna Mitchell (Three), and Beau Thom (Five/Man/Driver), closes at Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons,
New York Theatre Workshop‘s Sanctuary City, by Martyna Majok, directed by Rebecca Frecknall, featuring Jasai Chase-Owens, Sharlene Cruz, and Austin Smith, closes at Off-Broadway’s Lucille Lortel Theatre.
The Gardens of Anuncia, by Michael John LaChiusa, directed & choreographed by Graciela Daniele, featuring Carmen Roman (Older Anuncia), Kalyn West (Younger Anuncia) Enrique Acevedo (That Man), Andréa Burns (Tia Lucia), Eden Espinosa (Mamí), John Herrera (Grandfather), Tally Sessions (The Deer), and Mary Testa (Granmama Magdalena), closes at San Diego’s Old Globe.
Yeah, But Not Right Now, written by & starring A.J. Holmes, directed by Caitlin Cook, closes at Off-Broadway’s SoHo Rep.
The Garden, world premiere by Charlayne Woodard, directed by Patricia McGregor & Delicia Sonnenberg, featuring Charlayne Woodard (Cassandra) and Stephanie Berry (Rose), closes at La Jolla Playhouse.
Rock of Ages, directed & choreographed by Jessica Hartman, featuring Just Matthew Sargent (Drew), Diana Huey (Sherrie), Steven Bogard (Dennis), Justin Collette (Lonny), Brian Mathis (Hertz), Nicole Powell (Mother/Justice), Drew Redington (Franz), Brett Stoelker (Father/Stacee Jaxx), and Tersa Simmermann (Regina/Candi), with Austin Colburn, Alex Cruz, Karma Jenkins, Tracy Sokat, Ryan Winkler and Ricardo Zayas, Miles Marmolejo, and Emily Tanner, closes at Houston’s TUTS.
Be Here Now, by Deborah Zoe Laufer, directed by Courtney O’Connor, featuring Samantha Richert, Barlow Adamson, Shani Farrell, and Katherine C. Shaver, closes at Boston’s Lyric Stage.
Clue, by Sandy Rustin, Hunter Foster, Eric Price & Michael Holland, directed by Casey Hushion, featuring Jeff Skowron (Wadsworth), Heather Ayers (Mrs. White), Ted Barton (Professor Plum), Mary Birdsong (Mrs. Peacock), Sarah Hollis (Miss Scarlet), John Shartzer (Mr. Green), Cassie Simone (Yvette), and Harrison White (Colonel Mustard), with Rachel McLaughlan, Michael Cavinder, and James Tolbert, closes at CA’s La Mirada Theatre.
Have a Good One, world premiere by Stan Zimmerman & Christian McLaughlin, directed by Zimmerman, featuring Megan Cournoyer, Adrian Gamez, Tom Plumley, and Tanner Stine, closes at Hollywood’s The Complex.
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Reviews for The Lehman Brothers at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre:
NY Times (Laura Collins-Hughs): …In the captivating production that opened on Thursday night at the Nederlander Theater, it relies largely on an unspoken agreement between actors and audience — to imagine together, and let fancy crowd out fact. Sort of the way that heedless investors looked right past all warning signs in the faith-based run-up to the stock market crash of 2008. Illusion is illusion, after all, and financial markets, like the theater, require a certain suspension of disbelief — though when the fantasy bursts in theater, the fallout is less ruinous… it is a vividly human tale, nimbly performed by three of the finest actors around: Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Adrian Lester…
NY Times (Laura Collins-Hughs): Much of what happens in “The Lehman Trilogy” is invisible to the eye, which is not the way prestige drama usually works onstage… In the captivating production that opened on Thursday night at the Nederlander Theater, it relies largely on an unspoken agreement between actors and audience — to imagine together, and let fancy crowd out fact… it is a vividly human tale, nimbly performed by three of the finest actors around: Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Adrian Lester… The primary reason to see The Lehman Trilogy, then, is to witness the superb Beale, Godley and Lester in their feats of storytelling — and to conspire with them in imagining the play’s tarnished, if not truly vanished, world.
Broadway News (Charles Isherwood): …for all the breathless anticipation (slightly less breathless now of course), the play these anxious ticket-buyers will see is, well, hardly a play at all… It has been sleekly staged by Mendes on a supremely chic set by Es Devlin… But for all its surface stylishness, “The Lehman Brothers” is a stolid and rather monolithic slab of a show: a three hour and twenty minute talking Wikipedia page, so dense with description and narration, and devoid of drama — or even dialogue — that watching it is like watching very expensive paint dry, or maybe, to use a more apt metaphor, listening to cotton growing… The trilogy (which it isn’t, really, but let it pass) proceeds in strictly chronological order, which also adds to the tedium…
Daily News (Chris Jones): …if you walk through the doors of the The Lehman Trilogy… rest assured that you will understand. Much better than you have before… That’s partly because this gripping piece of docudrama — the three-act script is by the Italian writer Stefano Massini as adapted by Ben Power and directed by Sam Mendes — is so precise in its storytelling. It’s partly because the Broadway cast is made of three masterful British actors in Simon Russell Beale, Adrian Lester and Adam Godley… Its central achievement, to my mind, is that it both gives a nod to capitalist American ingenuity, to the ability of three German Jews to come here with nothing and build an empire born of shrewd ideas and anticipating the needs of the customers, while pointing out, time and time again, that all winners beget losers.
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Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields’ The Play That Goes Wrong resumed performances Oct. 15 at New World Stages, directed by Matt DiCarlo.
Jesse Aaronson (Max), Ryan Vincent Anderson (Trevor), Brent Bateman (Robert), Bartley Booz (Dennis), Matt Harrington (Chris), Ashley N. Hildreth (Annie), Chris Lanceley (Jonathan), and Maggie Weston (Sandra), with Damien Brett, Laura D’Andre, Ellie MacPherson, and Sid Solomon.
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Life of Pi, adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti, will begin previews Nov. 15 and open Dec. 2 at Wyndham’s Theatre, directed by
Hiran Abeysekera (Pi), Mina Anwar (Ma), Nicholas Khan (Father), Payal Mistry (Rani), Tom Espiner (Father Martin and Commander Grant-Jones), Raj Ghatak (Mamaji and Pandit-Ji), Syreeta Kumar (Mrs. Biology/Kumar/Zaida Khan), David K.S. Tse (Mr. Okamoto), Kirsten Foster (Lulu Chen), Habib Nasib Nader (Cook and Voice of Tiger), Fred Davis (Tiger Head), Daisy Franks (Tiger Heart), Romina Hytten (Tiger Heart), Tom Larkin (Tiger Head), and Scarlet Wilderink (Tiger Heart), Tom Stacy (Tiger Hind), with Nuwan Hugh Perera, Alex Chang, and Deeivya Meir.
The play begins after a cargo ship sinks in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There are five survivors stranded on a single lifeboat — a hyena, a zebra, an organgutan, a 16-year-old boy, and a 450 pound Bengal tiger.
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Video: Trailer for “Needle in a Timestack” film, starring Cynthia Erivo and Leslie Odom, Jr., released in select theaters and on-demand today.
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The world premiere of Bryner Turner’s At the Wedding will run Feb. 12 – Mar. 27, 2021 at Lincoln Center‘s Clair Tow Theater, directed by Jenna Worsham.
Mary Wiseman (Carlo), Rebecca S’Manga Frank, Keren Lugo, Carolyn McCormick, Will Rogers, and Han Van Sciver.
The world’s loneliest (and wittiest) single woman, Carolo, crashes her ex-girlfriends wedding to a man. Through a series of flirtations, conversations, and collisions with past lovers, old enemies, new friends, and perfect strangers, Carlo strives to understand whether or not heartbreak is a permanent human condition.
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NYC Christmas: A Concert to Benefit ASTEP will take place Mon. Dec. 13 at 7 PM ET at Joe’s Pub, directed by Jenn Rapp-Pearl, with music direction by
Nick Blaemire, Chester Gregory, David Josefsberg, Derek Klena, Lindsay Mendez, Bonnie Milligan, Cheeyang Ng, Lauren Pritchard, Shea Renee, Elizabeth Stanley, and Kay Trinidad, with more TBA.
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Randy Rainbow will appear Oct. 27 & 28 at 8 PM ET at CT’s Ridgefield Playhouse.