GRACE NOTES will return Tuesday, Sept. 5. Have a wonderful holiday.
This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, September 1
Henry Johnson, world premiere by David Mamet, directed by directed by Marja-Lewis Ryan, featuring Shia La Beouf (Gene), David Paymer (Mr. Barnes), Dominic Hoffman (Jerry), and Evan Jonigkeit (Henry), opens at LA’s Electric Lodge.
The Creeps, written by & starring Catherine Waller, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Playhouse 46.
Rock and Roll Man, by Gary Kupper, Larry Marshak & Rose Caiola, directed by Randal Myler, featuring Constantine Maroulis (Alan Freed), Joe Pantoliano (Morris Levy/Leo Mintz), Bob Ari (Hoover), Rodrick Covington (Little Richard), and Valisia LeKae (Lavern Baker), with Jamonte D. Bruten, Andy Christopher, AJ Davis, Autumn Guzzardi, Anna Hertel, Matthew Morgan, Dominique Scott, Eric B. Turner, Joe Barbara, Natalie Kaye Clater, Lawrence Dandridge, Chase Peacock, and Bronwyn Tarboton, closes at Off Broadway’s New World Stages.
Saturday, September 2
Relapse, by J. Giachetti & Louis Josephson, directed by Joey McKneely, featuring Ashley Alexandra (Margo), Randall Scott Carpenter (Bryan), Mia Cherise Hall (Melinda), Troy Valjean Rucker (Dr. Carlisle), Jacob Ryan Smith (Adam), and Becca Suskauer (Kendra), with Vinny Celerio, Audrey Hedequist, Nicole Lamb, Zummy Mohammed, Danny Rabinowitz, and Isabel Rodriguez, opens at Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row.
The Little Big Things, world premiere by Tom Ling & Joe White, directed by Luke Sheppard, featuring Ed Larkin (Man) Jonny Amies (Boy Henry Frasier), Linzi Hateley (Fran Fraser), Alasdair Harvey (Andrew Fraser), Jordan Benjamin (Dom), Rebecca Bowden (Surgeon), Jamie Chatterton (Tom), Tom Oliver (Marco), Malinda Parris (Dr. Graham), Cleve September (Will), and Amy Trigg (Agnes), with Stephen John Davis, Elena Pitsiaeli, George Galmon, Amy West, and Joseph Wolff, begins previews at London’s SoHo Place.
Primary Stages‘ Dig, written & directed by Theresa Rebeck, featuring Mary Bacon, Jeffrey Bean, Greg Keller, David Mason, Triney Sandoval, and Andrea Syglowski, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters.
Oklahoma, re-imagined & directed by Daniel Fish, featuring Georgina Onuorah (Ado Annie), Phillip Olagoke (Cord Elam), Raphael Bushay (Mike), Arthur Darvill (Curly McLain), James Patrick Davis (Will Parker), Stavros Demetraki (Ali Hakim), Greg Hicks (Andrew Carnes), Rebekah Hinds (Gertie Cummings), Anoushka Lucas (Laurey Williams), Marie-Astrid Mence (Lead Dancer), Liza Sadovy (Aunt Eller) and Patrick Vaill (Jud Fry) with Andrew Berlin, Arthur Boan, Shani Cantor, Anna-Maria de Freitas, George Maddison, Brianna Ogunbawo, Finlay Paul, Helen K Wint, closes at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre.
The Crucible, directed by Lyndsey Turner, featuring Milly Alcock (Abigail Proctor), Caitlin Fitzgerald (Elisabeth Proctor), Brian Gleeson (John Proctor), Ron Cook (Giles Corey), Risayo Akinade (Danforth), with David Ahmad, Zoë Aldrich, Stephanie Beattie, Raphael Bushay, Henry Everett, Nick Fletcher, Colin Haigh, Nadine Higgin, Gracie McGonigal, Alastair Parker, Joy Tan, and Tilly Tremayne, with Christopher Birch, Lucy Brindle, Grace Farrell, Chyna-Rose Frederick, Miya James, Ebony Jonelle, Tama Phethean, Amy Snudden, Nia Towle, and Samuel Townsend, closes at London’s Gielgud Theatre.
The Pillowman, by Martin McDonagh, directed by Matthew Dunster, featuring Lily Allen (Katurian), Steve Pemberton (Tupolski), Paul Kaye (Ariel), and Matthew Tennyson (Michal), closes at London’s Duke of York’s Theatre.
On Cedar Street, world premiere by Emily Mann, Carmel Dean, Lucy Simon & Susan Birkenhead, directed by Susan H. Schulman, featuring Stephen Bogardus (Louis Waters), Lana Gordon (Ruth Clark), C. Wild Handel (Young Girl), Hayden Hoffman (Mamie Moore), Ben Roseberry (Gene Moore), Dan Teixeira (Russell Beckman), lauren Ward (Addie Moore), and Lenny Wolpe (Lloyd Beckman), with Zooey Bayles), closes at MA’s Berkshire Group.
Sunday, September 3
A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Steve Jarrard, featuring German Flores Alcala, RJ Cortana, Kathy Bell Denton, Joshua Farrell, Chuy Garcia, Wendy Garcia, Mark V. Jones, Harish Mandyam, Eve Richards, Jason Sino, Jennifer Skiffington, Kevin Grant Spencer and Meg Wallace, begins previews at North Hollywood’s Sherry Theatre (11052 Magnolia Blvd.)
Funny Girl, directed by Michael Mayer, featuring Lea Michele (Fanny Brice), Ramin Karimloo (Nicky Arnstein), Tovah Feldshuh (Mrs. Brice), Jared Grimes (Eddie Ryan), Julie Benko (Fanny Brice alternate), ephie Aardema (Emma/Mrs. Nadler), Paolo Montalban (Florenz Ziegfield), Debra Cardona (Mrs. Meeker), Ann L. Nathan (Mrs. Strakosh), Martin Moran (Tom Keeny), and many more, closes at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre, after 30 previews and 599 performances.
The Public Theater‘s FREE The Tempest, directed by Laurie Woolery, featuring Renée Elise Goldsberry (Prospero), Tristan André (Sebastian), Sabrina Cedeño (Trinculo), Anthony Chatmon II (Antonio), Jo Lampert (Ariel), and Joél Pérez (Stephano), Theo Stockman (Caliban), with Brianna Cabrera, Patrick O’Hare, and Edwin Rivera, along with the Oyu Oro Cuban Experimental Dance Ensemble, closes at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre.
The Wizard of Oz, directed by Nikolai Foster, featuring Georgina Onuorah (Dorothy), Jason Manford (Cowardly Lion), Ashley Banjo (Tin Man), Dianne Pilkington (Wicked Witch of the West), Louis Gaunt (Scarecrow), Christina Bianco (Glinda The Good Witch), Gary Wilmot (Wizard/Professor Marvel), and Ben Thompson (Toto), with Annie Southall, Charlotte St. Croix, Claire O’Leary, Eamonn Cox, Emily Ann Potter, Geoff Aymer, Harrison Wilde, Jacqui Dubois, Jessica Daley, Jonathan Dryden Taylor, Lauren Stroud, Marley Fenton, Michael Lin, and Sam Stones, closes at the London Palladium.
Bleak Expectations, a Charles Dickens mashup, by Mark Evans, directed by Caroline Leslie, featuring Ashh Blackwood (Agnes Bin/Flora Dies-Early), Shane David-Joseph (Thomas Bin/Blakewell Havertwitch/Broadway Fecund), J.J. Henry (Harry Biscuit), John Hopkins (Gently Benevolent), Dom Hodson (Pip Bin), Serena Manteghi (Pippa Bin), Marc Pickering (The Hardthrashers), and rachel Summers (Pippa Bin/Ripely Fecund), with guest stars every week, closes at London’s Criterion Theatre.
York Theatre Company‘s How to Steal an Election: A Dirty Politics Musical, by Brand & William F. Brown, directed by Joseph Hayward, featuring Jason Graae (Calvin Coolidge), Emma Degerstedt (April), and Alex Joseph Grayson (Jerry), with Courtney Arango, Kelly Berman, and Drew Tanabe, closes at Off Broadway’s Theatre at St. Jean’s.
Mr. Finn’s Cabaret, the Summer series, closes at MA’s Barrington Stage Company.
A Tailor Near Me, world premiere by Michael Tucker, directed by James Glossman, featuring Richard Kind and James Pickens Jr., closes at New Jersey Rep.
P3 Theatre Company‘s The Red Suitcase, world premiere by Jiggs Burgess, directed by Del Shores, featuring Emerson Collins (Pogue), Kristen McCullough (April), Bruce Melena (Bud), Charlotte Louise White (Grandma Evans), Mat Hayes (Player 1), Pam Trotter (Player 2), and Tiago Santos (Player 3), closes at Hollywood’s Broadwater Theatre Main Stage.
Kansas City Actors Theatre‘s Grand Horizons, by Bess Wohl, directed by Dennis D. Hennessy, featuring Amy Attaway, Craig Benton, Peggy Friesen, Matt Leisy, Victor Raider-Wexler, Jan Rogge, and Tanner Rose, closes at the City Stage in Union Station.
Monday, September 4
Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors, by Gordon Greenberg & Steve Rosen, directed by Greenberg, featuring Jordan Boatman, Arnie Burton, James Daly, Ellen Harvey, and Andrew Keenan-Bolger, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages.
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Reviews for The Tempest in Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre:
NY Times (Jesse Green): …This new Tempest, adapted by Benjamin Velez (whose songs are tuneful and sweet) and Laurie Woolery (whose staging is bumpy but joyous), continues the tradition but emphasizes a new note: the pang of goodbyes… The goodbyes are generally the same ones Shakespeare plotted around 1610… Prospero, played by Renée Elise Goldsberry in gorgeous voice, is a woman, and not gratuitously so. Her interactions with Miranda are specific to her gender… Velez’s poppy melodies and gentle slant rhymes usually serve a second function, crystallizing the themes in quickly recognizable and memorable gestures, as the harsh economy of musicals requires…
Vulture (Sara Holdren): I’d like to take an airy spirit’s-eye view for a moment and, before boarding the king’s ship, pause. Because to talk about this Tempest, one must first talk about the larger project to which it is in service. And the play is — despite the ebullient production’s focus on themes of breaking free from various bonds — in service… as exuberant and song-and-dance-filled as ever… as delicate as it can be to parse intention and outcome — the thing that’s meant and the thing that’s made — it’s also, in our era of fearing and flattening nuance, a necessity… In tone and temperament, it owes much more to Disney than to Shakespeare…
New York Stage (): …starring an enchanting Renée Elise Goldsberry as the deposed duke and manipulative magician Prospero… Clearly The Tempest lends itself well to this song-and-dance treatment… the audience gets very into “A Fool Can Be a King,” a rousing ditty for conspirators Stephano (Joel Perez), Trinculo (Anthony J. Garcia at my performance), and Caliban (Theo Stockman)… even in this pared-down version, the drunken antics of the aforementioned trio grows tiresome—as frequently happens in full productions… Still, there are enough, well, magical moments in this Tempest—many of which come courtesy of Goldsberry, who’s wonderfully cast as the benevolent, bitter Prospero…
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Complete casting has been announced for Lauren Gunderson, Dave Stewart, Nick Finlow & Kait Kerrigan’s The Time Traveller’s Wife: The Musical, to begin previews Oct. 7 and open Nov. 1 at the Apollo Theatre, directed by Bill Buckhurst, with choreography by Shelley Maxwell.
David Hunter (Henry), Joanna Woodward (Clare), Tim Mahendran (Gomez), Hiba Elchikhe (Charisse), Ross Dawes (Henry’s Dad), Sorelle Marsh (Henry’s Mum), Alwyne Taylor (Librarian), Irfan Damani (Clare’s Dad), Alexandra Doar ( Clare’s Mum), Alex Lodge (Jason/Mark), Helena Pipe (Dr. Kendrick), and Ava Critchell, Lily Hanna, Poppy Pawson, and Holly-Jade Roberts (sharing the role of Young Clare).
The work centers on a love story between Henry and Clare, one experienced out of order thanks to Henry’s rare condition, which sees him pulled into the past or the future with no warning when his genetic clock periodically resets.
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An Evening with Audra McDonald will take place Fri. Oct. 6 at 7:30 PM at Lyric Opera Chicago, with music direction by Andy Einhorn.
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The Da Vinci Code, adapted by Dan Broan, Rachel Wagstaff & Duncan Abel, continues through Sept. 23 at ME’s Ogunquit Playhouse, directed by Leigh Toney.
Michael Urie (Professor Robert Langdon), Hannah Cruz (Sophie Neyeu), and Charles Shaughnessay (Sir Leigh Teabing), with Katya Collazo, Thursday Rarra, Howard Kaye, Tarik Lowe, Glenn Morizio, David Patterson, Marissa Parness, and Jennifer Regan.
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Complete casting has been announced for the North American tour of Conor McPherson & Bob Dylan’s Girl From the North Country, which will launch oct. 8 at Minneapolis’s Orpheum Theatre. 
Click here for the complete schedule.
Alan Ariano (Dr. Walker), David Benoit (Mr. Burke), Ben Biggers (Gene Laine), Paul Blankenship (Offstage Cover), Jennifer Blood (Elizabeth Laine), Matt Manuel (Joe Scott), Sharaé Moultrie (Marianne Laine), Jay Russell (Mr. Perry), John Schiappa (Nick Laine), Chiara Trentalange (Kate Draper), Jill Van Velzer (Mrs. Burke), Jeremy Webb (Reverend Marlowe), Aidan Wharton (Elias Burke), and Carla Woods (Mrs. Neilsen), with Ashley D. Brooks, Justin Michael Duval, Kelly McCormick, and Hosea Mundi, with swings Warren Nolan Jr., Ali Regan, Rayla Garske, and Danny Vaccaro.
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Glory Days benefit concert, by Nick Blaemire & James Gardiner, will take place Mon. Feb. 12, 2024 at Off-Broadway’s Keen Company, directed by Jonathan Silverstein.
Performers TBA.
Glory Days takes place one year after high school graduation, as four best friends reconnect on their old school’s football field. Will has called the boys together with a mission: to hack into the sprinkler system so that it goes off when the jocks who bullied them in high school take the field for a charity game. But as the guys wait for instructions on how to break into the system, they quickly realize how dramatically their lives have grown apart. Glory Days is a coming-of-age rock musical about friends searching for understanding and validation as they face the consequences of growing up.
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Video: A mysterious Instagram account, website, and teaser trailers have appeared for the musical adaptation of Death Becomes Her. The new musical, based on the 1992 film starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, received a private industry reading in April with Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard.
The original film followed a Broadway actor named Madeline (Streep) and a writer named Helen (Hawn) trying to achieve eternal youth with a magic potion (one with nasty side effects).
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tick, tick… BOOM! will run Sept. 22 – Oct. 22 at Pittsburgh CLO, directed by Martha Banta, with music direction by Robert Neumeyer.
Sarah Bishop (Susan), Brady Patsy (Michael), and Ethan Riordan (Jonathan), with Marissa Bucheit and Reel Allen Worth.
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Josie de Guzman: Back Where I Started will take place Sept. 8 & 10 at 7 PM at NYC’s Green Room 42, directed by Gerard Alessandrini, with music direction by Larry Yurman.
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Sandra Cruze’s She Was Dick’s Tracie will be available beginning Sept. 20 at Open-Door Playhouse, directed by Bernadette Armstrong.
Gary Lamb, David Purdham, Peter Bonoff and Maureen Davis.
Red, a dynamite redhead, is found lying in a pool of her own blood in a back alley. Senior Detective Harry and his Assistant Jack and a coroner are called to the scene to solve her murder: Unknowingly, each of them have a connection to the recently deceased.
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Conway McDermott & Gez Mercer’s Billie the Kid will offer two semi-staged performances on Nov. 13 and Nov. 20 at the Vaudeville Theatre, directed by Kerry Kyriacos Michael.
Casting TBA.
The musical follows a young girl, Billie, who was born in a Bible Belt town to a delinquent mother, and has grown used to having the odds stacked against her. After spending years planning her future with her childhood sweetheart, Brody, she discovers he’s been exchanging dirty DMs with their queer classmate David.
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An encore performance of Broadway Sings Celine Dion will take place Tues. Sept. 12 at 8 PM at NYC’s Sony Hall, directed by Corey Mach.
Lorna Courtney, Eden Espinosa, Jessica Vosk, Eleri Ward, DeMarius Copes, Natalie Joy Johnson, Tamika Lawrence, Corey Mach, Gracie McGraw, Veronica Otim, Dee Roscioli, Talia Suskauer, Marty Thomas, Raena White, Sasha Allen, Bella Coppola, Marcus Paul James, Jade Jones, John Riddle, Mia Gerachis, Stephanie Torns, Courtney Bassett, Dimitri Moïse, and Carrie St. Louis.
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Ensemble Theatre Company will present Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play Oct. 5 – 22 (opening Oct. 7) at Santa Barbara’s New Vic, directed by Brian McDonald.
Meghan Andrews (Logan), Adam Hagenbuch (Jaxton), Ashley Platz (Alicia), and Will Block (Caden).