Today’s Highlights:
Blood/Love concert presentation, by Carey Sharpe, Dru Decaro, Erin Boehme, & Adam “Snake” Kobylarz, directed by Daniel LeClaire, featuring Constantine Maroulis (Anzik), Jelani Remy (Ezra), Courtney Reed (Cleo), and Carey Sharp (Valerie Bloodlove), with Erin Boehme and Timothy Lanier, at 5:30 PM at Off-Broadway’s Joe’s Pub.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Royal Flush by Jim Bernhard.
Fill in the missing words in each of the following titles with the name of one of the cards that make a royal flush in poker. (When correctly answered, you will have two royal flushes.)
- The Player ____by William Butler Yeats
- Exit the____by Eugene Ionesco
- ____ Million Ghostsby Sidney Kingsley
- The ____ and the Rebelsby Ugo Betti
- An American____by Lincoln J. Carter
- ____ of Heartsby Jean Kerr and Eleanor Brooke
- Yellow ____by Sidney Howard
- ____ Strawby W. Somerset Maugham
- ____ Nights in a Barroomby William W. Platt
- “____in the Hole” fromLet’s Face It
Scroll down for the answers…
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Aaron Tveit (Sweeney Todd) and Sutton Foster (Mrs. Lovett) will join the cast of Sweeney Todd from Feb. 9 – May 5 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
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The Age of Innocence, newly adapted by Karen Zacarías, will run Feb. 8 – Mar. 10 (opening Feb. 15) at San Diego’s Old Globe, directed by Chay Yew.
Callum Adams (Newland Archer), Shereen Ahmed Ellen), Barzin Akhavan (Beaufort), Delphi Borich (May), Mahira Kakkar Mrs. Welland) and Medora Manson Narrator), Eva Kaminsky Narrator, Rami Margron (Mrs. Archer/Regina Beaufort, Sophia Oberg (Janey Archer/Opera Singer), and Nastasia, Socorro Santiago (Catherine Mingott/ Mrs. van der Luyden), Mike Sears (Sillerton Jackson/Mr. Letterblair/Mr. van der Luyden, and Michael Underhill (Dallas). with Luana Fontes, Chris Hathaway, Madeline Grace Jones, Erick Lindsey, Angelynne Pawaan, Akoni Steinmann, and Emma Svitil.
Set during the Gilded Age, Wharton’s classic novel centers on the moment Countess Ellen Olenska comes to New York City, where high society conflicts with love. Olenska’s arrival disrupts the lives of everyone around her—particularly the dashing lawyer Newland Archer.
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Tiny Little Town will run Feb. 1-18 at the Broadwater Stage, written, directed & choreographed by Richard Alger.
Paula Rebelo, Prisca Kim, Nikhil Pai, Kasper Svendsen, Lamont Oakley, Nick Apostolina, Mark Doerr, Jesse Myers, Ishika Muchhal, Isaiah Noriega, Jose Aquino, and Eddie Vona.
A small town in 1970s America is thrown into chaos when its corrupt bureaucrats mistakenly identify a visiting stranger from Washington D.C. as an incognito Inspector General sent by the Federal Government to investigate their town. The show is a hilarious and timely indictment of corruption and the insecurities of those who maintain their control through deceit and lies.
Video: Teaser
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Roundabout Theatre has announced its 2024-25 Broadway and Off Broadway seasons:
BROADWAY:
Yellow Face (Sept. 2024, dates TBA) at the Todd Haimes Theatre, by David Henry Hwan, directed by Leigh Silveramn, starring Daniel Dae Kim. An hilarious is-he-or-isn’t-he comedy of identity, show business, and (perhaps) autobiography.
English (Dec. dates TBA), by Sanaz Toossi, directed by Knud Adams. The comedy unfolds in an Iranian classroom where adult English learners practice for their proficiency exam. As they leapfrog through a linguistic playground, their wildly different dreams, frustrations, and secrets come to light. Can they overcome the limits of language to discover what they really want to say?
The Pirates of Penzance (April 2025, dates TBA) at the Todd Haimes Theatre, adapted by Rupert Holmes, directed by Scott Ellis, with choreography by Warren Carlyle, and music direction by Joseph Joubert, featuring Ramin Karimloo (The Pirate King), David Hyde Pierce W.S. Gilbert & Major General), and more TBA.
OFF-BROADWAY:
The Counter (Sept. dates at the Steinberg Center), world premiere by Meghan Kennedy), directed by David Cromer. Every morning at the local diner in a small town, a waitress refills a regular’s coffee. An unlikely friendship develops and keeps him coming back for more. But when he asks for a shocking favor, it brings to light both of their deepest secrets. The Counter is a funny, surprising, and moving meditation on the everyday connections that can change our lives.
Liberation (January 2025 dates TBA at Laura Pels Theatre), world premiere by Bess Wohl, directed by Whitney White. It’s 1970: somewhere in Ohio, six women meet on a basement basketball court, determined to shake up their lives and change the world. Fifty years later, one of their daughters tries to understand where things fell apart. A provocative, wildly theatrical world premiere that poses vital questions about friendship, legacy, and the true meaning of liberation.
More announcements soon…
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LA’s Blank Theatre is now seeking submissions from playwrights 19 years of age and younger for its 32nd Annual Young Playwrights Festival.
Submissions must be made online or postmarked by March 15, 2024. The winning plays will be presented (four performances each) by professional actors and directors in July of this year.
The Blank Theatre’s Young Playwrights Festival is a nationwide competition that produces the work of 12 young writers each year. Since 1993, the festival has produced 381 plays by playwrights 19 and younger from 39 states.
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A remixed & remastered version of the 2012 film adaptation of “Les Miserables” will be re-released on Feb. 23 exclusively in Dolby Cinema at AMC Theaters for one week only, with a screenplay by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer, directed by Tom Hooper,
Hugh Jackman as (Jean Valjean), Russell Crowe (Javert), Anne Hathaway (Fantine), Amanda Seyfried (Cosette,) Eddie Redmayne (Marius Pontmercy), Samantha Barks (Éponine), Aaron Tveit (Enjolras), Daniel Huttlestone (Gavroche), and Helena Bonham Carter & Sacha Baron Cohen (the Thénardiers).
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Center Theatre Group‘s L.A. Writers’ Workshop Festival will take place Jan. 26-28 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.
Plays:
Alien Girls, by Amy Berryman
Pigeonhole, by Jasmine Sharma
Help, But Better (Inda Craig-Galván
Brother Gary, by Ramiz Monsef
malcreados, by Christopher Oscar Peña
Teresa, by Isaac Gómez
Los Angeles audiences will have the opportunity to experience six brand new plays. Since its inception in 2005, Center Theatre Group has supported a cohort of playwrights to help them author new plays with the L.A. Writers’ Workshop on topics as varied as Los Angeles itself.
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In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. this week, the Jan. 18, 1988 recording of James Earl Jones‘ reading of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is now available here. thanks to NYC’s 92NY.
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Video: Mandy Patinkin performs a “South Pacific-Into the Woods” Mashup
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Ed. Weinberger’s The Journals of Adam and Eve: The World’s First Love Story will run Jan. 18 – 21 at Burbank’s Garry Marshall Theatre.
Hal Linden and Sally Struthers.
The Journals of Adam and Eve will, for the first time in their own words, tell the true story of the legendary couple — the world’s first love story as only they could tell it. Among the famous events explained by the participants, it chronicles from Eden to exile … from their first date to their twilight years … and from bachelor and bachelorette to being the world’s first parents.
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The Matchbox Magic Flute will run Feb. 10 – Mar. 10 at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, adapted & directed by Mary Zimmerman, with music direction by Amanda Dehnert.
Marlene Fernandez (Pamina), Keanon Kyles (Sarastro), Russell Mernagh (Monostatos), Lauren Molina (Papagena/Lady), Tina Muñoz Pandya (Lady), Reese Parish (The Spirit), Shawn Pfautsch (Papageno), Emily Rohm (Queen of the Night), Billy Rude (Tamino), and Monica West (Lady), with Dario Amador-Lage, Ann Delaney, Devin DeSantis, Holly Hinchliffe, Nathan Karnik, and Emilie Lynn.
Prince Tamino embarks on a journey to rescue Princess Pamina — the daughter of the Queen of the Night — all with the help of a magical flute.
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New York City Ballet has announced its Winter 2024 season:
Tribute to Robbins (Jan. 23 – Feb. 3)
Wheeldon + Martins + Peck (Jan. 25 – Feb. 3)
New Combinations (Feb. 1-24)
All Balanchine (Feb. 6-17)
Classic NYCB (Feb. 9, 10, 18, 22, 29)
Copland Dance Episodes: A Ballet by Justin Peck (Feb. 11, 13, 17, 21)
Innovators & Icons (Feb. 23, 24, 25, 27 28)
Balanchine + Wheeldon (Mar. 1, 2, 3)
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Roald Dahl, Dave Malloy & Lucy Kirkwood’s The Witches continues through Jan. 27 at the National Theatre, directed by Lyndsey Turner, with choreography by Stephen Mear, and music direction by Cat Beveridge.
Katherine Kingsley (Grand High Witch), Daniel Rigby (Mr. Stringer), J Laura Medforth (Mum), Richard David-Caine (Dad), Ekow Quartey (Mr. Jenkins), Maggie Service (Mrs. Jenkins), and Irvine Iqbal (Chef Chevalier at Hotel Magnificent), William Skinner (Bruno), and Chloe Raphael (Helga), with Adrian Grove, Jacob Maynard, Ben Redfern, Miracle Chance, Daniele Coombe, Molly-May Gardiner, Tiffany Graves, Bobbie Little, Tania Mathurin, Amira Matthews, Alexandra Waite-Roberts, Bertie Caplan, Frankie Keita, Vishal Soni, Cian Eagle-Service, George Menezes Cutts, Jersey Blu Georgia, Asanda Abbie Masike, and ulie Armstrong, Chrissie Bhima, Zoe Birkett, Maddison Bulleyment.
The story—adapted from Dahl’s 1983 novel—follows Luke and his Gran, who come to a gathering of all the witches in England, determined to rid the world of children by transforming them into mice.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Royal Flush
- The Player Queenby William Butler Yeats
- Exit the Kingby Eugene Ionesco
- Ten Million Ghostsby Sidney Kingsley
- The Queen and the Rebelsby Ugo Betti
- An American Aceby Lincoln J. Carter
- King of Heartsby Jean Kerr and Eleanor Brooke
- Yellow Jackby Sidney Howard
- Jack Strawby W. Somerset Maugham
- Ten Nights in a Barroomby William W. Platt
- “Ace in the Hole” fromLet’s Face It