Today’s Highlights:
Theatre Communications Group‘s 2023TCG Gala: Our Stories, honoring Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya Richardson Jackson, with performances by Sidney DuPong, Alex Newell, and Lillias White, at 6 PM at NYC’s Edison Ballroom.
Electric Island in concert, by Rachelle Rak & Steven Jamail, featuring Rachelle Rak, Angie Schworer, Felicia Finley, Jerusha Cavazos, Katie Webber, Nikki Kimbrough, Stephanie Gibson, Irene Rising, and Amy Hillner Larsen, at 7 PM at NYC’s Green Room.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: C.C. That! by Jim Bernhard
These theatre figures share the initials C.C. Fill in the proper last names:
| 1. Cicely ____, British actress married to Jack Hulbert | A. Colbert |
| 2. Carlton _____, stage and movie actor remembered for the song “Aba Daba Honeymoon” with Debbie Rynolds | B. Channing |
| 3. Claudette _____, movie and stage star who won an Oscar for It Happened One Night | C. Crawford |
| 4. Charles ____, stage and movie actor who won an Oscar for The More the Merrier | D. Calloway |
| 5. Carol ____, musical star who created the role of Lorelei Lee | E. Carmello |
| 6. Carolee _____, musical star who won a Drama Desk Award for Parade | F. Carpenter |
| 7. Cheryl ____, producer of Brigadoon and other Broadway shows | G. Charisse |
| 8. Constance ____, British-American actress who won a Tony Award for Wings | H. Courtneidge |
| 9. Cab ____, noted bandleader who played Horace Vandergelder in Hello, Dolly! | I. Coburn |
| 10. Cyd ____, movie dancer whose one Broadway appearance was as a replacement in Grand Hotel | J. Cummings |
Scroll down for the answers…
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Seth Rudetsky & James Wesley’s Stars in the House, in support of The Broadway Green Alliance, will take place Mon. Jan. 23 at 9:30 PM at NYC’s Green Room 42.
Lena Hall, Ruthie Ann Miles, Anika Larsen, Beth Malone, Mara Davi, Jenn Gambatese, Tamar Green, Laurel Harris, Alexandra Socha, Ta-Tynisa Wilson, and company members from MJ The Musical.
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Complete casting has been announced for Marcus Gardley’s black odyssey, to run Feb. 9 – Mar. 26 (opening Feb. 26) at Classic Stage Company, directed by Stevie Walker-Webb, with music direction by Linda Tillery & Molly Holm, and choreography by Aquila Kikora Franklin.
James T. Alfred (Deus), Temídayo Amay (Benevolence), Harriett D. Foy (Aunt Tee), Marcus Gladney Jr. (Malachai Lincoln), Sean Boyce Johnson (Ulysses Lincoln), Adrienne C. Moore (Alsendra Sabine), Keith Randolph Smith (Paw Sidin), Lance Coadie Williams (Artez Sabine), and D. Woods (Nella P. Lincoln).
At Mr. Kim’s corner variety store, the only thing that isn’t for sale is his family legacy — but with big-dollar projects moving in, does everyone have their price?
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DC’s Signature Theatre (link TBA) has announced its Sig Works: Monday Night New Play Reading series. Casting TBA.
Trouble at the Vista View Mobile Home Estates (Feb. 6 at 7 PM), written & directed by Audrey Cefaly. Free tix available beginning Jan. 23. In small-town Alabama, ex-Mill worker Euba desperately does not want the birthday party her mother insists on throwing for her. On the eve of the celebration with their mutual friends, underlying tensions erupt to the surface in this surprising and compassionate dramedy of generational scars and the complicated relationship between mothers and daughters.
Behave Yourself (Mar. 27 at 7 PM), by Jennifer Barclay, directed by Kimberly Senior. Free tix available beginning Mar. 13. When Isador steals her sister’s ashes and disappears into Glacier National Park, she unleashes an exhilarating tangle of four intertwining stories. Inspired by a true event, two actresses play all the roles from fairytale characters to bears in a wild and whirlwind comedy of grief, friendship, and what it takes to break the rules and seize the day.
DHARMA (June 5 at 7 PM), by Nayna Agrawal, directed by EthanHeard. Free tix available beginning May 22. After their father’s heart attack, three siblings resolve to take care of their aging parents. However, no one wants to house both parents because of their dysfunctional marriage. When they ask their parents to divorce, secrets fly and painful memories resurface in this touching play of familial responsibility and the cultural dissonance between immigrants and their first-generation children.
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Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer & Henry Shields’ Peter Pan Goes Wrong will run Mar. 17 – July 9 (opening Apr. 19) at the Barrymore Theatre, directed by Adam Meggido.
Chris Leask, Henry Lewis, Ellie Morris, Charlie Russell, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields, Greg Tannahill, and Nancy Zamit.
The play follows the fictitious Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society as they present their yearly production, this time a presentation of of Peter Pan.
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Porchlight Music Theatre has announced its New Faces Sing Broadway 1951, which will take place Mon. Jan. 23 at 7:30 PM at Evanston SPACE and Tue. Jan. 24 at 7:30 PM at The Arts Club of Chicago, hosted by David Girolmo, with music direction by Michael McBride.
Daryn Alexus, Daniel De Cranie-Pierre, Nick Johnson, Abbey Loria, Caroline Lyell, Luke Nowakowsi, Ziare Paul-Emile, Alix Rhode, Nolan Robinson, and Jerod Turner.
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Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 will run Mar. 8 – Apr.9 (opening Mar. 15) at the Mark Taper Forum, directed by Gregg T. Daniel.
Originally performed as a solo show, this production has been re-imagined for a cast of 5, who will be announced soon.
The play draws on more than 300 interviews with politicians, activists, police, jurors, shopkeepers, and countless other Los Angelenos to explore the uprising sparked by the acquittal of the men charged in the Rodney King police brutality case. The piece delves into the long-simmering tensions that set the stage for the L.A. Riots and explores the immediate impact on individual Angelenos and the community as a whole.
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George Takei’s Allegiance, currently in previews, will open Jan. 17 and continue through Apr. 8 at the Charing Cross Theatre, directed & choreographed by Tara Overfield Weilinson.
George Takei and Telly Leung
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Rogue Machine Theatre presents the world premiere of Diane Frolov & Susan Justin’s Come Get Maggie, to run Feb. 11 – Mar. 26 at the Matrix Theatre, directed by Michael Pressman, with music direction by Michelle Do.
Phillip Casnoff (Ziskin), Beth Egan (Little Ruthie), Melissa Jove (Mrs. Wyberry), Nicole Ledous (Kwee), Melanie Neilan (Maggie), Bruce Nozick (Gen Winthrop/Mr. Myberry), Chase Ramsey (Hugh), Dennis Renard (Varex), Jacquelin Lorraine Schofield (Auntie Ruthie), and Eddy Vona (President/Rodney), with Alan Tranci.
Maggie, a brilliant young woman stuck in 1950’s suburbia, is out of sync with her times. She wonders if her real home might be somewhere else. When an alien answers her call to the stars for help, she begins an intergalactic romance that will change her, the world she lives in, and the whole universe.
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Eleri Ward: Acoustic Sondheim will take place Thurs. Feb. 2 at 7:30 PM NYC’s NYC’s City Winery, offering an evening of her folk-inspired Sondheim covers.
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The world premiere of Adam Rapp, Jamestown Revival & Justin Levine’s The Outsiders will run Feb. 19 – Apr. 2 (opening Mar. 4) at La Jolla Playhouse, directed by Danya Taymor, with music direction by Justin Levine.
Brody Grant (Ponyboy), Sky Lakota-Lynch (Johnny), Daniel Marconi (Randy), Kevin William Paul (Bob), Brent Comer (Paul), Ryan Vasquez (Darrel), Da’Von T. Moody (Dallas), Jason Schmidt ISodapop), Trevor McGhie (Two-Bit), Piper Patterson (Cherry), and Kiki Lemieux (Marcia), with Annelise Baker, Jordan Chin, Milena Comeau, Barton Cowperthwaite, Tilly Evans-Krueger, Spencer McCabe Hunsicker, Sean H. Jones, L’ogan J’ones, Renni Magee, Tristan McIntyre, Junior Nyong’o, Melody Rose, and Daryl Tofa.
Based on S.E. Hinton’s coming-of-age novel set in 1967 Tulsa, the musical follows a band of working-class “greasers,” led by Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade, as they fight for space and purpose against the preppy “Socs” and a whole society designed to see them fail. The original novel has been a staple of high school reading lists for decades, and was further immortalized by Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film (which is also a basis for this musical).
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Kristin Wong, Sweatshop Overlord, written by & starring Kristina Wong, will run Feb. 12 – Mar. 12 (opening Feb. 15) at Culver City’s Kirk Douglas Theatre, directed by Chay Yew.
On day three of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wong began sewing masks out of old bed sheets and bra straps on her Hello Kitty sewing machine. Before long, she was leading the Auntie Sewing Squad, a work-from-home sweatshop of hundreds of volunteers — including children and her own mother — to fix the U.S. public health care system while in quarantine. It was a feminist care utopia forming in the midst of crisis — or possibly a mutual aid doomsday cult.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: C.C. That!
1. Cicely Courtneidge, British actress married to Jack Hulbert
2. Carlton Carpener, stage and movie actor remembered for the song “Aba Daba Honeymoon” with Debbie Reynolds
3. Claudette Colbert, movie and stage star who won an Oscar for “It Happened One Night”
4. Charles Coburn, stage and movie actor who won an Oscar for “The More the Merrier”
5. Carol Channing, musical star who created the role of Lorelei Lee
6. Carolee Carmello, musical star who won a Drama Desk Award for Parade
7. Cheryl Crawford, producer of Brigadoon and other Broadway shows
8. Constance Cummings, British-American actress who won a Tony Award for Wings
9. Cab Calloway, noted bandleader who played Horace Vandergelder in Hello, Dolly!
10. Cyd Charisse, movie dancer whose one Broadway appearance was as a replacement in Grand Hotel