Today’s Highlights:
Twilight: Los Angeles, by Anna Deavere Smith, directed by Taibi Magar, featuring Elena Hurst, Wesley T. Jones, Francis Jue, Karl Kenzler and Tiffany Rachelle Stewart, opens at Off-Broadway’s Signature Theatre.
Terrence McNally – A Celebration of Life, at 4 PM ET at Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The event is open to the public, with masks and proof of vaccination required.
York Theatre‘s 2021 Oscar Hammerstein Award presentations, honoring Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire, with video appearances by Stephen Sondheim and Barbara Streisand, and live performances by Loni Ackerman, George Lee Andrews, Jordan Barrow, Sierra Boggess, Christian Borle, Kerry Butler, Liz Callaway, Margery Cohen, Jenn Colella, Josh Dela Cruz, George Dvorsky, Santino Fontana, Montego Glover, Sydney James Harcourt, Eddie Korbich, Norm Lewis, Charlotte Maltby, Sally Mayes, Janet Metz, Julia Murney, Christianne Noll, Sal Viviano, and John Weidman, with Charlie Beck, Molly Fitzsimmons, Ifedayo (Thomas) Gatling, Adeleke Goring, Max Grozalsky-Wernick, Ariana Jackman, Isabella Leonardo, Briana Powell-Cooper, Flor Rosales-Euceda, Kassandra Sánchez, Preston Simon and Zoey Zo, at 6 PM ET at NYC’s Edison Ballroom.
The Actors Fund Virtual Gala, with performances by Jason Robert Brown, Megan Fairchild, Santino Fontana, Syncopated Ladies, Jose Llana, Kelli O’Hara, Zachary Noah Piser, Michael Rosen, and Brian Stokes Mitchell, livestreams at 7 PM ET here.
Jason Kravitz: Off the Top, a completely improvised concert, at 7 PM ET at NYC’s Birdland. Highly reccomended.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: On the Clock by Jim Bernhard
1. In Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Cinderella is warned to leave the ball before the clock…turns into a pumpkin…strikes midnight…begins to move backward…disappears
2. In Peter Pan, the crocodile who menaces Capt. Hook has swallowed a clock, which alerts him when it…plays Beethoven’s “Für Elise…rings an alarm buzzer…ticks…rattles its broken inner works
3. In The Pajama Game ,the factory workers sing “Racing with the Clock”…“Hiding the Clock”… “Punching the Clock”…“Watching the Clock”
4. In Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, “The Old Folks” watch the “old ___ clock”…Grandfather’s…Alarm…Silver…Musical
5. Arthur Miller’s The American Clock is based on the book Hard Times by…Studs Terkel…Charles Dickens…Stephen King…Toni Morrison
6. In Stardust The Mitchell Parrish Musical, a featured song with lyrics by Parrish and music by Leroy Anderson is “The ___ Clock” …Antiquated…Dilapidated…Orchestrated…Syncopated
7. The climactic song in a musical is known as the…Eleven O’Clock Number…Ten O’clock Number…Clock-Stopping Number…Clock-Watcher’s Number
8. In Dinner at Eight, the guests keep looking at their watches waiting for Larry Renault, who is late because…he was held up in traffic…he has committed suicide…he has gone to another party…he forgot he was invited
9. In The Sound of Music, the children sing “So Long, Farewell,” in which they mention a clock with an “absurd little bird popping out to say”…Good-night…Tweet tweet…Cuckoo…Polly wants a cracker
10. The Broadway musical revue Rock ‘N Roll! the First 5,000 Years includes the song “Rock Around the Clock,” which was the first rock and roll record, made famous by Bill Haley and His…Rockets…Comets…Crickets…Halestones
Scroll down for the answers…
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The Seagull, newly adapted by Anya Riess, will run June 29 – Sept. 10, 2022 (opening July 6), at the Harold Pinter Theatre, directed by Jamie Lloyd.
Emilia Clare (Nina), Tom Rhys Harries (Trigorin), Daniel Monks (Konstantin), Indira Varma (Arkadina), and Sophie Wu (Masha).
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Chicago’s Goodman Theatre presents its 44th annual A Christmas Carol Nov. 20 – Dec. 31, directed by Jessica Thebus.
Larry Yando (Ebenezer Scrooge), Gayatri Gadhvi (Tiny Tim), Allen Gilmore (Ebenezer Scrooge alternate), Rika Nishikawa (Belinda Cratchit), Milla Liss (Emily Cratchit alternate), Grier Burke (Turkey Child/Want), Kareem Bandealy (Ghost of Jacob Marley/Young Marley), Dee Dee Batteast (Frida), Terri Bell (Undertaker’s Assistant), Grier (Cratchit Child), Ariana Burks (Martha Cratchit.Catherine), Thomas J. Cox (Bob Cratchit), Amira Danan (Belle/Philomena), William Dick (ortle/Old Joe), Cindy Gold (Mrs. Maud Fezziwig/Mrs. Dilber), Gregory Hirte (Dick Wilkins), Susaan Jamshidi (Mrs. Cratchit), Paris Stricklan & Milla Liss (alternating as Emily Cratchit), Andy Nagraj (Abe), Rika Nishikawa & Rika Nishikawa (alternating as Belinda Cratchit), Christopher Sheard (Young Scrooge/Chost of Christmas Future), Lucky Stiff (Ghost of Christmas Past), Bethany Thomas (Ghost of Christmas Present), Penelope Walker (Mrs. Alice Fezziwig), Andrew White (Narrator), Wai Yim (Schoolmaster), and Molly Hernández (ensemble).
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Judith Ivey has departed the cast of Manhattan Theatre Club‘s Morning’s at Seven due to a torn tendon. The production, which began previews Oct. 20 at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Clements, was scheduled to open Nov. 4, but has now been rescheduled to Nov. 15, with Nancy Ringham replacing Ivey as Arry.
Directed by Dan Wackerman, performances will continue through Jan. 9, 2022.
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“The Rainbow Lullaby,” conceived by Ryan Bauer-Walsh, is now available to download here. Proceeds from the album, which is billed as the world’s first album of LGBTQ+ lullabies, supports the Ali Forney Center and its efforts to protect and support homeless LGBTQ+ youth.
Bauer-Walsh, Marc Shaiman, Dionne McClain Freeney, Debra Barsha, and more.
Matt Doyle, Jenn Collela, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Chillina Kennedy, Caitlin Kinnunen, Michael Longoria, Kyle Dean Massey, Lauren Patten, Jelani Remy, Chris and Clay Rice-Thomson, Marissa Rosen, and Marty Thomas.
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Kristin Chenoweth and musician Josh Bryant have announced their engagement, with a wedding date TBA.
The couple met in 2016 and started dating in 2018.
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San Diego’s Old Globe has announced its 2022 season:
Trouble in Mind (Feb. 5 – Mar. 13), by Alice Childress, directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg. 
A leading Black actress and a multiracial cast rehearse a challenging new Broadway play set in the South. Backstage rivalries and showbiz egos cause excitement of their own, but artistic differences between the cast and the White director soon bubble to the surface, revealing the truths that American drama covers over the ways in which even Well-meaning people can harm others under the guise of helping.
El Borracho (Feb. 17 – Mar. 20), by Tony Meneses, directed by Edward Torres. Raul is ill. He drinks, because he always drinks, just like el borracho on the lotería card. In his final months, Raul moves in with his ex-wife, who swore she’d never see him again, and their son, who’s longing to connect with this father at last.
Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ (Apr. 17 – May 29), directed & musically staged by Wayne Cilento.
Mala (May 7 – June 12), by Belinda Lopez, directed by David Dower. She was always the good daughter. But now her mother, in the twilight of her life, calls her “mala”- bad to the core.
The Taming of the Shrew (June 5 – July 10), directed by Shana Cooper.
Freestyle Love Supreme (June 21 – July 10), directed by Thomas Kail.
Dial M for Murder (July 21 – Aug. 21), world premiere by Jeffrey Hatcher, directed by Stafford Arima.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (July 31 – Sept. 4), directed by Patricia McGregor.
Come Fall in Love – The DDLJ Musical (Sept. 1 – Oct. 16), world premiere by Nell Benjamin & Vishal Dalani, & Shekhar Ravjiani, with Choregraphy by Rob Ashford.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank (Sept. 15 – Oct. 16), by Nathan Englander, directed by Barry Edelstein.
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The Al Hirschfeld Foundation‘s latest online exhibition, “Hirschfeld’s New Season,” is now available through Dec. 6.
The exhibition explores how Al Hirschfeld viewed a new theater season. What did he draw, and what does it tell us about that season? For more than sixty years, Hirschfeld showed us the people and the productions we should look for as the season unfolds, and features his reflections of legendary artists including Julie Andrews, Leonard Bernstein, Carol Burnett, Carol Channing, Whoopi Goldberg, Katherine Hepburn, Angela Lansbury, Patti LuPone, Maggie Smith, and many more.
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David H. Bell’s new adaptation of A Christmas Carol will run Nov. 12 – Dec. 24 (opening Nov. 20) at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, directed by Leora Morris. A filmed version of the production will also be available to stream beginning Dec. 17.
Andrew Benator (Ebenezer Scrooge), Chloe Gia Bremer (Tiny Tim), Austin Barocas (Lamplighter’s Son), Caleb Baumann (Mathew Watkins), Maggie Birgel (Martha Cratchit/Belle), Lena Castro (Wyatt Chratchit), Josh Clark (Fred/Young Scrooge), Thomas Neal Antwon Ghant (Tom Watkins/Mr. Fezziwig), Christopher Hampton (Mr. Pritchitt), Caitlin Hargraves (Missy Watkins/Bess/Mudge), Margaret Ivey (Mrs. Dilber/Mrs. Fezziwig), Clare Latham (Mrs. Cratchit), Rhyn McLemore (Ghost of Christmas Pas), Christopher L. Morgan (Bob Cratchit), Matthew Morris (Jacob Marley), Lizzy Park (Melinda Cratchit), Kevin Qian (Peter Cratchit/Young Wilkins), Lyndsay Ricketson (Ghost of Christmas Future), Asia Rogers (Alice/Fan), and Eugene H. Russell, IV (Ghost of Christmas Present), with Jake Berne, Elizabeth Beyer, Chase Byrd, James Arthur Douglas, Marissa Dunson, Jessi Little, and Parris Sarter.
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The UK tour of Kevin Murphy & Laurence O’Keefe’s Heathers the Musical will run Nov. 25 – Feb. 20, 2022 at The Other Palace, directed by Andy Fickman, with choreography by Gary Lloyd.
Rebecca Wickes (Veronica Sawyer), Simon Gordon (JD), Maddison Firth (Heather Chandler), Merryl Ansah (Heather Duke) Lizzy Parker (Heather McNamara), Georgina Hagen (Ms. Fleming/Veronica’s Mom), Mhairi Angus (Martha Dunnstock), Liam Doyle (Kurt Kelly), Rory Phelan (Ram Sweeney), Andy Brady (Kurt’s Dad/Veronica’s Dad/Principle Gowan) and Kurt Kansley (Ram’s Dad/Big Bud Dean/Coach Ripper), with Callum Connolly, Rhiane Drummond, Bayley Hart, Benjamin Karren, Sam Stones, May Tether and Daisy Twells.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: On the Clock
1. In Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Cinderella is warned to leave the ball before the clock strikes midnight
2. In Peter Pan, the crocodile who menaces Capt. Hook has swallowed a clock, which alerts him when it ticks.
3. In The Pajama Game the factory workers sing “Racing With the Clock.”
4. In Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, “The Old Folks” watch the “old silver clock.”
5. Arthur Miller’s The American Clock is based on the book Hard Times by Studs Terkel.
6. In Stardust the Mitchell Parrish Musical, a featured song with lyrics by Parrish and music by Leroy Anderson is “The Syncopated Clock.”
7. The climactic song in a musical is known as the Eleven O’Clock Number.
8. In Dinner at Eight, the guests keep looking at their watches waiting for Larry Renault, who is late because he has committed suicide
9. In The Sound of Music, the children sing “So Long, Farewell,” in which they mention a clock with an “absurd little bird popping out to say Cuckoo.”
10. The Broadway musical revue Rock ‘N Roll! the First 5,000 Years includes the song “Rock Around the Clock,” made famous by Bill Haley and His Comets.