GRACE NOTES: Monday, November 10, 2025

 

Today’s Highlights:

 

  A Celebration of Life in Honor of Jack. W. Batman, from 2-4 PM at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages. All are welcome. A reception will follow.

 

  Red Bull Theater‘s Richard II, adapted & directed by Craig Baldwin, starring Michael Urie, opens at Off-Broadway’s Astor Place Theatre.

 

  Jeremy Jordan returns to The Great Gatsby at the Broadway Theatre.

 

  York Theatre‘s 33rd Annual Oscar Hammerstein Award Gala!, celebrating Jerry Zaks and Joan Ross Sorkin, featuring Christopher Sieber, Marilu Henner, and Rob McClure (Mrs. Doubtfire), with Bobby Conte, Charl Brown, Christiani Pitts, Cynthia Darlow, J. Harrison Ghee, Jelani Remy, John Treacy Egan, Judy Kaye, Lindsay Nicole Chambers, and Seth Rudetsky at 6 PM at NYC’s Edison Ballroom.

 

  Linda Purl: Tunes & Tales: Adventures in Survival concert, music direction by Tedd Firth, at 7 PM at  NYC’s Green Room 42.

 

  Lyrics & Lyricists’ Motown’s Heat Wave: The Songs of Holland-Dozier-Holland concert, directed by Brian Harlan Brook, featuring Derrick Baskin, Najah Hetsberger, Melrose Johnson, Ephraim Sykes, and Curtis Wile, concludes at NYC’s 92NY.

 

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  Exit Lines, by Jim Bernhard:

 

What theatre figures are reputed to have uttered these last words before their deaths?

 

  1. “I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room—and god damn it—died in a hotel room.”   A.  John Wilkes Booth
  2. “Is everybody happy?  I want everybody to be happy. I know I’m happy.”   B. Sarah Bernhardt
  3. “Sister, you are trying to keep me alive as an old curiosity. But I am done. I am finished.”   C. Edmund Gwenn
  4. “Curtain! Fast music! Lights! Ready for the last finale! Great! The show looks good, the show looks good!”   D. Anton Chekhov
  5. “Yes, [dying is] hard, but not as hard as playing comedy.”   E. George Bernard Shaw
6. “I am dying. I haven’t drunk champagne for a long time.”   F. Humphrey Bogart
  7. “Codeine…bourbon.”   G. Florenz Ziegfeld
  8. “How slow my death agony is.”   H. Ethel Barryimore
  9. “I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.”   I. Eugene O’Neill
  10. “Useless…useless.”   J. Tallulah Bankhead

 

Scroll down for the answers…

 

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  Reviews for The Queen of Versailles at Broadway’s St. James Theatre.

 

Click here to read all the reviews.

 

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  The world premiere of Martyna Majok & Aimee Mann’s Girl, Interrupted will begin performances in May 2026 (dates TBA) at The Public Theater, directed by Jo Bonney, with choreography by  Sonya Tayeh.

 

  TBA.

 

  After being checked into a psychiatric hospital, Susanna finds herself trapped in a place that’s both refuge and prison, discovering unexpected connection with the young women of her ward as they all fight for control, stability, and hope.

 

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  Ragtime has been extended through June 14, 2026 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, directed by Lear deBessonet.

 

Cassie Levy (Mother) Joshua Henry (Coalhouse Walker, Jr.), Brandon Uranowitz (Tateh), Colin Donnell (Father), Nichelle Lewis (Sarah), Ben Levi Ross (Mother’s Younger Brother), Shaina Taub (Emma Goldman), Anna Grace Barlow (Evelyn Nesbit), John Clay III (Booker T. Washington), Rodd Cyrus (Harry Houdini), and Nick Barrington (The Little Boy), with with Ellie May Sennett, and more TBA.

 

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   Love Letters will take place Sat. Nov. 22 at 7 PM at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre.

 

  Barbara Eden and Hal Linden.

 

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  A screening of David Ireland’s The Fifth Step will take place Sat. Dec. 16 at 3 PM at UCLA’s James Bridges Theatre, directed by Finn de Hertog.

 

  Jack Lowden  and  Martin Freeman.

 

  After years in the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous, James becomes a sponsor to newcomer Luka. The pair bond over black coffee, trade stories and build a fragile friendship out of their shared experiences. But as Luka approaches step five – the moment of confession – dangerous truths emerge, threatening the trust on which both of their recoveries depend.

 

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   August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone will run Mar. 30 – July 12, 2026 (opening Apr. 25) at the  Ethel Barrymore Theatre, directed by Debbie Allen.

 

  Paul Tazewell, David Gallo, Stacey Derosier, Justin Ellington, and Mia Neal.

 

  Set in 1911, the play  unfolds in a Pittsburgh boarding house run by the steadfast Seth and warm-hearted Bertha Holly. Their home offers refuge to Black travelers navigating the upheaval of the Great Migration. Among them is Herald Loomis, a man on a quest to reunite with his lost wife—and to reclaim the self he was forced to abandon during seven years of forced labor under Joe Turner. As buried traumas surface and spiritual forces awaken, Loomis’s journey becomes one of profound self-discovery. Around him, others seek connection, direction, and healing from a past marked by pain. Through poetic dialogue and vivid, deeply human characters, Wilson crafts a powerful meditation on identity, resilience, and renewal.

 

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  The world premiere of William Keenan’s The Queer Without a Santa Claus will  run Tuesdays and Fridays, Dec. 2-9 at 9:30 PM at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, directed & choreographed by  Sassie LeFay.

 

 TBA.

 

  A scandalously merry parody for anyone who ever wished Christmas came with a bit more glitter, leather, and bad behavior.

 

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  A screening of the London production of David Ireland’s The Fifth Step will take place Sat. Nov. 22 at 3 PM at UCLA’s James Bridges Theatre, directed by Finn de Hertog.

 

  Jack Lowden Martin Freeman.

 

After years in the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous, James becomes a sponsor to newcomer Luka. The pair bond over black coffee, trade stories and build a fragile friendship out of their shared experiences. But as Luka approaches step five – the moment of confession – dangerous truths emerge, threatening the trust on which both of their recoveries depend.

 

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  Complete casting has been announced for Pete Townshend’s Quadophenia, A Rock Ballet, to run Nov. 14-16, at New York City Center, directed by Rob Ashford, with choreography by Paul Roberts.

 

 Ansel Elgort (The Godfather), Adam Garcia (Father) and Paris Fitzpatrick (Jimmy), with Curtis Angus, Dan Baines, Jonathon Luke Baker, Harrison Coll, Jōvan Dansberry, Anya Ferdinand, Amaris Gillies, Seirian Griffiths, Gabriel Hyman, Dylan Jones, Serena McCall,  Joshua Nkemdilim, Alice O’Brien, Zach Parkin, Yasset Roldan, Pam Pam Sapchartanan, Kate Tydman, Jack Widdowson, and Taela Yeomans-Brown.

 

   In 1973, guitar smashing rock genius Pete Townshend wrote Quadrophenia. Recorded by The Who, it quickly became an iconic and multi-million selling album.  Quadrophenia  defined a generation and in 1979 inspired the cult classic feature film of the same name. Now it’s back – this time as an explosive dance production – with a large cast of exceptional dancers, introducing new audiences to troubled mod Jimmy’s story while remaining true in spirit to the much-loved original.

 

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Answers:  Exit Lines, by Jim Bernhard:

 

1-I. “I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room–and god damn it–died in a hotel room.”–Eugene O’Neill
2-H. “Is everybody happy?  I want everybody to be happy.  I know I’m happy.”—Ethel Barrymore
3-E. “Sister, you are trying to keep me alive as an old curiosity. But I am done. I am finished.”—George Bernard Shaw
4-G. “Curtain!  Fast music!  Lights! Ready for the last finale! Great! The show looks good, the show looks good!”—Florenz Ziegfeld
5-C. “Yes it’s hard, but not as hard as playing comedy.”—Edmund Gwenn
6-D. “I am dying. I haven’t drunk champagne for a long time.”—Anton Chekhov
7-J. “Codeine…bourbon.”—Tallulah Bankhead
8-B. “How slow my death agony is.”—Sarah Bernhardt
9-F. “I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.”—Humphrey Bogart
10-A. “Useless…useless.”—John Wilkes Booth

 

 

 


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