Today’s Highlights:
The Merchant of Venice, adapted & directed by Igor Golyak, featuring T.R. Knight (Antonio), Richard Topol ( Shylock), Alexandra Silber (Portia), Gus Birney (Jessica), Tess Goldwyn (Nerisa), José Espinosa (Bassanio), Stephen Ochsner (Launcelot Gobbo), and Noah Pacht (Lorenzo), with Delilah Napier and Elan Zafir, opens at Off-Broadway’s Classic Stage Company.
Sing Happy: The Lyrics of Fred Ebb concert, hosted by Jim Caruso & Billy Stritch, featuring Kate Baldwin, Heidi Blickenstaff, Telly Leung, Julia Murney, Emily Skinner, Debbie Gravitte, Luke Hawkins, Billy Stritch, and Joel Crump, at 7 PM at NYC’s Birdland.
Villain: DeBlanks BOOK CLUB benefit concert, in support of Covenant House NY, featuring Judy Gold, Jackie Hoffman, Brenda Braxton, Bianca Leigh, Amy Spanger, and Alli Mauzey, at 9:30 PM at NYC’s Green Room.
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Grace Notes Quiz: Tipsy Titles by Jim Bernhard
Unscramble these anagrams to find names of plays and musicals and match them with their authors:
| 1. Ma Hilton | A. Tennessee Williams |
| 2. Rouse Cal | B. Ira Levin |
| 3. Leg in ark | C. Henrik Ibsen |
| 4. Hated part | D. Rodgers and Hammerstein |
| 5. We had tons | E. Anton Chekhov |
| 6. I’ll sketch hen | F. Shakespeare |
| 7. Ha! Bad ledger | G. Arthur Miller |
| 8. Canny value | H. Anaïs Mitchell |
| 9. Ah, ration of cotton | I. Alicia Keys and Kristoffer Diaz |
| 10. Had no safe tamales | J. Lin-Manuel Miranda |
Scroll down for the answers…
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Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain will begin previews Mar. 20, 2025 and open Apr. 14 at the Booth Theatre, directed by Danya Taymor.
Sadie Sink, and more TBA.
At a high school in a rural town in Georgia, an English class is studying The Crucible, but the students are more preoccupied with navigating young love, sex-ed, and a few school scandals. As they delve into the American classic, the students begin to question the play’s perspective and the validity of naming John Proctor the show’s hero. A new comedy from a major new American voice, capturing a generation in mid-transformation, running on pop music, optimism, and fury, and discovering that their future is not bound by the past.
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David H. Bell’s A Musical Christmas Carol will run Nov. 29 – Dec. 22 at Pittsburgh CLO, directed & choreographed byScott Evans, with music direction by McCrae Hardy.
Charles Shaughnessy (Scrooge), Allison Cahill, Justin Fortunato, Lisa Ann Goldsmith, Ashton Guthrie, Tom Watkins, Dick Wilkins, Luke Halferty, Tim Hartman, Jeffrey Howell, Julia Paladino, Marco Attilio Petrucci, Benjamin Pimental, Erika Strasburg, Mark Tinkey, Terry Wickline, Magan Dee Yantko, Brittany Graham, Lara Hayhurst, Gavan Pamer,Allan Snyder, Maddie Dick, Abigail Gilman, Simon Nigam, and Mario Williams.
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Michael Griffo’s Pen Pals will begin previews Dec. 5 and open Dec. 11 at St. Clement’s Theatre, directed by SuzAnne Barabas.
(rotating) Johanna Day, Nancy McKeon, Catherine Curtin, Sharon Lawrence, Nia Vardalos, Mary Beth Peil, and Pauletta Washington.
The play celebrates the extraordinary in the everyday lives of women by demonstrating the strength of friendship and female empowerment.
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Chris Wink, Matt Goldman & Phil Stanton’s Blue Man Group, which has been running for over 3 decades, will close Feb. 2, 2025, after 17,000 performances at Off-Broadway’s Aster Place Theatre.
(current) Gideon Banner, Chris Bowen, Michael Dahlen, Isaac Eddy, Josh Elrod, Mark Frankel, and Matt Goldman.
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An invitation-only reading of Joe DiPietro’s Sinatra The Musical took place Nov. 21 in NYC, directed by Kathleen Marshall.
Matt Doyle (Frank Sinatra), Ana Villafañe (Ava Gardner), Phoebe Panaretos (Nancy Sinatra), Caroline Duffy Concannon (Little Nancy), Toni Di Buono (Dolly Sinatra), Mark Lotito (Marty Sinatra), and Brad Oscar (George Evans), with David Abeles, Clyde Alves, Amber Ardolino, E. Clayton Cornelious, Stephen DeRosa, Donna English, Matthew Griffin, Nathan Lucrezio, Katerina McCrimmon, Morgan McGhee, Angel Reda, and Maya Lynn Sistruck.
The musical is set on New Year’s Eve 1942 as a 27-year-old Italian-American singer is about to step onto the stage of New York’s Paramount Theatre. As Sinatra’s career skyrockets, he struggles with balancing the love of his wife, Nancy, against the demands and temptations of his career. When he begins an affair with Ava Gardner, his records stop selling and the press turns against him, but one of the greatest comebacks in showbiz will follow.
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The world premiere of Russell Brown’s Listing will run Jan. 16 – Feb. 16, 2025 at Theatre 40 (link TBA), directed by Tom Lazarus.
Michael Gambiano, Michele MacGregor, Nakasha Norwood, Sherrick O’Quinn, Ian Riegler, Katyana Rocker-Cook, Tack Sappington, Anibal Silveyra, Mark Stancato, Mouchette van Helsdingen, and Tamir Yardenne.
Raymond is a real estate agent with a passion for historic preservation. His dream listing arrives when the owner of one of Los Angeles’ architecturally significant homes asks him to represent her modernist masterpiece. Open houses bring bumbling buyers and development speculators. When catastrophe strikes and the terms of the sale are hijacked, Raymond’s well-intentioned hopes and plans are thrown into chaos. Even the house itself seems to have its own nefarious agenda. Tragedy, societal tension, and ghosts of the home’s past all simmer to the surface, and the home’s good bones can’t hide the bad blood.
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Cabaret Stars at Sea will run May 25 – June 1, 2025 in the Caribbean, with music direction by Alex Rybeck. 
here.
Ann Hampton Callaway, Liz Callaway, and Jason Graae.
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Red Bull Theater‘s Two Gentlemen of Verona, by Galt MacDermot, John Guare & Mel Shapiro, will take place Mon. Dec. 16 at 8 PM at Off-Broadway’s Symphony Space, directed by Zi Alikhan.
Jordan Donica , Jin Ha, Chuck Cooper, Coby Getzug, Taylor Iman Jones, Kelvin Moon Loh, John-Michael Lyles, Alisa Melendez, Sam Simahk, and Alysha Umphress, with Delphi Borich, Ben Jones, Nasia Thomas, Mikayla Renfrow, and DeMarius Copes …. and a special appearance by André De Shields.
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Storm Large: Holiday Ordeal will take place Sun. Dec. 15 at 7:30 PM at LA’s Broadwater Stage.
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Marla Mindelle & Jonathan Parks-Ramage The Big Gay Jamboree will close Sun. Dec. 15 (after 15 previews & 88 regular performances) at Off-Broadway’s Orpheum Theatre (126 2nd Ave.), directed & choreographed by Connor Gallagher.
Marla Mindelle (Stacey), Alex Moffat (Keith), Paris Nix (Clarence), Constantine Rousouli (Bert), and Natalie Walker (Flora), with Jaden Dominique, Brad Greer, Jeremiah Ginn, Amanda Lee, Jillian Mueller, Olivia Puckett, Melvin Tunstall, Clyde Voce, Cortney Wolfson, and John Yi.
Stacey, who after blacking out from 18 Jägerbombs, wakes up hungover in the most terrifying place of all: an Off-Broadway musical. With no memory of how she got there, Stacey is forced to put her BFA in theater to use, belt her face off, and figure out how the hell she’s gonna escape this 1940’s golden age musical…while a live audience watches.
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Grace Notes Quiz answers: Tipsy Titles
1-J. Ma Hilton – Hamilton – Lin-Manuel Miranda
2-D. Rouse Cal – Carousel – Rodgers and Hammerstein
3-F. Leg in ark – King Lear – Shakespeare
4-B. Hated part – Deathtrap – Ira Levin
5-H. We had tons – Hadestown – Anaïs Mitchell
6-I. I’ll sketch hen – Hell’s Kitchen – Alicia Keys and Kristoffer Diaz
7-H. Ha! Bad ledger – Hedda Gabler – Henrik Ibsen
8-F. Canny value – Uncle Vanya – Anton Chekhov
9-A. Ah, ration of cotton – Cat On A Hot Tin Roof – Tennessee Williams
10-G. Had no safe tamales –Death of A Salesman – Arthur Miller