Today’s Highlights:
A Benefit for Quentin Oliver Lee live & livestreamed benefit concert, the actor who was recently diagnosed with cancer, with music direction by Eric Sorrels, featuring Quentin Oliver Lee, Blair Campion, Cicily Daniels, Tamar Green, Treston Henderson, Joy Hermalyn, Robert Parker Jenkins, Jacob Khalil, Brett Macias, Jamilyn Manning-White, Bailey McCall, Kathryn McCreary, Lindsay Roberts, and Tramell Tillman, at 7 & 9:30 PM at NYC’s 54 Below. 
Only the 7 PM performance will be livestreamed.
Kurt Peterson: Proud Ladies Concert – close encounters with and lessons learned from 23 of the talented women of the theatre, directed by Lisa Asher, at 7 PM at NYC’s Merkin Concert Hall.
**********************
GRACE NOTES Quiz: Anchors Aweigh! by Jim Bernhard
These questions all have to do with shows about the Navy:
1. Mister Roberts, the 1948 Broadway play about a U. S. Navy lieutenant, starred…Henry Fonda…Jason Robards Jr….Boris Karloff…John Barrymore
2. InThe Caine Mutiny Court Martial, Lieutenant Stephen Maryk is tried for…theft of a bucket of strawberries…an act of mutiny by seizing control of the ship from Capt. Queeg…smuggling a woman into his quarters…running a gambling operation in the officers’ wardroom
3. In Wonderful Town, Ruth is sent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard to interview a group of Brazilian naval cadets who want to…learn to dance the conga…steal military secrets…find a good pastrami sandwich…seek asylum in the United States
4. In On the Town, three sailors have a 24-hour shore leave in…San Francisco…Hong Kong…New Orleans…New York
5. In the play Billy Budd, when Billy is falsely accused of mutiny, he is unable to defend himself because…he cannot speak…he is away on shore leave…he is not informed of the charges…he is killed before his trial
6. In HMS Pinafore, Little Buttercup’s secret is that she…switched Ralph and Capt. Corcoran when they were babies…placed a bomb in the Pinafore…is in fact a man…is secretly married to Sir Joseph Porter
7. Pacific Overtures deals with the United States’ attempt to open trade with…China…Korea…Japan…Hawaii
8. In Dames At Sea, Ruby steps into the leading role of the show rehearsing aboard ship when the star Mona Kent….breaks her leg…becomes seasick…falls overboard…marries the captain
9. In South Pacific Ensign Nellie Forbush is….a spy…a cook…a nurse…a hair stylist
10. Shore Leave, a 1922 musical about a sailor, was adapted as a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie called….Show Boat…Follow the Fleet…High Seas…Top Hat
**********************
Reviews for Death of a Salesman at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre:
NY Times (Jesse Green): A deeply original work that is also deeply influential may yet in time be trite… As Salesman spread into the culture with astonishing speed, it helped introduce the seismic re-evaluations of the ensuing decades. But now that we take those shocks to be self-evident, the job of making the play feel as new as it once did is a difficult one for those who would revive it… The latest Broadway revival…goes wider, a notably rich and mostly successful approach. For the first time in a major New York production, the Lomans are played by Black actors… central to the effectiveness of the casting that it’s not colorblind. Neither the Black nor the white actors ignore race; they mine it, bringing their characters to fully specific and vivid life…
Variety (Marilyn Stasio): …Wendell Pierce’s powerhouse performance firmly identifies Willy Loman as a tragic hero for these modern times. It’s a searing portrait… There’s no doubt that casting a Black actor as Willy Loman (for the first time on Broadway, no less) adds a deeper dimension to this monumental role… Under the careful direction of Miranda Cromwell, Pierce sensitively scrutinizes this deluded man’s foolish worship of the American Dream, which he narrowly interprets as material success… Sharon D. Clarke’s brilliant performance, which finds astonishing character nuances in this long-suffering but often underplayed wife-figure… the well-cast ensemble…
Daily News (Chris Jones): …Pierce’s stellar performance avoids the problem that beset Philip Seymour Hoffman in the last Broadway revival, which was that Willy cannot be so neurotic as not be sympathetic… which was that Willy cannot be so neurotic as not be sympathetic… Truly, it’s a rich and moving star performance and the reason to see the show… the vision of the past presented here feels pretentious, weirdly cinematic and, well, alienating. The actors, such as Lynn Hawley who plays The Woman, make some of it work, but the show still fall off the rails whenever Willy’s brain hits rewind. And that unmoors Davis’ performance as Biff so his emotional journey is not easy to track… In the present, though, the show is often superb…
Theatermania (Zachary Stewart): …an extraordinary Broadway revival… He scans his memory, a particularly frightening and slippery realm as envisioned by director Miranda Cromwell… [who] nevertheless understands deeply that in the American mythos, tragedy is not a matter of fate but personal choice… This full-throated rejection of the lessons of Greek drama is bound to leave most of us feeling hoarse and spent at journey’s end… This production marks the sixth time Death of a Salesman (which premiered at the Morosco Theatre 1949) has appeared on Broadway… Cromwell and company do not shy away from moments that take on a racial charge under this casting…Miller’s claim of universality still holds and seems to be truer in 2022 (with a swelling global middle class) than it was in 1949…
**********************
David Cale’s Sandra, with a piano score by Matthew Dean Marsh, will run Nov. 3 – Dec. 11 (opening Nov. 20) at the Vineyard Theatre, directed byLeigh Silverman.
Marjan Neshat
Sandra seeks to get to the bottom of the mysterious disappearance of her closest friend, a young pianist and composer, who went on a trip to Mexico and never returned. Her search for clues leads in into both a highly charged love affair, and increasingly dangerous territory.
**********************
Seth Rudetsky in concert will take place Thurs. Nov. 3 at 7 PM at Beverly Hills’ The Wallis.
Lillias White
**********************
Lorraine Hansberry’s The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window will begin previews Feb. 4, 2023, and open Feb. 23 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, directed by Anne Kauffman.
Oscar Isaac (Sydney Brustein) Rachel Brosnahan (Iris Brustein), and more TBA.
Set in the 1960s in Greenwich Village, the play is a portrait of a couple’s marriage, and their progressive circle of friends whose ideas do not always match reality. Will those ideals, which Sidney clings to, cost the couple their marriage?
**********************
Williamstown Theatre Festival will present its 2022 WTF Gala on Mon. Nov. 7 at 6 PM at NYC’s City Winery, with music direction by Kris Kukul.
Alex Edelman, Christopher Fitzgerald, James Naughton, Steven Pasquale, Phillipa Soo, and more TBA.
**********************
The world premiere os Arlene Hutton’s According to the Chorus will run Oct. 16 – Dec. 11 (opening Oct. 21) at North Hollywood’s Road Theatre, directed by Emily Chase.
Samantha Tan (KJ), Avery Clyde (Audrey), Amy Tolsky (Brenda), Juan Pope (Peter), Meeghan Holloway (Mallory), Jacqueline Mesaye (Nicki), Julia Manis (Linda), Gloria Ines (Monica), Kristyn Evelyn (Jessica), Sorel Carradine (Joyce), Mara Klein (Stacie), Danny Lee Gomez (Van), and Fox (Olivia the Dog).
A funny, nostalgic behind-the-scenes look at a pivotal period in the history of Broadway where women’s issues and the AIDS crisis play out through the everyday lives of Equity performers and union dressers. The play takes place in the basement quick change room of a Broadway theatre in the mid 1980s, life is full of angst as the long-running production may close at any time and the chorus women are at war with the wardrobe department. Will the new dresser, with her own sad past and uncertain future, be able to navigate this minefield?
**********************
Robin Gerber’s The Shot will run Oct. 27, 28 & Nov. 2 at Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row, directed by Michelle Joyner.
Sharon Lawrence
A work of fiction drawn form the story of former Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham and the part of her life that is hard to look at and understand. Before becoming a publisher, Katharine was an abused wife, derided in public and beaten in private by her husband, who had inherited The Washington Post newspaper from Katherine’s father.
**********************
Video: Lena Hall performs “Somewhere That’s Green” in Little Shop of Horrors at Off-Broadway’s Westside Theatre (starts at 3:05)
**********************
IAMA Theatre Company will present Melissa Jane Osborne’s Smile, to run Nov. 6 – Dec. 5 (opening Nov. 10) at the Atwater Village Theatre, directed by Michelle Bossy.
Isabella Feliciana (Rachel) and Andria Kozica (Helen)
Things haven’t changed much for 17-year-old Rachel Olivera. A kid from the inner city whose mother moved her in order to attend a White, affluent public school in Philadelphia’s Main Line, Rachel is still dreaming of her first kiss; she’s ill-equipped to navigate a world which defines her solely by gender, race and class.
**********************
& 
& 
“Reel Pieces with Annette Insdorf: The Son” will offer a preview screening of Florian Zeller’s “The Son,” followed by a conversation (hosted by Annette Insdorf), on Sun. Oct. 23 at 6:15 PM at NYC’s 92 Y. Only the in-person option (which begins at 6:15 PM) includes the advance screening. The discussion following the screening (begins at 8:30 PM) is available both online and in person.
Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, and writer/director Florian Zeller.
**********************
Complete casting has been announced for Newsies, to begin previews Nov. 20 and open Dec. 8 at Troubadour Wembley Park, directed & choreographed by Matt Cole, with music direction by Nigel Lilley.
Michael Ahomka-Lindsay (Jack Kelly), Bronté Barbé (Katherine Plumber), Moya Angela (Medda Larkin), Samuel Bailey (Specs), Josh Barnett (Race), Cameron Blakely (Joseph Pulitzer), Jack Bromage (Tommy Boy), Alex Christian (Buttons), Arcangelo Ciulla (Ike), George Crawford (Morris Delancey), Ross Dawes (Snyder), Joshua Denyer (Mush), Ross Dorrington (Splasher), Matthew Duckett (Crutchie), Jacob Fisher (Albert), Jamie Golding (Wiesel), Damon Gould (Finch), Alex James-Hatton (Oscar Delancey), Barry Keenan (Nunzio), Ryan Kopel (Davey), Sion Lloyd (Bunsen), George Michaelides (Romeo), Mukeni Nel (Jo Jo), Joshuan Nkemdilim (Elmer), and Mark Samaras (Mike), Matt Trevorrow (Henry), with Nesim Adnan & Haydn Court & Oliver Gordon & Ethan Sokontwe (alternating as Les), along with Imogen Bailey, Zack Guest, Jordan Isaac, and Bradley Trevethan.
**********************
Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater has announced its upcoming benefit performance of Hal Hester & Danny Apolinar’s Your Own Thing, newly adapted by Donald Driver, which will take place Mon. Dec. 12 at 7:30 PM at Symphony Space, directed by Gabriel Barre.
Santino Fontana and more TBA.
**********************
Video: Kate Baldwin performs “I Only Have Eyes For You” in 42nd Street at CT’s Goodspeed Musicals. Scroll down.
**********************
Barry Wyner’s Calvin Berger will begin previews Feb. 16 and open Feb. 18 at Burbank’s Colony Theatre, directed by Richard Israel, with music direction by Anthony Lucca. Casting TBA.
Loosely based on “Cyrano de Bergerac,” the musical is the contemporary and hilarious story of unrequited feelings, love notes, and physical insecurity among high school seniors. Smitten with the beautiful Rosanna, Calvin is paralyzed by self-doubt due to the size of his nose. No words of encouragement coming from his quirky best girlfriend Bret seem to help. Rosanna finds her head turned by the good-looking new student, Matt, who is painfully shy and unable to voice his mutual attraction to her. Hoping to forge a closer relationship to his love, Calvin offers to pen Matt’s eloquent love notes to Rosanna. As deceptions unravel and truths are revealed, Calvin is about to learn that sometimes what you’re looking for is right under your nose.
**********************
Video: Scenes from Evita at Bucks County Playhouse.
**********************
GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Anchors Aweigh! by Jim Bernhard
1. Mister Roberts, the 1948 Broadway play about a U. S. Navy lieutenant, starred Henry Fonda.
2. InThe Caine Mutiny Court Martial, Lieutenant Stephen Maryk is tried for an act of mutiny by seizing control of the ship from Capt. Queeg.
3. In Wonderful Town, Ruth is sent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard to interview a group of Brazilian naval cadets who want to learn to dance the conga.
4. In On the Town, three sailors have a 24-hour shore leave in New York.
5. In the play Billy Budd, when Billy is accused of mutiny, he is unable to defend himself because he cannot speak.
6. In HMS Pinafore Little Buttercup’s secret is that she switched Ralph and Capt. Corcoran when they were babies.
7. Pacific Overtures deals with the United States’ attempt to open trade with Japan.
8. In Dames At Sea, Ruby steps into the leading role of the show rehearsing aboard ship when the star Mona Kent becomes seasick.
9. In South Pacific Ensign Nellie Forbush is a nurse.
10. Shore Leave, a 1922 play about a sailor, was adapted as a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie called “Follow the Fleet.”