Today’s Highlights:
Autumn Royal, by Kevin Barry, directed by Ciarán O’Reilly, featuring Maeve Higgins and John Keating, opens at Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep.
Light the Lights! A Drama League Celebration benefit, hosted by Kandi Burruss, honoring Wayne Brady, and featuring performances by Titus Burgess, André De Shields, Telly Leung, Bonnie Milligan, Josh Bergasse, Brenda Braxton, and Jerry Mitchell. Chita Rivera will offer a special video message. In addition, the winners of the Drama League’s TikTok songwriting challenge, including Deborah Abramson & Amanda Yesnowitz; Nico Juber & Selena Seballo, Jordan Li-Smith, Paulie Pecorella & Sean McCabe, and Alec Powell, all of whom will perform the five winning “Anthems for the Future of Theatre” at the celebration, at 6 PM ET at NYC’s The Players.
“An Evening with Stephen Schwartz” conversation & song, with special guests Frank DiLella, Michael McCorry Rose, Ciara Renée, and surprise special guests, at 7:30 PM ET at NYC’s 92Y.
Play-PerView‘s JANE ANGER, that Cunning Woman, and also of Willy Shakespeare and his Peasant Companion, or Yes, and Also of Anne Hathaway (also a Woman) Who Tried Very Hard reading, by Talene Monahon, directed by Jaki Bradley, featuring Michael Urie, Danaya Esperanza, Talene Monahon, and Ryan Spahn, at 7 PM ET both live & livestreamed at NYC’s Caveat (21 Clinton Street).
York Theatre‘s Blue Roses reading, by Mimi Turque & Nancy Ford, directed by Austin Pendleton, featuring Anita Gillette (Amanda Wingfield), Piper Goodeve (Laura Wingfield), Jeff Kready (Jim O’Connor), and Howard McGillin (Tom Wingfield), at 7 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Jean’s.
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Reviews for Dana H. at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre:
New York Times (Jesse Green): …the profoundly disturbing new play by Lucas Hnath… In Hnath’s play, the transcript is not dramatized as it is in those others, with actors speaking and performing each role. Rather, just one actor, Deirdre O’Connell, embodying Higginbotham, lip-syncs the entire 75-minute text, brilliantly pulling off one of the strangest and most difficult challenges ever asked of an actor…. One thing you get, or rather don’t, is the violent imagery that in a literal representation can short circuit other values. Higginbotham’s tale is so brutal that, were it visualized, you would spend the entire play worrying about her survival.
Broadway News (Charles Isherwood): A play as uncommon, and uncanny, as Lucas Hnath’s “Dana H.” requires an actor of, well, uncommon and uncanny talents. Deirdre O’Connell is just such an actor… O’Connell here gives a performance that seamlessly blends an extraordinary technical acting challenge with the earthiness, plucky everywoman humanity and the subtle spirituality that have often been hallmarks of her work. Both play and performance are a gift we are lucky to receive… directed with an understated, steady hand by Les Waters.
Variety (Frank Rizzo): …a mesmerizing solo show of theatrical shamanism… Giving the work yet another layer of the complexity, if not surreality, is the fact that Higginbotham is the mother of the playwright Hnath. In 1997, while Hnath was in college at NYU, Higginbotham was held hostage for five months… O’Connell performance is a minimalist tour de force. Under the specificity of the audio limits, her interpretations are micro-nuanced as her bond with the audience becomes even more intimate.
NY Magazine (Helen Shaw): …the unlikely crown jewel in this bizarre Broadway season… By setting tiny O’Connell within a low-ceilinged set against the stacked golden balconies of the Lyceum, the production makes clear how dangerous all this massed, unmoving silence is to a person in distress. The audience rises in row upon row upon row, a tsunami glittering with two thousand eyes… Precision is only part of her performance, though… O’Connell goes beyond even what she’s done before… t judging purely by the way my hands were shaking as I took notes, Dana H. is the smash of the season.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Initial That! by Jim Bernhard
What do the initial letters in the names of these theatre personalities stand for?
1. S. Epatha Merkerson…Samantha…Sharon…Sigourrney…[Nothing at all]
2. E. G. Marshall…Everett Grunz…Egbert Glatzmaier…Eduardo Gonzalez…Edmund Gwenn
3. George C. Scott…Cadwallader…Christopher…Campbell… Cavalier
4. George S. Kaufman…Shakespeare…Simon…Samuel…Sylvester
5. George S. Irving…Samson…Siddartha…Stephen…Shelasky
6. George M. Cohan…Michael…Murgatroyd…Montmorency…Moskowitz
7. Lee J. Cobb…Jehoshaphat…Jacoby…Jennifer…Jupiter
8. F. Murray Abraham…Fahrid…Florenz…Frederick…[Nothing at all]
9. BD Wong…Benedict Dumbledore…Bo Diddley…Bradley Darryl…Bob Dylan
10. N. Richard Nash…Nicholas…Nathan…Nebuchadnezzar…Nobody
Scroll down for the answers…
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Christina Anderson, Marcus Gardley, Craig Lucas & Larry Kirwan’s Paradise Square will begins previews Feb. 22, 2022 and open Mar. 20 at the Barrymore Theatre, directed by Moisés Kaufman, with choreography by Bill T. Jones, musical staging by Graciela Danielle, and music supervision by Jason Howland.
Joaquina Kalukango, Chilina Kennedy, John Dossett, Sidney Dupont, A.J. Shively, Matt Bogart (Broadway’s Smokey Joe’s Café, Jersey Boys), Nathaniel Stampley, Gabrielle McClinton, Jacob Fishel, and Kevin Dennis.
New York City. 1863. The Civil War raged on. An extraordinary thing occurred amid the dangerous streets and crumbling tenement houses of the Five Points, the notorious 19th-century Lower Manhattan slum. Irish immigrants escaping the devastation of the Great Famine settled alongside free-born Black Americans and those who escaped slavery, arriving by means of the Underground Railroad. The Irish, relegated at that time to the lowest rung of America’s social status, received a sympathetic welcome from their Black neighbors (who enjoyed only slightly better treatment in the burgeoning industrial-era city). The two communities co-existed, intermarried, raised families, and shared their cultures in this unlikeliest of neighborhoods.
The Pre-Broadway production will run Nov. 2 – Dec. 5 at Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre.
Video: “I’d Be a Soldier,” performed by Nathaniel Stampley, Sidney Dupont, and company.
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Amas Musical Theatre will present three workshop performances of Michael Barnard, Jonathan Rosenberg & Carrie Rodriguez’s Americano! Nov. 19 & 20 at NYC’s New 42nd Street Studios, directed by Michael Barnard, with choreography by Sergio Mejia, and music direction by Jonathan Iive.
Jeff Applegate, Michelee Arotsky, Joseph Paul Cavaszos, Lucas Coatney, Sean Ewing, Iliana Maria Garcia, Justin Figuerroa, Makai Hernandez, Valton Jackson, Anne-Lise Koyabe, Alex Paez, J. Antonio Rodriguez, Lannie Rubio, Pablo Francisco Torres, and Johanna Carlisle-Zepeda, and Christine Viega.
The true and inspiring life story of Tony Valdovinos. After 9/11, Tony wanted to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps on his 18th birthday to serve the country he loves, only to learn he was undocumented. Tony was brought to the U.S. from Mexicao when he was tow years old. Like other DREAMers, Valdoninos grew up American and did not know of his undocumented status.
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Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center has announced its upcoming Fall concert series:
Megan Hilty (Oct. 21-23). Details.
Kristin Chenoweth (Oct. 23). Details
Laura Benanti (Nov. 11-13). Details
Steve Tyrell (Nov. 20). Details
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New York Theatre Workshop will stream its recent production of Martyna Majok’s Sanctuary City Oct. 25 – Nov. 21, directed by Rebecca Frecknall.
Jasai Chase-Owens (B), Sharlene Cruz (G).), and Austin Smith (Henry.
Life-long friends. Negotiating the promise of safety and the weight of responsibility, they’ll fight like hell to establish a place for themselves and each other in America.
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Video: Highlights from Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World at Papermill Playhouse, featuring Carolee Carmello, Andrew Kober, Mia Pinero, Dion Simmons and Olivia Hernandez.
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Tracy Lett’s The Minutes will resume previews Mar. 19, 2022 and open Apr. 7 at Studio 54, directed by Anna D. Shapiro,
Tracy Letts, Blair Brown, Jessie Mueller, Ian Barford, K. Todd Freeman, Austin Pendelton, and Noah Reid (replacing Armie Hammer), with Cliff Chamberlin, Danny McCarthy, Sally Murphy, and Jeff Still.
The play examines the inner workings of a city council meeting and the hypocrisy, greed, and ambition that bubbles to the surface when a newcomer to the small town of Big Cherry starts to ask the wrong questions.
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Showcase presentations of Bradley Bredeweg’s Invincible The Musical, based on Romeo and Juliet, featuring hits by Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, will run Nov. 10-12 at LA’s Bourbon Room (link TBA), directed by Scott Schwartz, with music direction by Jesse Bargas, and choreography by Laruen Yalango-Grant.
Casting TBA.
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Macbeth, starring James McArdle and Saoirse Ronan, currently starring in the London production at the Almeida Theatre, directed by Yaël Farber, will be available to stream Oct. 27-30 here.
The cast also features Michael Abubakar, Ross Anderson, Aoife Burke, Emun Elliott, Diane Fletcher, William Gaunt, Akiya Henry, Maureen Hibbert, Reuben Joseph, Gareth Kennerley, Valerie Lilley, Adam McNamara, and Richard Rankin, alongside child actors Myles Grant, Jamie-Lee Martin, Henry Meredith, Dereke Oladele, Emet Yah Khai and K-ets Yah Khai.
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Darren Criss and his wife, Mia Swier, are expecting their first child in Spring 2022.
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“Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun,” by Charles J. Shields, will be released Jan. 18, 2022, on Kindle and in Hardcover. 
here.
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Video: Trailer for “Needle in a Timestack,” starring Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom, Jr., and Orlando Bloom, which is now available in movie theaters and on demand.
: GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Initial That!
1. S. Epatha Merkerson – originally Sharon, but now S. is her legal first name.
2. E. G. Marshall – Everett Grunz – his real full name is Everett Eugene Grunz. During his lifetime, he declined to explain the initials, saying they meant “Everybody’s Guess.”
3. George C. Scott – Campbell
4. George S. Kaufman – Simon
5. George S. Irving – Shelasky – his full name is George Irving Shelasky.
6. George M. Cohan – Michael
7. Lee J. Cobb – Jacoby – his real name is Leo Jacoby
8. F. Murray Abraham – Nothing at all (or Fahrid, his father’s first name, the initial of which he added for a stage name)
9. BD Wong – Bradley Darryl
10. N. Richard Nash – Nathan (real name is Nathan Richard Nusbaum)