Today’s Highlights:
Don Quixote live & on-demand readings, by Guillén De Castro, directed by José Zayas, featuring Jacob Ming-Trent (Don Quixote), Heidi Armbruster, Keith Hamilton Cobb, Darryl Gene Daughtry, Carson Elrod, Irene Sofia Lucio, Melissa Mahoney, Ismenia Mendes, Luis Moreno, David Ryan Smith, and Arturo Luis Soria, opens at Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater.
Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground return engagement, by Richard Hellesen, directed by Peter Ellenstein, starring John Rubenstein, opens at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Clements.
The American Songbook Association‘s Celebrating Betty Buckley: New Ways to Dream 2023 Gala, with music direction by Seth Rudetsky, featuring F. Murray Abraham, Bryan Batt, Sandra Bernhard, Jason Robert Brown, Sharon Catherine Brown, Mario Cantone, Patti Cohenour, Veanne Cox, Elizabeth Davis, Paul Hecht, Rupert Holmes, Joe Iconis, Howard McGillin, Bonnie Milligan, Jessie Mueller, Donna Murphy, Orfeh, Ken Page, Christine Pedi, Kurt Peterson, Seth Rudetsky, Scott Schwartz, Stephen Schwartz, Jennifer Simard, and Michael Wilson, at 7:30 PM at NYC’s Merkin Concert Hall.
Tectonic Theater Project‘s A Tectonic Cabaret benefit concert, directed by Timothy Koch, hosted by Jane Krakowski, featuring Jauaquina Kalukango, Jelani Remy, Meghan Picerno, John McGinty, Chloe Davis, Nick Lehane, Grace McLean, and Donna Carnow, at 6:30 PM at NYC’s Sony Hall.
The 24 Hour Plays – Los Angeles benefit performance, in support of the Entertainment Community Fund, for support of entertainment industry workers, many of whom have struggled during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, with writers Steve Yockey, Kristin Newman, Ariana Berkowitz, Laura Jacqmin, Ken Greller…. directors David Wain, Nick Lieberman, Bridey Elliott, Nell Teare, Rob Greenberg, Lovell Holder, and performers Shannon Purser, Drew Tarver, Harry Shum Jr., Diedrich Bader, Nat Wolff, Daryl Sabara, Jessica Rothe, Mamoudou Athie, Vico Ortiz, Rachel Matthews, Francesca Reale, Nicole Kang, Jolene Purdy, Lewis Pullman, Midori Francis, Nico Greetham, Lisa Gilroy, Josh Ruben, Nichole Sakura, Alice Kremelberg, Malcolm Barrett, Coral Peña, Chelsea Frei, and more, at 8 PM at LA’s Hudson Theatres.
Here Lies Love: A Homecoming Concert, by David Byrne & Fatboy Slim, directed by Alex Timbers, featuring Arielle Jacobs (Imelda Marcos), Jose Llana (Ferdinand Marcos), Conrad Ricamora (Ninoy Aquino), Vina Morales, Reanne Acasio, Roy Flores, Nathan Angelo, Aaron Albano, Diane Phelan, Albert Guerzon, Lora Nicolas Olaes, Don Michael H. Mendoza, Ashitaka Porter, Christiana Meeks, Romeo Torres, Rob Chen, and Fran Mae, with Melody Butiu, Jaygee Macapugay, Julia Abueva, Aaron Alcaraz, Kristina Doucette, Jeigh Madjus, Geena Quintos, Shea Renne, and Angelo Soriano, with Moses Villarama, Jasmine Forsberg, Reanne Acasio, Renée Albulario, Carol Angeli, Nathan Angelo, Roy Flores, Timothy Matthew Flores, Sarah Kay, and Aaron “AJ” Mercado, at 9:30 PM at Off-Broadway’s Joe’s Pub.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: On Tour, Part 2, by Jim Bernhard
Match these Broadway roles with the actors who played them on the first national tours:
| 1. Harold Hill in The Music Man | A. Jerry Orbach |
| 2. Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha | B. George Hearn |
| 3. Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady | C. Forrest Tucker |
| 4. Phineas T. Barnum in Barnum | D. Bobby Clark |
| 5. Zorba in Zorba | E. Jerry Lester |
| 6. Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof | F. José Ferrer |
| 7. Billy Flynn in Chicago | G. John Raitt |
| 8. Applegate in Damn Yankees | H. Stacy Keach |
| 9. Prologus/Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum | I. Brian Aherne |
| 10. Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd | J. Luther Adler |
Scroll down for the answers…
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Leslie Epstein’s King of the Jews will run Oct. 24 – Nov. 19 (opening Oct. 28) at HERE Arts Center, directed by Alexandra Aron.
Richard Topol, Rachel Botchan, David Deblinger, John Little, Daniel Oreskes, Allen Lewis Rickman, JP Sarro, Dave Shalansky, Jonathan Spivey, Erica Spyre, Wesley Tiso, and Robert Zukerman.
One night after curfew in the Astoria Café, a group of waiters and cooks and entertainers, along with a spare rabbi or two, are forced by the German occupiers to form a Judenrat, a group of self-governing Jews who will thenceforth govern the lives—and determine the deaths—of their co-religionists in the ghetto that surrounds them. In that first act, they are forced, at a terrible cost, to choose their Elder, who is based on the true-life character Chaim Rumkowski, leader of the Lodz Ghetto in Poland. In the second act, eighteen months later, we see the Judenrat and its leader confronted with the terrible moral dilemma of having to decide: Who among their fellow Jews is to live and who is to die? It is not a choice that any human being in a world that has not become morally unhinged and absurd can make. And yet they must. In the madness and double-dealing and even humor that ensues, we join these ordinary mortals as they plumb the depths of the unimaginable that history has thrust upon them.
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Lindsey Ferrentino & Drew McOnie’s world premiere stage adaptation of The Artist will run May 11-24, 2024 at Theatre Royal Plymouth, directed & choreographed by McOnie.
Robbie Fairchild (George Valentin) and more TBA.
In 1920s Hollywood the business of making dreams come true is in full swing. Silent movie icon George Valentin has long been the darling of the silver screen when he falls for aspiring actress Peppy Miller. But while her star is about to rise, his might soon flicker out: amidst all the glamour, laughter and romance, the silent movie industry is on the brink of a revolution. With the Talkies on their way, George must either find his voice in a brave new world or lose everything holds dear to a bygone era.
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The next All Star Comedy series will take place Fri. Oct. 27 at 8 PM at Long Island’s Bay Street Theatre, hosted by JP Justice.
Tracey Carnazzo and Kevin Israel.
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Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee’s Inherit the Wind will run Nov. 1-26 at the Pasadena Playhouse, directed by Michael Michetti.
Alfred Molina (Henry Drummond), John Douglas Thompson (Matthew Harrison Brady, Chris Perfetti (E.K. Hornbeck), Abubakr Ali (Bertram Cates), David Aaron Baker (Reverend Jeremiah Brown, Jared Bybee (Dunlap/Reporter/Radio Man), Brian Calì (Meeker/Photographer/
Audience members will be a part of the action with onstage seating in the courtroom gallery as well as a jury box located at the foot of the stage.
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York Theatre Company will present Robert P. Young III, Richard Lasser & Charlie Barnett’s When We Get There, to run Oct. 7-15 (opening Oct. 8) at Theater at St. Jean’s, directed by Janeece Freeman Cark, with music direction by Dionne McClain-Freeney.
Cicily Daniels, Ashley LaLonde, Cal Mitchell, Julius Thomas III, Michael D. Turner, and Lori Wilner.
It’s March 1965, and a Buick Electra starts a journey from New Jersey. The unlikely quartet inside: Rose, the car’s recently widowed owner; Mary, her housekeeper; Terrance, her handyman; and Dawn, Mary’s teenage daughter. Dawn has convinced them all to drive to Selma to be a part of Dr. Martin Luther King’s march. With their hearts full of joy and trepidation, the foursome heads south even as America remains openly hostile to its Black and Jewish citizens. They encounter violence and reveal life-altering secrets, and with luck they’ll come home to a new understanding of what a family can be. As the show looks back on our complicated history, it reaches forward, challenging us to contemplate our country’s future.
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Primary Stages (link not working) has announced its 39th Anniversary Gala, to take place Tues. Nov. 14 at 6 PM at NYC’s Sony Hall, directed by Michelle Bossy.
Kate Hamill and Beth Blickers.
Judy Gold, Andy Karl, Orfeh, Jennifer Mudge, Javier Muñoz, and more TBA.
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BAFA TheatreWorks will present the world premiere of Slow Thunder, written & directed by Suse Sternkopf, which will run Oct. 19 – Nov. 23 at North Hollywood’s Theatre 68 Arts Complex.
Sue Gisser, Rob Nagle, Ann Noble, and Robert Yacko.
Welcome to Vieux Carre where, on a soft autumn evening, time stands still, and everything that’s risen — or fallen — converges when her not-quite-ex, Peter, appears uninvited at Jewel’s door. She’s not pleased to see him and, with the arrival of her friends Rob and Bird, the quartet’s chemistry — a volatile cocktail of loss and longing, vulnerability, and desire — jars the precarious balance and counterbalance of love and friendship.
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Will Swenson (Neil Diamond) will depart A Beautiful Noise on Sun. Oct. 29 at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre.
His replacement is TBA.
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Open-Door Playhouse will present short plays online in podcast form during the month of October. The plays emphasize the talents of women — playwrights, directors and female actors.
OvEn, by Sarah Hunter, directed by Rachel Berney Needleman. A spooky story in time for the Halloween season.
Four Monologues, by Monda Deutsch Miller, directed by Bernadette Armstrong, featuring Elaine Mello and Goreti da Silva. Four very disparate women have one thing in common: The men in their lives are stressing them out.
I’m Not Alice in Wonderland, by Sarah Hunter, directed by Miranda Stewart, featuring Whitton Frank. A Hollywood agent tries to get her dream man back. She is preparing for any contingency.
Matriarch, by Mimi Kmet. Three adult sister have to alter their holiday plans after their mom has a stroke.
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Howard L. Craft’s Freight: The Five Incarnations of Abel Green will run Nov. 9 – Dec. 16 (opening Nov. 12) at the Fountain Theatre, directed by Joseph Megel.
J. Alphonse Nicholson.
Nicholson stars as five versions of an African American everyman who travels through time in different incarnations, including a 19th Century minstrel, a faith healer, an FBI informant, a struggling actor, and an out-of-work mortgage broker. In each life, Abel is guided, distracted, helped or hindered by a handful of characters with whom his destiny is forever intertwined. We meet each new iteration of Abel Green on a train, which changes in appearance in accordance with each time period and serves as a link between dimensions.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: On Tour, Part 2
1-C. Harold Hill in The Music Man – Forrest Tucker
2-F. Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha – José Ferrer
3-I. Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady – Brian Aherne
4-H. Phineas T. Barnum in Barnum – Stacy Keach
5-G. Zorba in Zorba – John Raitt
6-J. Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof – Luther Adler
7-A. Billy Flynn in Chicago – Jerry Orbach
8-D. Applegate in Damn Yankees – Bobby Clark
9-E. Prologus/Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum – Jerry Lester
10-B. Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd – George Hearn