GRACE NOTES: Monday, October 27, 2025

 

Today’s Highlights:

 

  Beau The Musical, by Douglas Lyons & Ethan D. Pakcha, directed by Josh Rhodes, featuring Amelia Cormack (raven) Andrea Goss (Le0Ann/Nurse), Myuki Miyagi (Daphney), and Derek Stoltenberg (Dess),  Ryan Halasver (Larry), Max Sangerman (Ferris), with Luke Carnell, Seth Eliser, Tyler Conovan McCall and (Ace Baker at select performances, opens at Off-Broadway’s St. Luke’s Theatre.

 

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   Grace Notes Quiz:  Fraidy Cats by Jim Bernhard

 

What are these characters in plays and musicals afraid of?

 

1. In Peter Pan, Captain Hook is afraid of…Nana, the Darlings’ dog….the crocodile that ate his hand…the Lost Boys…his mate Smee

 

2. In Dear Evan Hansen, Evan is afraid of….snakes…the side effects of a prescription drug he takes…not interacting with other people…his uncle

 

3. In Lady in the Dark, Liza Elliott is afraid of…her boss…elephants…the dark…making up her mind

 

4. Julius Caesar expresses his fear and distrust of the “dangerous”…Marc Antony…Brutus…Calpurnia …Cassius

 

5. In Fiddler on the Roof,  Tevye and the other villagers of Anatevka are fearful of… Cossacks…Bolsheviks…Stalin…Americans

 

6. In Sugar, Jerry and Joe flee Chicago because they are afraid of…catching the flu…Spats Palazzo’s murderous thugs…vicious music critics…the White Sox

 

7. The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz  is afraid of….sheep…his own shadow…monsters…all of the above.

 

8. In Company, Bobby has a fear of….women…alcohol…commitment…bankers.

 

9. What does Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? say she is afraid of?….her husband George…growing old and fat…history professors…Virginia Woolf

 

10. Argan in The Imaginary Invalid is afraid of…doctors…hypodermic needles…dogs…Louis XI

 

scroll down for the answers…

 

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   Motown’s Heat Wave: The Songs of Holland-Dozier-Holland will run Nov. 8-10 at Off-Broadway’s 92NY,

 

 Michael O. Mitchell, Brian Harlan Brooks, Derrick Baskin, Najah Hetsberger, Melrose Johnson, Ephraim Sykes, and Curtis Wiley.

 

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   Marc Shaiman, Terrence McNally & Scott Sittman’s Catch Me If You Can will run in 2026 (dates TBA) at Burbank’s Colony Theatre (link TBA), directed by Michael Donovan.

 

  TBA.

 

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Vape! The Grease Parody, by Catie Hogan, Leanna Adams, John D. Babcock III, Casey Holloway, Julie Shaer & Brian Troxell, will run  Oct. 30 – Jan. 4, 2026 (opening Nov. 3) at Theater 555, directed by Jack Plotnick.

 

 Lara Strong (Sandy), Scott Silagy (Danny), SLee (Rizzo), Rayan Avoux (Kenickie), Krisn Amanda Smith (Frenchy), Meg Guiney (Marty), Dante Brattelli (Sonny), and Jen Clark (Jan).

 

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  A screening of The Life of Pi, directed by Max Webster, will take place Sat. Nov. 11 at 3 PM at UCLA’s James Bridges Theater, directed by Max Webster.   here.

 

  After a cargo ship sinks in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, a 16-year-old boy named Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger. Time is against them, nature is harsh, who will survive?

 

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  A.R. Gurney’s Syliva will run Nov. 13 – 15, 2026 at  the Royal Albert Hall, directed & choreographed by Kate Prince.

 

Beverly Knight (Emmeline Pankhurst) and Sharon Rose (Sylvia Pankhurst).

 

  Sylvia Pankhurst – fearless, flawed, and unforgettable. The untold story of the rebellious middle child of Emmeline Pankhurst takes centre stage in this irresistible hip hop, funk and soul musical that moves your feet and fires your spirit. Whilst her mother and sister battled for women’s suffrage, Sylvia ignited a revolution for the forgotten: working women, the impoverished, the silenced. Caught between her family and her beliefs, Sylvia risked it all to bring change to millions.

 

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  York Theatre‘s Gotta Dance will run Nov. 25 – Dec. 28 at Theatre at St. Jean’s, directed by Nikki Feirt Atkins and Randy Skinner.

 

  Jessica Lee Goldyn, Brandon Burks, Anthony Cannarella, Barton Cowperthwaite,  Deanna Doyle, Paloma Garcia-Lee, Afra Hines, Jess LeProtto, Kendall Leshanti, Drew Minard, Georgina Pazcoguin, Samantha Siegel, Taylor Stanley, and Blake Zelesnikar.

 

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  A reading of Christopher Marlowe’s Faustus, adapted & directed by Devin Brain, will take place Mon. Nov. 3 at 7:30 PM in person at Off-Broadway’s Public Theatre,  and  Nov. 4-9,  in person and on demand.

 

  Jordan Bellow, Kelley Curran, Lennox T. Duong, Cece Fernandez, Jake Ryan Lozano, Joshua David Robinson, and Kristen Sieh.

 

  The infamous cautionary tale of a literal deal with the Devil is brought to new life as an incendiary punk cabaret where the Devil invites an audience to witness the temptation and destruction of a soul as both entertainment and catharsis.

 

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   Barbara Cook Live in Concert – Mostly Sondheim (2003) is currently available on Youtube.

 

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  A screening of Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession will take place Nov. 1 & 13, both at 3 PM, at UCLA’s James Bridges Theatre, directed by Dominic Cooke. here.

 

  Imelda Staunton and her real-life daughter Bessie Carter.

 

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   5-Star Theatricals will present the Lythgoe Family Panto’ The Wonderful World of Oz Dec. 12-28 (opening Dec. 13) at Thousand Oaks’ Bank of America Performing Arts Center, written by Kris Lythgoe, and directed by Becky Lythgoe.

 

  John O’Hurley (The Wizard), Tamyra Gray (Glinda), Aubrey Anderson-Emmons (Dorothy), with Kevin Ivins, Douglas Ladnier (Tin Man), and John Shar Tzer Scarecrow). with Sydney Kinney,Jocelyn Mastro, Brandon Maxwell, and Jules McKelvey.

 

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 Grace Notes Quiz answers:  Fraidy Cats