Today’s Highlights:
Shit. Meet. Fan., world premiere written & directed by Robert O’Hara, featuring Garret Dillahunt, Genevieve Hannelius, Billy Magnussen, Debra Messing, Tramell Tillman, and Constance Wu, opens at Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater.
Abingdon Theatre Company‘s 32 Anniversary Gala, honoring Board member Jim Kierstead, directed by Chad Austin, featuring Kate Baldwin, Tony Yazbeck, Lesli Margherita, Mandy Gonzalez, Keri René Fuller, Blaine Krauss, Kara Lindsay, Ashley D. Kelley, Shereen Pimentel, Carolina Rial, Nyla Sostre, Carrie St. Louis, Katie Thompson, Curtis Wiley, and Alyssa Wray, at 6 PM at NYC’s Edison Ballroom.
Only Make Believe – On Broadway 25th anniversary Benefit Concert, directed by Joe DiPietro & Brad Oscar, featuring Montego Glover, Matt Doyle, Lena Hall, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jude Law, and Rachel Dratch, at 7 PM at Broadway’s St. James Theatre.
Cockeyed Optimist: Where Hammerstein Found His Hope concert & conversation, directed by Dick Scanlan, featuring Malcom Gets, Kerstin Anderson, Mikaela Bennett, Patrick Breen, Eddie Cooper, Omar Lopez-Cepero, and Katie Mariko Murray, concludes at NYC’s N2NY.
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Grace Notes Quiz: All Aboard! by Jim Bernhard
1. In the musical Over Here the setting is a cross-country train trip during what war?…World War I….World War II…Civil War…Korean War
2. The opening number of The Music Man takes place on a train on what rail line?…Missouri Pacific…Amtrak…B&O…Rock Island
3. On the Twentieth Century is set on a luxury train going from Chicago to…Los Angeles…New York….Gary, Indiana…unknown destination
4. In Ken Ludwig’s adaption of Murder on the Orient Express, the crime is solved by…Maigret…Holmes…Poirot…
5. In Pretty Lady, the show within the show in 42nd Street, one number is set on a railroad Pullman car, in which the cast sings they will ”shuffle off to”….Broadway…Buffalo…42nd Street…Atchafalaya
6. The Permanent Way is a play by David Hare about the privatization of railways in…Great Britain…the Soviet Union…China…an imaginary country called Ruritania
7. Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman takes place on a subway train in…Boston… London… Amsterdam…New York
8. Prairie du Chien, a one-act play set on a railroad car speeding through Wisconsin, was written by…Neil Simon…Thornton Wilder…Edward Albee…David Mamet
9. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express, about an obsoslete steam engine in a race against modern locomotives, is performed by actors…on ice…in miniature locomotives…on roller skates…over sixty years of age
10. In Arnold Ridley’s 1923 play The Ghost Train, passengers are stranded at a remote British railway station and warned of being haunted by a mysterious supernatural “ghost train”—which turns out to be a real train filled with…circus clowns…guns smuggled from the Soviet Union…traveling salesmen…the Prime Minister and his Cabinet
Scroll down for the answers…
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Broadway’s 2024 Red Bucket Follies, in support of BC/EFA, will take place Mon. Dec. 9 (4:30 PM) & Tues. Dec. 10 (2 PM) at Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theatre.
Performers TBA.
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Kristin Chenoweth Holiday Concert will take place Sat., Dec. 14 at 7:30 PM at LA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, with music direction by Mary-Mitchell Campbell.
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Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile, adapted by Ken Ludwig, will run Nov. 23 – Dec. 29 (opening Dec. 5) at DC’s Arena Stage, directed by Hana S. Sharif.
Felicia Curry (Annabelle Pennington), Eric Hissom (Sir Septimus Troy), Nancy Robinette (Salomé Otterbourne), and Sumié Yotsukura (Rosalie Otterbourne), Olivia Cygan (Linnet Ridgeway), Armando Durán (Hercule Poirot), Katie Kleiger (Jacqueline de Bellefort), Jamil A.C. Mangan (as Colonel Race), Ryan Michael Neely (Ramses Praed), Robert Santon (Atticus Praed), and Travis Van Winkle (Simon Doyle).
Hercule Poirot, a renowned Belgian detective, finds himself embroiled in lies and longing while on a luxurious cruise down the Nile River. The tranquil journey takes a sinister turn when a murder is committed among the passengers, throwing the idyllic setting into disarray. With a keen eye for detail and a sharp mind, Poirot takes it upon himself to uncover the truth and expose the perpetrator before they can strike again. As tensions rise and secrets are revealed, Poirot navigates the treacherous waters of deception and intrigue to solve the gripping mystery at hand.
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The School for Scandal, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, will run Nov. 22 – Dec. 15 at Hollywood’s Actors Co-op, directed by Mikey Mulhearn.
Libby Wahlmeir (Lady Sneerwell), Shannon Woo (Lady Teazle), Michael Kachingwe (Sir Peter Teazle), Nick Molari (Joseph Surface), Mac Rogers (Rowley), Linden Waddell (Mrs. Candour), Gavin Michael Harris (Backbite), Daria Good (Maria), Sarah Hinchcliff (Crabtree), Daria Good (Maria), Ben Raanan (Snake), and Mickey Mulhearn (Charles Surface).
The play delves into the power dynamics in the entertainment industry. Set during rehearsals for the Broadway show Chaos in Belleville, which tackles the harsh truths of American racism of the 50s and 60s, the story centers on Wiletta Mayer, an African American actress who has long been cast in stereotypical roles. As rehearsals progress, Wiletta’s fight for dignity clashes with the realities of the industry’s racial biases, threatening her career.
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Lisa Klages Calhoun, David Hudson, & Scott Griffin’s Drunk Dracula has been extended through Nov. 23 at Off-Broadway’s Ruby Theater (35 W. 39th St.), directed by Lisa Klages Calhoun.
Preston Mulligan (Dracula), Sarah Goldstein (Van Yuengling), Aubrey Lace Taylor (Mina/Lucy), Chris Trindade (Harker/Seward), and Nate Betancourt ( Narrator), with Christian Roberts and Ben Salus.
After centuries of being cooped up in his creepy old castle, Transylvania’s thirstiest bachelor is in need of fresh blood to maintain his youthful looks and chiseled physique. Now he’s ready to take a giant bite out of the Big Apple.
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Video: Highlights from No No Nanette at NJ’s Paper Mill Playhouse (1997)
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Theatrical Recordings has released the June 2019 audio recording of the “Jason Robert Brown and Stephen Sondheim: Live in Concert,” conducted by Georgia Stitt, now available on most digital platforms worldwide. The album will also be available on a 2-LP limited vinyl release on Dec. 13. Click here for more information.
Katrina Lenk, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Rob McClure, Shoshana Bean, and Joshua Henry.
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Linda Purl: Possibilities: Songs of Hope, Risk and Maybe will take place Nov. 8 & 9 at London’s The Pheasantry, with music direction by Rob Barron.
The concert celebrates the spirit of adventure with songs about dreaming big, leaps of faith, indecision and the carnival rides of our universal quest for happiness.
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A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters will take place Mon. Nov. 11 at 8:30 PM at Florence, Italy’s Teatro Niccolini.
Linda Purl and Patrick Duffy.
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LA Opera‘s Romeo and Juliet will run Nov. 2-23 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, conducted by Domingo Hindoyan & Lina González-Granados.
Amina Edris (Juliet), Duke Kim (Romeo), Justin Austin (Mercutio), Craig Colclough (Lord Capulet), Justin Austin (Mercutio), Craig Colclugh (Lor Cabulet), Wei Wu (Friar Laurence), Yuntong Han (Tybalt), Vinicius Costa (Duke of Verona), Margaret Gawrysiak (Gertrude), Laura Krumm (Stephano), Laura Krumm Stephano), Nathan Bowles (Benvolio), and Ryan Wolfe (count Paris).
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A reading of Drew Fornarola’s Fauci and Kramer will take place Sat. Nov. 2 at 8 PM at Hollywood’s LGBT Center, directed by Khanisha Foster.
Sal Viscuso and Jack Plotnick.
Anthony Fauci and playwright/activist Larry Kramer had an unlikely and complicated friendship. In the 90s, both were fighting the AIDS crisis from opposite ends of the political spectrum. After Kramer’s death during COVID, in May of 2020, his spirit visits Fauci one last time. In the privacy of Fauci’s home office, the duo discuss art, power, progress, and where we go from here. A heartfelt new play that takes a serious, and sometimes comical, look at this famously complex relationship.
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The cast album of the current Broadway production of Sunset Boulevard is now avabilabe on most platforms.
Video: “With One Look”
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Back to the Future, directed by John Rando, will close Sun. Jan. 5, 2025 at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre, after 500+ performances.
Roger Bart (Doc Brown), Casey Likes (Marty McFly), Evan Alexander Smith (George McFly), Liana Hunt (Lorraine Baines), Jelani Remy (Goldie Wilson/Marvin Berry), and Nathaniel Hackmann (Biff Tannen), with David Josefsberg (Strickland), Mikaela Secada (Jennifer Parker), Aaron Alcaraz, Gregory Carl Banks Jr., Susie Carroll, Brendan Chan, Kevin Curtis, Samuel Gerber, Marc Heitzman, Kimberly Immanuel, Joshua Kenneth Allen Johnson, Jamary Kendricks, Katie LaDuca, Lizzy Marie Legregin, JJ Niemann, Jessie Peltier, Becca Petersen, Jonalyn Saxer, Blakely Slaybaugh, Gabi Stapula, and Davis Wayne.
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Grace Notes Quiz answers: All Aboard!
1. In the musical Over Here the setting is a cross-country train trip during World War II.
2. The opening number of The Music Man takes place on a train on the Rock Island line.
3. On the Twentieth Century is set on a luxury train going from Chicago to New York.
4. In Ken Ludwig’s adaption of Murder on the Orient Express, the crime is solved by Hercule Poirot.
5. In Pretty Lady, the show within the show in 42nd Street, the cast sings they will ”shuffle off to Buffalo.”
6. The Permanent Way is a play by David Hare about the privatization of railways in Great Britain.
7. Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman takes place on a subway train New York.
8. Prairie du Chien was written by David Mamet.
9. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express is performed by actors on roller skates.
10. In Arnold Ridley’s 1923 play The Ghost Train, the mysterious supernatural “ghost train” turns out to be a real train filled with guns smuggled from the Soviet Union.