Today’s Highlights:
Rebecca, by Michael Kunze & Sylvester Levay, directed by Alejandro Bonatto, featuring Richard Carson (Maxim de Winter), Lauren Jones (Second Mrs. de Winter), and Kara Lane (Mrs. Danvers), with Alex James-Ward, Piers Bate, Sarah Harlington, David Breeds, Shirley Jameson, Neil Moors, Nicholas Lumley, Nigel-Joseph Francis, Elliot Swann, Scott McClure, Emily Apps, Melanie Bright, Gail MacKinnon, Tarisha Rommick, James Mateo-Salt, and Rosie Glossop, opens at London’s Charing Cross Theatre.
Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors, by Gordon Greenberg & Steve Rosen, directed by Greenberg, featuring Jordan Boatman, Arnie Burton, James Daly, Ellen Harvey, and Andrew Keenan-Bolger, opens at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages.
Job, by Max Wolf Friedlich, directed by Michael Herwitz, featuring Peter Friedman (Loyd) and Sydney Lemmon (Jane), opens at Off-Broadway’s SoHo Playhouse.
Billy Strayhorn: Something to Live For, world premiere by Rob Zellers & Kent Gash, directed by Gash, featuring Darius de Haas (Strayhorn), J.D. Mollison (Duke Ellington), Charl Brown (Aaron Bridgers), Keziah John-Paul (Lillian Strayhorn / Ivie Anderson), Arielle Roberts (Lena Horne / Billie Holiday, Richard McBride (Mercer Ellington), and Joseph McGranaghan (Lennie Hayton), with Saige Smith, Joseph Fedore, Tracy Dunbar and Taylor Collier, opens at the Pittsburgh Public Theater.
The Group Rep‘s Room Service, by John Murray & Allen Boretz, directed by Mareli Mitch-Shields, featuring Fox Carney, Joe Clabby, Joseph Eastburn, Tommy Jacobs, Jessica Kent, Sam Logan, Will Maizel, Matthew McLaughlin, Jackie Shearn, Bonnie Snyder, Axel Truitt, Sal Valletta, Grant Velarde, Timothy Willard, and Chris Winfield, opens at North Hollywood’s Lonny Chapman Theatre
Broadway for Biden benefit concert, with special guest Joe Biden, featuring Josh Groban, Ben Platt, Sara Bareilles, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., Laura Benanti, Annaleigh Ashford, Josh Gad, Alex Edelman, Christopher Jackson, LaChanze, Ruthie Ann Miles, Andrew Rannells, and Aaron Tveit, at a time & NYC location available only to ticket holders here.
Musi-Cal concert, offering selections from new musicals, hosted by Laura Schein & Clayton Farris, at 7:30 PM at Hollywood’s Bourbon Room.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: On the Road Again, by Jim Bernhard.
Add the missing destinations to these show titles:
| 1. The Road to ____ by Athol Fugard | A. Rome |
| 2. The Trip to ____ by Horton Foote | B. Egypt |
| 3. A Trip to ____ by Richard Brinsley Sheridan | C. India |
| 4. The Happy Journey to ____ by Thornton Wilder | D. Bountiful |
| 5. The Road to ____ by Robert E. Sherwood and Douglas Moore | E. Kenmare |
| 6. The Way to ____ by Edward Everett Rose | F. A Small Planet |
| 7. The Ride Down ____ by Arthur Miller | G. Mecca |
| 8. Flight Into ____ by George Tabori | H. Mt. Morgan |
| 9. A Visit to ____ by Gore Vidal | I. Trenton and Camden |
| 10. A Passage to ____ by Santha Rama Rau |
J. Scarborough |
Scroll down for the answers…
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Scott Brown & Anthony King’s Gutenberg! The Musical, currently in previews, will open Oct. 12 and close Jan. 28, 2024 at the James Earl Jones Theatre, directed by Alex Timbers.
Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells.
In this two-man musical spoof, a pair of aspiring playwrights perform a backers’ audition for their new project – a big, splashy musical about printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg. With an unending supply of enthusiasm, Bud and Doug sing all the songs and play all the parts in their crass historical epic, with the hope that one of the producers in attendance will give them a Broadway contract – fulfilling their ill-advised dreams.
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Sweeney Todd will run Oct. 17-29 at Houston’s TUTS, directed by Dan Knechtges, with music direction by Stephen W. Jones.
Danny Rothman (Sweeney Todd), Sally Wilfert (Mrs. Lovett), Sam Gravitte (Anthony Hope), Leslie Jackson (Johanna), August Emerson (Tobias), Brian Mathis (Judge Turpin), Mark Ivy (Beadle Bamford), Courtney Markowitz (Beggar Woman), Benjamin Robert Lyrye (Pirelli), and Alex Michael Ryan (Jonas Fogg), with John Ryan Del Bosque, Sophia Clarke, Jana Ellsworth, Gemini Quintos, Cody Ryan Arthur, Joseph Rawley, Piero Regis, Lisa Borik Vickers, Miles Marmolejo, Cassandra Zepeda, LaBraska Washington, and Teresa Zimmermann.
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Ira Levin’s Deathtrap will run Oct. 18 – Nov. 5 (opening Oct. 20) at Long Beach’s International City Theatre, directed by Jamie Torcellini.
Geoffrey Lower (Sidney Bruhl), Jill Remez (Myra), Coby Rogers (Clifford Anderson), Michelle Holmes (Helga ten Dorp), and Patrick Vest (Porter Milgrim).
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Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre has announced its 2023-24 season:
The Lifespan of a Fact (Oct. 4-21 , opening Oct. 7), by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell & Gordon Farrell, featuring Ron Bottitta, Jonah Robinson, and Inger Tudor.
The World Goes Round (Dec. 6-23, opening Dec. 9). Creative team and casting TBA.
Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground (Feb. 18 – Mar. 10, 2024, opening Feb. 21), by Richard Hellesen, directed by Peter Ellenstein, starring John Rubinstein.
“A” Train (Apr. 7-28, opening Apr. 10), written by & starring Annie Torsiglieri, directed by Risa Brainin. A funny, surprising and insightful story about one family’s journey on the autism train.
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Cooper Jordan’s Saw the Musical: The Unauthorized Parody continues through Jan. 1, 2024 at the AMT Theater, directed by Stephanie Rosenberg.
Bart Shatto (Gordon), Adam Parbhoo (Adam), Jill Owen (Amanda/Alli/Jigsaw), and Donnell Johnson (Detective Tapp), with Danny Durr, Gabrielle Goodman, Patrick Voss Davis, James Lynch, Thomas Skea, Morgan Traud, and Jessica Morilak.
The musical, a boundary-pushing parody about love and fluidity, captures the events of the first “Saw” movie, picking up from where Lawrence Gordon and Adam Stanheight first found each other.
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Complete casting has been announced for Marshall Pailet’s Private Jones, to run Oct. 13 – Nov. 5 (Opening Nov. 1) at CT’s Goodspeed, directed by Pailet. with choreography by Misha Shields, and music direction will be by Myrna Conn.
Johnny Link (Private Gomer), Claire Neumann (Jack King), Leanne Antonio (Gwenolyn/Evans), and Vincent Kenpski (Edmund), with David Aron Damane, Alex De Bard, Brandon Espinoza, Dickie Hearts, Amelia Hensley, George Psomas, Jon-Michael Reese, and Emily Steinhardt.
The musical is inspired by the true story of a deaf soldier in World War I who displays remarkable skill as a sniper while hiding his profound hearing loss. Driven by an ensemble of deaf, hearing and hard-of-hearing actors and a dynamic Celtic score, witness how one man’s journey through war becomes all the more treacherous because he―and we―can’t hear what’s coming next.
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Roundabout Theatre‘s world premiere of Nathan Alan Davis’ The Refuge Plays, currently in previews, will open Oct. 4 and continue through Nov. 12 at the Laura Pels Theatre, directed by Patricia mcGregor.
Ngozi Jane Anyanwu, Jerome Preston Bates, Jessica Frances Dukes, Jon Michael Hill, Mallori Taylor Johnson, Lizan Mitchell, Nicole Ari Parker, Daniel J. Watts, Lance Coadie Williams, and JJ Wynderas.
The play follows a single Black family over 70 years, beginning deep in the woods of southern Illinois with a ghost delivering a foreboding message of death.
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Rachel Lawrence, Joseph Leo Bwarie & Lori Marshall’s Cindy & The Disco Ball: The Musical will run Oct. 5-29 (opening Oct. 7) at Burbank’s Garry Marshall Theatre, directed by Joseph Leo Bwarie & Christine Lakin, with choreography by Anna Aimee White, and music direction by Ryan Whyman.
Karis Brizendine, Audrey Lyn Crabaño, Saylor Bell Curda. Bobby Hogan, Jorchual Gregory Vargas, Thomas Whitcomb, and Cloie Wyatt Taylor.
The story of Cindy Fontaine, a teenager determined to be heard in the high school scene after being left to deal with a messed-up family life when her father is away in Vietnam. Cindy’s cosmic guide through this coming-of-age musical is a fabulously magical Soul Sister who gives new meaning to making an entrance. When the LA County school district threatens to cut arts funding, Cindy and the students at Pacific Palisades High have to beat the clock (that’s about to strike midnight) to save the arts.
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The New Group has announced 3 upcoming productions, all at the Signature Theatre:
Sabbath’s Theater (begins previews Oct. 10), adapted by John Turturro & Ariel Levy, directed by Jo Bonney, staring Jason Kravits, Elizabeth Marvel, and John Turturro. The play follows the exploits and pains of Mickey Sabbath, a stereotypical “dirty old man” and out-of-work puppeteer who prides himself on being manipulative and cruel, particularly to women.
The Seven Year Disappear (begins Feb. 6, 2024), with and opening date TBA), by Jordan Seavey, directed by Scott Elliott, starring Cynthia Nixon and Taylor Trensch. The play follows a world-famous performance artist who suddenly reappears in her sont’s life seven years away.
All of Me (begins Apr. 23, with an opening date TBA), by Laura Winters, directed by Ashley Brooke Monroe. Casting TBA. A romance where two people connect through text-t0-speech technology. Casting TBA.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: On the Road Again
1-G. The Road to Mecca by Athol Fugard
2-D. The Trip to Bountiful by Horton Foote
3-J. A Trip to Scarborough by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
4-I. The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden by Thornton Wilder
5-A. The Road to Rome by Robert E. Sherwood and Douglas Moore
6-E. The Way to Kenmare by Edward Everett Rose
7-H. The Ride Down Mt. Morgan by Arthur Miller
8-B. Flight Into Egypt by George Tabori
9-F. A Visit to a Small Planet by Gore Vidal
10-C. A Passage to India by Santha Rama Rau