Today’s Highlights:
McNeal, by Ayad Akhtar, directed by Bartlett Sher, featuring Robert Downey, Jr., Brittany Bellizeare, Rafi Gavron, Melora Hardin, Andrea Martin, Ruthie Ann Miles, and Saisha Talwar, opens at Broadway’s Vivian Beaumont Theater.
Tituss Burgess: The Indecisive Warrior concert opens at London’s Phoenix Arts Club.
Drag: The Musical, by Alaska Thunderf*ck, Tomas Costanza & Ashley Gordon, directed & choreographed by Spencer Liff, featuring Alaska Thunderfuck (Kitty Galloway (through Jan. 11, 2025), Nick Adams (Alexis Gilmore), Lagoona Bloo (Tuna Turner), Jan Sport (Savannah St. James), Jujubee (The Tigress), Nick Laughlin (Puss Puss Dubois), J. Elaine Marcos (Gloria Schmidt), Rita Laritz & Joey McIntyre (Tom Hutchinson (through Nov. 24), Luxx Noir London (Popcorn), Bre Jackson (Dixie Coxworth), Eddie Korbich (Drunk Jerry), and Remi Tuckman & Yair Keydar (sharing the role of Brendan Hutchinson), with Cameron Mitchell Bell, Brandon Burks, Nicholas Kraft, Christine Shepard, and Kodiak Thompson, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages.
Black Theatre United‘s Generations of Excellence gala, directed by Jerry Dixon, featuring André De Shields, Leslie Uggams, Stephanie Mills, Ephraim Sykes, Nichelle Lewis, and Audra McDonald, with Sydney Terry, Gabrielle Rice, Darrin Scott, Savannah Lee Henry, and Caleb Mayers, at 6:30 PM at 7:30 PM at NYC’s Ziegfeld Ballroom.
An evening iwth Kate McKinnon: “The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science” conversation, at 8 PM at NYC’s 92NY.
A New York Evening with the Outsiders conversation, with omposers Justin Levine & Zach Chance, at 7:30 PM at NYC’s The Greene Space.
Parents in Chains developmental workshop, by Jay Martel, directed by Andy Fickman, featuring Jason Alexander, Kristen Bell, Yvette Nicole Brown, Tom Everett Scott, Jackie Tohn, and Gary Anthony Williams, at 8 PM at Hollywood’s Whitley Theatre (also Oct. 1).
**********************
Reviews for The Hills of California at Broadway’s Broadway Theatre:
New York Times (by Houman Barekat): … The Hills of California has striking echoes of Harold Pinter’s 1964 play, The Homecoming, in which three adult brothers reconvene at their childhood home under the auspices of a brooding patriarch. In that play, too, one of the siblings has done well himself in America, and his relations with his family are a mystery to be solved… Whereas The Homecoming was noted for its claustrophobic machismo, here it’s the women who dominate the proceedings, vacillating between sisterly tenderness and bitter recriminations…. The denouement, when it comes, provides only a strange and messy sort of closure. There is no through-line here, no moral lesson as such; just the chaotic, meaningless interplay of life force, personalities and contingency. Sometimes, that’s plenty.
Variety (Frank Rizzo): Jez Butterworth’s ambitious, captivating and richly rewarding domestic drama “The Hills of California” straddles dual worlds of dreams and reality as it shuttles between two pivotal time periods in the lives of the Webb women… this densely-packed, 17-actor play…strikes societal notes, too, as it details women with limited choices and plenty of obstacles in an ever-changing world…
The Independent (Alice Saville): The world of this play is an intriguing and satisfying place to spend three hours. There are fine performances, sweet harmonies, and buckets of retro atmosphere. But is there gold in them thar hills? Not this time, alass … if Butterworth’s latest doesn’t rival 2017’s Olivier Award-winning Irish epic The Ferryman in pace or power, it’s still a satisfyingly substantial look at four sisters making sense of their childhood as their mother lies dying upstairs… Director Sam Mendes’s production brings out all the gentle humour in Butterworth’s play…
New York Theater (Jonathan Mandell): Four sisters in their thirties arecalled back to their childhood home, to attend to their dying mother, and relive their traumatic childhood brush with fame, is the fourth play by British playwright Jez Butterworth to make it to Broadway. Some theatergoers might initially feel almost as disappointed in this play as the characters in it feel towards how their lives have turned out… But what The Hills of California does eventually offer, if you can decipher the cast’s English accents and commit to the nearly three hour running time, is the playwright’s finely tuned sense of irony, which subtly upends our expectations,. His well-crafted characters are more nuanced than we might at first realize, and they are brought to life under the direction of Sam Mendes by a large cast (most making their Broadway debuts) led by Laura Donnelly.
**********************
GRACE NOTES Quiz: You Can Call Me Ray, by Jim Bernhard:
Match these descriptions with the theatre people called “Ray”
| 1. Movie star famous for Lost Weekend who was in one Broadway play, Hostile Witness | A. Ray Bolger |
| 2. Played Frank Butler opposite Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun | B. Ray Cooney |
| 3. One of many Broadway replacements in Hello, Dolly! | C. Ray Danton |
| 4. Known for playing F.D.R. in Annie | D. Ray Liotta |
| 5. Star of Where’s Charley? | E. Ray Middleton |
| 6. British farceur famous for Run for Your Wife | F. Ray Milland |
| 7. Among many stage roles for this star of screen and TV were Abe Lincoln In Illinois and Mr. Zuss in J.B. | G. Raymond Thorne |
| 8. Better known for films, including Goodfellas and Field of Dreams, he appeared in one Broadway play, Match | H. Ray Henderson |
| 9. Played Legs Diamond and George Raft in movies, and starred on Broadway as Starbuck in 110 in the Shade | I. Raymond Massey |
| 10. Composer of many Broadway shows, including Good News | J. Martha Raye |
Scroll down for the answers…
**********************
Cockeyed Optimist: Where Hammerstein Found His Hope, by Dick Scanlan & Malcom Gets, will run Oct. 26-28 at NYC’s 92NY, directed by Scanlan.
Kerstin Anderson, Mikaela Bennett, Patrick Breen, Eddie Cooper, Omar Lopez-Cepero, and Katie Mariko Murray.
**********************
RIP: Dame Maggie Smith has died at the age of 98.
Click here to read about her extraordinary life.
**********************
Broadway Acts for Abortion (A isFor) will take place Sun. Oct. 6 at 6:30 PM PM at NYC’s 54 Below, with music direction by Dan Lipman, and hosted by Cecily Strong & Jenn Lyon.
Bonnie Milligan, Miriam Silverman, Ann Dowd, Michael Emerson, Amanda Green, John Cameron Mitchell, Javier Muñoz, and Carrie Preston.
**********************
One Night Stand with Stormy Daniels will take place Sat. Oct. 5 at at 7:30 & 9:30 PM at LA’s Bourbon Room.
**********************
Off-Broadway’s Primary Stages has announced its 2024-25 season (casting TBA):
The Light and the Dark (The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi) (Nov. 2 – Dec. 15)), by Kate Hamill, directed by Jade King Carroll. 
The play tracks how painter Artemisia Gentileschi transcended trauma to become one of the most successful artists of her time.
Amerikin (Mar. 1 – Apr. 15, 2025), by Chisa Huchinson, directed by Jade King Caroll. A small-town man’s plans to join a white supremacist group are thwarted by some surprising ancestry test results.
The Liff lab (dates TBA), a new play development program.
Variety Show (dates TBA), directed by BD Wong.
Primary Stages has also announced a year-long discount ticketing initiative in collaboration with TodayTix. To commemorate the company’s 40th anniversary season, TodayTix will offer $19.84 lottery tickets for every performance in honor of Primary Stages’ founding in 1984.
**********************
Lillias White will return Oct. 22 to the role of Hermes in Hadestown on Oct. 22 at Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theatre.
**********************
The 25th anniversary of Only Make Believe Concert will take place Oct. 28 at 7 PM at Broadway’s St. James Theatre, directed by Joe DiPietro & Brad Oscar, with music direction by Steven Jamail.
Montego Glover, Matt Doyle, Lena Hall, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jude Law, and Rachel Dratch.
**********************
The 2024-25 Lyrics & Lyricists season has been announced at NYC’s 92NY:
Cockeyed Optimist: Where Hammerstein Foung His HopeDick Scanlan & Michael Gets Celebrate Oscar Hammerstein II (Oct. 26-28), by Malcom Gets & Dick Scanlan, directed by Scanlan.
Rebel with a Cause: The Artistry and Activism of Nina Simon (Dec. 7-9), featuring Amber Iman.
An Evening with Rosanne Cash (Feb. 13, 2025 at 7:30 PM)
Louder Than Words: The Enduring Legacy of Jonathan Larson (Mar. 1-3), directed by James Nicole.
Sing Happy: The Collaboration of Kander & Ebb (May 31 – June 2), directed by David Loud.
…and more TBA…
**********************
Jez Butterworth’s The Hills of California , directed by Sam Mendes, has been extended through Dec. 22 at the Broadhurst Theatre.
Erin Rose Doyle, Sadie Veach, Liz Pearce, Jessica Baglow, Liam Bixby, and Q. Smith, closes at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre.
Set in a swelteringly hot 1970s summer, the piece sees the Webb sisters returning to their childhood home in the English seaside town of Blackpool. One sister hasn’t been heard from in two decades, but her siblings hope that with their mother close to death upstairs that she might reappear after all.
Video: Production highlights
**********************
Philip Barry’s Holiday, newly adapted by Richard Greenberg, will take place Sun. Oct. 6 at 7 PM at Off-Broadway’s Gerald W. Lynch Theatre (524 West 59th Street), directed by Robert Falls.
Rachel Brosnahan , David Corenswet, John Slattery, Lilli Cooper, Chris Perfetti, Ella Beatty and Hiram Delgado.
The upper east side Seton family prepares to welcome free-spirited lawyer Johnny Case to the fold, but as New Year’s Eve approaches, romances become entangled and the eternal battle between whether one “lives to work” or “works to live” threatens to break them all apart.
**********************
Scott Alan: Dreaming Wide Awake will take place Sun. Nov. 10 at 6:30 PM at London’s Cadogan Hall.
Rob Houchen, Christine Allado, Amy di Bartolemeo, Oliver Tompsett, Lucie Jones, and Stuart Matthew Price.
**********************
Tectonic Theater’s A Tectonic Cabaret will take place Mon. Oct. 21 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s Current (Pier 59 Chelsea Piers), directed by Timothy Koch.
Anthony Roth Costanzo, Claybourne Elder, Alyssa Fox, Prentice Powell, Ryan VanDenBoom, Sasha Velour, and Francise Voranger.
**********************
GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: You Can Call Me Ray
1-F. Ray Milland – Movie star famous for Lost Weekend who was in one Broadway play, Hostile Witness
2-E. Ray Middleton – Played Frank Butler opposite Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun
3-J. Martha Raye – One of many Broadway replacements in Hello, Dolly!
4-G. Raymond Thorne – Known for playing F.D.R. in Annie
5-A. Ray Bolger – Star of Where’s Charley?
6-B. Ray Cooney – British farceur famous for Run for Your Wife
7-I. Raymond Massey – Among many stage roles for this star of screen and TV were Abe Lincoln In Illinois and Mr. Zuss in J.B.
8-D. Ray Liotta – Better known for films, including Goodfellas and Field of Dreams, he appeared in one Broadway play, Match.
9-C. Ray Danton – He played Legs Diamond and George Raft in movies, and starred on Broadway as Starbuck in 110 in the Shade.
10-H. Ray Henderson – Composer of many Broadway shows, including Good News