GRACE NOTES: Monday, September 8, 2025

 

Today’s Highlights:

 

Relax, let go, let fly…

 

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   GRACE NOTES QUIZ:  Faculty Members by Jim Bernhard

Match these Professors with the shows they are in:

    1. Professor Callahan     A. My Fair Lady
    2. Professor Cobwell     B. A Passage to India
    3. Professor Frederick Baehr     C. Our Town
    4. Professor Gardella     D. Lady from the Sea
    5. Professor Moriarty     E. Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark
    6. Professor Willard     F. Flower Drum Song
    7. Professor Zoltan Karpathy     G. Little Women
    8. Professor Arnholm     H. Baker Street
    9. Professor Cheng     I. Legally Blonde
    10. Professor Godbole     J. The Unsinkable Molly Brown

 

Scroll down for the answers…

 

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  Miriam Battye’s Love Play will run Sept. 12 – Nov. 9 at DC’s Signature Theatre, directed by Matthew Gardiner.

 

 Danny Gavigan (Man) and Gligh Voth (Woman).

 

  A not-quite-romantic comedy about the absurdity of modern dating in the seemingly endless quest to find “the one.” After matching online, a man and a woman meet for a date. Although they start off on the (very) wrong foot, they slowly begin to let down their guard in the hope that this time they’ve found something real. Bold, bitingly funny and achingly poignant, Strategic Love Play explores love, loneliness, and lying to (and about) ourselves in the age of swiping.  Miriam Battye skewers the anonymity of online dating with astute precision while reflecting on what it means to choose someone and be chosen.

 

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   The Acting Company‘s reading of Alice Scovell’s Love’s Labour’s Won will take place Mon. Sept. 15 at 7 PM at NYC’s Hunter College Kaye Playhouse, directed by Isaac Phillips.

 

   Steven Boyer, Conrad Ricamora, and Sarah Stiles, with Christian Conn and Ismenia Mendes Mendes.

 

  Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost ends in a cliffhanger, with betrothed couples wrenched apart for a year. What happens when they’re reunited? Don’t miss this hilarious sequel, only 400 years in the making. Happily-ever-after isn’t guaranteed, but maybe it can be won.

 

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  A Chorus Line, directed by Rob Ruggiero, has been extended through Nov. 2 at CT’s Goodspeed.

 

   Travante S. Baker (Larry), Haley Bjorn (Kristine) Aaron Patricrick Craven )Don),  Karli Dinardo (Cassie), Alex Drost (Al), Lisa Finegold (Bebe), Diego Guevara (Paul), Patrick Higgins (Mark), Beatrice Howell (Val), Caroline Kane (Judy), Liesie Kelly (maggie), Ryan Mulvaney (Bobbie), Jonah Nash (Richie), Emma X. O’Loughlin (Connie), Mario Rizzi (Mike), Clifton Samuels (Zach), Sammy Schechter (Greg), Mikeaela Secada (Diana), and Scarlett Walker (Shelia), with Maggie Mergman, Christian Feliciano, Abbey Friedmann, and Erica Peréz-Gotay.

 

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  Mint Theatre will present Sally Carson’s Crooked Cross, to begin previews Sept. 20 and open Oct. 9 at Theatre Row, directed by Jonathan Bank.

 

  Samuel Adams, Liam Craig, Katie Firth, Jack Mastrianni, Gavin Michaels, Ben Millspaugh, Douglas Rees, Ella Stevens, and Jakob Winter.

   The play draws us into the story of the Klugers, facing the economic and political challenges of life in a quaint village in the Bavarian mountainside between Christmas 1932 and June 1933. At the heart of the play is a family torn apart by conflicting loyalties. Lexa Kluger is engaged to Moritz Weissmann, a Jewish doctor. Lexa’s brothers, Helmy and Erich, are becoming increasingly involved with the Nazi party. We see the rise of fascism, but we also see the yearning for belonging that drives these young men into the darkness.

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  WestFest 2025, a series of new shows, will run weekends Sept. 26 -Oct. 10 at LA’s Theatre West.

 

   TBA.

 

  The festival will offer different presentations each week, to entice the loyal audiences who have returned for WestFest every year, as well as to introduce new audiences to the richly varied work of the city’s longest-running, continuously operating professional company.  Each week’s program runs about 85 minutes, no intermission. A reception with food and beverage follows each performance.  Click the link above to learn more.

 

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    LA’s Musical Theatre Guild will present An Evening with the Maestro on Sun. Sept. 21 at 7 PM at Santa Monica’s Broad Stage, by Michael Kostroff, directed by Jason Graae, with music direction by Darryl Archibald.

 

 Carol Lawrence  

 

  Eydie Alyson, Eileen Barnett, Anastasia Barzee, Roger BefelerJennifer Bennett, Jill Marie Burke, Will Collyer, Matthew Patrick Davis, Susan Edwards Martin, Melissa Fahn, Joshua Finkel, Zachary Ford, Julie Garnyé, Maura M. Knowles, Ashley Fox Linton, Melissa Lyons Caldretti, Tonoccus McClain, Dana Meller, Ashley Moniz, Taubert Nadalini, Gabriel Navarro, Domonique Paton, Trisha Rapier, Glenn Rosenblum, Brent Schindele, Trance Thompson, Mary VanArsdel, Diane Vincent, Paul Wong, Robert Yacko, and David Zack, with guest artists Patrick Beller, and Bruno Koskoff.

 

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  Gingold Theatrical Group will present Shaw’s Pygmalion Oct. 22–Nov. 22 at Theatre Row, directed by David Staller.

 

   TBA.

 

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   A Girl’s Guilt Trip, written & directed by Alretha Thomas, will run Oct. 10-26 at the Hudson Backstage Theatre.

 

 Heather Daughtry, Marlynne Frierson-Cooley, and AI LaFleur.  

 

  Lifelong friends, Yolanda and Roberta, live identical idyllic existences until tragedy strikes. Haunted by unresolved hurt and anger, the women, who are determined to fulfill their lifelong dream of visiting the Egyptian Pyramids, are forced to face the ghosts of the past in order to move forward with their future.

 

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  A Chorus Line, directed by Rob Ruggiero, has been extended through Nov. 2 at CT’s Goodspeed.

 

  Travante S. Baker (Larry), Haley Bjorn (Kristine) Aaron Patricrick Craven )Don),  Karli Dinardo (Cassie), Alex Drost (Al), Lisa Finegold (Bebe), Diego Guevara (Paul), Patrick Higgins (Mark), Beatrice Howell (Val), Caroline Kane (Judy), Liesie Kelly (maggie), Ryan Mulvaney (Bobbie), Jonah Nash (Richie), Emma X. O’Loughlin (Connie), Mario Rizzi (Mike), Clifton Samuels (Zach), Sammy Schechter (Greg), Mikeaela Secada (Diana), and Scarlett Walker (Shelia), with Maggie Mergman, Christian Feliciano, Abbey Friedmann, and Erica Peréz-Gotay.

 

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  LA’s Open Door Playhouse will present Agnes’ Little War beginning Oct. 23, directed by Bernadette Armstrong.

 

  Rosemary Thomas (Agnes) and Gilbert Glenn Brown (Evan).

 

   Do citizens have the right to judge elected leaders on personal morals? An idealistic voter lost faith in a political candidate and is demanding that he return the contribution she made to his campaign. A man with ties to the candidate appears at her door, offering her money if she will “back off.”  Can her values stand up to the test?

 

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  Red Bull Theater will present Richard II Oct. 28 – Nov. 30 (opening Nov. 10) at the Astor Place Theatre (434 Lafayette Street), adapted & directed by Craig Baldwin.

 

  Michael Urie and more TBA.

 

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   Tamara Stern’s I’ll Give You My Heart will run Oct. 3-13 (opening Oct. 4) at Burbank’s Colony Theatre, directed by James Mellon.

 

  Jacqueline Emerson, Jeremy S. Walker, Emily Nash, Heather Lee, Jonah Robinson, Jon Root, and Jennifer Cannon.

 

  Five years after her fiancé is killed on their wedding day, a traumatized young woman fights to keep her promise to never leave him, while protecting her grief-stricken heart from opening for a familiar stranger.

 

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   The Rocky Horror Show will run Oct. 14 – Nov. 8 Pittsburgh CLO, directed by Mark Fleischer, with music direction by Robert Neumeyer.

 

 Alexander Podolinski  (Dr.Frank ‘N’ Furter), Spenser Millay (Brad Majors), Kat Harkins (Janet WEiss), Connor McCanlus (Riff Raff), Laura Frye (Magenta), Sam Carter (columbia), Michael Greer (Rocky Horror), Matthew Hydzik (Eddie/Dr.  Scott), and Dixie Surewood (Narrator), with Marissa Buchhett and Benjamin Kent Pimental.

 

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  The 2025 Hudson Valley Dance Festival, presented by offering Ballet and Tap, in support of BCEFA and Contemporary works, will take place  Oct. 11  at 2 & 5 PM at a charming 19th-century warehouse on the banks of the Hudson River.

 

T he festival transforms the passion and creativity of dancers and audiences into tangible help for those in need.

 

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  Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club will close Sun. Sept. 21 at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre, after 18 previews and 592 regular performances.

 

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  Pete Townsend’s Quadrophenia, A Rock Ballet will run Nov. 14-16 at New York City Center, directed by Rob Ashford, with choreography by Paul Roberts.

 

Dancers TBA.

 

  In 1973, guitar smashing rock genius Pete Townshend wrote QUADROPHENIA. Recorded by THE WHO, it quickly became an iconic and multi-million selling album. Quadrophenia defined a generation and in 1979 inspired the cult classic feature film of the same name. Now it’s back – this time as an explosive dance production – with a large cast of exceptional dancers, introducing new audiences to troubled mod Jimmy’s story while remaining true in spirit to the much-loved original.

 

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  Ted Lange’s Lady Patriot opens Sept. 9 and continues through Sept. 20 at Theatre Row, directed by Ted Lange.

 

  Fred Grandy and Jill Whelan, with Josie DiVincenzo, Gordon Goodman, Chrystee Pharris, Derek Powell, and Count Stovall.

 

  The play explores the hidden patriotism and prejudices of three women during the America, Civil War: Varina Davis (the First Lady of the Confederacy), Elizabeth Van Lew ( a Union spy), and Mary Bowser (a free Black woman and Union spy working in the Davis household.

 

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 GRACE NOTES QUIZ Answers:  Faculty Members

 

1-I.   Professor Callahan in Legally Blonde

 

2-E.   Professor Cobwell in Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark

 

3-G.   Professor Frederick Baehr in Little Women

 

4-J.   Professor Gardella in The Unsinkable Molly Brown

 

5-H.   Professor Moriarty in Baker Street

 

6-C.   Professor Willard in Our Town

 

7-A.   Professor Zoltan Karpathy in My Fair Lady

 

8-D.   Professor Arnholm in Lady from the Sea

 

9-F. Professor Cheng in Flower Drum Song

 

10-B. Professor Godbole in A Passage to India

 

 


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