Today’s Highlights:
Farewell Mister Haffman, by Jean-Philippe Daguerre, directed by Lindsay Posner, featuring Alexander Hanson, Lisa Dillon Ciarán Owens, Josefina Gabrielle, and Nigel Lindsay, opens at the UK’s Theatre Royal Bath.
Private Lives, directed by Christopher Luscombe, featuring Nigel Havers, Patricia Hodge, Dugald Bruce-Lockheart and Natalie Walker, begins previews at London’s Ambassador Theatre.
Celebration Theatre‘s The Real Black Swann: Confessions of America’s First Black Drag Queen, written & performed by Les Kurkendaal-Barrett, directed by Tom Trudgeon, begins previews at LA’s LGBT Center.
Gavin Creel In Concert, at 7:30 PM at the Kennedy Center.
Brittney Mack live & livestreamed concert, at 7 PM at NYC’s Chelsea Table + Stage.
Harmony Broadway cast album released on all platforms, by Barry Manilow & Bruce Sussman, featuring Chip Zien, Sean Bell, Zal Owen, Eric Peters, Blake Roman, Steven Telsey, Sierra Boggess, and Julie Benko.
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Prince Gomolvilas’ The Brothers Paranormal will run Sept. 27 – Oct. 29 (opening Sept. 30) at MD’s Olney Theatre, directed by Hallie Gordon & Aria Velz.
Tommy Bo (Max), Eymard Cabling (Visarut), Lolita Marie (Delia), Justine “icy” Moral (Ghost), DeJeanette Horne (Felix), Cindy Chang (Tasanee), Joey Ledonia (Max/Visarut), and Sally Imbriano (Jar/Tasanee), and Terrestia Edwards (Delia understudy).
A funny, scary, genre-exploding drama of family and dislocation. It’s 2007 somewhere in the American Midwest, and Thai-American brothers Max and Visarut haven’t had a single case for their paranormal investigation business since they opened. Finally, a customer arrives, Delia, a Black woman who has relocated to the area after losing her home in Hurricane Katrina. She’s seen a female, perhaps Asian, maybe Thai-speaking ghost haunting her house for reasons unknown. Max, who doesn’t believe in ghosts, is most excited to sign her up for a deluxe investigation package. But when the brothers visit Delia and her husband Felix, strange things begin to happen. Prepare to be thrilled, chilled, and moved!
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NextGen Spotlight, in support of BC/EFA. will take place live & livestreamed on Wed. Sept. 18 at 7 PM at NYC’s Chelsea Table & Stage, directed & hosted by Jelani Remy
Performers TBA.
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Steven Cheslik-deMeyer, Tim Maner & Ala Stevens Hewitt’s Lizzie will run Sept. 29 – Oct. 22 at TheaterWorks Hartford, directed by Lainie Sakakura, with music direction by Erika R. Gamez.
Kim Onah (Alice Russell), Nora Schell (Bridget Sullivan), Sydney Shepherd (Lizzie Borden), and Courtney Bassett (Emma Borden).
Lizzie uses a searing rock score to explore the historical record of Lizzie Borden, the 19th century ax murderer whose controversial acquittal continues to fascinate the public.
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Open-Door Playhouse will present Donald Loftus’ “Amusing Wille” on Sept. 6, directed by Rachel Berney Needleman.
Kenajuan Bentley, Gita Reddy, Nicole Javier and Desiree Mae Jung.
Wille, a British playwright, quickly learns that everybody is a critic as he tries to convince his three female muses that his new play about “star-crossed” lovers is terrific! The muses remind him of past works where he ignored their advice, and of the unhappy outcomes each suffered as a result.
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Gordon Greenberg & Steve Rosen’s Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors will run Sept. 4 – Jan. 7, 2024 (opening Sept. 18) at New World Stages, directed by Gordon Greenberg.
Jordan Boatman, Arnie Burton, James Daly, Ellen Harvey, and Andrew Keenan-Bolger, with Kaitlyn Boyer and Sean-Michael Wilkinson.
The play gets a riotous makeover in this lightning-fast comedic reimagining that celebrates goth, camp, sexuality, and the magic of live theatre. This 90-minute, gender-bending, quick-change romp features a pansexual GenZ Count Dracula in the midst of an existential crisis. When he sets his sights on the brilliant young earth scientist Lucy Westfeldt, he meets his match for the first time – as well as a slew of other colorful characters including vampire hunter Jean Van Helsing, insect connoisseur Percy Renfield and behavioral psychiatrist Wallace Westfeldt, whose British country estate doubles as a free-range mental asylum. With a cast of brilliant quick take comedians, this Dracula will make you scream… with laughter.
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Frank Wildhorn, Jack Murphy & Ivan Menchell’s Death Note: The Musical in Concert will transfer to the West End for a limited run Sept. 7-10 at the Lyric Theatre, directed & choreographed by Nick Winston.
Aimie Atkinson, Rachel Clare Chan, Jessica Lee, George Maguire, Carl Man, Christian Ray Marbella, Dean John-Wilson, and Joaquin Pedro Valdes with an ensemble featuring Boaz Chad, Charlotte Coggin, Jade Copas, Eu Jin Hwang, Yojiro Ichikawa, Deena Kapadia, and Patrick Munday.
Light Yagami, a high school student in Tokyo who comes across a discarded notebook owned by Ryuk, a mythological god of death. Discovering he can kill anyone by just writing their names in the supernatural notebook, Light takes justice into his own hands by filling the notebook with names of the nation’s most wanted criminals.
Video: Highlights from the Palladium engagement.
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RIP: Tina Howe, The celebrated playwright responsible for the Tony nominated Coastal Disturbances and Pulitzer finalists Pride’s Crossing and Painting Churches, has died at the age of 85.
Born into a literary family, Ms. Howe’s grandfather was Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe, a prolific writer who won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1925. Language was given significant power in her family, with Ms. Howe later recalling her father travelling to visit her in the hospital during a bout of hepatitis to read her James Joyce’s Ulysses to strengthen her spirit.
Known for her ability to enfold the art world into her work, Ms. Howe’s plays are often considered extensions of the Absurdism tradition, with emotions heightened in the face of increasingly improbable scenarios through which her quirky cast of characters must navigate.
In all, Ms. Howe wrote 14 full-length plays, including Closing Time, The Nest, Birth and After Birth, Museum, The Art of Dining, Painting Churches, Coastal Disturbances, Approaching Zanzibar, One Shoe Off, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Pride’s Crossing, Rembrandt’s Gift, Chasing Manet, and Cheri. Ever aware of Ionesco’s influence on her life, she translated two of his works, The Bald Soprano and The Lesson, into English in 2004.
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The world premiere concert of Aaron Gandy & Scott Logsdon’s The Crinolynns will take place Sat. Sept. 20 at PA’s Saint Vincent’s College, at both 2 & 7 PM. Creative team TBA. 
(724) 832-7476.
Donna Lynne Champlin, Sally Mayes, and Valerie Wright.
The musical centers on The Crinolynns, a fictional ’60s girl group. Forty years after stepping out of the spotlight, the girls are back with a new act about life after high school, with songs in the style of The Crystals, The Chiffons, Carole King, and more.
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A NYC industry reading of Vincent Gogliormella’s new play Love Goumbas Style will take place Wed. Sept. 27, directed by Charles Messina. 
: info@dmmnyc.com
Eric Roberts, Amanda Bruton, Dominic Scaglione, and Joli Tribuzio.
The comedy spotlights an Italian family that includes Donna and Jimmy as they strive to reignite a waning flame; Mikey and Susan on their whirlwind wedding detour; Lenny and Claudine as they discover passion in the quirkiest corners; and Wendy, torn between choices and chances, and culminates at a New Year’s Eve bash in a mobster’s lavish NYC townhouse.
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A Streetcar Named Desire will run Sept. 8 – Oct. 1 at North Hollywood’s Sherry Theatre (11052 Magnolia Blvd.), directed by Steve Jarrard.
German Flores, Alcala, RJ Cortana, Kathy Bell Denton, Joshua Farrell, Chuy Garcia, Wendy Garcia, Mark V. Jones, Harish Mandyam, Eve Richards, Jason Sino, Jennifer Skiffington, Kevin Grant Spencer, and Meg Wallace.
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The world premiere of Eric Simonson & Gordon Gano’s Run Bambi Run will run Sept. 13 – Oct. 22 (opening Sept. 22) at Milwaukee Rep, directed by Mark Clements, with music direction by Dan Kazemi, and choreography by Jenn Rose.
John Carlin (Joe/Lawyer), Matt Daniels (Breier), Sarah Gliko (Christine/Gale), Douglas Goodhart (ira/Eisenberg), Armando Gutierrez (Fred), Tommy Hahn (Kraemer/Tom), Jessica Kantorowitz (Judy), Ian Littleworth (Nick/Stu), Megan Loomis (Virginia/Sean), Ken Allen Neely (Peterson), Erika Olson (Laurie), and Lucas Papaelias (Horenberger).
An outrageous ‘true crime’ saga that took the nation by storm, Lawrencia “Bambi” Bembenek’s fall from Milwaukee Police Department cop to Playboy Bunny lands her in the slammer, convicted of a murder that she didn’t commit. Or did she? Fueled with original rock songs and lyrics, this rollicking hometown story about the search for truth and justice is a wild ride that you have to see to believe.
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Musical Theatre Guild will present a staged concert reading of Follies on Sun. Oct. 1 at 7 PM at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center (1310 11th St.), directed by Jason Graae, with music direction by Brad Ellis, and choreography by Lee Martino.
Anastasia Barzee (Sally), Roger Befeler (Buddy), Teri Bibb (Phyllis), Brent Schindele (Ben), Will Collyer (Young Ben), Ashley Fox Linton (Young Sally), Gabriel Navarro (Young Buddy), Chelsea Morgan Stock (Young Phyllis), Eydie Alyson (Emily), Brad Ellis (Theodore), Helen Geller (Hattie), Barbara Carlton Heart (Stella), Susan Edwards Martin (Solange), Glenn Rosenblum (Weismann), Mary VanArsdel (Heidi), Jennifer Leigh Warren (Carlotta), and Paul Wong (Roscoe), with Ricky Bulda, Jasmine Ejan, and Michael James Brown. **********************
Cooper Jordan’s Saw the Musical: The Unauthorized Parody, will run Sept. 16 – 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, Jessica Morilak, and more TBA.
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.