Today’s Highlights:
White Rose: The Musical, by Brian Belding & Natalie Brice, directed by Will Nunziata, featuring Jo Ellen Pellman (Sophie Scholl), Mike Cefalo (Hans Scholl), Kennedy Kanagawa (Christoph Porbst), Laura Sky Herman (Lila Ramdohr), Paolo Montalban (Prof. Kurt Huber), Sam Gravitte (Frederick Fischer), and Cole Thompson (Willi Graff), with Ellis Gage, Dani Apple, Pasquale Crociata, Cal Mitchell, and Aaron Ramey, opens at Off Broadway’s Theatre Row.
POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, by Selena Fillinger, directed by Jennifer Chambers, featuring Ito Aghayere (Chris), Maria Bello (Bernadette) Alexandra Billings (Margaret), Lauren Blumenfeld (Stephanie), Shannon Cochran (Harriet), Celeste Den (Jean), Jane Levy (Dusty) and Deirdre Lovejoy (Bernadette), opens at LA’s Geffen Playhouse.
The Reading Room Festival, offering open rehearsals, screenings, and readings of world-premiere plays, opens at DC’s Folger Theatre.
Cabaret, directed by Adam Karsten, featuring Kristen Howe (Emcee), Cecily Dowd (Sally Bowles), Marrick Smith (Cliff), Leslie Tinnaro (Fraulein Schneider), Fred Frabotta (Herr Schultz), Erin Stlddard (Fraulein Kost), Erin Stoddard (Fraulein Kost/Baden), and Ben Sears (Ernst Ludwig), with Amber Lux Archer, Alli Bossart, Charlie Bostick, Beverly Durand, Gabriellea Garcia, Rachel Kay, Erik Scott Rommney, Ali Simon, J Pablo Stewart, Erin Stoddard, and Emily Unnasch, opens at CA’s Coachella Valley Rep.
Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy, by Sarah Gancher, directed by Darko Tresnjak, featuring Christine Lahti (Ljuba), Renata Friedman (Masha), Haskell King (Egor), John Lavelle (Steve), and Hadi Tabbal (Nikolai), begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Vineyard Theatre.
Hamlet, adapted by Mark Izzard, directed by Selena Cadel, starring Eddie Izzard, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Greenwich House Theatre.
The Animal Kingdom, by Ruby Thomas, directed by Jack Serio, featuring David Cromer, Tasha Lawrence, Lily McInerny, Uly Schlesinger, and Calvin Leon Smith, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Connelly Theater Upstairs.
Rogue Machine Theatre‘s Middle of the World, by Juan Jose Alfonso, directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos, featuring Cheryl Umaña (Victoria), Christian Telesmar Glenn Joyne), Leandro Cano (Bob Gonzalez), Jennifer Pollono (Barbara Blanchard), and Dan Lin (Warren Lim), begins previews at Hollywood’s Matrix Theatre.
Jerry Orbach’s Broadway concert, directed by Michael Portantiere, with special guests Anita Gillette and Lee Roy Reams, with Jerry’s sons Chris Orbach, and Tony Orbach, and featuring William Michals, Jay Aubrey Jones, and Nikita Burshteyn, at 7 PM at NYC’s 54 Below.
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Video: Sutton Foster performs “Shy” from Once Upon a Mattress at NYC Center Encores.
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The world premiere of Juna José Alfonso’s Middle of the World will run Jan. 27 – Mar. 4 (Fridays – Mondays) at the Rogue Machine at the Matrix, directed by Guillermo Dienfuegos.
Cheryl Umaña (Victoria), Christian Telesmar Glenn Joyne), Leandro Cano (Bob Gonzalez), Jennifer Pollono (Barbara Blanchard), and Dan Lin (Warren Lim).
Victoria was an important person in Ecuador. Now broke, disgraced and separated from her son, she is determined to get back home and regain what she lost. Glenn worked his way from low income housing to the verge of closing the biggest deal of his impressive finance career. But is business success what he’s really chasing? Middle of the World means you cannot be in two places at once. You must choose. And when you choose, it means giving something up. What are they willing to sacrifice? For power, for principles and for love? On a night in NYC, when Glenn steps into Victoria’s Uber, the course of both their lives will change in an instant.
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Shimmy Braun, Moshiel Newman Daphna & Billy Recce’s Five: The Parody Musical will run Feb. 15 – Mar. 10 (opening Feb. 19) at Theater 555, directed & choreographed by Jen Wineman.
Anyae Anasia (Ivana), Gabriella Joy Rodriguez (Marla), Jaime Lyn Beatty (Melania), Gabi Garcia (Stormy), and Hannah bonnett (Ivanka).
A musical parody inspired by the stories of the women linked to former President Donald Trump. The story of the women linked to our disgraced 45th president. Sit back, enjoy and GET READY TO VOTE as 3 Wives, 1 Mistress and 1 Daughter campaign for who really had it the worst.
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The Los Angles Women’s Theatre Festival 2024 will celebrate its 31st anniversary with 4 days of performances, panels, workshops, and a gala, all taking place through Jan. 31 at North Hollywood’s Theatre 68 Arts Complex (5112 Lankershim Blvd). 
here.
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Tadeusz Slobodzianek’s Our Class has been extended through Feb. 11 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, directed by Igor Golyak.
Gus Birney (Dora), Andrey Burkovskiy (Menachem), Jack DiFalco (Zygmunt), José Espinosa (Rysiek), Tess Goldwyn (Zocha,) Will Manning (Heniek), Stephen Ochsner (Jakub Katz), Alexandra Silber (Rachelka/Marianna), Richard Topol (Abram), and Ilia Volok (Władek).
Ten Polish classmates — five Jewish and five Catholic — grow up as friends and neighbors, then turn on one another with life and death consequences. Inspired by real life events surrounding a horrific 1941 pogrom in a small Polish village, this shocking, timely story follows their lives from childhood through eight decades.
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Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater reading (both in person and online) of Edward Young’s The Revenge, will take place Mon. Jan. 29 at 7 PM at Playwrights Horizons, directed by Nathan Winkelstein.
Christian Coulson, Merritt Janson, Peter Macon, Ismenia Mendes, Matthew Rauch, and Alexandra Silber.
Immensely popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, this pot-boiler tells a tale that Shakespeare audiences will recognize – a general and his new bride manipulated to tragic ends – but in the context of Spain’s conquests in North Africa. In this tale the revenger is the Moor– Zanga, an enslaved prince–who wreaks righteous vengeance on his oppressor. The fiery Zanga, a favorite role of both Ira Aldridge and Edmund Kean, finally gets his return to the spotlight.
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An invitation-only reading of Erlina Ortiz’s La Egoista will take place Feb. 9 at 1 PM at Manhattan Theatre Club, directed by Tatyana-Marie Carlo.
Lindey Genao and Sasha Berci.
The play explores the bond between siblings, the cost of caregiving, and the fine line between selfish and selfless.
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Jason Kravitz: Off the Top will take place Thurs. Mar. 7 at 7 PM at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club. Proceeds will benefit the Cancer Support Group of Los Angeles. Highly recommended.
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Video: Sneak peek at Rob Madge’s solo show, My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?), which begins previews Feb. 17 att Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre.
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Mike Birbiglia: Please Stop the Ride will run July 25-28 at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre.
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Ken Page: Right Here, Right Now will take place Wed. Apr. 3 at 8:30 PM at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club, with music direction by Benet Braun.
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The world premiere of Shimmy Braun, Moshiel Newman Daphna & Billy Recce’s FIVE: The Parody Musical will run Feb. 15 – Mar. 10 (opening Feb. 19) at Theater 555, directed & choreographed by Jen Wineman, with music direction by Lena Gabrielle.
Anyae Anasia (Ivana), Gabriella Joy Rodriguez (Marla), Jaime Lyn Beatty (Melania), Gabi Carcia (Stormy), and Hannah Bonnett (Ivanka).
The story of the women linked to our disgraced 45th president. Sit back, enjoy 3 wives, 1 mistress, and 2 daughters campaign for who really had it the worst.
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Red Bull Theater‘s reading of Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher, will take place Mon. Feb. 19 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s Florence Gould Hall, directed by Jesse Berger.
Annaleigh Ashford and Mark Linn-Baker, with Jordan Boatman, Will Brill, Arnie Burton, Kelley Curran, and Lorenzo Pisoni. Monsieur Argan is a notorious hypochondriac whose nonexistent illnesses blind him to the con men and women (his new wife) who prey on his fears to fatten their purses. His plan: marry his daughter to a doctor so he’ll have free round-the-clock on-site healthcare for the rest of his life.**********************
The world premiere of Richard Alger, Tina Kronis & Wes Myers’ Tiny Little Town will run Feb. 1-18 at the Broadwater Theater, directed & choreographed by Kronis.
Paula Rebelo, Prisca Kim, Nikhil Pai, Kasper Svendsen, Lamont Oakley, Nick Apostolina, Mark Doerr, Jesse Myers, Ishika Muchhal, Isaiah Noriega, Joey Auino, and Eddie Vona.
A new musical adaptation of The Inspector General, the piece is set in 1970’s small town America and becomes a hilarious and timely reflection on America, corruption, suspicion, and coverup.
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The Cape Playhouse has announced its 2024 season at the Cape Cod Center for the Arts. Creative teams and casting TBA.
tick, tick…BOOM! (June 5-15), directed by Eric Rosen.
Million Dollar Quartet (June 19 – July 6), directed by Hunter Foster.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (July 10 – Aug. 3), directed & choreographed by David Ruttura.
Waitress (Aug. 7-24), directed by Eric Rosen.
The 39 Steps (Aug. 28 – Sept. 7), by John Buchan. Director TBA.