Today’s Highlights:
Gutenberg! The Musical, by Scott Brown & Anthony King, directed by Alex Timbers, starring Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells, opens at Broadway’s James Earl Jones Theatre.
A Wonderful World, by Christopher Renshaw & Andrew Delaplaine, directed by Renshaw, featuring James Monroe Iglehart (Louis Armstrong), Ta’Rea Campbell (Lucille Wilson), Jennie Harney-Fleming (Lil Hardin), Brennyn Lark (Alpha Smith) Khalifa White (Daisy Parker), DeWitt Fleming, Jr. (Lincoln Perry), Gavin Gregory (King Joe Oliver), Matthew Greenwood (Johnny Collins), Lindsey Corey (Rachel the Reporter), and Matt Wolpe (Joe Glaser), with Ronnie Bowman, Eean Cochran, Jamal Christopher Douglas, Alexandra Frohlinger, Afra Hines, Alan Kelly, Ashley McManus ), Aurelia Michael, Alysha Morgan, Jarran Muse, Aaron Michael Ray, Khadijah Rolle, Dave Schoonover, Brett Sturgis, Renell Taylor, and Dori Waymer, opens at Chicago’s Palace Theatre.
The Engagement Party, by Samuel Baum, directed by Darko Tresnjak, featuring Richard Bekins (Conrad), Bella Heathcote (Katherine), Brian Lee Huynh (Kai), Mark Jacobson (Alan), Wendie Malick (Gail), Brian Patrick Murphy (Johnny), Jonah Platt (Josh), and Lauren Worsham (Haley), opens at LA’s Geffen Playhouse.
Wish You Were Here, by Sanaz Toossi, directed by Sivan Battat, featuring Anita Abdinezhad, Vaneh Assadourian, Bahar Beihaghi, Sahar Bibiyan, Ava Lalezarzadeh, and Shadee Vossoughi, opens at Yale Rep.
Audra McDonald: Musings concert, with music direction by Andy Einhorn, opens at NYC’s 92NY.
New York Theater Festival‘s Musical Chairs, by Steve Fogelman, directed by Stewart Harrison, featuring Kurt Bantilan, Anna Benoit, Corinne Britti, Steve Fogelman, Alvaro Francisco, and Danielle Erin Rhodes, opens at Off-Broadway’s Teatro Latea (107 Suffolk St.).
The Great Gatsby, by Kait Kerrigan, Jason Howland & Nathan Tysen, directed by directed by Marc Bruni, featuring Jeremy Jordan (Jay Gatsby), Eva Noblezada (Daisy Buchanan), Stanley W. Mathis (Meyer Wolfsheim), Samantha Pauly (Jordan Baker), Noah J. Ricketts (Nick Carraway), Paul Whitty (George Wilson), and John Zdrojeski (Tom Buchanan), with Lauryn Adams, Raymond Edward Baynard, Ayla Ciccone-Burton, Austin Colby, Colin Cunliffe, Natalie Charle Ellis, Curtis Holland, Brianna Kim, Dariana Mullen, Pascal Pastrana, Mariah Reives, Julio Rey, Dan Rosales, Maya Sistruck, Jake Trammel, Jake Urban, Tanairi Vazquez, and Katie Webber, begins previews at NJ’s Paper Mill Playhouse.
Broadway Bound: The Musicals That Never Came to Broadway concert, co-hosted by Rob Schneider & Charles Kirsch, featuring Major Attaway, Allison Belinkoff, John Bolton, Mary Callanan, John Cariani, Lori Tan Chinn, Kevin Dolan, Rachel Dratch, Eric Michael Gillett, Lena Marano, Richard Maltby Jr., Eric Millegan, Estelle Parson, Christine Pedi, Michele Ragusa, Sean Stephens, and Talia Suskauer, at 7 PM at NYC’s 54 Below.
Group Rep‘s The Laramie Project presentation, directed by Kathleen R. Delaney, featuring Landon Beatty, Paul Cady, Roslyn Cohn, Julie Davis, Marc Antonio Pritchett, Stephen Rockwell, Jackie Shearn, Margaret Rose Staedler, Cathy Diane Tomlin, Amelia Vargas, and Kay Vermeil, at 7 PM at LA’s LGBT Center.
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An industry reading of Lindsey Hope Pearlman & Bruce Vilanch’s A Sign of the Times will take place Fri. Oct. 20 at 2 PM at NYC’s Baryshnikov Arts Center, directed by Gabriel Barre, with choreography by JoAnn M. Hunter, and music direction by Joseph Church. 
rjr1333@yahoo.com.
Chilina Kennedy(Cindy), Crystal Lucas-Perry (Tanya), Ryan Silverman (Brian), Justin Matthew Sargent (Matt), and Alex Joseph Grayson (Cody), with Melessie Clark, Jeremy Gaston, Tyler Hanes, Maggie McDowell, Lindsay Moore, Greg Sim, Paige Catherine Smallwood , and Edward Staudenmayer.
Set during the progressive era of Women’s Liberation, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Vietnam War protests, Cindy, a young woman from Middle America, comes to New York City in 1965, where she finds her voice. Songs include “Downtown,” “You Don’t Own Me,” “Don’t Sleep in the Subway,” “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss),” and “The Boy From New York City,” among others.
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The world premiere of Matt Chait’s A Family Business will run Nov. 15 – Dec. 31 (opening Nov. 17) at Hollywood’s Hudson MainStage Theatre, directed by Brian Shnipper.
Eric Stanton Betts, Alli Brown, Michelle Jasso, Lindsay G. Merrithew, Bruce Nozick, and Julie Pearl.
Rose Klein, a budding, talented chef, and her boy friend Julio, are cooking dinner tonight for Rose’s mother Harmony, a spiritual psychologist, and her father Seth, an unrepentant child of the sixties. Joining them will be Julio’s parents: Max Gold, the feared tyrannical head of Gold Studios, and Julio’s mother Elena, Max’s brilliant, acerbic, trophy wife. Rose and Julio hope this will be a night to remember. It will be; although not in a way that any of them could have imagined.
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A cast change has been announced for Sandra Tsing Loh’s Madwomen of the West, to run Nov. 11 – Jan. 1, 2024 (opening Dec. 11) at the Actors Temple Theatre, directed by Thomas Caruso.
Brooke Adams (replacing JoBeth Williams), Caroline Aaron, Marilu Henner, and Melanie Mayron.
Welcome to Jules’ stunning Brentwood mansion, where hangry (she’s sugar-cleansing) Marilyn is throwing a surprise birthday brunch for Claudia, who hates birthdays. Champagne corks pop — and tempers flare — when their long-estranged celebrity friend Zoey crashes the party, fresh from her TED Talks. Expect hilarity, outrageous opinions, and unexpected wisdom about what it means to be a woman (no matter what pronouns you use) in the 21st century.
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Pasadena Playhouse‘s production of Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee’s Inherit the Wind will run Nov. 1-26, directed by Michael Michetti.
The production is now offering Courtroom Seating, available in the Onstage Gallery or in the Jury Box. 
While these seats are part of the courtroom, this is not an interactive play, so attendees will not be asked to participate in the action. Also note that these tickets will be available on TodayTix.
Alfred Molina (Henry Drummond), John Douglas Thompson (Matthew Harrison Brady, Chris Perfetti (E.K. Hornbeck), Abubakr Ali (Bertram Cates), David Aaron Baker (Reverend Jeremiah Brown, Jared Bybee (Dunlap/Reporter/Radio Man), Brian Calì (Meeker/Photographer/Townsperson), Marlene Forte (Mrs. Brady), Matt Gomez Hidaka (Howard Blair), Thomas Hobson (Tom Davenport/Reporter), Michael Kostroff (Mayor/Reporter), John W. Lawson (Bannister/Reporter), Philip J. Lewis (Sillers/Reporter), Gabriella Pizzigoni (Melinda Loomis), Rene Rivera (Judge/Reporter/Townsperson), and Pam Trotter (Mrs. Krebs).
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The world premiere of Mêlisa Annis’ The Inheritance of a Long-Term Fault will run Dec. 1-23 (opening Dec. 6) at Theatre Row, directed by Vanessa Morosco.
Craig WEsley Divino (Josh/Man/Oliver), Gina Fonseca (Nest), Christianne Greiert (Me), and Gabra Zackman (Gwen/Samantha/Others.
While presenting the keynote at a high-profile conference, Me, a successful geologist in her field, asks her peers: what is our creation story? “The Inheritance of a Long-Term Fault” takes an explosive look at the generational impact of societal structures created by colonialism, and how these original sins continue to shape our world today; physically, linguistically, spatially, and spiritually. Interrelated scenes over space and time reveal the friction between what Me wants and what she’s inherited. Only a tectonic shift will allow her to hear the echoes from a mythological past, and explore new possibilities of what comes next.
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Beautiful: The Carole King Musical will run Nov. 10-23 (opening Nov. 11) at CA’s La Mirada Theatre, directed by David Ruttura, with choreography by Joyce Chittick, and music direction by Ryan O’Connell.
Casting TBA.
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Kansas City Starlight has announced its 2024 season. Creative teams and casting TBA.
The Cher Show (May 28 – June 2)
Stomp (June 14-16)
The Little Mermaid (July 9-14)
Shrek (July 26-28)
Come From Away (Aug. 6-11)
West Side Story (Aug. 20-25)
Peter Pan (Sept. 17-22)
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The Road Theatre Company‘s world premiere of Bisexual Sadness continues through Nov. 5 at North Hollywood’s Road on Magnolia, directed by Carlyle King.
(Cast 1) Tiffany Wolff (Faye), Alaska Jackson (Genevieve), Brian Graves (Alex), Karrie King (Miranda), Gloria Ines (Naomi), and Andrea Flowers (Lillian)… and (Cast 2): Liz Fenning (Faye), Bex Taylor-Klaus (Genevieve), Philip Smithey (Alex), Amy Tolsky (Miranda), Naomi Rubin (Naomi), and Samira Beija (Lillian).
The play is about what it sounds like. Faye is getting married to a man, and though she really truly loves him, she wishes he was a woman. She’s not a closeted lesbian. She’s just sad that she’ll have to fight harder to be part of the queer communities she’s always found home in. Bisexual Sadness is about the specific loneliness of being a bisexual woman in love with a man, while staring down the barrel of a lifetime of feeling that way. It takes the meme of the “Sad Bisexual” and treats it with curiosity and respect to interrogate questions of belonging, identity, cultural migrations and kinship. It poses the question: “why do so many people seem to find bisexual women so irritating?” and dares you, the audience, to answer.
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Camelot will run July 24 – Aug. 11, 2024 (opening July 28) at Laguna Playhouse, directed by Jeffrey B. Moss.
Casting and additional information TBA.
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Monica Wood’s The Half-light will run Nov. 16 – Dec. 17 at Theatre Forty, directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky. Link TBA.
Ivy Khan, Stephanie Erb, Grinnell Morris and Abigail Stewart.
After an intriguing encounter with a psychic, a college secretary asks herself: Can certain people be trained to see the dead? Iris’s pursuit of an answer leads to a more earthbound challenge when her beloved colleague, Andrew, is suddenly felled by grief. Armed with her own intuition and the garrulous enthusiasm of her friend Helen, Iris attempts to coax Andrew back to the land of the living. In the meantime, Helen faces off with her daughter, Teresa, who believes her house is haunted. These four characters’ entwined journeys all tilt toward the same goal: to be fully seen in the light and the half-light by another living being.