Today’s Highlights:
Medea: A Musical Comedy, written & directed by John Fisher, featuring Jenna Arkontaky, Hunter Hope Barnett, Ryan Borgo-Christian, Anthony Chavers, John Fisher, Emily Sweeney Goldstein, Mike Kinzer, Darius Mullens, Laura Pachnos, and Bobby Weil, with Noah Hartwell, Daniel Kushner, and Emerese Noel, opens at Off-Broadway’s Actors Temple Theatre.
Frankinland, by Lloyd Suh, directed by Chika Ike, featuring Noah Keyishian, Mason Reeves, and Thomas Jay Ryan, opens at Off-Broadway’s Ensemble Studio Theatre.
falcon girls, world premiere by Hilary Bettis, directed by May Adrales, featuring Annie Abramczyk, Teddy Cañez, Juan Sebastián Cruz, Angela Lanza, Alexa Lopez, Sophia Marcelle, Alyssa Marek, Gabrielle Policano, and Anna Roman, opens at Yale Rep.
Four Top, world premiere by Four Top, directed by Kathleen R. Delaney, featuring Jackie Shearn (Liz), Cassidy LeClair (Server), Jack Menzies (Brian), Rosie Byrne (Megan), and Luke Rampersad (Tony), opens at North Hollywood’s Group Rep.
OPEN MIC(HAEL) WITH MICHAEL ORLAND concert, at 7 PM at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre.
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Reviews for Manhattan Theatre Club’s Manhattan Vladimir at Off-Broadway’s City Center Stage 1:
Theatermania (Zachary Stewart): …Ambitious but ultimately unsatisfying, it’s a tribute to the individuals who have worked tirelessly to bring about civil society in Russia as much as it is a eulogy for their efforts… director Daniel Sullivan injects plenty of tension and suspense into his staging, making Vladimir feel more like a spy thriller than an inevitable tragedy… only a fraction of the expansive stage space is ever used … It’s all competently done, but underwhelming — and this may be a problem baked into the dramatic form….
New York Theatre Guide (Joe Dziemianowicz): …Erika Sheffer’s slow-burning but ultimately affecting drama about the early days of the Putin regime … Sheffer’s play feels fairly familiar. Director Daniel Sullivan has assembled a fine cast. He also stages a very awkward fight scene. Faradany’s bright star turn and an urgency that speaks to today elevate Manhattan Theatre Club’s presentation.
New York Stage (Michael Sommers): …an earnest fictional drama about a courageous Russian journalist who strives to report facts over fake news in 2004… a sardonic prologue that regrettably proves to be unlike the drama to come… Two mostly dull hours later, the play ends with the characters acknowledging the Russian government and its state-run media are corrupt, only worse than they expected… Capable actors can go only so far on such flat material….
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Ken Urban’s A Guide for the Homesick will run Dec. 6 – Feb. 2, 2025 (opening Dec. 23) at the DR2 Theatre, directed by Shira Milikowsky.
McKinley Belcher III and Uly Schlesinger.
Set in a hotel room in Amsterdam, the play tells the story of two Americans, Teddy and Jeremy, who are drawn together by their shared isolation and haunting secrets. Teddy is seeking companionship for the night, while Jeremy is searching for a moment of distraction. As they open up about their troubled pasts, the narrative shifts between the present and the past, with the two actors portraying four roles. Themes of guilt, moral ambiguity, and the possibility of forgiveness are at the core of this play, which builds to an unforgettable emotional crescendo.
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A reading of Ntozake Shange’s Spell #7 will take place Mon. Oct. 21 at 7 PM at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater, directed by Ann C. James.
Rodrick Covington, Jovan E’Sean, Sydney Harcourt, Dava Huesca, Roger Q. Mason, Lizan Mitchell, Roslyn Ruff, and Hera Ford.
A group of Black musicians and performers gather after hours at a bar to share their experiences and struggles as Black artists. The play is told through a series of monologues and vignettes, and is set apart from the world’s oppressions as a space for healing and moving forward.
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Judy Carmichael – Swinger will take place Sat. Dec. 14 at 8 PM at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre.
An evening of swing music from the 1930 & ’40s.
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Gingold Theatrical Group‘s The Devil’s Disciple continues through Nov. 23 at Theatre Row, directed by David Staller.
Nadia Brown, Susan Chella, Tina Chilip, Teresa Avia Lim, and Folami Williams.
It’s 1777 in New Hampshire and the future of our country is at stake! What can one determined woman and two confused men to to ensure a Democratic future? In this new adaptation, female ferocity rules as this legendary and almost true historical adventure.
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Mark Wilding’s The Goddam Couple Down the Hall (Oh… and Merry Christmas) will run Nov. 8 – Dec. 15 at Theatre West, directed by Charlie Mount.
Cecil Jennings, Presciliana Esparolini, Sam Gregory, Dave Kumar, John Combs. Steve Nevil, Jill Remez, and Liv Denevi.
It’s Christmas Day in Pasadena, and the Woodruff clan has gathered to celebrate. What promises to be a beautiful day full of good cheer gets turned on its head by the foul-mouthed couple down the hall, who subject the Woodruffs to one screaming match after another. The question soon arises: Has the couple’s mutual hatred escalated to murder?
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Jessica Vosk will begin her run as Jersey on Dec. 12 in Alicia Keys & Kristoffer Diaz’s Hell’s Kitchen at the Shubert Theatre. Vosk will replace Shohana Bean (whose final performance will be Dec. 11).
Standby Donna Vivino will perform the role in the interim.
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Scripts & Sips, a play reading service, will present Alex Goldberg’s Fetch on Sun. Nov. 17 at 7 PM at Burbank’s Colony Theatre.
TBA.
A laugh-out-loud comedy about first year college student Ariel who returns to her barely functioning family for Thanksgiving, where they all learn that her new boyfriend may be the reincarnation of her Golden Globe-winning screenwriter father’s beloved dog, or he may be hustling the family.
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Complete casting has been announced for the upcoming tour of Annie, which will launch Nov. 12 at The Chicago Theatre, directed by Jenn Thompson, with choreography by Patricia Wilcox, and music supervision by Matthew Smedal. Click here for the complete tour schedule.
Hazel Vogel (Annie), Stefanie Londino (Miss Hannigan), Christopher Swan (Oliver Warbucks), Julia Nicole Hunter (Grace), and Mark Woodard (FDR), Rhett Guter (Rooster), Isabella De Souza Moore (Lily St. Regis), and Kevin, a seven-year-old labradoodle from Georgia, as Sandy), with Aria Valentina Aldea, Eva Lizette Carreon, Anna Dillon, Kylie Noelle Patterson, Olive Ross-Kline, and Nora West, Stephen Cerf, Anthony DaSilva, Savannah Fisher, Alloria Frayser, Brooke Olivia Gatto, Caroline Glazier, Ryan Mulvaney, Joel Newsome, Melinda Parrett, Lawrence E. Street, Drew Tanabe, and Stephanie Wahl. 
Whoopi Goldberg will play Miss Hannigan in the NYC engagement (Dec. 4 – Jan. 5, 2025).
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Steps on Broadway will host a free town hall event on Sun. Oct. 20 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s Manhattan Dance Studio, moderated by Wendy Perron, The event will also be livestreamed.
Joshua Bergasse, Richard J. Hinds, Angel Kaba, Sarah Meahl, Courtney Ortiz, Staci Trager, and Gabby Ziccarelli.
The event is centered on plagiarism in the dance world, in response to recent controversy around choreography stolen and used uncredited in classes and online videos.
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Manhattan Repertory Theatre will present Ken Urban’s’ Orson’s Shadow Dec. 6 – 30 at the DR2 Theatre, directed by Shira Milowsky.
McKinley Belcher III (Teddy/Nichloas) and Uly Schlesinger (Jeremy/Ed).
Two strangers meet in a shabby Amsterdam hotel room, each haunted by guilt over betraying those they cared for most. Set against the backdrop of international aid and personal turmoil, Ken Urban’s gripping drama unfolds as Teddy and Jeremy confront their darkest fears, challenging their ideas of loyalty, love, and redemption.