Today’s Highlights:
Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song, created, written & directed by Gerard Alessandrini, featuring A J Holmes, Sasha Hutchings, Jenny Lee Stern, and Chris Collins-Pisano, with special guest Christine Pedi, opens at Off-Broadway’s Theatre 555.
The Goldberg Variations, by George Tabori, directed by Manfred Bormann, featuring Jeff Burchfield, Jee Duman, Derrick Peterson, Alyssa Simon, Matt Walker, and Dana Watkins, opens at Off-Broadway’s Theater for the New City.
Waiting for Godot, directed by James Macdonald, featuring Lucian Msamati and Ben Whishaw, opens at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket.
Roundabout Theatre‘s The Counter, by Meghan Kennedy, directed by David Cromer, featuring Anthony Edwards, Susannah Flood, and Amy Warren, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Laura Pels Theatre.
Good Bones, by James Ijames, directed by Saheem Ali, featuring Mamoudou Athie (Travis), Khris Davis (Earl,) Téa Guarino (Carmen), and Susan Kelechi Watson (Aisha), begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater.
In The Unlikely Event of an Actual Emergency, world premiere by John Mullican, directed by Rickie Peete, featuring Dolores Aguanno, Stacy Aung, Jason Leon-Baptista, John Mullican, Katheryn Peña, Glenn Ratcliffe, and Amoni Wes, begins previews at Hollywood’s Hudson Guild Theatre.
IN MY LIVING ROOM: Jessica Vosk Celebrates Broadway, Film, and the Ladies of the Laurel Canyon concert, at 7:30 PM at Malibu’s Pepperdine University.
Garrett Clayton: From Here to Villain concert, at 8:30 PM at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club.
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Second Stage Theater‘s Cult of Love, by Leslye Headland, will begin previews Nov. 20 and open Dec. 12 at the Helen Hayes Theater, directed by Trip Cullman, with music supervision by Jacinth Greywoode.
Molly Bernard, Roberta Colindrez, Barbie Ferreira, Rebecca Henderson, Christopher Lowell, Zachary Quinto, with Christopher Sears, Shailene Woodley, and more TBA.
The play centers on the four adult children of the Dahl family and their partners as they return home for a rocky holiday gathering, the play marks Headland’s Broadway debut.
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A private industry reading of Téa Wolk’s Insurance will take place Sept. 26 in NYC.
Ella Beatty, Jessica Rush, and Michael Zegen.
The play follows a high-powered insurance executive, her well-meaning husband, and their perceptive babysitter, who become entangled in a web of personal crises and are compelled to dismantle the illusion of their flawless lives.
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Before it has begun, Shit. Meet. Fan., written & directed by Robert O’Hara, has been extended. The play will now run Oct. 10 – Dec. 1 (opening Oct. 28) at Off-Broadway’s MCC theater.
Neil Patrick Harris, Jane Krakowski, Debra Messing, Constance Wu, Garret Dillahunt, Genevieve Hannelius, Tramell Tillman, and Billy Magnussen.
A dinner party goes off the rails when one attendee says that no relationship can survive if a person has access to their lover’s phone. Here’s the game… Phones Out. Face Up. Volume High. Every text, every email, and every call must be shared aloud. That’s what a group of long-time friends gather to play on the night of the eclipse. With the cocktails flowing among grownups who refuse to grow up, outrageous secrets and skeletons begin to emerge… SHIT. MEET. FAN. Are they ready for the ensuing chaos? Are you?
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Ragtime will run Sept. 20 – Oct. 20 at Stages St. Louis, directed by Deidre Goodwin, with choreography by Michelle Potterf, and music direction by E. Renee Gamez.
Tamar Greene (Coalhouse Walker Jr.), Shereen Pimentel (Sarah), Marissa McGowan (Mother), Brian Golub (Tateh), Dan Fenaughty (Father), Matthew Cox (Mother’s Younger Brother), Kyle Holmes (Little Boy), Zoe Klevorn (Little Girl), Whit Reichert (Grandfather), and Amari-Josiah Greene & Kayden Dion (Coalhouse Walker III), with Jonathan Cobrda, Caroline Desmarais, Sarah Ellis, John Flack, Jasmine Alexis Gobourne, Skylar Hagerty, Elinor Harrison, Sophia Hillman, Brandon Hudson, Steve Isom, Keith Johnson, Omega Jones, Matthew Marvin, Danny Mchugh, Scott Moreau, PJ Palmer, with Reichert, Elora von Rosch, TJ Staten, Caitlin Stebelman, and Kieran Thompson.
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Kevin Murphy & Dan Studney’s Reefer Madness The Musical continues through Oct. 27 at the Whitley Theatre (6555 Hollywood Blvd.), directed & choreographed by Spencer Liff.
Anthony Norman (Jimmy Harper), Darcy Rose Byrnes (Mary Lane), J. Elaine Marcos (Sally De Bain), Nicole Parker (Mae Coleman), Thomas Dekker (Ralph Wiley), and Bryan Daniel Porter (The Lecturer/Jack/Jesus), with Andre Aultman, Claire Crause, Jane Papageorge, Alex Tho, David T. Crane, and Natalie Holt MacDonald.
A theatrical experience like no other! With a theatre (and “Victory Gardens” bar & restaurant) built out exclusively for this production, guests can fully immerse themselves in the addictive world of REEFER MADNESS before, during, and after the show! Prior to showtime, all guests are encouraged to arrive up to 2 hours early to enjoy delicious food (munchies!) and decadent libations (cocktails!), all for purchase in the venue’s wild new outdoor party space, the “The Victory Garden” prior to (and after) the performance. Check out the delicious menu here. However, the theatrical event of the season has just begun!
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A New York Evening with the Outsiders will take place Mon. Sept. 30 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s The Greene Space.
Composers Justin Levine and Zach Chance will talk about their creative process, and will include at performance featuring members of the cast.
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5-Star Theatricals will present the Lythgoe Family Productions’ Peter Pan and Tinker Bell: A Pirates Christmas, by Kris Lythgoe, which will run Dec. 13-29 at Thousand Oaks’ Bank of America Performing Arts Center, directed by Bonnie Lythgoe.
John O’Hurley (Captain Hook) and more TBA.
A swashbuckling adventure performed in the high-flying style of a British holiday Panto. Take off on a wild quest with Tinker Bell, Wendy and Peter Pan as they try to put a stop to the plot of some dastardly pirates who plan to kidnap Peter as a present to Captain Hook. Filled with big laughs, magic, dancers and contemporary songs by everyone from Taylor Swift to The Bee Gees, this family show has a little bit of something for everyone!
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Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater will present the 5th Annual Black Film Festival on Sun. Oct. 6 at 3 PM, in support of The Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreational Center.
The event celebrates diversity and explores the rich tapestry of African-American stories through the medium of film.
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Ain’t Misbehavin’ will run Oct. 18 – Nov. 3 at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West, directed & choreographed by Paul David Bryant, with music direction by William Foster McDaniel.
TBA.
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The Brat of Stratford, written & directed by Mark Saltzman, will present industry readings Sept. 25 (7:30 PM) and Sept. 26 (3:30 PM) at Off-Broadway’s Theater 555.
required: moorpark.Mark@gmailor EKTMINC@aol.com
Robert Cuccioli
A daring, provocative play with songs that delves into the scandalous, perilous and traumatic events of Shakespeare’s life. More than a playwright, this is Will as songwriter, financially stressed theater producer and actor, resentful at being relegated to minor roles, like the Ghost in Hamlet. He re-lives here his formative childhood trauma, his adolescent sexual awakening with an older woman, his theatrical triumphs and disasters, including near execution following a raid of a particularly shocking production.
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Cyrano De Bergerac, adapted by Martin Crimp, continues through Sept. 29 at Pasadena Playhouse, directed by Mike Donahue.
Chukwudi Iwuji (Cyrano), Rosa Salazar (Roxane), Will Hochman (Christian), Kimberly Scott (Madame Ragueneau), Larry Powell (Lignière), Jens Austin Astrup (Alastair/Act 3 Soldier), Aaron Costa Ganis (Le Bret), E.M. Davis (Usher/Denise/Medic), Christine Lin (Woman Sent By Roxane/Marie-Louise), Barry Livingston (Theatre Owner/Priest), Michael Nathanson (De Guiche), Kila Packett (Fencing Referee/Sentry), Sawyer Patterson (Valvert), Jonathan Slavin (Montfleury/Armande), and John Garet Stoker (Annoying Person).