Today’s Highlights:
Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch, by Ossie Davis, directed by Kenny Leon, featuring Leslie Odom Jr. (Purlie), Vanessa Bell Calloway Idella Landy), Billy Eugene Jones (Gitlow Judson), Noah Pyzik (Deputy), Noah Robbins (Charlie Cotchipee), Jay O. Sanders (Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee), Heather Alicia Simms (Missy Judson), Bill Timoney (Sheriff), and Kara Young (Gussie Mae Jenkens), opens at Broadway’s Music Box Theatre.
Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, directed by Matthew Bourne, featuring Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga, Christine Allado, Clare Burt, Janie Dee, Damian Humbley, Bradley Jaden, Bonnie Langford, Gavin Lee, Jason Pennycooke, Joanna Riding, Jeremy Secomb, Jac Yarrow, Marley Fenton, and Beatrice Penny-Touré with Harry Apps, Bella Brown, Richard Dempsey, and Monique Young, opens at London’s Gielgud Theatre.
Sunset Boulevard, directed by Jamie Lloyd, featuring Nicole Scherzinger (Norma Desmond), Tom Francis (Joe Gillis), Grace Hodgett Young (Betty Schaefer), David Thaxton (Max Von Mayerling), Carl Au (Myron/Jones), Georgia Bradshaw (Lisa.Masseur), Hann Yun Chamberlain (Patsy/Beautician), Tyler Davis (Sheldrake), Kamilla Fernandes (Dorothy/Astrologer), Ahmed Hamad (Artie), Laura Harrison (Catherine/Doctor), Charlotte Jaconelli (Joanna/Masseur), Olivia-Faith Kamau (Nancy/Beautician), Luke Latchman (John/Guard), Emma Lloyd (Mary/Heather/ Analyst), Mireia Mambo (Jean Beautician/Dance Captain), Gregor Milne (Sammy), Kody Mortimer (Finance Man/Frank), Jon Tsouras (Finance Man/Cecil B. De Mille), Charlie Waddell (Morino/Hog-Eye), and Lara Denning (Standby Norma), with Jordan Cork, Shayna McPherson, Catherine Cornwall, Michael Lin, Jon Reynolds, Kirsty Anne Shaw, Harrison Wilde and Lillie-Pearl Wildman, opens at London’s Savoy Theatre.
The Group Rep‘s Motel 66, offering 8 new one-act plays in different cities along “Get Your Kicks on Route 66,” opens at North Hollywood’s Lonny Chapman Theatre.
Almost Made, written & performed by Louie Liberti, directed by Richard Israel, opens at Sherman Oaks’ Whitefire Theatre.
The Latino Theater Company‘s The Travelers, by Luis Alfaro, directed by Sean San José, featuring Sean San José (Brother Santo), Daniel Duque-Estrada (Brother Daniel), Kinan Valdez (Brother Nancho), Guillermo Yiyo Ornelas (Brother Yiyo), Ogie Zulueta (Brother Ogie, and Juan Amador (Brother Juan), begins previews at the LA Theatre Center.
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TDF‘s Broadway Breakfast benefit will take place Wed. Oct. 25 at 8 AM at NCY’s City Winery (25 11th Ave.), hosted by Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley.
Lilli Cooper, Santino Fontana, and Andrea Martin.
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SUGAR HILL: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker, a re-imagining of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, will run Nov. 14-26 at New York City Center., directed by Joshua Bergasse, with choreography by Jade Hale-Christofi, along with Caleb Teicher, Jon Boogz, and Graciela Daniele.
Casting and additional information TBA.
Set to the music of Ellington and Strayhorn, with a libretto and concept by Jessica Swan, this jazzy retelling of the famous ballet celebrates the music of Harlem’s Sugar Hill. This dreamworld dance-story of Sugar Hill in the 1930s, as seen through the starry-eyed nonconformist daughter of a high-society Black family in Manhattan, combines multiple genres.
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Audible Theatre has announced programming for its 2024 Anniversary season:
Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares (Feb 2-4) at Off-Broadway’s Minetta Lane Theatre.
Dead Outlaw (Feb. 28 – Apr. 7), world premiere by Itamar Moses, Erik Della Penna & David Yazbek), directed by David Cromer. Casting TBA. Based on the true story of Elmer McCurdy, an ambitious, turn-of-the-20th-century outlaw whose death at the hands of a Western posse ended a life of failed crime and alcoholism. His mummified body was used as a side-show attraction that traveled the US for decades.
Wild With Happy (dates TBA), adapted, directed by & starring Colman Domingo. The piece explores the bizarre comedy that lies within death and healing.
Audible Originals (released Sept. 21): Lucy (by Erics Schmidt), A Father and the Sun (by Chris Gethard), Sorry For Your Loss (by Michael Cruz Kayne), and Vanessa in Bed (by Diana Grisanti).
…and more TBA.
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Kevin Del Aguila & Brad Alexander’s Dog Man: The Musical will run Nov. 21 – Jan. 7, 2024 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, directed & choreographed by Jen Wineman. 
Recommended for ages 6-10.
TBA.
An hilarious and heartwarming production following the chronicles of Dog Man, who with the head of a dog and the body of a policeman, loves to fight crime and chew on the furniture. But while trying his best to be a good boy, can he save the city from Flippy the cyborg fish and his army of Beasty Buildings? Can he catch Petey, the world’s most evil cat, who has cloned himself to exact revenge on the doggy do-gooder?
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The Night of the Iguana will run Dec. 6 – Feb. 25, 2024 (opening Dec. 17) at the Signature Center, directed by Emily Mann.
Tim Daly (Rev. Shannon), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Maxine Faulk), Lea DeLaria (Judith Fellowes), Austin Pendleton (Nonno), and Jean Lichty (Hannah Jelkes), Carmen Berkeley (Charlotte), Eliud Kauffman (Hank), Keith Randolph Smith (Jake), Bradley James Tejeda (Pedro), and Dan Teixeira (Pancho).
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Darren J. Butler & Judy Rodman’s Runaway Home will have an industry reading today & tomorrow (both at 2 PM) at Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row, directed by Emma Denson, with music direction by Sean P. Pallatroni, and choreography by Kayla Friend. 
contact@visceral-
Olivia Hardy, Michael Park, Melissa Gilbert, Abigail Breslin, Max Bartos, Cadence Baker, Ellis Gage, King Orba, Mat Hayes, and Ali Gallo (Unhuman, Cassandra Kubinski, Dani Apple, Albert Guerzon and Freedom Bremner. Michael Boxleitner will narrate.
A pop/rock musical about a young woman fighting against a dark world of forced sex and drug trafficking to rediscover her true purpose in life and create a new path for herself, with the help of the unlikely community that forms around her. Set against the backdrop of urban America, this musical tackles teen homelessness and trafficking, betrayal and hopelessness, and the power of community within which healing and safety can become real. Centered around a powerful female lead character (Aleah), Runaway Home is at once a call to care and find answers for the plight of our nation’s most vulnerable, and also a message of hope and sanctuary to anyone who feels trapped, betrayed, outcast or alone.
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Fritz Coleman: Unassisted Residency will take place Sun. Oct. 15 (3 PM), Sun. Nov. 26 (3 PM), and Sunday, Jan. 14 (3 PM), and Feb. 25 (3 PM) at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre.
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Ode to the Wasp Woman, written & directed by Rider McDowell, will run Oct. 30 – Jan. 31, 2024 (opening Nov. 9) at The Actors Temple Theatre.
Sean Young (Susan Cabot), and more TBA.
The play follows the last 48 hours of four different 1950’s B movie stars who were either slain or discovered dead under disputed circumstances.
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Walk on Through: Confessions of a Museum Novice, starring Gavin Creel, will run Nov. 13 – Dec. 10 at NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, directed by Linda Goodrich, with music direction by Madeline Benson.
Sasha Allen, Madeline Benson, Chris Peters, Corey Rawls, Scott Wasserman, and Ryan Vasquez.
In his theatrical songwriting debut, Gavin takes us on an intimate, relatable journey of discovery through 17 original pop-infused songs. Inspired by the art that captured his imagination after wandering countless hours through the world-renowned collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Creel invites audiences to engage with art, song, and the creative process in a fresh and new way whether you’re a museum lover or fellow museum novice.
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The Confessions, written & directed by Alexander Zeldin, will run Oct. 19 – Nov. 4 at the Lyttelton Theatre.
Alexander Zeldin, Eryn Jean Norvill, and Pamela Rabe.
Alice is learning to be herself against the times. But how do the times shape who we are? Playing out over a tumultuous eight decades, Alice’s complex relationships become a common thread in her personal journey, in this intimate portrait of a life.
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The Group Rep will present Motel 66, which offers 8 new one-act plays in different cities along Get Your Kicks on Route 66, to run Sept. 21 – Oct. 22 at North Hollywoods’ Lonny Chapman Theatre (scroll down for the complete list of plays).