Today’s Highlights:
Fallen Angels, by Noel Coward, directed by directed by Christopher Luscombe, featuring Janie Dee (Julia Steroll), Alexandra Gilbreath (Jane Banbury), Christopher Hollis (Bill Banbury), Richard Teverson (Fred Steroll), Sarah Twomey (Saunders), and Graham Vick (Maurice Duclos), opens at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory.
One-Day Play Festival: Giving Tuesday at 8 PM at LA’s Theatre West.
The American Soldier, a solo play written, conceived, directed & performed by Douglas Taurel, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s A.R.T. New York Theaters.
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The Los Angeles Master Chorale will present English Cathedral Christmas on Sat. Dec. 13 at 7:30 PM at Santa Monica’s Broad Stage.
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Marc Shaiman & Nathan Lane: Never Mind the Happy will take place Sun. Jan. 25 at 7 PM at NYC’s 92NY.
A look behind the curtain of life on Broadway, in Hollywood and on Television, with a conversation about Shaiman’s new memoir, “Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories from a Sore Winner.”
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NewYorkRep continues its presentation of Douglas Taurel’s The American Soldier through Dec. 21 at A.RT., written & performed by Douglas Taurel.
In 90 minutes, Douglas Taurel performs 14 different characters – men, women, and children – affected by various wars. He exposes their scars with darkness and humor while transporting the audience to a dozen different wartime eras – from the sweltering jungles of Vietnam to the freezing fields of Valley Forge. Taurel masterfully portrays the stories of those most deeply touched by the scourge of war, including a father in the wake of his veteran son’s suicide, a soldier dealing with the loss of his limb, a wife and son coping with a deployed father’s absence, a grieving mother remembering her son at the Vietnam Memorial Wall, a perilously shell-shocked World War II veteran, a female combat veteran sharing her struggles with PTSD and experiences as a woman on the front lines, and many more. Created through exhaustive research, actual letters sent from soldiers to their loved ones, and verbatim language lifted from countless interviews with veterans, the play is an intensely personal look at the humanity behind the specter of war. The American Soldier is decidedly not a political play but a profoundly human story – a piece of theater created to honor our veterans and their families and to deepen our collective understanding of their experiences.
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The next Backstage Babble concert will take place Sat. Jan. 3 at 7 PM at NYC’s 54 Below, produced & directed by Charles Kirsch, with music direction by Michael Lavine.
Lea DeLaria, Natascia Diaz, Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Danielle Ferland, Annie Golden, Jason Graae, Adam Grupper, Judy Kaye, Maude Maggart, Annie McGreevey,Stephanie Pope, Will Roland, Jenna Lea Rosen, Dick Scanlan, Elena Shaddow, and more TBA.
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Red Bull Theater will present William Shakespeares Titus Andronicus Mar. 17 – Apr. 19 (opening Mar. 29) at the Signature Center, directed by Jesse Berger.
Patrick Page, and more TBA.
This shockingly timely thriller about the chaos of a corrupt and crumbling empire is brought to new life, taking the stage as one Shakespeare’s boldest and bloodiest tragedies. A young William Shakespeare flexes his theatrical muscles as he unleashes an unstoppable cycle of revenge, in this his bloodiest of plays. Titus is Rome’s greatest general and the head of a noble family. But when his armies vanquish the Goths, their defeated queen Tamora and her lover Aaron the Moor release a fury that brings Titus, his family, and all of Rome to their knees. The play’s exploration of humanity’s capacity for inhumanity.
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Jingle & Mingle: An Ella Fitzgerald Christmas will take place Tues. Dec. 16 at 6:30 PM at Virginia Stage, directed by TBA.
Kensie Butler, Scott Wichmann, and Lavoris Pace.
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The Big Fat Chreistmas Show, in support of Hope the Mission (serving the homeless), will take place Fri. Dec. 5 at 8 PM at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre, with music direction by Brad Gardner.
Michael-Leon Wooley and Jason Michael Snow.
Clint Browers, Carly Hughes, Wendy Rossoff, Rena Strober, and Sharon Wilikins.
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The Saint Louis Muny has announced its 2026 Summer Season: Creative teams & casting TBA.
Hairspray (June 15-21)
Shrek the Musical (June 25 – July 2)
South Pacific (July 6-12)
Newsies (July 16-22)
Ain’t Too Proud (July 27 – Aug. 2)
Meet Me in St. Louis (Aug. 6-13)
Something Rotten (Aug. 17-23)
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The next Songbook Sundays will present Let’s Call the Whole Thing Gershwin on Sun. Dec. 21 at 5 & 7:30 PM at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club, with music direction by Ted Rosenthal, and hosted by Deborah Grace Winer.
Linda Purl, Nicolas King, and Imani Rousselle.
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The Troubadour Theater Company will present Die Heart: The Director’s Cut adapted, directed & choreographed by Matt Walker, will run Dec. 4-21 at Burbank’s Colony Theatre.
Beth Kennedy, Rick Batalla, Mike Sulprizio, Clinton Roane, Chelle Denton, John Paul Batista, Trey McIntyre, Philip McNiven, Lara Lafferty, Benji Kaufman, Luis Martinez, and Sofia JoAnna.
This holiday season, the Troubies leave no stone unturned and no glass un-shot – as they blow the roof off the Colony Theatre and hold the audience hostage with the classic Christmas film Die Hard combined with the music of Heart – in a newly revised version of Die Heart: The Director’s Cut, with new songs, previously deleted scenes left on the rehearsal room floor and actual director’s commentary! Don’t spend the holidays “Alone,” run barefoot to the Colony Theatre and see the Troubies “Kick it Out,” but remember, don’t be late-comers or we’ll go “Crazy on You!” Hans Gruber and his “Bara-crewda” will be gunning for laughs in Burbank as they take on that tempestuous “Magic Man,” John McClane in this can’t-miss Troubie extravaganza!