Today’s Highlights:
Rare Earth Mettle, by Al Smith, directed by Hamish Pirie, featuring Carlo Alban, Marcello Cruz, Arthus Darvfill, Jaye Griffiths, Lesle Lemon, Rachael Ofori, Genevieve O’Reilly, and Ian Porter, opens at London’s Royal Court Theatre.
The Comedy of Errors, directed by Phillip Breen, featuring Toyin Aydeun-Alase, Jonathan Broadbent, Antony Bunsee, Alfred Clay, William Grint, Greg Haiste, Avita Jay, Zoe Lambert, Guy Lewis, Dyfrig Morris, Baker Mukasa, Patrick Osborne, Rowan Polonski, Nicholas Prasad, Riad Richie, Sarah Seggari, and Naomi Sheldon, opens at London’s Barbican Theatre.
to the yellow house, world premiere by Kimber Lee, directed by Neel Keller, featuring Alton Alburo, Frankie J. Alvarez, Marco Barricelli, DeLeon Dallas, Deidrie Henry, Brooke Ishibashi, and Paco Tolson, with Grayson Heyl, Noah Israel, Noah Keeling Jada Alston Owens, Natalia Quintero-Riestra, and Jordan C. Smith, begins previews at La Jolla Playhouse.
“West Side Story: The Making of the Steven Spielberg Film” book, by Laurent Bouzereau, released in hardcover here, featuring 250 photographs and illustrations.
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Reviews for Manhattan Theatre Club’s Morning’s at Seven at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Clements:
NY Times (Alexis Soloski): …It has a typically imposing cast — including Lindsay Crouse, Alma Cuervo, John Rubinstein, Tony Roberts… and Alley Mills… With its thin psychology, predictable structure and characters to laugh at, not with, the play serves a snoozy, somewhat bitter slice of small town life… Imagine Thornton Wilder without the radicalism, William Inge without the melancholy, Lillian Hellman without the flash… In its grimmer moments, the play hints at something wormy at the heart of this American pastoral. But instead of offering a wake up call, it repairs its broken family and just goes back to sleep.
Theatermania (Pete Hempstead): … Morning’s at Seven, consciously or not, is about people who hole up with each other for other reasons, including fear, laziness, gender roles, and emotional or financial security… The production that just opened at the Theatre at St. Clement’s longs to immerse us in that part of the American mythos without troubling us about anything that has occurred over the past nearly two years… Patty McCormack, Dan Lauria, Tony Roberts, Alley Mills, and more, all of whom help breathe life into this aging comedy. But Morning’s at Seven now seems so bereft of anything new to say, and so out of touch with today’s America, that even its fine performances can’t keep its nostalgic bubble from bursting…
DC Metro Arts (Deb Miller): …a stellar cast of seasoned veterans of the stage and screen who flawlessly deliver all the inherent humor and heart in this old-fashioned slice of Americana and uproarious send-up of the inter-relationships of an average American family… Lindsay Crouse and Alma Cuervo as the mature and straight-laced housewives Cora and Ida are the closest of the siblings, who share confidences with one another and often exclude the single and sometimes quarrelsome Arry, played with just the right amount of comic vehemence by Alley Mills… John Rubinstein captures his hyperbolic regret and embarrassment over the failure of his unsatisfying life … Tony Roberts is a howl…
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Video: Stars in the House, an examination of the trials and tribulations of the ill-fated musical Rebecca, with special guests Sierra Boggess, Karen Mason, and Ryan Silverman. (1:20:48)
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Erika Dickerson-Despenza & Candis C. Jones’ Cullud Wattah has been extended through Dec. 12 at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater.
Directed by Jones, the cast features Crystal Dickinson (Marion), Lizan Mitchell (Big Ma), Ta’Neesha Murphy (Plum), Andrea Patterson (Ainee), Alicia Pilgrim (Plum), Chavez Ravine, and Lauren F. Walker, and Lauren F. Walker (Reese), with Chavez Ravine and Jenean Farmer.
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The Regents Park Open Air Theatre has announced its 2022 Summer season:
Legally Blonde (May 13 – July 2), directed by Lucy Moss.
101 Dalmatians (July 12 – Aug. 28), world premiere by Douglas Hodge, Johnny McKnight & Zinnie Harris. directed by Timothy Sheader.
Antigone (Sept. 3-24), by Inua Ellams, directed by Max Webster.
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Jeremy Jordan will play his final performance as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors on Jan. 9, 2022 at Off-Broadway’s West Side Theatre.
He will be replaced by Conrad Ricamora on Jan. 11.
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A documentary following the making of last night’s reunion of Spring Awakening, in support of The Actors Fund, will be available to stream on HBO and HBO Max in 2022 (release date TBA).
The film will follow the original stars as they come together for the first time in 15 years. The cast includes Groff, Pritchard, Lea Michele, Skylar Austin, John Gallagher, Jr., Gerard Canonico, Lilli Cooper, Jennifer Damiano, Christine Eastbrook, Gideon Glick, Robert Hager, Brian Johnson, Krysta Rodriguez, Stephen Spinella, Phoebe Strole, Jonny B. Wright, and Remy Zaken.
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A concert presentation of The Boys From Syracuse will take place Wed. Dec. 29 at 9:45 PM ET 54 Below, hosted by Michael Portantiere, with music direction by Michael Lavine.
John & Matthew Drinkwater (real-life twins, as Antipholus of Ephuses & Antipholus of Syracuse), Kenny Rahtz (Dromio), Janet Fanale (Luce), and Sara DePasquale (Courtesan), with Leah Horowitz, Jay Aubrey Jones, Steve Ross, Christine Pedi, and more TBA.
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LA Theatre Works has announced its 2021-22 digital and in-person season of audio plays:
Paradise (available now) by Laura Maria Censabella. A Yemeni-American high school student in the Bronx undertakes an ambitious research project with the help of her reluctant science teacher.
Frankinland (available Dec. 14), by Lloyd Suh. This comic romp through the American Revolution puts the spotlight on the relationship between William Franklin and his wildly egomaniacal father Ben.
Pipeline (Feb. 4-6, 2022), by Dominique Morriseau.
Twelfth Night (Mar. 11-13)
The Sun Also Rises (Apr. 22-24)
Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia (May 2-22), by Josh Azouz. In a Vichy prison camp, Victor is guarded by his neighbor Youssef, who tries to help his friend with incurring the wrath of his Nazi officers, but a shared secret might tear them apart.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (June 24-26)
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Amas Musical Theatre will present Mark Saltzman’s Romeo & Bernadette: A Musical Tale of Verona and Brooklyn Feb. 1 – Apr. 10, 2022 (opening Feb. 14) at Theater 555, directed & choreographed by Justin Ross Cohen.
(original): Nikita Burtshteyn (Romeo), Anna Kostakis (Bernadette Penza), Carlos Lopez (Sal Penza), Michael Marrota (Don Del Canto), Judy McLane (Camille Penza), Michael Notardonato (Dino Del Canto/Brooklyn Guy), Ari Raskin (Donna Dubachek), Zach Schanne (Tito Titone), Viet Vo (Lips), and Troy Valjean Rucker.
Romeo — yes, THAT Romeo — finds himself in 1960 Brooklyn, chasing a girl he believes is his beloved Juliet. But no, it’s Bernadette, the beautiful foul-mouthed daughter of a crime family.
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The MisMatch Game will take place Dec. 4 & 5 at LA’s LGBT Center, created & hosted by Dennis Hensley.
TBA.
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An HBO documentary following the making of last night’s Spring Awakening reunion concert will follow the original stars as they came together for the first time in 15 years.
The documentary will debut on HBO and also available to stream on HBO Max in 2022 (release date TBA).
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Daniel Reichard: Let’s Christmas! will take place Mon. Dec. 20 at 7 PM ET at NYC’s Birdland Jazz Club, directed by Patrick McCollum, with music direction by Kevin David Thomas.
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“Tick, Tick…Boom!” executive producer Bill Sherman discusses the film here.
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A Turtle on a Fence Post, by Hank Morris, Austin Nuckols & Lily Dwoskin, directed by Gabriel Barrie, will close on Nov. 21 at Off-Broadway’s Theater 555.
Garth Kravits, David Aron Damane, Erik Gratton, Joanna Glushak, Kate Loprest, Josh Marin, Richard E. Waits, Janet Aldrich, Joel Newsome, and Robbie Serrano.
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J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company has announced its 2022 Winter season at Theatre Row. Creative teams, casting and additional information TBA.
A Class Act (Feb. 1-20), by Linda Kline, Lonny Price & Edward Kleban.
A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine (Feb. 24 – Mar. 6), by Frank Lazarus & Dick Vosburgh.
The Baker’s Wife (Mar. 10-20), by Stephen Schwartz & Joeseph Stein.
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Concert Video: On the day of Company‘s first Broadway performance since the shutdown, NPR released a new Tiny Desk Concert video featuring the cast. (15:56)