Today’s Highlights:
Swept Away, by John Logan & The Avett Brothers, directed by Michael Mayer, featuring John Gallagher Jr. (Mate), Stark Sands (Big Brother), Adrian Blake Enscoe (Little Brother), and Wayne Duvall (Captin), with Hunter Brown, Matt DeAngelis, Cameron Johnson, Brandon Kalm, Michael J. Mainwaring, Orville Mendoza, Tyrone L. Robinson, John Sygar,Josh Breckenridge, Rico LeBron, John Michael Finley, Chase Peacock, Robert Pendilla, and David Rowen, opens at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre.
Happy Texas, invitation-only industry presentation, by Rusty Ferracane, Craig Bohmler, & Steven Mark Kohn, directed by Darko Tresnjak, featuring Derek Klena, Isabelle McCalla, Lauren Worsham, Olivia Andrade-Marin, Gabriella Enriquez, Romy Fay, Jerry Gallagher, Ta’Nika Gibson, Aria Kane, Jeremy Morse, Ian Paget, Caesar Samayoa, James Seol, Megan Sikora, Eric Ulloa, and J.D. Webster, in NYC (time & location not posted). 
The piece follows two convicts who escape from a West Texas prison and find themselves in the small town of Happy, where they are mistaken for beauty pageant coordinators hired to transform locals into pageant contestants for the first time in years.
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A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Stephen Hamilton, continues through Dec. 1 at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre.
Daniela Mastropietro (Blanche DuBois), Katie Roders (Stella Kowalski), Katie Rodgers Stella Kowalski), Sawyer A. Spielberg (Harold “Mitch” Mitchell), Nicole Marie Hunt (Eunice Hubbell), Joe Pallister (Steve Hubbell), Carlos Barcia (Pablo Bonzalez), and Matthew Conlon (Doctor0O, with She Buckner and Adelaide Mestre.
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A Christmas Symphony: Sarah Brightman will take place Sun. Dec. 15 at 8 PM at LA’s Dolby Theater.
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York Theatre Company has announced the world premiere of Jimmy Roberts, Catherine Fillous & John Daggett’s Welcome to the Big Dipper will run Nov. 21 – Dec. 29 (opening Nov. 26) at Theatre at St. Jeans, directed by DeMone Seraphin, with choreography by Ashley Marinelli, and music direction by Beth Falcone. Post-performance discussions are also avaialble
Maybe Burke (Carly), Jennifer Byrne (Bonnie Haskins), robert Cuccioli (Amos King), Darius Harper (Mr. Sapper/Dez), Jillian Louis (Sarah Smucker/Bonnie), Christian Magby (Dez), Ella Olesen (Sarah/Rebecca), Mia Pinero (Beccing King), Jayae Riley, Jr. (Joan/Carly), Demone Seraphin (Mr. Sapper), Erik Schark (Jame Amos/Eli), Pablo Torres (Eli Stolzfus), Debra Walton (Joan Eilkes), and Michael Yeshion (Jacky Barnes).
The Big Dipper, an historic inn nestled in Bigelow, New York, near Niagara Falls, has been in Joan Wilkes’s family for decades and is on the brink of closure when a monster blizzard forces two wildly disparate groups of travelers to shelter in place. For three days and nights, within the walls of this sprawling house, secrets are revealed, young love ignites, and lives are changed forever.
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Matt Letscher’s Demolition will through Dec. 8 at Venice, CA’s Pacific Resident Theater, directed by Max Mayer.
Keith Stevenson (Doug), Brian Letscher (Chuck), Samanthat Sloyan (June), Ryan Roust (Paul), Tony Pasqualini (Mr. France), Melissa Bales (Marcy), and Douglas Weston (Mr. France).
Doug, a blue collar worker at a family owned construction company is charged with training Paul, the boss’s gentle, secretive, college bound son during the course of a summer demolition project. Doug feels needed to help the boy get ready for life away from home. Their exchanges begin hilariously with Doug’s bawdy advice comically at odds with Paul’s shy nature. As things proceed, we come to realize that Paul is struggling with something far beyond Doug’s purview and experience.
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NAATCO has announced the world premiere of a modern verse translation of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, by Andrea Thome, to run Jan. 17 – Feb. 15 (opening Jan. 23) at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater, directed by Stephen Brown-Fried.
Amy Hill (Cymbeline), Purva Bedi, Annie Fang, Anna Ishida, Narea Kang, Jennifer Lim, KK Moggie, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Julyana Soelistyo, Sarah Suzuki, and Jeena Yi.
In a world shattered by tyranny and poisoned by misogyny, Cymbeline tells the story of a young woman’s flight from despair to heroism as she rediscovers her lost siblings and brings order to a kingdom ruled by chaos.
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Cheeyang Ng & Eric Sorrels’ MÃYÃ – The Musical in concert will take place Thurs. Nov. 21 at 7 PM at NYC’s Symphony Space, directed by J. Mehr Kau, with music direction by Greg Paladino.
Sabrina Shah, Meetu Chilana, Ruchir Khazanchi, Michael Maliakel, Yamuna Meleth, and Sorab Wadia, Deven Kolluri, Jonathan Raviv, Sushma Saha, and Jasmine Sharma, with Emily Ballou, Martin Richard Borromeo, Kimberly Chatterjee, Andrew Cheng, Sarah Chiu, Andrew Cristi, Andy Danh, Arjun Dhawan, Patricia Jane, Brian Jose, Mel S. Maghuyop, Cameron Miya, Vaibu Mohan, Rishi Mutalik, Anu Mysore, Mio Nakanishi, Maile Oravitz, Yuki Ozeki, Nasir Ali Panjwani, Mukta Phatak, Jazz Sunpanich, Vikas Venuthurupalli, and Viet Vo.
Maya Mehta finds herself at a crossroads during the Salt March, a nonviolent 1930 protest.
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Ever thought about writing a musical? Maybe you’ve contemplated taking the fabled Musical Theatre Workshop at New Musicals Inc. Well, NMI has just announced two alternatives to this curriculum ‑‑ both of them significantly cheaper! They just released a series of textbooks, including “The Craft of Writing Musical Theatre,” which you can peruse here.
Or there’s a new online “Crash Course in Writing Musicals” which NMI developed over the past two years. You can take it at your own pace, on your own schedule. Most folks finish it within a month or two; it’s actually designed for you to finish in one weekend if you really need to. Click here for a preview of some sample videos, if you want to take a look before buying.
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Raymond O. Caldwell will succeed Stephen Sachs as Artistic Director of LA’s Fountain Theatre.
Sachs will stay on through Mar. 31 to assist Caldwell in the transition.
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Matthew Moore’s Bereavement Days will be released Jan. 8 at Open Door Playhouse, directed by Kim Hlavac.
Goreti da Silva (Tara) and Kim Hlavac (Beth)
The inevitable part of life, losing someone we love. How much time off from work is fair and just? What happens when the law dictates your allowable grieving time// What are your rights? Law vs human emotion. Which would you decide? Listen in to hear what transpires between an employee and her boss. Will sympathy prevail?
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Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap has just welcomed a new cast at the St. Martin’s Theatre, directed by Philip Franks.
Lara Lemon (Mollie Ralston), Harry Bradley (Giles Ralston), Richard Leeming (Christopher Wren), Rekha John-Cheriyan (Mrs. Boyle), Owen Oakeshott (Major Metcalf), Grace Darling (Miss Casewell), Alasdair Buchan (Mr. Paravicini), and Daniel Rainford (Detective Sgt. Trotter).
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Off-Broadway’s York Theatre Company has announced a series of post-performance discussions for the world premiere of Jimmy Roberts, Catherine Filloux & John Daggett’s Welcome to the Big Dipper, to run Nov. 21 – Dec. 29 (opening Nov. 26) at Theatre at St. Jeans, directed by & choreographed by DeMone Seraphin, with music direction by Beth Falcone.
Jennifer Byrne (Bonnie Haskings), Robert Cucciolo (Amos King), Christian Magby (Dez), Mia Pinero (Rebeca King), Jayae Riley, Jr. (Carly), Demone Seraphin (Mr. Sapper), Pablo Torres (Eli Stolzfus), Debra Walton (Joan Wilkes), and Michael Yeshion (Jacky Barnes), with Darius Harper, Jillian Louis, and Ella Olesen.
The sotry of the historic “Big Dipper” inn, located near Nicagara Falls, which is on the verge of closing down when a massive blizzard forces a diverse group of travelers to see refuge within its walls, creating unexpected connections and drama as they ar stranded together in the storm.