Today’s Highlights:
A Very Darren Crissmas: Live at Cafe Carlyle opens.
Theatre for a New Audience’s Des Moines, by Denis Johnson, directed by Arin Arbus, featuring Johanna Day, Michael Shannon, Heather Alicia Simms, and Arlis Howard, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Polonsky Shakespeare Center.
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Ben Platt and Noah Galvin have announced their engagement.
No word yet on a wedding date.
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A UK tour of The King and I will launch Dec. 14 at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre, directed by Paul Kerryson, with choreography by David Needham and music direction by Julia Kelly. 
Click here for the complete tour schedule.
Ramon Tikaram (The King), Josefina Gabrielle (Anna), Claire-Marie Hall (Tup-Tim), Adrian Li Donni (Lun-tha), Maya Sapone (Lady Thiang), Nicholas Goh (Kralahome), and Gary Wood (Prince Choulalonghorn), with The rest of Craig Turbyfield, Rowan Lewis Mitchell, Aiko Kato, Makato Leahy, Charlotte Humphrey, Naomi Bailie, Farrah Hussain, Kaho Uchida, Misa Koide, Adam Denman, Matthew Cheney, Lori Hayley Fox and Yuki Ikezawa.
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The Vineyard Theatre & Second Stage Theater will present the world premiere of Michael R. Jackson’s new musical, White Girl in Danger, to run Mar. 15 – May 21, 2023 (opening Apr. 10) at the Tony Kiser Theatre, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, with choreography by Raja Feather Kelly.
Casting TBA.
A fever dream mashup of classic daytime and primetime soap operas, Lifetime movies, and red-hot melodrama. The citizens of the soap opera town Allwhite face high-stakes drama and intrigue all the days of their lives. But Keesha Gibbs and the other Blackgrounds have been relegated to backburner stories of slavery and police violence for all of theirs. Keesha is determined to step out of the Blackground and into the center of Allwhite’s juiciest stories. Can Keesha handle the Allwhite attention-especially from the Allwhite Killer on the loose? What role do the other Blackgrounds play in Keesha’s Allwhite schemes? And just whose story is this anyway?
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Jersey Boys has been extended through Oct. 1, 2023 at London’s Trafalgar Theatre, directed by Des McAnuff.
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Andrew Lloyd Webber and producer Michael Harrison have joined forces for a new musical theatre partnership. Entitled Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals, the company will find and develop musicals and create new productions from Lloyd Webber’s existing catalogue.
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Andrew Lloyd Webber and Michael Harrison have created a new musical theatre partnership, Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals, to find and develop new musicals, and create new productions from Lloyd Webb’s musical catalogue. The link to the new website will be released soon.
All existing projects and business at Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group and Michael Harrison Entertainment will continue to exist and operate outside of the new company.
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Utah’s Pioneer Theatre Company will present A Christmas Story, The Musical Dec. 9-24, directed & choreographed by Karen Azenberg, with music direction by Helen Gregory.
EJ Zimmerman (Miss Shields), Austen Flamm (Scut Farkus), Danny Bernardy (The Old Man), Stacie Bono (Mother), Don Noble (Jean Shepherd), and Paris Alexander Nesbitt (Santa Clause), Ethan Marchant (Schwartz), Asher Nehring (Randy), Daniel Sorokine (Flick), Kiyan R. Wyness (Grover Dill), and Mack Boyer & Soren Ray (alternating as Ralphie Parker), with Kyle Caress, Lenny Daniel, Andy Frank, Howard Kaye, Tito Livas, Stephanie Maloney, Kate Cassidy Ryan, Annie Mautz, Tyler Symone, Genevieve Fluckiger-Roberts, Langley Hayman, Tessa Jensen, Jessie Kranz, Ella Murphy, Elsa Parry, Tyson Russell, Jane Wilkins.
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Video: Sneak peek at “Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas,” which airs Thurs. Dec. 1 at 8 PM on NBC.
Jimmy Fallon, Willie Nelson, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jimmie Allen, Zach Williams, Miley Cyrus, Ana Gasteyer, Tom Everett Scott, Angel Parker, and Bryan Batt, with Mary Lane Haskell, Brendan Bradley, John Newberg, Rachel Parton George, Cassie Parton Griffith, Rhoda Griffis, Kathryn Burns, Liam Rauhoff and Steve Summers.
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“FINALE: Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim,” by D.T. Max is now available on all platforms. Click here for the Amazon link.
Published to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Sondheim’s death, Max’s interviews offer an intimate portrait into the mind of the man who changed modern American musical theater and popular culture forever.
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Three things you should know about Broadway’s new original comedy Shucked, by Robert Horn, Shane McAnally & Brandy Clark, which will begin previews Mar. 8 2023 at the Nederlander Theatre, directed by Jack O’Brien, with choreography by Sarah O’Gleby, and music supervision by Jason Howland.
All corn used in the show if 100% homegrown… which made their apartments really cramped.
The jokes have been rigorously tested…. and it turns out jokes can get Covid.
Tickets are now sale now …. unless Taylor Swift decides to announce another tour. Then we’ll just wait our turn.
John Behlmann (Gordy), Kevin Cahoon (Peanut), Andrew Durand (Beau), Caroline Innerbichler (Maizy), Ashley D. Kelly (Storyteller), and Alex Newell (Lulu).
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Production has wrapped on David Lindsay-Abaire’s film adaptation “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” directed by Jonathan Kent. The release date is TBA.
Jessica Lange, Ed Harris, Ben Foster, and Colin Morgan.
The tale of an ordinary summer’s day with extraordinary consequences.
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Chess in concert, in support of the Entertainment Community Fund, will take place Mon. Dec.12 at 7:30 PM at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre, directed by Michael Mayer, with music direction by Roberto Sinha, and movement by Lorin Latarro.
Darren Criss (Freddie Trumper), Lena Hall (Florence Vassey), Ramin Karimloo (Anatoly Sergievsky), Solea Pfeiffer (Svetlana Sergievsky), Bradley Dean (Ivan Molokoy), Sean Allan Krill (Walter de Courcey), and Bryce Pinkham (The Arbiter), with Kate Bailey, Joe Beauregard, Neal Benari, Brendon Chan, Nkrumah Gatling, Masumi Iwai, Nina Lafarga, Ross Lekites, Austin Lesch, Alicia Lundgren, Sean MacLaughlin, Robin Masella, Kaitlyn Mesh, Katerina Papacostas, Julius Rubio, Emily Stillings, Stephen Tewksbury, and Christopher Vo.
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The Most Wonderful Time of the Year will run Dec. 16-31 at VA’s Olney Theatre Center, directed by Kevin McAllister, with music direction by Christopher Youstra, and choreography by Ashley King.
Jay Frisby, Kaiyla Gross, Patricia Hurley, and Nick Lehan.
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York Theatre Company will present Susan H. Schulman, Michael Lichtefeld, Lawrence Yurman & Hoagy Bix Carmichael’s Stardust Road, currently in previews, will open Dec. 1 and continue through Dec. 31 at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Jeans, directed by Schulman.
Marcus Blair, Sara Esty, Dion Simmons Grier, Danielle Herbert, Kayla Jenerson, Cory Lingner, and Mike Schwitter, with Rachel Fairbanks and Drew Tanabe.
A new musical journey that tells the story of six friends and the one man who brought them together. The musical is told completely through the sophisticated music of Hoagy Carmichael. The seven friends weave a story of camaraderie and shifting relationships through four decades in America: the early years of ragtime, jazz and blues; the romance of New York in the 1930’s; the tumultuous and uncertain years of the World War II era; and the post-war Golden Age of Hollywood — all while walking down Hoagy Carmichaels’ Stardust Road.
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Joe & Julia’s Advent Carolndar Concert will stream on Tues. Dec. 13 at Midnight on Vimeo on Demand, following their two live performances at NYC’s Chelsea Music Hall, directed by directed by Nathan Chang.
Julia Mattison and Joel Waggoner
Click here for tickets for the 2 live performances at Chelsea Music Hall (6:30 & 9 PM)
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Jonathan Hogue’s Stranger Sings! will close Jan. 1, 2023 at Off-Broadway’s St. Lukes Playhouse 46, directed by Nick Flatto.
Caroline Huerta, Garrett Poladian, SLee, Jean Christian Barry, Jamir Brown, Jeremiah Garcia, Dashiell Gregory, Jeffrey Laughrun, Hannah Clarke Levine, Harley Seger, and Shawn W. Smith.
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Complete casting has been announced for Guys and Dolls, to begin previews Mar. 3 and open Mar. 14 at the Bridge Theatre, directed by Nicholas Hytner, with choreography by Arlene Phillips, and music direction by Tom Brady.
Daniel Mays (Nathan Detroit), Andrew Richardson (Sky Masterson), Celinde Schoenmaker (Sarah Brown), Marisha Wallace (Miss Adelaide), Cedric Neal (Nicely-Nicely Johnson), Cornelius Clarke (Lieutenant Brannigan), Cameron Johnson (Big Jule), Anthony O’donnell (Arvide Abernathy), Mark Oxtoby (Benny Southstreet), Adam Pearce (Harry the Horse), Ryan Pidgen (Rusty Charlie), and Katy Secombe (General Cartwright), with Simon Anthony, Lydia Bannister, Kathryn Barnes, Callum Bell, Cindy Belliot, Petrelle Dias, Ike Fallon, Leslie Garcia Bowman, George Ioannides, Robbie McMillan, Perry O’Dea, Charlotte Scott, Tinovimbanashe Sibanda, Isabel Snaas, Sasha Wareham, and Dale White.
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David Lindsay Abaire’s new film adaptation of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” which recently wrapped, is expected to be released in 2023, directed by Jonathan Kent.
Jessica Lange (Mary Tyrone), Ed Harris, Ben Foster, Derek Carroll, Ericka Roe, and Lesa Turman.
Filmed on location in County Wicklow, Ireland, Long Day’s Journey Into Night takes place over the course of a single day in August 1912 as the Tyrone family faces the news that younger son Edmund has consumption, an illness which could lead his mother Mary back to a severe morphine addiction.
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Into the Woods: a Two-Part Celebration of Stephen Sondheim will run Feb. 10 – Mar. 6, 2023 at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre, directed by Bill Berry.
Joshua Miller (Jack), Shermona Mitchell (Jack’s Mother), Sarah Garcia (Little Red), Miranda Antoinette (Rapunzel), Mari Nelson (Narrator/Mysterious Man/Granny/Giant/Cinderella’s Father/Cinderella’s Mother), Sarah Russell (Cinderella), Eric Ankrim (The Baker), Cayman Ilika (Baker’s Wife), Shauynce Omar (Cinderella’s Stepmother), Trina Mills (Florinda), Shanelle Leonard (Lucinda), Porscha Shaw (Witch), Antonio Mitchell (Rapunzel’s Prince), Louis Hobson (Cinderella’s Prince/The Wolf), and Brian Lange (Steward), with Simone Alene, Rebecca Cort, Kate Jaeger, CJ Lorentz, Casey Raiha), and Melyssa Stone.