Today’s Highlights:
Freestyle Love Supreme, featuring Andrew Bancroft (a.k.a. Jelly Donut), Kurt Crowley (a.k.a. The Lord and Lady Crowley), Tarik Davis (a.k.a. Tardis Hardaway), Aneesa Folds (a.k.a. Young Nees), Kaila Mullady (a.k.a. Kaiser Rözé), Chris Sullivan (a.k.a. Shockwave), and Veneziale (a.k.a. Two-Touch), and special surprise guests, returns to Broadway’s Booth Theatre.
Jennifer Nettles (Jenna), Erich Bergen (Dr. Pomatter), Nik Dodani (Ogie), and Ben Thompson (Earl) begin their runs in Waitress at Broadway’s Barrymore Theatre.
Rachel York (Reno Sweeney) and Haydn Gwynne (Evangeline Harcourt) begin their runs in Anything Goes at London’s Barbicon Theatre.
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Video: Stars in the House, offering a Chicken and Biscuits game night, with special guests Cleo King, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, and Na Tasha Yvette Williams. (1:24:57)
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The Book of Mormon will host a FREE performance on Thurs. Nov. 4 at 8 PM ET at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, one day before the show resumes it run in full on Nov. 5.
Click here to enter the lottery for a free ticket.
Kevin Clay (Elder Price), Cody Jamison Strand (Elder Cunningham), Kim Exum (Nabulungi), Stephen Ashfield (Elder McKinley), and Sterling Jarvix (Mafala Hatimbi, with Lewis Cleale, Derrick Williams, Randy Aaron, Shanel Bailey, J. Casey Barrett, Graham Bowen, Isaiah Tyrelle Boyd, Christian Delcroix, Daniel Fetter, Naysh Fox, Bre Jackson, Keziah John-Paul, John K. Kramer, Ben Laxton, Terrie Lynne, Noah Marlowe, Matthew Marks, Henry McGinniss, Stoney B. Mootoo, Jevares Myrick, Darius Nichols, John Eric Parker, John Pinto Jr., Christian Probst, Jasmin Richardson, and Arbender J. Robinson.
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Steven Brinberg’s Simply Barbra has announced its upcoming mini-tour:
Oct. 22-24 at St. Louis’ Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, with special guest Ken Page.
Nov. 17-18 at Palm Springs’ Oscar’s.
Dec. 10-12 at London’s Theatre Above the Stag.
Dec. 21 at NYC’s Green Room.
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Click here for Broadway’s 2021 Thanksgiving week schedule changes.
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Sister Act will run Nov. 2-14 at Houston’s TUTS, directed & choreographed by Dan Knechtges, with music direction by Alex Navarro.
Simone Gunder (Deloris Van Carter), Alan H Green (Curtis), Anthony Alfaro (Pablo), Jamall Houston (Eddie Souther), Logan Keslar (Joey), Susan Koozin (Mother Superior), Trey Morgan Lewis (TJ), Joline Murica (Mary Patrick), Cathy Newman (Mary Lazarus), Raven Justine Troup (Mary Robert), and LaBraska Washington (Monsignor O’Hara), with Miles Marmolejo, Yasmyn Sumiyoshi, Hallie D Chapman, Courtney Chilton, Trey Harrington, T.J. Newton, Kim Stengel, and Holland Vavra.
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An Evening with David Sedaris will take place Wed. Nov. 10 at 8 PM PT at Northridge’s Soraya.
Sedaris will read from his latest book, “The Best of Me,” a collection of 42 previously published stories and essays.
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Paul Osborn’s Morning’s At Seven will run Oct. 20 – Jan. 9 (opening Nov. 4) at Theatre at St. Clements, directed by Dan Wackerman.
Lindsay Crouse, Alma Cuervo. Judith Ivey, Dan Lauria, Patty McCormack, Tony Roberts, John Rubinstein, Keri Safran, and Jonathan Spivey.
Video: Judith Ivery, Lindsay Crouse, and more, discuss the production.
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Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater presents a livestreamed benefit reading of Pericles on Mon. Oct. 25 at 7:30 PM ET, directed by Kent Gash.
Grantham Coleman (Pericles), Shirine Babb, Kimberly Chatterjee, Caroline Clay, Callie Holley, Mahira Kakkar, Jordan Mahome, Anthony Michael Martinez, Edward O’Blenis, Bhavesh Patel, Michele Shay, Timothy D. Stickney, and Craig Wallace.
A poet returns from the dead to tell the tale of Pericles, Prince of Tyre — the touching and hopeful tale of loss and reconciliation about a hero whose adventures take him through the turbulent waters of both the literal seas and the tumultuous challenges of life itself. His odyssey is an epic journey of discovery, loss, and, ultimately, redemption.
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Video: Teaser for “Tragedy of Macbeth,” starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, which will be released in theatres Dec. 25 and begin streaming on Apple TV+ on Jan 14.
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Complete casting has been announced for the world premiere of Erika-Dickerson-Despenza’s Cullud Wattah, to run Nov. 2 – Dec. 5 (opening Nov. 17) at The Public Theater, directed by Candice C. Jones.
Crystal Dickinson (Marion), Jenean Farmer (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.
The play focuses on three generations of Black women living through the current water crisis in Flint, Michigan. It’s been 936 days since Flint has had clean water. Marion, a third-generation General Motors employee, is consumed by layoffs at the engine plant. When her sister, Ainee, seeks justice and restitution for lead poisoning, her plan reveals the toxic entanglements between the city and its most powerful industry, forcing their family to confront the past-present-future cost of survival. As lead seeps into their home and their bodies, corrosive memories and secrets rise among them. Will this family ever be able to filter out the truth?
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Alex Wyse & Ben Fankhauser’s A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet has extended its limited run though Nov. 21 at off-Broadway’s DR2 Theatre.
Alex Wyse, Ben Fankhauser, and Bryonha Marie Parham.
Two nobodies who dream of writing one hit song, but their day job composing jingles for commercials isn’t the big break they hoped. That is, until they’re plucked from obscurity by a world-famous pop star named Regina Comet (if destiny had a child, it would be her) and she wants them to create an anthem for her supernova pipes… and her new perfume. They’re so close to the big time they can smell it, but following your passion doesn’t always lead where you expect.
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Par Benatar, Neil Giraldo & Bradley Bredeweg’s Invincible The Musical, which reimagines Romeo and Juliet, is currently in development, directed by Scott Schwartz, with choreography by Giraldo, and music direction & arrangements by Jesse Vargas.
Invitation-only readings will take place Nov. 10-12 in Los Angeles. Casting is TBA.
The new musical explores how love and equality battle for survival in times of great transformation. The star-crossed lovers meet in the modern, war-torn metropolis of Verona as the newly elected Chancellor Paris vows to destroy the progressive resistance and return the city to its traditional roots. Through Benatar and Giraldo’s rock anthems and new songs, Invincible The Musical imagines peace in a divided world.
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Complete casting has been announced for Jon Hartmere’s Once Upon a Once More Time, featuring the songs of Brittany Spears, will run Nov. 10 – Jan. 2, 2022 at Philadelphia’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, directed & choreography by Keone & Mari Madrid.
Briga Heelan (Cinderella), Justin Guarini (Prince Charming), John Glover (Narrator), Emily Skinner (Stepmother), Aisha Jackson (Snow White), Brook Dillman (The O.F.G), and Mimi Scardulla (Belinda), Tess Soltau (Betany), Ashley Chiu (Sleeping Beauty), Raymond J. Lee (Clumsy), Wonu Ogunfowora (Rapunzel), Ryan Steele (Prince Erudite), Morgan Weed (Princess and the Pea), Lauren Zakrin (Little Mermaid), Adriana Weir & Mila Weir (sharing the role of Little Girl), Belinda Allyn (Belle), Stephen Brower (Prince Suave), Jennifer Florentino (Little Red Riding Hood), Selene Haro (Gretl), Joshua Johnson (Prince Brawny), Amy Hillner Larsen (Goldilocks), Kevin Trinio Perdido ( Prince Mischievous), and Stephen Scott Wormley (Prince Affable), with Matt Allen, Salisha Thomas, Matthew Tiberi, and Diana Vaden.
Beloved classic fairytale princesses gather for their fortnightly book club, longing for a new story. When a rogue fairy godmother drops “The Feminine Mystique” into their corseted laps, it spurs a royal revelation: there is more to life than bird-made dresses and true love’s kiss! Powered by the chart-topping anthems of Britney Spears—including “Oops!… I Did It Again,” “Lucky,” “Stronger,” and “Toxic”— the musical sends audiences on a heartwarming and uproarious musical adventure about smashing the glass slipper and reclaiming your own happily ever after.
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Video: Highlights from Songs for a New World at Paper Mill Playhouse, featuring Carolee Carmello, Roman Banks, Andrew Kober, and Mia Pinero.
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A new anthology series, “Girls Can’t Shoot (& Other Lies,” based on the essay collection, “Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (& Other Lies), is currently in development. Timeline, additional casting, and release date TBA.
Beanie Feldstein, MJ Rodriguez, Kat Dennings, Jameela Jamil and Lolly Adefope, and more TBA.
The first season will explore the expectations of women in storytelling by placing heroines at the center of traditionally male genres.
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“The Tragedy of Macbeth” will be released in movie theaters and begin streaming on Apple TV+ on Jan. 14, directed by Joel Coen.
Denzel Washington (Macbeth), Frances McDormand (Lady Macbeth), Bertie Carvel (Banquo), Brendan Gleeson (King Duncan), Carey Hawkins (Macduff), Harry Melling (Malcolm), Alex Hassell (Ross), and Kathryn Hunter (all three witches).