Today’s Highlights:
Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Melissa Rain Anderson, featuring Rob Riordan (Seymour), Mary Kate Moore (Audrey), Dion Simmons Grier (Audrey II), Mark Ivy (Mushnik), Dan DeLuca (Dentist), Simone Gundy (Crystal), Sarah Sachi (Ronnette), and Kiara Caridad (Chiffon), with John Ryan Del Bosque, Tyler Ray Lewis, Braden Tanner, Glendaliris Torres-Greaux, and Holland Vavra, opens at Houston’s TUTS.
Marie and Rosetta, by George Brant & E. Faye Butler, directed by E. Faye Butler, featuring Alexis J Roston and Bethany Thomas, opens at Milwaukee Rep.
Lucie Arnaz “I got the job”: Songs From My Musical Past concert opens at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club.
Lillias White returns to the role of Hermes in Hadestown at Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theatre.
Linda Purl: POSSIBILItES – Songs of Hope, Risk, and Maybe concert, at 7 PM at NYC’s 54 Below.
**********************
Second Stage‘s production of Leslye Headland’s Cult of Love will begin previews Nov. 20 and open Dec. 12 at the Helen Hayes Theater, directed by Trip Cullman.
Molly Bernard, Roberta Colindrez, Barbie Ferreira, Rebecca Henderson, Christopher Lowell, Zachary Quinto, Christopher Sears, and Shailene Woodley with Peter Bradbury, Billy Cohen, Vero Maynez, Rachel Prather, and Luisa Sermol.
The play centers on the four adult children of the Dahl family and their partners as they return home for a rocky holiday gathering.
**********************
The national tour of Back to the Future will run Nov. 5 – Dec. 1 (opening Nov. 6) at the Pantages Theatre, directed by John Rando, with choreography by Chris Bailey, and musical supervision by Nick Finlow.
Don Stphenson (Doc Brown), Caden Brauch (Marty McFly), Burke Swanson (George McFly), Zan Berube (Lorraine Baines), Cartreze Tucker (Goldie Wilson/Marvin Berry, Ethan Rogers (Biff Tannen), and Luke Antony Neville (Principal Strickland), with Joshua Blackswan Abbott, Emily Applebaum, Tade Biesinger, Ina Black, Brittany Bohn, Luther Brooks IV, Alyssa Carol, Jenny Dalrymple, Lucas Hallauer, Laura Sky Herman, Will Jewett, Ben Lanham, Kiara Lee, Dwayne P. Mitchell, Zoe Brooke Reed, Fisher Lane Stewart, and Ross Thompson.
**********************
Joseph Robinette, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul’s A Christmas Story will run Nov. 1-29 at CT’s Goodspeed, directed by Hunter Foster.
John Scherer (Jean Shepard), Christopher Riley (Ralphie), Jim Stanek (The Old Man), Jenn Gambatese (Mother), Camilo Velasquez Escamilla (Randy), and Rashidra Scott (Miss Shields), with Jenniellen Beattie, Kyle Caress, Jack Casey, Sy Chounchaisit, Marjorie Failoni, Thomas Goldbach V, Laura Guley, Treston J. Henderson, Gavin Holwitt, Addie Jaymes, Ian Knauer, Gabriel Lafazan, Oliver Logue, Izzy Pike, Jesse Swimm, Tommy Betz, and Paris Martino.
Video: In rehearsal
**********************
Gingold Theatrical Group‘s The Devil’s Disciples, adapted & directed by David Staller, continues through Nov. 23 at at Theatre Row.
Nadia Brown, Susan Cella, Tina Chilip, Teresa Avia Lim, and Folami Williams, with Fiona Maguire, and Lauren Zbylski
It’s 1777 in New Hampshire and the future of our country is at stake! What can one determined woman and two confused men do to ensure a Democratic future? In this new adaptation, female ferocity rules as this legendary and almost true historical adventure comedy, told by five power-house women!
**********************
The world premiere of Madame Clicquot: A Revolutionary Musical will run in early Summer 2025 (dates TBA) at Pittsburgh CLO (link TBA), directed & choreographed by Laurie Glodowski.
TBA.
The story of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, a trailblazer who revolutionized the Champagne industry during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. At a time when women were rarely seen as business leaders, she defied expectations to become one of the most successful businesswomen of her era, inspiring generations of future female entrepreneurs.
**********************
Lolita Chakrabarti’s Life of Pi will launch it’s national tour on Dec. 10 at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre, directed by Ashley Brooke Monroe. Click here for the tour schedule.
Taha Mandviwala (Pi), with Jessica Angleskhan, Alan Ariano, Pragun Bhardwaj, Ben Durocher, Emmanuel Elpenord, Shiloh Goodin, Anna Leigh Gortner, Austin Wong Harper, Rishi Jaiswal, Toussaint Jeanlouis, Mi Kang, Intae Kim, Sharayu Mahale, Sinclair Mitchell, Maya Rangulu, Betsy Rosen, Anna Vomáčka, Sorab Wadia, and Savidu Geevaratne.
A 16-year-old boy is stranded in a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.
**********************
Diana Baffa-Brill, a dancer and choreographer who assisted choreographer Onna White and later re-staged scores of productions of that classic musical, died in Los Angeles on Sunday, October 13, following a long illness. She was 81. Click here to read more.
**********************
The world premiere of Vivienne Powell’s Diva the Play will run Nov. 1-10 at the Zephyr Theatre, directed by Leah Patterson.
Vivienne Powell.
Tis is the story of world-renowned Australian opera singer Louisa McCrae reliving her life through the lens of a fractured mind. As she unpacks a suitcase full of memories, she is transported back to powerful moments that shaped her extraordinary life. As her mind starts slipping, can she hold onto the memories long enough to revive her broken heart?
**********************
Video: Aaron Lazar performs “The Impossible Dream”
**********************
Red Bull Theater will present a reading of Lord Byron’s Sardanapalus on Thurs. Oct. 24 at 7:30 PM at Off-Broadway’s Shiner Theatre, directed by Raz Golden. The reading will also be simulcast.
Amir Arison, Atra Asdou, Merritt Janson, Amir Malaklou, Paul Niebanck, Zack Lopez Roa, Omar Shafiuzzaman, Sanjit De Silva, AhDream Smith, and Shayvawn Webster.
The tragic fall of the last Assyrian king and his decadent reign: a story of love, betrayal, and self-discovery as told by the most notorious of the Romantic poets.
**********************
Fred Alley & James Kaplan’s Lumberjacks in Love will run Nov. 8 – Jan. 12, 2025 (opening Nov. 10) at Milwaukee Rep, directed by Jeffrey Herbst, with music direction by James Kaplan.
Ryan Cappleman (Dirty Bob), Doc Heide (Muskrat), Joe Picchetti (Minnesota Slim), Molly Rhode (Rosemary Rogers), and Chase Stoeger (Moonlight).
This flannel-clad musical takes us to the Northwoods in 1912, where a camp of burly lumberjacks revel in their bachelor lives as the only men in hundreds of miles — until a special delivery named Rose shows up and flips their lives around like a flapjack. Nothing is quite like it seems for these colorful characters as they search for friendship, romance and truth in this irresistible, light-hearted musical comedy.
**********************
That Parenting Musical, by Graham & Kristina Fuller, continues through Nov. 3 at Theatre Row, directed by Jen Wineman.
Natalie Bourgeois, Max Crumm, McKenna OGrudnik, Brian Owen, Dwayne Washington, Mia Gentile, and Branden R. Mangan.
Dive into the hilarious, chaotic world of a new Mom and Dad. Laugh along as two sleep-deprived parents navigate their new reality, juggling a danger-prone toddler, an overlooked younger sibling, and the ever-present “official mom uniform”—yoga pants. This new musical explores the joys, challenges, and absurdities of parenthood, and so much more.
**********************
Red Bull Treater‘s reading of Jessica B. Hill’s The Dark Lady will take place Mon. Nov. 18 at 7:30 PM at Off-Broadway’s Sheen Center, directed by Rodrigo Beilfuss.
Jessica B. Hill and Matthew Rauch.
What if all the women in Shakespeare’s plays were based on the love of his life? What if she happened to be a writer herself? Enter Emilia Bassano: trilingual, multiracial, and the possible ‘Dark Lady’ of Shakespeare’s sonnets. When Emilia meets Will, it’s a meeting of minds that sets their hearts and pens ablaze. But while Emilia struggles to leave her creative legacy, she’s also watching their love and art slowly turn Will into Shakespeare.