Today’s Highlights:
To Kill a Mockingbird, directed by Bartlett Sher, featuring Jeff Daniels (Atticus Finch), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Scout), Portia (Calpurnia), Hunter Parrish (Jem Finch), Michael Braugher (Tom Robinson), Russell Harvard (Link Deas), Neal Huff (Bob Ewell), Erin Wilhelmi (Mayella Ewell), Noah Robbins (Dill Harris), Zachary Booth (Horace Gilmer), Gordon Clapp (Judge John Taylor), Patricia Connolly (Miss Dubose), Christopher Innvar (Sheriff Heck Tate), Ted Koch (Mr. Cunningham), and Amelia McClain (Miss Stephanie), with Ian Bedford, Rosalyn Coleman, Ann0Marie Cusson, Michael Bryan French, Steven Lee Johnson, Tyler Lea, Mariah Lee, Geoffrey Allen Murphy, Luke Smith, Yaegel T. Welch, and William Youmans, resumes performances at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre.
White Noise, by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Polly Findlay, featuring James Corrigan, Ken Nwosu, Faith Omole, and Helena Wilson, opens at London’s Bridge Theatre.
The Band’s Visit, by David Yazbek, featuring Sasson Gabay (Tewfiq), Janet Dacal (Dina), Joe Joseph (Haled), Clay Singer (Itzik), Yoni Avi Battat (Camal), Coby Getzug (Papi), Joshual Grosso (Telephone Guy), Kendal Hartse (Iris), David Studwell (Avrum), Billy Cohen (Zelger), Layan Elwazini (Julia), Marc Ginsburg (Sammy), Ariel Reich (Anna), and James Rana (Simon), with Ali Louis Bourzgui, Loren Lester, Dana Saleh Omar, Nick Sacks, and Hannah Shankman, resumes its national tour at NC’s Durham Performing Arts Center.
Rock of Ages, directed & choreographed by Jessica Hartman, featuring Just Matthew Sargent (Drew), Diana Huey (Sherrie), Steven Bogard (Dennis), Justin Collette (Lonny), Brian Mathis (Hertz), Nicole Powell (Mother/Justice), Drew Redington (Franz), Brett Stoelker (Father/Stacee Jaxx), and Tersa Simmermann (Regina/Candi), with Austin Colburn, Alex Cruz, Karma Jenkins, Tracy Sokat, Ryan Winkler and Ricardo Zayas, Miles Marmolejo, and Emily Tanner, opens at Houston’s TUTS.
Laura Benanti in concert opens at 54 Below.
“Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It” documentary airs at 9 PM on PBS (check local listings).
**********************
Video: Stars in the House, offering House Calls with Dr. Jon LaPook, with a discussion about protocols in the theater — during and post COVID. (1:10:36)
**********************
Erika Dickerson-Despenza & Canid C. Jones’s Cullud Wattah will run Nov. 2 – Dec. 5 (opening Nov. 17) at The Public Theater, directed by Canids C. Jones.
Crystal Dickinson (Marion), Lizan Mitchell (Big Ma), Andrea Patterson (Ainee), Alicia Pilgrim (Plum), Lauren F. Walker (Reese), and more TBA.
The play focuses on three generations of Black women living through the current water crisis in Flint, Michigan. As lead seeps into their homes and their bodies, corrosive memories and secrets rise among them. Will this family ever be able to filter out the truth?
**********************
Video: Aaron Sorkin, Jeff Daniels, Celia Keenan-Bolger, and Gbenga Akinnagbe discuss Broadway’s To Kill A Mockingbird with DeRay McKesson (first released on Aug. 26, 2020). (59:15)
What made them want to adapt Harper Lee’s masterpiece on the stage? What if Atticus Finch wasn’t the hero of this story? How has Harper Lee’s legacy changed since she published her landmark novel in 1960?
**********************
“Red, White & Royal Blue” will be released on Amazon on a date TBA, adapted & directed by Matthew López. Casting TBA.
What happens when America’s Prince falls in love with an actual prince? We follow Alex Claremont-Diaz, who, upon his mother’s election as President, was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, brilliant ― his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a long-running feud with his royal counterpart across the pond. And when the tabloids take get a hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse. Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control.: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instagramable friendship grows into something more meaningful than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could complicate his mother’s re-election campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all?
**********************
Beauty and the Beast will run Nov. 5 – Jan. 2, 2022 (opening Nov. 11) at MD’s Olney Theatre, directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, with choreography by Josh Walden, and music direction by Walter “Bobby” McCoy.
Jade Jones (Belle), Evan Ruggiero (The Beast), Michael Burrell (Gaston), Bobby Smith (Lumiere), Dylan Arredondo (Cogsworth), John Sygar (Lefou), Iyona Blake (Mrs. Potts), Miranda Pepin (Chip), Jessica Lauren Ball (Madame de la Grande Bouche), Sasha Olinick (Maurice), and Hailey Ibberson (Babette), with Conor James Reilly, Rick Westerkamp, Ariel Messeca, Michael Wood, Selena Clyne-Galindo, Erica Hansen, Quynj-My Luu, Tyler White, Megan Tatum, Shiloh Orr, and Graciela Rey.
**********************
Richard LaGravenese will write a new book for a revival of Pal Joey, to run in the 2022-23 season (dates TBA), directed by Savion Glover & Tony Goldwyn, with choreography by Glover, and music supervision by Daryl Waters.
With the permission of the Rodgers and Hart estate, the creative team has interpolated other tunes by the legendary songwriters, including “Where or When,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” “My Heart Stood Still,” “Falling in Love With Love,” and “There’s a Small Hotel.”
Casting TBA.
The primary setting is now a South Side Chicago nightclub in the 1940s; the character of Linda, formerly a stenographer-clerk, is now an aspiring singer.
**********************
The 35th annual Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction, marking the in-person return of the Theatre District tradition following a digital pivot last year, raised $753,321 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
**********************
Karen Mason: Vaccinatin’ Rhythm will run Nov. 4-7 at Milwaukee’s Davenport’s Piano Bar & Cabaret.
**********************
Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie will run Apr. 15 – June 18, 2022 at the Harold Pinter Theatre, directed by Justin Martin.
Jody Comer.
Tessa is a brilliant young barrister. From working-class beginnings, she made her way to the top of her field and has a reputation for being a winner. It doesn’t matter the client she prosecutes, cross-examines and calls into doubt the veracity of the opposing witnesses. When Tessa finds herself on the opposite side of the bar, she’ll have to fight the very system she has exploited where victims are doubted, the patriarchy is strong and where the burden of proof doesn’t necessarily match the reality of the situation.
**********************
Keenan Scott II’s Thoughts of a Colored Man , currently in previews, with now open Oct. 13 (a change from the previously announced Oct. 31) at the Golden Theatre, directed by Steve Broadnax III.
Dyllón Burnside, Bryan Terrell Clark, Da’Vinchi, Luke James, Forrest McClendon, Tristan Mack Wilds, and Esau Pritchett.
**********************
Hollywood’s Celebration Theatre will present a staged reading of Merril Mushroom’s Bar Dykes on Sun. Oct. 10 at 2 PM PT, directed by Katie Lindsay.
Provvidenza Catalano, Makeda Declet, River Gallo, Frankie Orr, Kimberly Joy McBride, Tiana Randall-Quant, Haley Schwartz, Lauren White, and Sable Worthy.
Immerse yourself in the world of 1950s butch/femme bar culture. At a time when there remain just 21 lesbian bars in the country, travel back in time to a watering hole where queer women could flirt, dance smoke, drink, and let loose.
**********************
Manhattan Theatre Club has announced additional casting for Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew, which will begin previews Dec. 31 and open Jan. 12, 2022 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson.
Phylicia Rashad, Chanté Adams, Brandon J. Dirden, and Adesola Osakalumi, with more TBA.
In 2008 Detroit, a small automotive factory is on the brink of foreclosure, and a tight knit family of workers hangs in the balance. With uncertainty everywhere, the line between blue collar and white collar becomes blurred, and this working family must reckon with their personal loyalties, their instincts for survival, and their ultimate hopes for humanity.
**********************
Grateful: The Songs of John Bucchino will stream Fri. Oct. 8 at 7 PM ET here, and will be available through Dec. 31. 
Only the Oct. 8 concert is free.
Leslie Odom, Jr., Stephen Schwartz, Corey Cott, Ann Hampton Callaway, David Campbell, Toni Tenille, and Amanda McBroom.
**********************
Red Bull Theater presents Jeffrey Hatcher’s new adaptation of The Alchemist Nov. 7 – Dec. 19 at New World Stages, directed by Jesse Berger.
Nathan Christopher, Stephen DeRosa, Carson Elrod, Manoel Feliciano, Teresa Avia Lim, Jacob Min-Trent, Louis Mustillo, Reg Rogers, Jennifer Sánchez, and Allen Tedder.
When a wealthy gentleman flees to the country, his trusted servant opens his house to a pair of con artists and sets up a den of criminal capitalism. Claiming alchemical powers, the quick-witted trio fleece an onslaught of greedy sheep with their virtuosic ability to improvise amidst increasingly frantic comings and goings. It’s comic gold with dupes, double-dupes, duels, disguises, and a lucky flea named “Lewis.”
**********************
Tim Alderson, Mark Heard, Pat Terry & Randy VanWarmer’s Salvage will run Oct. 9 – Nov. 14 at Hollywood’s Hudson Theatre, directed by Damian D. Lewis, with music direction by Colin Linden.
David Atkinson, Natale Llerena, Sam O’Byrne, and Leonard Earl Howze.
Having a dream is like running with scissors. Harley, a singer-songwriter whose wife is expecting their first child, has decided to hang up his dream before it destroys his family. On his way to pawn his guitar, he stumbles across the bar where his musical hero, Floyd Whitaker, died. Upon entering, he finds an inhospitable bartender and a single, surly customer, who strumming the blues on an old guitar. How could he resist an adventure like this?
**********************
Timothy Allen McDonald, Elyssa Samsel & Kate Anderson’s Between the Lines will play a limited run at 2nd Stage’s Tony Kiser Theatre (link TBA) beginning June 14, 2022, directed by Jeff Calhoun, with choreography by Paul McGill, and music direction by Daniel Green.
Casting TBA.
The new musical, based on the Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer of the same name, follows Delilah, an outsider in a new school who seeks comfort in the pages of her favorite book, where she feels heard and understood. But the lines between reality and fantasy begin to blur, and she has to confront whether she has the power to rewrite her own story.