Today’s Highlights:
Blues for an Alabama Sky, by Pearl Cleage, directed by Lynette Linton, featuring Samira Wiley (Angel Allen), Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo (Delia Patterson), Osy Ikhile (Leland Cunningham), Sule Rimi (Sam Thomas), and Giles Terera (Guy Jacobs) with Lincoln Conway, Eddie Elliott, Kimberley Okoye, and Helena Pipe, opens at London’s National Theatre.
Ann Harada begins her run as Jack’s Mother in Into the Woods at Broadway’s St. James Theatre.
Brad Oscar (Mushnik) and Bryce Pinkham (Dr. Orin Scrivello) begin their runs in Little Shop of Horrors at Off-Broadway’s Westside Theatre.
Betty Buckley in concert opens at NYC’s Café Carlyle.
Top Dog/Under Dog, by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Kenny Leon, featuring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Booth) and Corey Hawkins (Lincoln), begins previews at Broadway’s John Golden Theatre.
A Raisin in the Sun, new revival by Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Robert O’Hara, featuring Francois Battiste (Walter Lee Younger), Toussaint Battiste (Travis Younger alternate), John Clay III (Joseph Asaggi), Calvin Dutton (Bobo), Mister Fitzgerald (George Murchison), Perri Gaffney (Mrs. Johnson), Paige Gilbert, Mandi Masden (Ruth Younger), Camden McKinnon Travis Younger alternate), Jesse Pennington (Karl Lindner), Tonya Pinkins (Lena Younger), and N’yomi Stewart, with Skyler Gallun and N’yomi Stewart, begins previews at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater.
38 Minutes workshop (Sept. 27 & 28 in NYC), by Edie Brickell, directed by Josh Rhodes, featuring Carmen Cusack, Faith Prince Philippe Arroyo, Jonah Ho’okano, Sarah Hunt, Gizel Jiménez, Mynor Luken, Arianna Rosario, and Marco Zunino. 
: logan@ldkproductions.com
Bernstein on Broadway: A Celebration live & livestreamed concert, with special guest Chita Rivera, along with Nikita Burshteyn, Samantha Rose Cárdenas, Alex Getlin, Ben Jones, Jay Aubrey Jones, Albert Nelthropp, and Megan Styrna, at 7 PM ET at NYC’s 54 Below. 
Live tix here. Livestream tix here.
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NY City Center‘s Encore’s 2022-23 season has been announced:
New York City Center’s Annual Gala will include a presentation of Jason Robert Brown & Alfre Uhry’s Parade, to run Nov. 1-6, directed by Michael Arden, and starring Micaela Diamond and Ben Platt. here.
Dear World (Mar. 15 – 19, 2023), directed & choreographed by Josh Rhodes, starring Donna Murphy, and more TBA.
Oliver (May 3-14), directed by Lear deBessonet.
The Light in the Piazza July 21-25, 2023 (note new dates), directed by Chay Yew, starring Ruthie Ann Miles (Margaret Johnson).
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The cast of Broadway’s 1776 will perform on Good Morning America on Thurs. Sept. 29. It was not reported when the performance will take place during the broadcast.
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A concert presentation of Stephen Schwartz & John Caird’s Children of Eden will take place Sat. Oct. 15 at 2 & 8 PM CT at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre, directed by Derek Van Barham, with choreography by Nicholas Ranauro and music direction by Justin Kono.
Randal Keith (Father), Koryn Hawthorne (Yonah), David Phelps (Adam/Noah), and Sam Tsui (Cain/Japheth)
A unique telling of the story of creation through the epic of Noah’s flood.
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A benefit reading of Tyler Martin’s Bonded, in support of MenHealing and the Ruby Struve Fund, will take place Sat. Oct. 15 at 3 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row, both in-person and live streamed, directed by Thomas Caruso.
Bellamy Young (Nellie), Tyler Martin (Emmett), and Brian Thomas Abraham (James).
Nellie, sister to Emmett, reunite tin their Texas hometown to discuss their next steps as Emmett faces possible prison time following a second DWI. As shared family trauma is unearthed, a newfound bond might be the very thing preventing a true resolution.
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Video: Gavin Creel and Joshua Henry perform “Agony” from Broadway’s Into the Woods.
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A concert version of Virginia Woolf’, Mark Berman & R. J. Armand’s A Room of One’s Own will take place Sat. Oct. 1 at 7 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Joe’s Pub, directed by Kirsten Z Cairns.
Mary Bridget Davies.
A landmark in feminist thought, is a rhetorical masterpiece and has never been out of print since 1929.
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Gingold Theatrical Group will present Shaw’s Candida Oct. 5 – Nov. 19 at Theatre Row, directed by David Staller.
R.J. Foster (james Mavor Morell), Peter Romano (Lexy Mill), David Ryan Smith (Burgess), Avanthika Srinivasan (Candida), Amber Reauchean Williams (Proserpine), and Avery Whitted (Eugene Marchbanks), with Alton Alburo, Fernando Lamberty, and Matenin Sangar.
The play is reset from London 1894 to uptown NYC in 1929. It’s a time of global upheaval as these six characters come together on one tumultuous day to ultimately redefine not only who they are but how to launch into the world in a new way. Written as a response to Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, this short but pithy play races along in ever-surprising ways. The Reverend James Morell and his wife Candida live a comfortable life until the young poet, Marchbanks, is taken into their home and challenges everything they’d built their lives upon.
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A Little Sondheim Music, hosted by Mike Isaacson, will take place Sun. Oct. 2 at 3 PM CT at the St. Louis Muny, hosted by the St. Louis Orchestra, conducted by Ben Whiteley.
Ben Davis, Bryonha Marie, Matthew Scott, Emily Skinner, Elizabeth Stanley, and Ken Page.
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& 
Red Bull Theater presents a reading of John Vanbrugh’s The Relapse on Mon. Oct. 24 at 7:30 PM ET at NYC’s Symphony Space, directed by Marc Vietor. A recording of the live performance will be available through Sun. Oct. 20 at 11:59 PM ET.
Arnie Burton, Stephen DeRosa, Ismenia Mendes, Jacob Ming-Trent, Amelia Pedlow, Reg Rogers, Chauncy Thomas, Michael Urie, Ayana Workman, and more TBA.
A riotous Restoration comedy subtitled Virtue in Danger. A reformed rake succumbs to temptation with a new love affair while his wife is subjected to a determined seduction attempt. Meanwhile, the fabulous Lord Foppington flamboyantly flirts about town before leaving to marry a country wife – but his rakish brother is determined to get there first.
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York Theatre Company has announced that Hayley Podschun will join the cast of Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood on Oct. 4, which continues through Oct. 16 at Theatre at St. Jeans. Podschun replaces Kaitlyn Davidson, who will depart the production on Oct. 1.
The cast also features Jeremy Benton, Darien Crago, Darrell T. Joe, Danny Gardner, and Melinda Porto, with Corinne Munsch and Sean Quinn.
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“Round in Circles: The Story of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel” by Barry Kester, will be released Oct. 2 here.
The book covers the history of the classic musical from its beginning as Liliom, a 1909 play by Hungarian author Ferenc Molnár, to its latest 2021 London revival. At first, Rodgers and Hammerstein dismissed the idea of turning Liliom into a musical. How they were persuaded to change their minds, and the struggles the duo experience in adapting the dark, fantastical play is a key part of the story told by author Barry Kester. But the book also shines the spotlight onto Rodgers and Hammerstein themselves, looking at their lives, their working methods, and their relationship, which was not always as harmonious as one might have thought. Although Carousel was created by Rodgers & Hammerstein, it would not have happened without the help of some extraordinary people, both backstage and onstage, and the book pays due tribute to them all.
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Indiana’s Discovering Broadway Inc.’s fifth Writer’s Retreat will host an Oct. 9-14 workshop of Douglas Lyons, Ethan Pakchar & Harrison David Rivers’ Five Points, directed by TBA.
Casting TBA.
Set in 1863 New York City, the musical follows two performers: young African American Willie Lane who takes the stage at Almack’s Dance Hall, and Irish immigrant and jig champion John Diamond. Through their stories, Five Points explores the birth of American tap dance and becoming a part of the American Dream.
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The Entertainment Community Fund will present a one-of-a-kind benefit concert, Curtain Up Broadway Festival, on Sat. Oct. 1 from 5-6 PM ET in Times Square, and will also livestream on Playbill.com, directed by Bryan Campione & Corey Mach, with music direction by Joshua Stephen Kartes, and hosted by Natalie Joy Johnson. Proceeds will benefit BC/EFA.
Ann Harda, Antwayn Hopper, Bobby Conte, Carolee Carmello, Christine Dwyer, Chrisopher Sieber, Corey Mach, Ginna Claire Mason, Jarrod Spector, Javier Ignacio, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Jelani Remy, Jessica Hendy, Mary Kate Morrisey, Santino Fontana, T.3, Jim Hogan Liam Fennecken, and Brendan Jacob Smith/
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Liz Callaway has announced upcoming concert dates:
An Evening with Liz Callaway (Oct. 3-7), Philipstown Depot Theatre, in Garrison, NY.
To Steve with Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim (Oct. 17-22) at London’s Crazy Coqs.
An Evening with Liz Callaway (Nov. 6) at NY’s The Edred Preserve.
To Steve with Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim (Nov. 18-19) at San Francisco’s Feinstein’s at the Nikko.
As Long As We’re Together (Nov. 22-26) at NYC’s 54 Below, with Ann Hampton Callaway.
Broadway the Calla-way (Dec. 10) at NJ’s South Orange Performing Arts Center.
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RIP: Director and producer Robert Kalfin, who founded Off-Broadway’s Chelsea Theater Center, passed away Sept. 20 at the age of 89.
Born April 22, 1933 to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, Mr. Kalfin attended Alfred University for psychology before receiving a MFA from the Yale School of Drama. His combination of psychological intensity and dramaturgical rigor became his calling card as a director throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In 1965, along with George Bari and David Long, Kalfin founded Off-Broadway’s Chelsea Theater Center in 1965.
The Chelsea Theater Center was controversial in its day for producing works that pushed the boundaries of socially divisive topics. Throughout the late 1960s, the Chelsea Theater Center was one of the only theatre companies in New York to produce plays that centered on humanizing Black nationalism, furious feminism, and fascism.
Actors of significant cultural heft would often take union minimum salaries in order to work on a Kalfin-directed production, including Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Frank Langella, and Christopher Lloyd. In 1973, Mr. Kalfin partnered with Hal Prince to produce a revival of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, which became the work’s first commercially success production, transferring to Broadway following its premiere at Brooklyn Academy of Music.
In 1986, the Chelsea Theater Center folded under financial pressures. However, Mr. Kalfin continued to direct work on and off Broadway, as well as in regional theaters throughout the country, including a tenure as the artistic director for the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.