Today’s Highlights:
Manhattan Theatre Club‘s Lackawanna Blues, written, directed by & starring Ruben Santiago-Hudson, opens at Broadway’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
Aladdin, featuring Michael Maliakel (Aladdin), Shoba Narayan (Jasmine) Zach Bencal (Babkak), Frank Viveros, Michael James Scott (Genie), Jonathan Freeman (Jafar), Don Darryl Rivero (Iago), Milo Alosi (Kassim), Brad Weinstock (Omar), JC Montgomery (Sultan), (Genie/Sultan/Babkak standby), Dennis Stowe (Jafar/Sultan standby), and Juwan Crawley (Genie/Sultan standby), with Tia Altinay, Mary Antonini, Netanel, Bellaishe, Michael Callahan, Mike Cannon, Matthew deGuzman, Jacob Dickey, Mark DiConzo, Olivia Donalson, Josh Drake, Samantha Farrow, Jacob Gutierrez, Heather Makalani, Stanley Martin, Paul HeeSang Miller, April Holloway, Amber Owens, Jamie Kasey Patterson, Bobby Pestka, Ariel Reid, Tyler Roberts, Jaz Sealey, Charles South, Angelo Soriano, and Katie Terza, resumes performances at Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theatre.
What to Send Up When It Goes Down, by Alesha Harris, directed by Whitney White, featuring Rachel Christopher (One/Made), Ugo Chukwu (Six/Miss), Kambi Gathesha (Two), Denise Manning (Eight/Song Leader), Javon Q. Minter (Seven), Adrianna Mitchell (Three), and Beau Thom (Five/Man/Driver), opens at Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons.
Kelli O’Hara in concert opens at 54 Below.
Nice Work If You Can Get It benefit filmed production, in support of Project ALS, hosted by Judy Kaye, featuring Jesse Walker (Jimmy Winter), Cooper Grodin (Cookie), and Dinanda Klassen (Billie Bendix), Estelle Balsirow (Eileen), William Broan (Chief Berry), Loren Dunn (Duke Mahoney), Carol Flanagan (Milicent Winter), Nancy Homan (Duchess Estonia Dulworth), Wolf Krebs (Senator Max Evergreen), and Rose Taylor (Jeannie Muldoom), streams for FREE at 7 PM ET here.
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Reviews for A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet at Off-Broadway’s DR2 Theatre:
NY Times (Elisabeth Vincentelli): …The most frustrating element of the show is that despite a last-minute sort-of plot twist, Regina mostly serves as an unwitting wedge between the rookies… The production, directed by Marshall Pailet, moves at a steady clip, and Fankhauser and Wyse throw so much at the wall that once in a while, a joke acquires a bizarre kind of sheen through sheer surrealism… Starring roles notwithstanding, Bryonha Marie Parham plays the title character in A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet with tireless zest and good humor. It’s a little undercooked, a little misshapen, but we’ll eat it anyway because hey, it’s still a pancake.
Theatermania (Zachary Stewart): …Fankhauser and Wyse (who share equal credit for book, music, and lyrics) tap-dance around a real cultural phenomenon, which is the fact that there are about a hundred people trained to work in creative fields for every actual position our economy can sustain. Such brutal competition turns hunger into cannibalistic desperation, and there is real comic potential in that story… Unfortunately, Fankhauser and Wyse don’t pursue this thread very far, delivering a too-easy resolution that we can see coming from lightyears away… There are still plenty of laughs to be had from a funny script that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and witty lyrics to match.
New York Theatre (Jonathan Mandell): …slight musical comedy with an on-the-nose title… Bryonha Marie Parham is a terrific singer and a game comedienne… the premise of A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet is nonsensical enough that it could have fueled a wacky spot-on parody of the music industry and the world of celebrity… The creative duo seem more engaged in attempting to channel their Borscht Belt ancestors… the show is most knowing and hilarious about the ways we now communicate with one another… Wyse and Fankhauser both have extensive credits as performers, including on Broadway, which made me think it odd they were so self-effacing with their characters.
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Jeremy O. Harris’ Slave Play will resume previews Nov. 23, open Dec. 2 and close Jan. 23 at the August Wilson Theatre, directed by Robert O’Hara.
Ato Blankson-Wood, Chalia La Tour, Annie McNamara, Irene Sofia Lucio, Paul Alexander Nolan. Antoinette Crowe-Legacy, and more TBA.
At the MacGregor Plantation, nothing is as it seems, and everything is as it seems. It’s an antebellum fever-dream as three interracial couples converge to rip open history at the intersection of race, love, sex, and sexuality in 21st-century America.
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Click here to win tickets to The Music Man on Broadway, starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster.
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Gingold Theatrical Group presents a revival of Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession Oct. 12 – Nov. 20 (opening Oct. 27) at Theatre Row, directed by David Staller.
Robert Cuccioli, David Lee Huynh, Alvin Keith, Nicole King, Raphael Nash Thompson, and Karen Ziemba.
In a world where women have no legal rights, the play examines a woman who, coming from nothing, has become one of the most wealthy and powerful of executives running an international string of high-class brothels, keeping her life hidden from her daughter. Only when the truth is revealed does the house of cards topple.
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Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children will run Nov. 6 – Jan. 23, 2022 at the Fountain Theatre, directed by Simon Levy.
Ron Bottitta, Elizabeth Elias Huffman, and Lily Knight.
A taut and disquieting thriller about responsibility, reparation, and what one generation owes the next. With the outside world in chaos following a devastating environmental disaster, two retired nuclear engineers live a quiet life in a remote cottage on the lonely British coast – until a surprise visit from a former colleague upends the couple’s equilibrium and trust.
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Video: Sara Chase (the voice of Sasha in “The Simpsons”) performs a musical number in which she references Broadway favorites such as Stephen Sondheim, Sutton Foster, Patti LuPone, and more…
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“The Kennedy Center at 50” will air Fri. Oct. 1 at 9 PM on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video App, directed & choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, and hosted by Audra McDonald.
Kelli O’Hara, Tony Yazbeck, Renee Fleming, Joshua Henry, Darren Criss, Common, Ben Folds, Punch Brothers, Christian McBride, Rachael Price, Herman Cornejo, Randall Goosby, Cassandra Trenary, Abigail Barlow, Emily Bear, Ray chen Robert Glasper, Bettye LaVette, Gaby Moreno, Zhu Wang, and the original cast of Soft Power.
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A new English translation of Sor Juana’s Love is the Greatest Labyrinth continues streaming through Oct. 1 at Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater, directed by Melia Bensussen. The event is presented in English, with Spanish subtitles.
Oge Agulué, Juliana Aidén Martinez, Cecil Baldwin, Anita Castillo-Halvourssen, Carson Elrod, Ryan Garbayo, Sam Lilja, Juliana Aiden Martinéz, Ismenia Mendes, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Tony Roach, Timothey D. Stickney, and Chauncy Thomas.
A madcap take on Greek mythology. A swashbuckling adventure, romantic farce, and morality tale all rolled into one. Teseo goes to meet his fate in the jaws of the monstrous Minotaur. Little does he know that his greatest test will come when he escapes one labyrinth and heads straight into the even more disorienting complications of love. Princesses Fedra and Ariadna pull him in two different directions – which path will he choose?
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Lincoln Center Theater will present Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, with previews beginning Mar. 31, 2022 and an opening set for Apr. 25 at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz.
Casting TBA.
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Off-Broadway’s York Theatre Company has announced its 29th Oscar Hammerstein Award Gala, to take place Mon. Nov. 1 at 6 PM ET at the Edison Ballroom, directed by Michael Unger, with music direction by Deniz Cordell.
Richard Maltby, Jr., David Shire (Hammerstein Award) and Elisa Loti Stein (The York Theatre Company Founders’ Award).
Loni Ackerman, George Lee Andrews, Sierra Boggess, Christian Borle, Kerry Butler, Liz Callaway, Margery Cohen, Jenn Colella, Josh Dela Cruz, George Dvorsky, Santino Fontana, Montego Glover, Adam Gopnik, Sydney James Harcourt, Eddie Korbich, Norm Lewis, Charlotte Maltby, Sally Mayes, Janet Metz, Christianne Noll, Kelly O’Hara, Sal Viviano, and John Weidman, and more TBA, with video appearances by Stephen Sondheim and Barbra Streisand.
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Jeff Whitty & James Magruder’s adaptation of Head Over Heels will run Nov. 9 – Dec. 12 at the Pasadena Playhouse, directed & choreographed by Jenny Koons & Sam Pinkleton, with music direction by Kris Kukul.
Alaska 5000 (Queen Gynecia), Lea DeLaria (King Basilius), Yurel Echezarreta (The Player), Tiffany Mann (Pamela), George Salazar (Musidorus), Emily Skeggs (Mopsa), Shanice Williams (Philoclea), and one more TBA.
Set to the music of The Go-Go’s, the musical follows a royal family in search of a purpose, lovers in search of each other, and a whole kingdom in search of a beat.
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To celebrate the 125th anniversary of Thornton Wilder’s birth, Lincoln Center Theater will present The Skin of Our Teeth, which will begin previews Mar. 31, 2022 and open Apr. 25 at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz.
Casting TBA.
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Open Fist Theatre Company (link TBA) will present a concurrent run of two plays by Daniel MacIvor, to run Oct. 30 – Nov. 21 at the Atwater Village Theatre, both written by Daniel MacIvor, and both directed by Amanda Weier.
The Soldier Dreams (Oct. 23 – Dec. 12), featuring Carmella Jenkins, Conor Lane, Schuyler Mastain, Amy Moorman, Ethan Niven, Stevie-Jean Placek, Scott Roberts David Shofner, and Casey Sullivan. A darkly funny and moving play about life, death, grief — and dancing. As David lies in a virus-induced coma, his lover, Richard, plays host to David’s family members, each of whom feel they had the most special connection. In this poignant homage to David’s own — memories of David.
Never Swim Alone (Oct. 30 – Nov. 21), featuring Bryan Bertone, Dylan Maddalena, Emma Bruno, and Ann Marie Wilding,
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Foundation for New American Musicals will present its Annual Benefit on Sun. Oct. 24 at 4 PM PT at a private residence in the Pacific Palisades.
Marc Shaiman and FNAM co-founder Bob Klein.
Jim J. Bullock, Megan Hilty, Bruce Vilanch, Marisha Wallace Marissa Jaret Winokur, and more TBA.