Today’s Highlights:
Bring It On, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tom Kitt, Jeff Whitty & Amanda Green, directed by Guy Unsworth, featuring Vanessa Fisher, Amber Davies, Louis Smith, Alicia Belgarde, Georgia Bradshaw, Ayden Morgan, Samuel Wilson-Freeman, Chloe Pole, Frances Dee, and Marvyn Charles, opens at London’s Southbank Theatre.
Kimberly Akimbo, world premiere by David Lindsay-Abaire & Jeanine Tesori, directed by Jessica Stone, featuring Steven Boyer, Victoria Clark, Justin Cooley, Olivia Elease Hardy, Fernell Hogan II, Michael Iskander, Alli Mauzey, Bonnie Milligan, and Nina White, opens at Off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theatre Company.
Good People, by David Lindsay-Abaire, directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky, featuring Alison Blanchard, Scott Facher, Michael Kerr, Suzan Solomon, Mariko Van Kampen, and Charlotte Williams, opens at Beverly Hills’ Theatre 40.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.” ~ E.Y. Harburg
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child — the newly condensed, one-part production — at Broadway’s Lyric Theatre:
NY Times (Alexis Soloski): … After a pandemic closure (and reported problems with production costs), Cursed Child has returned, shorter and more streamlined, its two parts collapsed into a single one and its length reduced by a third… The new version, which opened on Tuesday, does feel smaller — its themes starker, its concession to fandom more blatant. But as directed by Tiffany and choreographed by Steven Hoggett, with an essential score from Imogen Heap, it remains diamond-sharp in its staging and dazzling in its visual imagination, as magical as any spell or potion… The essence of the plot hasn’t changed.
Broadway News (Charles Isherwood): …the immensely cheering if not altogether surprising news is that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child 2.0 (or do I mean “.5”?) is every bit as rewarding as the original version. My lack of surprise derives from the theatrical expertise, on every level, evinced by the creators of the two-part version… Here was, and here is, a show employing inspired imagination, and not just technical gadgetry, to achieve its thrilling effects. Both epic in its scope, as its characters vault between the past and the present in a battle between the forces of good and evil, and movingly intimate in delineating the troubled father-son relationship at its core, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child remains a theatrical accomplishment of a very rare order.
Time Out (Adam Feldman): …Audiences who were put off by the previous version’s tricky schedule and double price should catch the magic now… Despite its shrinking, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has kept most of its charm. The spectacular set pieces of John Tiffany’s production remain—the staircase ballet, the underwater swimming scene, the gorgeous flying wraiths—but about a third of the former text has been excised… But the changes have the salutary effect of focusing the story on its most interesting new creations: the resentful Albus Potter (James Romney) and the unpopular Scorpius Malfoy (Brady Dalton Richards), whose bond has been reconceived in a significant way.
TimeOut (Adam Feldman): …Despite its shrinking, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has kept most of its charm. The spectacular set pieces of John Tiffany’s production remain—the staircase ballet, the underwater swimming scene, the gorgeous flying wraiths—but about a third of the former text has been excised. Some of the changes are surgical trims, and others are more substantial. The older characters take the brunt of the cuts (Harry’s flashback nightmares, for example, are completely gone); there is less texture to the conflicts between the fathers and sons, and the plotting sometimes feels more rushed than before… But the changes have the salutary effect of focusing the story on its most interesting new creations: the resentful Albus Potter (James Romney) and the unpopular Scorpius Malfoy (Brady Dalton Richards), whose bond has been reconceived in a significant way.
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Video: Stars in the House, offering a 2nd Annual Snixxmas Charity Drive, with special guests Jenna Ushkowitz, Telly Kousakis, Kevin McHale and Heather Morris. (1:27:58)
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Manhattan Theatre Club has announced complete casting for the world premiere of Joshua Harmon’s Prayer for the French Republic, to begin previews Jan. 11 and open Feb. 1 at New York City Center, directed by David Cromer.
Betsy Aidem, Yair Ben-Dor, Francis Benhamou, Ari Brad, Pierre Epstein, Molly Ranson, Nancy Robinette, Jeff Seymour, Kenneth Tigar, and Richard Topol.
The play begins in 1944 with a Jewish couple awaiting news of their missing family, and follows five generations of a French Jewish family in its examination of history, home, and the effects of an ancient hatred.
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Speakeasy Stage presents Duncan Macmillan’s People, Places, and Things Jan. 7 – Feb. 5 (opening Jan. 9) at Boston’s Calderwood Pavilion, directed by David R. Gammons.
Marianna Bassham, Kadahi Bennett, Darya Denisova, Evelyn Howe, Adrianne Krstansky, Joyn Kuntz, Mal Malme, Nael Nacer, Shanelle Chloe Villegas, and Sharmarke Yusuf.
The story of Emma, a thirty-something actress who thinks she is having the time of her life until she finds herself in rehab. Though her first step is to admit she has a problem, Emma just wants to escape – through drugs, alcohol, performing – anything that allows her to avoid her own reality. To fight for her recovery, though, Emma will need to face the truth; yet she’s smart enough to know that there’s no such thing. And when intoxication feels like the only way to survive, how can she ever hop to sober up?
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Tom Holland will star as Fred Astaire in an as-yet untitled biopic about Astaire’s life.
With a timeline and additional details TBA, the film will be produced by Amy Pascal.
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Video: Tribute to Stephen Sondheim at Central Synagogue.
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The Broadway Podcast Network presents Tom Alan Robbins’ “TWITS IN LOVE, Chapter 1,” directed by Robbins & Dori Berinstein. which is now available on all podcast platforms.
Michael Urie (Cyril Chippington-Smythe), Christian Borle (Cheswick Wickford-Davies, Binky to his friends), Mary Testa (Aunt Hypatia), James Monroe Iglehart (Ahmed Ben Fitzwilliam), Lillias White (a disembodied, omnipotent voice), Kiera Allen (Pansy Freehold), Ann Harada (Mrs. Oakes), Dakin Matthews (Bentley), Stephen DeRosa (C. Langford Cheeseworth), Taylor Iman Jones (Officer Cleary of the Yard), Nick Sullivan (Uncle Hugo), Helen Cespedes (Alice Witherspoon), and Teddy Uydain (Rodgers and Evans).
Cyril Chippington-Smythe lives in sybaritic splendor with his steam-powered valet, Bentley (Dakin Matthews). When not lounging about at home sipping a cup of lapsang souchong he frolics with the other idle rich at his club, TWITS. Life would be bliss indeed if not for the toothy Alice Witherspoon (Helen Cespedes) who is determined to marry Cyril whether he likes it or not. To complicate matters, Cyril’s chinless cousin Binky is just as determined that Alice shall be his. The ever-resourceful Bentley devises an elaborate stratagem to effect the transfer of her affections, unaware that Alice has ulterior motives that may lead to the destruction of civilization. Whose plan will succeed? And what of Cyril’s imperious Aunt Hypatia, who is determined to see him married and the shy but brilliant Pansy, not to mention the censorious club hatter Ahmed Ben Fitzwilliam and C. Langford Cheeseworth, a shiny-headed habitue of Cyril’s club whose eccentricities of accent come and go according to his whim. This is a world in which the great minds that should have discovered electricity went into the restaurant business instead, or decided to chuck it all because their true passion was stand-up comedy. It is a world of steam-powered servants and factory-made food in which the privileged few, like Cyril Chippington-Smythe, whose every wish is instantly gratified, have nothing to live for but pleasure… and fashion… and love. Sound inviting? Well, you’re invited.
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A new Instagram account with the handle @sondheimletters, collects personal correspondence from Stephen Sondheim.
The letters shared range from a recommendation for a then-unknown Jonathan Larson to answering questions like which of his book writers was his favorite, to simple – if confounding at their apparent necessity – corrections.
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“Stars on Stage From Westport Country Playhouse” will premiere on consecutive Fridays, Jan., 14 & 21 at 9 PM on PBS (check local listings).
Gavin Creel, Shoshana Bean, and Brandon Victor Dixon.
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Adult casting has been announced Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt, which will run Jan. 22 – Mar. 13 at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre, directed by Patrick Marber.
Sebastian Armesto (Jacob/Nathan/Ludwig), Jenna Augen (Rosa), Rhys Bailey (Paul/Young Nathan), Cara Ballingall (Nellie), Faye Castelow (Gretl), Joe Coen (Zac/Policeman), Felicity Davidson (Hilde), Mark Edel-Hunt (Fritz/Nazi), Clara Francis (Wilma), Arty Froushan (Leo), Rebecca Gethings (Eva), Caroline Gruber (Emi), Natalie Law (Hanna), Avye Leventis (Sally), Jake Neads (Aaron/Police), Aaron Neil (Ernest), Alexander Newland (Kurt), Edie Newman (Jana), Andy Nyman (Hermann), Macy Nyman (Hermine), Noof Ousellam (Otto), Sadie Shimmin (Poldi), Griffin Stevens (Percy), and Dan Wolff (Mohel). Children’s casting will be announced at a later date.
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How the cast of Broadway’s Company learned of Sondheim’s death.
Click here to listen.
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Daughter of the Wicked, written by and starring Shanit Keter Schwartz, will run Mar. 4 – Apr. 10, 2022 at the Odyssey Theatre (link TBA), directed by Zeke Rettman.
The story of Shanit Keter Schwartz returning to her homeland in search of her missing sister. She looks back at her upbringing as a Yemenite Jewish girl in the newly formed country of Israel, paying a special tribute to her Kabbalistic mystical Rabbi father, as she comes to terms with her tumultuous past.
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Kent Gash, the founding director of Tisch School of the Arts’ New Studio and former associate artistic director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, has been named the new artistic director of The Acting Company.
The director, actor, educator, and author succeeds Ian Belknap, who announced his departure earlier this year.
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The world premiere of Charles Randolph-Wright’s play Sidney, about the life of Sidney Poitier, is currently in development, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson.
Dates, creative team, casting, and additional information is TBA.
The play dramatizes the life of Poitier, from his upbringing on Cat Island in the Bahamas to his rise to become to become America’s most revered actor and activist. With his unique career, Sidney Poitier helped change many racial attitudes that had persisted in this country for centuries. He built the bridges and opened the doors for countless artists in succeeding generations. He is an actor who stood for hope, for excellence, and who has given happiness to millions of people around the world.
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Big Band Holiday! will run Sat. Dec. 18 at 8 PM PT and Sun. Dec. 19 at 2 PM PT at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre.
Bill A. Jones and Nancy Osborne.
Enjoy Big Band arrangements of your favorite holiday music, pumped out of 17 fabulous instrumentalists, featuring full sections of saxophones, trombones, trumpets, and a wailing rhythm section.
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Complete casting has been announced for a reading of Billy Recce & Yoni Weiss’ Fowl Play – A New Musical Comedy, to take place Thurs. Dec. 16 at NYC’s Carroll Studios (625 West 55th Street), directed by John Tartaglia, with music supervision by Jon Audric nelson.
Rosé, Michael James Scott, Brenda Braxton, Nick Adams, JJ Niemann, Sav Souza, Kate Loprest, Chris Medlin, Maya Lagerstam, and Murphy Taylor Smith.
Two queer musical theatre writers are commissioned to write an apology musical for a certain homophobic fried chicken corporation… you know the one. With theaters closing left and right to be replace by Targets, Apple Stores, and fast-food franchises, the down-on-their-luck writing duo, Archie and Xander, are faced with the promise of a major payout and the rebirth of the Broadway musical comedy, if they can satiate the new CEO, Kimberly Chickadee. In the style of a Mickey and Judy musical extravaganza, Fowl Play is a take-no-prisoners satire about the commodification and commercialization of queer culture.
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& 
Plays-PerView is offering two West Coast events — 2 live and one livestreamed:
Brushstroke (In person Mon. Dec. 20 at 7 PM PT at LA’s Dynasty Typewriter…. and livestreamed on-demand through Dec. 28), by John ross Bowie, directed by Casey Stangl, featuring Malcolm Barrett, John Ross Bowie, Brian Huskey, Ana Ortiz, and James Urbaniak. New York City, 1956. A daring, inventive painter meets an extraordinarily nervous patron. But is the patron being followed? And if so … by whom? 
here.
The Medievalists (In person Jan. 7-23 at San Francisco’s Brava Theatre), by Bill Corbett, directed by Casey Stangl, featuring Paget Brewster, Jason Ritter, James Urbaniak, Kirsten Vangsness. A once-respected history scholar crashes and burns on the set of the cheesy TV series adapted from his work. His family rides in on a quest to save the day!
here.
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“Tomorrow,” a new podcast series which continues the adventures of Little Orphan Annie, will launch Dec. 13 (and then weekly thereafter) on all digital platforms. Each episode will be appx. 8-10 min.
Abbie Grace Levi (Annie), Laura Benanti (Miss Hannigan), Lance Reddick (Daddy Warbucks), Alan Ruck (Drake), Lila Fields (Molly), Gabriella Scott (Tessie), Bobbi Bordley (Pepper), Sam Zaslow Braverman (Adam), Anne Beyer (Maura), Jon Lindstrom (Senator Jeffries), and Anjali Jay (Venita Dewan),
In the next chapter in the Annie universe, five years later, Annie is in the midst of figuring out her own identity, and on the eve of a huge business deal for Warbucks industries, Warbucks goes missing and Annie recruits her friends (Orphan Nation) to help run the company and search for he dad — all leading to an even bigger mystery. While this podcast takes place in a post-pandemic word, it still elicits imagery of a pandemic’s remains.