Today’s Highlights:
Ann Hampton Callaway & Liz Callaway: BOOM! 15th Anniversary Concert, both live & livestreamed, opens at 7 PM at NYC’s 54 Below.
Isenhower: this Piece of Ground, written & directed by Richard Hellesen, featuring John Rubinstein (Dwight D. Eisenhower), opens at CA’s Laguna Playhouse.
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending Jan. 11.
Click here for the complete analysis.
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winners of the 36th annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre:
Eric Price: Most Promising Musical Theatre Lyricist
Phillip Christian Smith: Most Promising Musical Theatre Librettist
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The Actors’ Gang will present More Miracles Jan. 22 – Feb. 21 (opening Jan. 24), offering original one-act plays. The event is for adults only.
In Recovery, by Mary Eileen O’Donnell, directed by VJ Foster, featuring Deborah Katz 
In this riotous comedy, ten classic storybook characters – Captain Hook, Goldilocks, Gretel, Hansel, Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet, Little Red Riding Hood, Pinocchio, Tinkerbell, and Wendy Darling – confront their traumas, and each other, in a modern-day PTSD group therapy session. Deborah Katz, the therapist, is married to Adam (the Beast).
Sixteen Summers, by Ayindé Howell, directed by Gloria Briseño. A one-man show about the coming of age takes us on a journey of identity, family, and the last act of love.
Fun Fight, (Jan. 22 – Feb. 21)written & directed by Willa Fossum, featuring Actors Gang members. Adventurous plays for adults only.
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Amber Ruffin, David A. Schmoll & Kevin Sciretta’s Bigfoot! will begin previews Feb. 11 and open Mar. 1 at New York City Center Stage 1, directed by & choreographed by Danny Mefford.
Jason Tam (Doctor) and Crystal Lucas-Perry (Francine), with Katerina McCrimmon with Jade Jones , Jake Letts, Kala Ross, and Alex Moffat.
The new musical is set in the town of Muddirt, a glow-in-the-dark oasis that exists somewhere between a chemical dump site and a nuclear power plant. It is billed in press notes as a “larger-than-life musical tale of corrupt politicians, small town paranoia, and misunderstood youth,” the latter standing at eight-foot tall.
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The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamnet, based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell, and adapted byLolita Chakrabarti, will run Feb. 10 – Mar. 8 at Chicago’s Shakespeare Theatre, directed by Erica Whyman.
Kemi-Bo Jacobs (Agnes) and Rory Alexander (william)m with Troy Alexander (Bartholomew), Nigel Barrett (John/WillKempe), Ajani Cabey (Hamnet), Saffron Dey (Judith), Victoria Elliott (Joan), Heather Forster (Eliza), Thalia Gambe (Ensemble) Karl Haynes (Ned), Ava Hinds Jones (Susanna), Nicki Hobday (Jude), Penny Layden (Mary), Matilda McCarthy (Tilly/Catherina), and Bert Seymour (Burbage/Father John), with Haydn Burke (Ensemble).
The play pulls back a curtain on the story of the greatest writer in the English language and the woman who was the constant presence and purpose of his life. Hamnet is a love letter to passion, birth, grief, and the magic of nature.
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The world premiere of Dirty Books, created & directed by Mara Lieberman, has been extended through Feb. 28 at Off-Broadway’s Bated Breath Theater (29 W. 14th St.).
Sophia Carlin, Alexis Pratt, Melina Rabin, Sammy Rivas, and Willenbacher, with Alaina Bozarth, Franie Otic, and Laura Walter.
An immersive experience that plunges audiences into the scandalous and surprisingly ceregral world of the 1960s soft-core adult puglishing industry. Based on the the true stories of eroctic fiction writers of the era, the piece reveals the ingenuity and resilince of artists who thrived in the shadows of America’s anti-obscenity laws.
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Clare Barron’s You Got Older will run Feb. 12 – Mar. 29 (opening Feb. 23) at the Cherry Lane Theatre, directed by Anne Kauffman.
Alia Shawkat, (Mae) Peter Friedman (Dad), Misha Brooks, (Matthew), Caleb Eberhardt (Mac), Spesner Granese (Cowboy), Nadine Malouf (Hannah), and Nina White (Jenny).
After losing both her job and her boyfriend (comes with the territory when you’re dating your boss), an unmoored and unsettled Mae returns to her small Washington hometown to take care of her ailing father. When she unexpectedly meets a mysterious stranger, she has the startling realization that maybe the intimacy she’s been craving is easier with the unknown, rather than with her own family. A tender and darkly comic play about family, illness, and cowboys — and how to remain standing when everything you know comes crashing down around you.
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Off-Broadway’s Public Theater has announced a 2-week extension (now through Mar. 1) for Under the Radar Festival, created by Elevator Repair Service, with text by James Joyce, directed by Scott Shepherd & John Collins.
Dee Beasnael, Kate Benson, Maggie Hoffman, Vin Knight, Scott Shepherd, Christopher-Rashee Stevenson, and Stephanie Weeks.
The event spotlight groundbreaking new wordks froom local, national an international artists that challenge boundaries in performance. It’s known for its “global downtown vibe”, presenting multidisciplinary shows that mix theater, dance, and music, serving as a vital meeting point for creators and presenters to discover bold new voices.
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“Marc Shaiman in Conversation with Nathan Lane: Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories from a Sore Winner” will take place Sun. Jan. 25 at 7 PM at NYC’s 92NY, offering a look behind the curtain of life on Broadway, in Hollywood and on Television, with a conversation about Shaiman’s new memoir.