Today’s Highlights:
Make Me Gorgeous, written & directed by Donnie, starring Wade McCollum, opens at Off-Broadway’s Playhouse 46 at St. Luke’s.
Harry Clarke, by David Cale, directed by Leigh Silverman, starring Billy Crudup, opens at Berkeley Rep.
SpeakEasy Stage’s The Band’s Visit, directed by Paul Daigneault, featuring Brian Homas Abraham (Tewfiq), Jennifer Apple (Dina), Marianna Bassham (Iris), Fady Deman (Zelger), Kareen Elsmadlicy (Haled), Josephine Moshiri Elwood (Julia), Jesse Garlick (Papi), Noah Kieserman (Telephone Guy), Andrew Mayer (Camal), Zaven Ovian (Sammy), Emily Qualmann (Anna), James Rana (Simon), Robert Saoud (Avrum), and Jared Troilo (Itzik), with Sarah Corey, Jordana Kagan, Elliot Lazar, Steven Goldstein, Alex Poletti, Emily Qualmann, and Robert Saoud, opens at Boston’s Huntington Theatre.
Love Kills, a night of one act plays by Don Nigro, directed by Kevin Kittle, featuring Midori Francis, Rebecca Mozo, Justin Chatwin, Briana Buoco, Kaley Cuoco, and Tom Pelphrey, opens at Burbank’s Colony Theatre.
Family Business, world premiere by Matt Chait, directed by Brian Shnipper, featuring Eric Stanton Betts, Alli Brown, Michelle Jasso, Lindsay G. Merrithew, Bruce Nozick, and Julie Pearl, begins previews at Hollywoods’ Hudson Mainstage Theatre.
“YOU AND I – The Words and Music of Leslie Bricusse” album release concert, featuring Dianne Fraser, at 8:30 PM at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club.
John Phillip: Oceans of Love and Life concert, created & directed by Marilyn Maye, closes at NYC’s Don’t Tell Mama.
**********************
Broadway Grosses for the week ending Nov. 12.
Click here for the complete analysis.
**********************
Mary Kathryn Nagle’s Manahatta has been extended through Dec. 23 at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater, directed by Laurie Woolery Previews begin Nov. 16, with an opening set for Dec. 5.
Rainbow Dickerson (Toosh-ki-pa-kwis-i / Debra), Elizabeth Frances (Le-le-wa’-you / Jane), David Kelly (Jonas Michaelius / Michael), Jeffrey King (Peter Minuit / Dick), Enrico Nassi (Se-ket-tu-may-qua / Luke), Joe Tapper (Jakob / Joe), and Sheila Tousey (Mother / Bobbie), with Jessica Ranville and Rex Young.
The story of Jane Snake, a brilliant young Native woman with a Stanford MBA. Jane reconnects with her ancestral Lenape homeland, known as Manahatta, when she moves from Oklahoma to New York for a banking job just before the 2008 financial meltdown. Jane’s struggle to reconcile her new life with the expectations and traditions of her family and Nation are powerfully interwoven with the heartbreaking history of the Delaware Nation’s expulsion from their land. Both old and new Manahatta converge in a lesson about the dangers of living in a society where there’s no such thing as enough.
**********************
Amanda Yesnowitz, Jason Howland, Patrick Pacheco & Erik Forrest Jackson’s Christmas in Connecticut will run Dec. 1-16 at Salt Lake City’s Pioneer Company, directed by Shelley Butler, with choreography by Karen Azenberg.
Gerry McIntyre, Jamen Nanthakumar, Andy Frank, Tyler Symone, Evan Latta, Lila Prince, Myles Tracy, David Girolmo, Tiffany Denise Hobbs, Alyse Alan Louis, Christian Magby, Eric William Morris, Linda Mugleston, RJ Vaillancourt, and Sophia Campagna.
**********************
Uncle Vanya!, newly translated by Heidi Schreck, will begin previews Apr. 2, 2024 and open Apr. 24 at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre, directed by Lila Neugebauer.
Steve Carell (Uncle Vanya), William Jackson Harper (Astrov), Jayne Houdyshell (Mama Voinitski), Mia Katigbak (Marina), Alfred Molina (Serabryakov), Alison Pill (Sonya), Anika Noni Rose (Yelena), and more TBA.
Sonya and her uncle Vanya have devoted their lives to managing the family farm in isolation, but when her celebrat, ailing father and his charismatic wife move in, their lives are upended. In the heat of the summer, the wrong people fall in love, desires and resentments erupt, and the family is forced to reckon with the ghosts of their un-lived lives.
**********************
A Holiday Evening with John Lloyd Young will take place Dec. 1 & 2 at 8:30 PM at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club.
**********************
Charlie Josephine’s Cowbois will transfer to the Royal Court Theatre Jan. 11 – Feb. 10, 2024 (opening Jan. 17), directed by Josephine & Sean Holmes.
Bridgette Amofah (Mary), Lee Braithwaite (Lucy/Lou), Shaun Dingwall (Frank/Tommy), Michael Elcock (George), Colm Gormley (John), Vinnie Heaven (Jack), Paul Hunter (Sheriff Roger Jones) Lucy McCormick (Jayne), Sophie Melville (Miss Lillian), Julian Moore-Cook (James), Emma Pallant (Sally-Ann) and LJ Parkinson (Charley Parkhurst).
In a sleepy town in the Wild West, the women drift through their days like tumbleweed. Their husbands, swept up in the goldrush, have been missing for almost a year and show no sign of returning. In fact, the town is almost cut off from outsiders entirely, with only one drunken sheriff for protection. That is until handsome bandit Jack Cannon, a trans masc cowboy, swaggers up to the town’s saloon, inspiring a gender revolution.
**********************
Make Me Gorgeous! The True Story of Kenneth “Mr. Madam” Marlowe, written & directed by Donnie, continues through Dec. 21 at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Lukes.
Wade McCollum.
The fabulous and incredible true story of Kenneth Marlowe, an oft-overlooked trailblazer in LGBTQ+ history. Described as one of mid-Century America’s gayest and most openly homosexual personalities, Marlowe took on many roles in life. Kenneth was a private hairdresser to the stars; the madam of a notorious gay prostitution ring in Hollywood; an author; a hustler; a female impersonator; a private in the U.S. Army; a call boy; a Christian missionary; a mortuary cosmetologist; a newspaper columnist … and for the final decade of an incredibly lived life, Marlowe was a woman, having transitioned to become Kate Marlowe.
**********************
Both Sides Now: Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen will run Dec. 5-23 at VA’s Signature Theatre, directed by Mark G. Meadows.
Robbie Schaefer and Danielle Wertz.
**********************
The world premiere of Kate Douglas’ The Apiary will begin previews Jan. 31, 2024 and open Feb. 13 at the the Tony Kiser Theatre, directed by Kate Whoriskey.
Gabby Beans, April Matthis, Carmen M. Herlihy, and Taylor Schilling.
Set 22 years in the future, two lab assistants put a plan in motion to change the world, with the help of a few unusual volunteers.
**********************
Kate Berlant’s Kate will run Jan. 17 – Feb. 11, 2024 (opening Jan. 21) at Pasadena Playhouse, directed by Bo Burnham.
Kate explores the events of her life that have brought her to this moment. Embodying many characters in this tour de force performance, she expertly morphs before our eyes and exposes a truth she has, until now, kept hidden.
**********************
Video: Julia Lester puts her own spin on “Miss Marmelstein” from I Can Get It For You Wholesale. which continues through Dec. 17 at Off Broadway’s Classic Stage Company.
**********************
The “46th Annual Kennedy Center Honors”will air Dec. 27 at 9 PM ET on CBS and will also stream on Paramount+.
Billy Crystal, Renée Fleming, Barry Gibb, Queen Latifah, and Dionne Warwick.
**********************
Shoshana Bean & Friends will take place place Mon. Dec. 4 at 7:30 PM at NYC’s Apollo Theater.
Kristin Chenoweth
**********************
Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People will run Feb. 27 – June 16, 2024 (opening Mar. 18) and at Circle in the Square, newly translated by Amy Herzog, directed by Sam Gold.
Jeremy Strong (Thomas Stockman), Michael Imperioli (Peter Stockman), and more TBA.
Thomas is a principled doctor who becomes a whistleblower after discovering that his small spa town’s water source is poisoned, and Peter is his prime opposition, the mayor of the town who doesn’t want to risk the ruination of its public reputation.
