Today’s Highlights:
Plays for the Plague Year, world premiere by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Niegel Smith, featuring Suzan-Lori Parks (The Writer), Greg Keller (Actor 1), Leland Fowler (Actor 2), Kenita Miller (Actor 3), Pearl Sun (Actor 4), Orville Mendoza (Actor 5), Lauren Molina (Actor 6), and Martín Solá (Actor 7), with Edward Astor Chin, Danyel Fulton, and Will Stone, opens at Off Broadway’s Joe’s Pub.
The Nativity Variations, world premiere by Catherine Trieschmann, directed by Shelley Butler, featuring Ryan Alvardo (Mateo)/Father Juan), Ann Arvia (Peggy), Chiké Johnson (Karl), Adam LeFevre (Hank), Sami Ma (Jules), Eva Nimmer (Devon), and Sadieh Rifai (Vanessa), opens at Milwaukee Rep.
Clyde’s, by Lynn Nottage, directed by Kate Whoriskey, featuring De’Adre Aziza (Clyde), Kevin Kenerly (Montrellous), Reza Salazar (Rafael), and Garrett Young (Jason), with Danielle Davis, Lewon Johns, Maya Vinice Prentiss, Arik Vega, and Gage Wallace, begins previews at LA’s Mark Taper Forum.
Al Hirschfeld Foundation’s Hirschfeld Celebrity Autograph Charity Auction, in support of BC/EFA, offering collectible prints of Betty Buckley, Cher, Michael Crawford, Clive Davis, Judi Dench, Michael Feinstein, Ellen Greene, Joel Grey, Mark Hamill, Billy Joel, Nathan Lane, Reba McEntire, Donna McKechnie, Ian mcKellen, Steve Martin, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Lea Salonga, Martin Short, Bruce Springsteen, and Meryl Streep, at 6-8 PM at NYC’s Heritage Auction (445 Park Ave., at 56th Street).
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Reviews for Camp Siegfried at Off-Broadway’s Tony Kiser Theatre:
NY Times (Jesse Green): …The opening scene of Bess Wohl’s disturbing new play, set in 1938, finds these attractive American teenagers hovering on the outskirts of a party at a camp on Long Island, trying to flirt over the din of the band. Comic and romantic misapprehensions ensue… a thoughtful production directed by David Cromer, is an oy vey kind of play… Not just because it deals with homegrown American Nazism… Wohl…wants to expose the emotional roots of fascism that a typically political or social framing… There’s a mechanical symmetry to the way the characters’ opposing qualities fit so neatly together, in much the way their bodies soon do…
Theatermania (Zachary Stewart): …a cliché story of summer lovin’ in a dark corner of American history most people would prefer to forget — especially those who were actually there… Wohl covers similar territory in a story that reveals how male feelings of inadequacy fuel extremist politics, and how the chemical rush of infatuation can lead us to make all kinds of bad decisions. It also asserts, with 20/20 hindsight, our inability to predict the future with any real accuracy. This is a worthwhile subject to ponder at a time when so many claim to be on the right side of history… Unfortunately, most of these insights feel warmed-over… The performers are blameless…
Theatrely (Christian Lewis): …zooms in adolescence, specifically the nebulous and intense teenage space of summer camp… a real German-American Bund camp on Long Island, ostensibly a Nazi youth camp… With antisemitism on the rise, this play feels especially topical and needed, a reminder at just how people get radicalized… Instead of following generic conventions Wohl frequently subverts expectations, goes deeper, and shows her skill as a playwright… Wohl has the pair’s relationship power hierarchy constantly shift… It’s an intriguing idea for a play and the characters are well developed, but it does not reach its true potential… The play almost has a feeling like a draft or a trial run…
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Reviews for Downstate at Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons:
NY Times (Laura Collins-Hughes): …the kind of play that takes over your body gradually. Its tension seeps into your limbs, settles tautly in your solar plexus and does not leave. Out on the street after the performance, your every synapse remains on high alert… impeccably acted production… this deep, dark tragicomedy pokes and prods at our compassion, checks the pulse on our sense of justice, taps our reflex response to charm. And charm, in this play, is both a tool of the predators’ trade and a survival skill… Norris is inviting us to see them in all their dimensions, even if prevarication is their first language, and even if, as Ivy says, they all view themselves as victims…
Theatermania (Zachary Stewart): …the provocative new drama… K. Todd Freeman, giving one of the most exhilarating performances of the last several seasons… Susanna Guzmán, skillfully playing both good cop and bad cop… Pam MacKinnon directs with the taut timing and precise staging of a farce… Costume designer Clint Ramos offers a sense of how these characters see themselves, enhancing performances that are already layered and specific. With this excellent cast, it is possible to both sympathize with the men and suspect that they would offend again, if given the chance…. The most fascinating performance of the evening is Freeman as Dee, whose quick wit might have made him the star of gay brunch under different circumstances…
New York Post (Johnny Oleksinski): It will be hard to top the play Downstate… Turn your nose up and skip it if you want to miss one of the best plays of the season… Norris has written a complex and compassionate play, but not a preachy or judgmental one… The audience is never pushed to forgive or condemn, but rather to evaluate. Some past events we learn about are clear-cut horrific, while others are more layered. The punishment, to these characters’ fury, is equal… The audience is never pushed to forgive or condemn, but rather to evaluate… Few plays as invigorating as Downstate will come along this season, and I’m sure, a potential Broadway move is being discussed…
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending Nov. 13.
Click here for the complete analysis.
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The Lehman Trilogy will run Jan. 24 – May 20 (opening Feb. 8) at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, directed by Sam Mendes.
Michael Balogun (Emanuel Lehman), Hadley Frase (Mayer Lehlem), and Nigel Lindsay (Henry Lehman), with pianist Yshani Perinpanayagam, with Ravi Aujla, Will Harrison-Wallace, Leighton Pugh, and Erika Gundesen.
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Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie will run Apr. 23 – June 18, 2023 (opening Apr. 11) at the Golden Theatre, directed by Justin Martin. The filmed version of the West End production is the highest-grossing cinema event of all time in the UK and Ireland.
Jodie Comer (Tessa).
Tessa is a thoroughbred. A young, brilliant barrister. She has worked her way up from working class origins to be at the top of her game; defending; cross-examining and winning, until an unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge.
Video: Trailer
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An industry reading of Will Van Dyke & Jaff Talbott’s Ten Brave Seconds will take place Thurs. Nov. 17 in NYC, directed by Ellie Heyman, with music direction by Patrick Sulken.
Nathan Levy, David Josefsberg, and John Cariani, with Jordan Tyson, Elijah Lyons, Melissa Victor, Kerri George, Danny Quadrino, Isabella Bria Lopez, Daniel Altamariano, Camila Paquet, Jack Hale, Celeste Rose, and Polanco Jones, Jr.
A timely American musical about once bid/little day in the life of Mike, a completely average 16-year-old who is about to have a completely un-average day… It’s also a day in the life of a family that is spiraling out of control, Mike’s parents are one month our of a pretty terrible divorce, and now it’s just Mike, his his dad, and his little sister. His dad is trying to hold this family together, but when Mike blurts out the fact that he’s gay, it’s fair to say neither of them handle it … you know… well.
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The Doctor, written & directed by Robert Icke, will run June 3 – Aug. 19, 2023 at the Park Avenue Armory.
Juliet Stevenson (Doctor) and more TBA.
The play follows a doctor who prohibits a priest from visiting a dying patient.
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2022 Grammy Award nominations. Click here for the complete list.
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Barbra & Liza Live!, starring Stephen Brinberg (Barbra) and Rick Skye (Liza), will take place Mon. Nov. 21 at 7 PM at NYC’s Chelsea Table & Stage, with music direction by Yasuhiko Fukuoka.
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Robert Horn, Brandy Clark & Shane McAnally’s Shucked will begin previews Mar. 8, 2022 and open Apr. 4 at the Nederlander Theatre, directed by Jack O’Brien, with choreography by Sarah O’Gleby, and music direction by jason Howland.
John Behlmann, Kevin Cahoon, Andrew Durand, Caroline Innerbichler, Ashley D. Kelly, and Alex Newell.
What do you get when you pair a semi-neurotic, New York comedy writer with two music superstars from Nashville? An audacious farm-to-fable musical about the one thing Americans everywhere can’t get enough of: corn. The new musical proves the sometimes tearing down a few walls, rather than growing them, is the only way to preserve our way of life.
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2023 Grammy Award nominations have been announced here.
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(read) Tonya Pinkins pens an open letter to the NY Times’ Jesse Green for his review of A Raisin in the Sun.
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Broadway’s Mr. Saturday Night will be streamed beginning Dec. 1 on BroadwayHD.
Billy Crystal, Randy Graff, Elaine Young, David Paymer, Chasten Harmon, Annie Wells, and Shoshana Bean, with Jordan Gelber, Brian Gonzales, and Mylinda Hull.
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Karey Kirkpatrick, John O’Farrell & Wayne Kirkpatrick’s Mrs. Doubtfire will begin previews May 12, 2023 and open June 22 at the Shaftesbury Theatre, directed by Jerry Zaks, with choreography by Lorin Lotarro, and music supervision by Ethan Popp.
Gabriel Vick (Daniel Hilard), Carla Dixon-Hernandez (Lydia Hillard, Cameron Blakely (Frank Hillard), Marcus Collins (Andre), and Ian Talbot (Mr. Jolly), with Joshua Dever, Samuel Wilson-Freeman, Maria Garrett, Kiera Haynes, Adam Lyons, Lisa Mathieson, Ellie Mitchell, Matt Overfield, Tom Scanlon, Vicki Lee Taylor and Rebecca Donnelly, Amy Everett and Paulo Teixeira.
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Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theatre presents Bottom’s Dream, a “RemarkaBULL Podversation” on Mon. Jan. 21 at 7:30 PM ET here, hosted by Nathan Winkelstein, with special guest Jacob Ming-Trent.
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“Barbra Streisand: Live at the Bon Soir” 24-track album is now available on all platforms. Click here for the Amazon link.
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Audio: Danielle Ferland and Jeff Blumenkrantz sing Into the Woods‘ “It Takes Two”
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Fats Waller, Murray Horwitz & Richard Maltby, Jr.’s Ain’t Misbehavin’ will run Nov. 30 – Dec. 18 (opening Dec. 3) at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre, directed by Wren T. Brown, with music direction by William Foster, and choreography by Dominique Kelley.
Yvette Cason (Nell), Rogelio Douglas Jr. (Andre), Connie Jackson (Armelia), Marty Austin Lamar (Ken), and Angela Wildflower (Charlene).