Today’s Highlights:
The Dead, 1904, adapted by Paul Muldoon & Jean Hanff Korelitz, directed by Ciarán O’Reilly, featuring Kate Baldwin (Gretta Conroy), Christopher Innvar (Gabriel Conry), Úna Clancy (Aunt Kate), and Mary Beth Peil (Aunt Julia), with Heather Bixler, Terry Donnelly, Karen Killeen, Michael Kuhn, Aedín Moloney, Michael Mellamphy, Jodie Sweeney, Gary Troy, Úna Clancy, opens at Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep.
The Happiest Man on Earth, by Mark St. Germain, directed by Ron Lagomarsino, starring Kenneth Tigar (Eddie Jaku), opens at the UK’s Southwark Playhouse.
Second Stage Theater‘s Cult of Love, by Leslye Headland, directed by Trip Cullman, featuring David Rashe, Mare Winningham, Molly Bernard, Roberta Colindrez, Barbie Ferreira, Rebecca Henderson, Christopher Lowell, Zachary Quinto, Christopher Sears, Shailene Woodley, Peter Bradbury, Billy Cohen, Vero Maynez, Rachel Prather, and Luisa Sermol, begins previews at Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theater.
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Reviews for Swept Away at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre:
New York Times (Jesse Green): If you know the tale of the yacht Mignonette, or the Avett Brothers album of the same name, you’ll guess from the first moments of Swept Away, a Broadway musical based on both, where the horrific story is headed. But you may not guess how spectacularly it gets there… How will we face our own last voyages? That the characters are identified by titles rather than names suggests the show’s morality-tale ambitions… Those ambitions are a bit grand, and the book, by John Logan, seems to struggle as well with the size of the material… The themes are overdrawn, the four main characters too neatly representing four poles of humanity. But there’s no denying that, once it gets going, the structure, unlike the ship’s, is sturdy…
Chicago Tribune (chris Jones): …it’s not just the musical sound, either. The Bros. Avett are narrative lyricists inclined toward throbbing, epic imagery…“Will I join with the ocean blue?,” they wrote. “Or run into a savior true?” Good question. Even though Broadway does not typically pull the core Avett Brothers audience, their songs are interesting fodder for a jukebox musical… tells a seafaring tale taking place at the moment when paraffin and kerosene were dealing a fatal blow to the storied whaling industry that once sent lonely seafarers perilously hurtling all over the world’s oceans, seeking blubber, if hardly Moby-Dick… an unusual Broadway show.
New York Stage (Frank Scheck): Despite its title, Swept Away is not a musicalization of the classic Lina Wertmuller film (or its abysmal Madonna-starring American remake). Rather, the show featuring the songs of the popular band The Avett Brothers is a dark, fable-like tale, inspired by a real event, about the fateful aftermath of a shipwreck. It’s strong stuff, and hardly the sort of musical for tourists simply looking for a fun time. But this superbly staged and acted production exerts a powerful, hypnotic force that demands attention and respect… hose thumbnail descriptions are pretty much it when it comes to the characterizations which are skimpy at best and reflect the weakness of the book by John Logan… That storm…is an undeniable highlight of the show…
Theatermania (David Gordon) …Accentuated with songs by the Americana band the Avett Brothers, exceptional direction by Michael Mayer, and a thrilling scenic shift by Rachel Hauck, Swept Away is one of the most menacing musicals I’ve ever seen. That’s the good thing. The bad thing is that it’s boring… There is cannibalism in this 90-minute musical. Hey — it worked for Sondheim, right?… The shipwreck that happens midway through Swept Away is one of the most effective sequences that I’ve seen onstage in a very long time. What’s most remarkable is how simple and practical it is… With a few exceptions, Swept Away tends to be more exciting in theory than in practice…
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending November 17:
Click here for the complete analysis.
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DC’s Signature Theatre will present a free reading of KJ Moran Velz’s Mother Mary on Mon. Dec. 2 at 7 PM, directed by Charlotte La Nasa.
TBA.
In 1968, lesbian Puerto Rican taxi driver Jo Cruz knows the streets of Boston like the back of her hand, but no road map can prepare her for meeting Mary O’Sullivan, an Irish Catholic school teacher with a boyfriend. Despite rising tensions between their communities, Mary and Jo start connecting over daily rides to work and sparks fly. But their friendship takes a turn when Mary discovers she is pregnant and the two embark on a risky road trip to obtain an abortion in this romcom about choice and the women who choose.
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Mint Theater Company will present Harold Brighouse’s Garside’s Career Feb. 1 – Mar. 15, 2025 (opening Feb. 20) at Theatre Row, directed by Matt Dickson.
Daniel Marconi, and more TBA.
The story of Peter Garside’s soaring flight from working engineer to member of Parliament, propelled by a ‘silver tongue’ and an insatiable fascination with his power to persuade: “You don’t know the glorious sensation of holding a crowd in the hollow of your hand, mastering it, doing what you like with it.” Peter’s fiancé knows the danger of Peter’s fascination, “The itch to speak is like the itch to drink, except that it’s cheaper to talk yourself tipsy.”
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A Very Streaming Christmas, written & directed by Gregg Ostrin, will run Nov. 22 – Dec. 22 at Venice, CA’s Pacific Resident Theater.
. Meredith Riley Stewart, David Clayberg, Katy Downing, Sarah Brooke, Michael Rothhaar, Taubert Nadalini, and Fern Lim.
When a cynical TV executive hired to take over a failing Holiday-themed TV network finds herself in one of her own Christmas TV movies, her only way out is to learn to embrace the holiday spirit. It’s a fun journey through a world where all your favorite seasonal rom-com tropes come to life!
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Michael Thurber & Jocelyn Bioh’s Goddess will run Apr. 29 – June 1, 2025 (opening May 20) at The Public Theater, directed by Saheem Ali, with choreography by Darrell Grand Moultrie.
Nick Rashad Burroughs (Ahmed), Amber Iman (Nadira), Jarica Jackson (Rashida), J Paul Nicholas (Hassan), Destinee Rea (Cheche), Austin Scott (Omari), and Reggie White (Balozi), with Melissie Clari, Isio-Maya Nuwere), Teshomech Olenja, Awa Sal Secka, Quiantae Thomas, and Wade Watson
A mysterious singer arrives at Moto Moto, a steamy Afro-jazz club in Mombasa, Kenya. She casts an entrancing spell on everyone, including a young man who has returned home from studying in America. Will the big plans for his life—stepping into a political legacy and marrying his fiancée—be upended? Inspired by the myth of Marimba, the Goddess who created beautiful songs from her heartbreak, this is a rousing tale of romance, the supernatural, and the quest towards one’s truest self.
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The Rehearsal Club will present What a Wonderful World on Mon. Nov. 20 at 7 PM at NYC’s Laurie Beechman Theatre, directed by Lou Barber & Patrice Soriero.
Diane Findlay, Mary Lou Barber, Denise Pence, and Alyssa Payne.
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Simon Rich’s All In: Comedy About Love will run Jan. 14 – Feb. 2, 2025 at the Hudson Theatre, directed by Alex Timbers.
John Mulaney (Dec. 11-Jan. 12), Fred Armisen (Dec. 11-Jan. 12), Renée Elise Goldsberry (Dec. 11–29), Richard Kind (Dec. 11–Jan. 12), Lin-Manuel Miranda (Jan. 14 -Feb. 16), Aidy Bryant (Jan. 14-Feb. 2), Andrew Rannells (Jan. 14-26), Nick Kroll (Jan. 14 -Feb. 2), Jimmy Fallon (Jan. 28 -Feb. 2), David Cross (Feb. 4-9), Annaleigh Ashford (Feb. 4-16), Tim Meadows (Feb. 4-16), and Hank Azaria (Feb. 11-16)
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East West Players‘ Pacific Overtures, directed by Tim Dang, has been extended through Dec. 8 at LA’s David Henry Whang Theater.
Jon Jon Briones (The Reciter) and Gedde Watanabe Shogun’s Mother/Old Man), Scott Keiji Takeda (Thief), Brian Kim McCormick (Kayama), Adam Kaokept (Manjiro), Kerry K. Carnahan (Lorde Abe), Ashley En-Fu Matthews (Tamate), Kavin Panmeechao (British Admiral), Kurt Kanazawa (Fisherman), Sittichai Chaiyahat (Warrior), Nina Kasuya (Dutch Admiral), Aric Martin (Madam / French Admiral) Gemma Pedersen (American Admiral/Boy), Kit Dezolt (Commodore Perry, and Norge Yip (Russian Admiral) with Jordan Fan and Jonah Meyer,
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York Theatre Company will present the world premiere of Jimmy Roberts, Catherine Fillous & John Daggett’s Welcome to the Big Dipper, to run Nov. 21- Dec. 29 (opening Nov. 26) at Theatre at St. Jeans, directed by DeMone, with choreography at Ashley Marinelli, and music direction by Beth Falcone.
Jennifer Byrne (Bonnie Haskins), Robert Cuccioli (Amos King), Christian Magby (Dez), Jillian Louis (Sarah Smucker), Mia Pinero (Rebecca King), Jayae Riley, Jr (Carly), Demone Seraphin (Mr. Sapper), Pablo Torres (Eli Stolzfus), Debra Walton (Joan Wilkes), and Michael Yeshoin (Jacky Barnes), with Darius Harper, Jillian Louis, Ella Olesen, and Erik Chark.
The Big Dipper, an historic inn nestled in Bigelow, New York, near Niagara Falls, has been in Joan Wilkes’s family for decades and is on the brink of closure when a monster blizzard forces two wildly disparate groups of travelers to shelter in place. For three days and nights, within the walls of this sprawling house, secrets are revealed, young love ignites, and lives are changed forever
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Elton John, the Scissor Sisters Jake Shears & James Graham’s Tammy Faye, which played 24 previews and 29 regular performances, has abruptly announced its closing on Dec. 8 at the Palace Theatre, directed by Rupert Goold.
Katie Brayben (Tammy Fay), Christian Borle (Jim Bakker), Nick Bailey (Paul Crouch), Charl Brown (Steve Pieters), Mark Evans (Billy Graham), Allison Guinn (Jan Crouch), Ian Lassiter (Jimmy Swaggart/Ronald Reagan/Archbishop), Raymond J. Lee (John Fletcher), Max Gordon Moore (Thomas S. Monson/Marvin Gorman), Alana Pollard (Jessica Hahn), and Andy Taylor (Pat Robertson/Ted Turner), and Autumn Hurlbert (alternate Tammy Fay), with Amanda Clement, Michael Di Liberto, Jonathan Duvelson, Lily Kaufmann, Denis Lambert, Elliott Mattox, Brittany Nicholas, Kevin Quillon, Aveena Sawyer, Allysa Shorte, TJ Tapp, Daniel Torres, and Dana Wilton.