GRACE NOTES: Wednesday, November 5, 2025

 

Today’s Highlights:

 

  Manhattan Theatre Club‘s Queens, by Martyna Majok, directed by Tripp Cullman, featuring Brooke Bloom, Anna Chlumsky, Sharlene Cruz, Marin Ireland, Julia Lester, Nadine Malouf, Andrea Syglowski, and Nicole Villamil, opens at Off-Broadway’s NY City Center.

 

  York Theatre‘s Gotta Dance, written & directed by Nikki Feirt Atkins, featuring Jessica Lee Goldyn, Brandon Burks, Anthony Cannarella, Barton Cowperthwaite, Deanna Doyle, Paloma Garcia-Lee, Afra Hines, Jess LeProtto, Kendall Leshanti, Drew Minard, Georgina Pazcoguin, Samantha Siegel, Taylor Stanley, and Blake Zelesnikar, begin previews at Off Broadway’s Theatre at St. Jeans.

 

  Table 17, by Douglas Lyons, directed by Zhailon Levingston, featuring Gail Bean (Snowfall,(as Jada), Biko Eisen-Martin (Dallas),  and Michael Rishawn (River, Eric & Others ), begins previews at LA’s Geffin Playhouse.

 

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  Broadway Grosses for the week ending Nov. 2.

 

Click here for the complete analysis.

 

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  Sweeney Todd will run Jan. 30 – Feb. 22, 2o26 (opening Jan. 31),  at CA’s La Mirada Theatre, directed by Jason Alexander, with music direction by Darryl Archibald, and choreography by Lee Martino.

 

 Will Swenson (Sweeney Todd) and Lesli Margherita (Mrs. Lovett), with more TBA. 

 

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  Red Bull Theater‘s Richard II continues through Nov. 30 at the Astor Place Theatre, adapted & directed by Craig Baldwin.

 

 Michael Urie, Grantham Coleman, Ron Canada, Kathryn Meisle, David Mattar Merten, Lux Pascal, James Seol, Daniel Stewart Sherman, Ryan Spahn, Emily Swallow, Sarin Monae West.

 

  Ambition and betrayal reign supreme in this electrifying reimagining of Shakespeare’s poetic masterpiece. Set in 1980s Manhattan, the neon skyline and shadowy backrooms become an epic battleground of identity and power, where a king’s divine right crumbles beneath the weight of human frailty. Michael Urie’s virtuosic performance and Craig Baldwin’s inventive adaptation make Richard’s tragic descent freshly immediate, staged a stone’s throw from the site of the historic Astor Place Riots, the original American cocktail of politics, insurrection, and Shakespeare.

 

  Video: Unlocking  Shakespeare, at Off-Broadway’s Richard II with star Michael Urie and director Craig Baldwin.

 

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Drew Droege’s Messy White Gays continues through Nov. 8 at the Duke on 42nd Street, directed by Mike Donahue.

 

  Drew Droege, James Cusati-Moyer, Aaron, Jackson, Zane Phillips, and Pete Zias.

 

  A sharp-penned and quick-witted diarist of the contemporary homosexual—shines a harsh overhead light on the pores of White Gaydom, revealing what happens when throuples crumble, neighbors bicker, and rich and pretty clash with hot and dumb. It’s Sunday morning in Hell’s Kitchen. Brecken and Caden have just murdered their boyfriend and stuffed his body into a Jonathan Adler credenza. Unfortunately, they’ve also invited friends over for brunch. And they’re out of limes! Feel bad for them! They’re messy white gays!

 

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  La Bohème will run Nov. 22 – Dec. 14 at LA Opera, conducted by Lina González-Granados, at LA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

 

  Janai Brugger (Mimi), Orstete Cosimpo (Rodolfo), Erica Petrocelli (Musetta), Gihoon Kim  ()Marcello), William Guanbo Su (coilnne), Emmett O’hanlon (Schaunard), Rod Gilfry (Benoît/Alcindoro), and Nathan Bowles (Parpignol)

 

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  Pygmalion, directed by David Staller, continues through Nov. 22 at Theatre Row.

 

 Carson Elrod (Colonel Hugh Pickering), Mark Evans (Henry Higins), Synnove Karlesn (Eliza Doolittle), Teresa Avia Lim (Clara Eynsford-Hill), Lizan Mittchell (Mros. Higgin/Mrsl. Pearce), and Matt Wolpe (Freddy Eynsford Hill/Alfred Doolittle).

 

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 Gingold Theatrical Group‘s 20th Anniversary Grand Celebration will take place Mon. Dec, 1 at Off-Broadway’s The Players.

 

  Danny Burstein, Donna McKechnie, and Gray Coleman.

 

 Charles Busch, John-Andrew Morrison, Christine Pedi, Thom Sesma, with special performances by Stephen Schwartz and surprise guests.

 

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  Open Door Playhouse will present Gary B. Lamb’s The Wish beginning Nov. 19, directed by the playwright.

 

  Michael Fletcher (Jack), Caitlin Bell (Laura), Annette Homewood (Sally), and Dennis Gersten (Old Man).

 

  Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. After Jack rescues an Old Man in distress, Jack finds he now has the ability to instantly manifest anything he wishes. Sounds great? Well, it’s not so simple.

 

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  Catie Hogan,Leanna Adams, John D. Babcock III, Casey Holloway, Julie Shaer & Brian Troxell’s Vape! The Grease Parody, continues through Jan. 24, 2026 at Theatre 555.

 

  Lara Strong (Sandy), Scott Silagy (Danny), SLee (Rizzo), Rayan Avoux (Kenickie), Krisn Amanda Smith (Frenchy), Meg Guiney (Marty), Dante Brattelli (Sonny), and Jen Clark (Jan).

 

An hilariously unhinged spoof of the iconic and timeless musical Grease. The show pokes loving fun at all of the wonderful moments, sexual innuendos, outrageous characters, rivalries and secret romances from the original. The hair products may have changed, but the drama, the rivalries, and the thirst for hallway clout remain timeless. It’s the musical you know and love… but dragged through a cloud of strawberry-scented vapor and a TikTok filter. …It’s the show that you want (…Ooh! Ooh! Ooh, honey!)

 

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  Bipolar & The English Channel, written & performed by Julie Ridge, will run Dec. 3-14 at Theatre Row.

 

  In 1982, Julie Ridge swam the English Channel. In 1983, she became the first person to swim two consecutive laps around Manhattan Island, earning her a guest appearance on the David Letterman Show. A near decade later, she found herself on an unforgiving psychiatric ward with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. This solo show chronicles how her life with bipolar disorder has paralleled her unlikely swim across the grey murky seas of the English Channel. This is the tale of how a casual mile-a-day pool lap swimmer became an English Channel swimmer in 9 months and her 18-hour zig-zag traverse from England to France. Act II tells the less glamorous story of how a Broadway-actor/record-holding-athlete wound up on an unforgiving psychiatric ward 9 years later with a bipolar diagnosis and her rigorous journey back to a rich and fulfilling life.

 

 


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