Today’s Highlights:
A Raisin in the Sun new revival by Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Robert O’Hara, featuring Francois Battiste (Walter Lee Younger), Toussaint Battiste (Travis Younger alternate), John Clay III (Joseph Asaggi), Calvin Dutton (Bobo), Mister Fitzgerald (George Murchison), Perri Gaffney (Mrs. Johnson), Paige Gilbert, Mandi Masden (Ruth Younger), Camden McKinnon Travis Younger alternate), Jesse Pennington (Karl Lindner), Tonya Pinkins (Lena Younger), and N’yomi Stewart, with Skyler Gallun and N’yomi Stewart, opens at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater.
Chester Bailey, by Joseph Dougherty, directed by Ron Lagomarsino, featuring Reed Birney and Ephraim Birney, opens at Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep.
The Year of Magical Thinking, Keen Company‘s site-specific production, by Joan Didion, directed by Jonathan Silverstein, starring Kathleen Chalfant, staged entirely in non-traditional theatre spaces throughout NYC, begins previews.
A Single Man, world premiere by Simon Reade, directed by Philip Wilson, featuring Theo Fraser Steele (George), Rachel Pickup (Charley), Freddie Gaminara (multiple roles), Phoebe Pryce (multiple roles), and Miles Molan (Kenny/Jim), begins previews at London’s Park Theatre.
King Hamlin, by Gloria Williams, directed by Lara Genovese, featuring Harris Cain, Andrew Evans, Inaam Barwani, and Kiza Deen, begins previews at London’s Park Theatre.
Lend Me a Tenor, by Ken Ludwig, directed by Todd Nielsen, featuring Michael Scott Harris (Tito Merelli), Jade Santana (Maria), Barry Pearl (Henry Saunders), Nick Tubbs (Max), Bella Hicks Maggie), Holly Jeanne (Julia), Kailyn Leilani (Diana), and Matt Curtin (Bellhop), begins previews at Long Beach’s International City Theatre.
Love Online cabaret, directed by directed by Joseph Hayward, featuring Diane Love and Jay Nickerson, at 7 PM at Off-Broadway’s Laurie Beechman Theatre (also Nov. 2).
Joey Arias in concert at 7 PM at Palm Springs’ Oscar’s.
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Reviews for the world premiere of The Notebook at Chicago’s Shakespeare Theatre:
Chicago Sun Times (Steven Oxman) I simply was not expecting to fall in love with The Notebook… But what we see at Chicago Shakespeare is a pre-Broadway production that is not just safe for the skeptical. It’s a significant leap in artistic quality over its sources…providing a clear, resonant, and unique voice of its own… Brunstetter…and Michaelson…adapt — in the best sense of the word — The Notebook into what feels like a deeply personal expression… The book and score blend together so seamlessly that you can’t always tell them apart… Michaelson’s songs are just beautiful, her lyrics poetic and specific…
Daily Herald (Barbara Vitello)… beautifully sung and acted and gracefully staged… Maryann Plunkett (whose eloquence and honesty earned sustained applause opening night) and the equally impressive Jerome Harmann Hardeman (filling in for John Beasley) play long-married, elderly Allie and Noah… Funny and lyrical, Bekah Brunstetter’s book shifts between the present and the past to tell Noah and Allie’s story… the show’s most emotionally provocative moment comes courtesy of “I Wanna Go Back,” a moving expression of longing that comes near the end of the first act…
New City Stage (Dennis Polkow)… the master stroke was recruiting folk-pop singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson to write the songs and lyrics… Equally significant is how organically the music enhances the narrative, what it can communicate that words alone cannot. Here, the answer is everything… Michaelson’s compositional voice remains so consistent through all of the music that we do not notice nor care about the shift back and forth… The beauty of this is that all three Noahs, for instance, can sing in unison or harmony at the same time… this show consistently turns upside down our normal expectations of time….
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending Oct. 16. Click here for the complete analysis.
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The world premiere of Arlene Hutton’s According to the Chorus will run Oct. 21 – Dec. 11 at North Hollywood’s Road on Magnolia, directed by Emily Chase.
Samantha Tan (KJ), Avery Clyde (Audrey), Amy Tolsky (Brenda), Juan Pope (Peter), Meeghan Holloway (Mallory), Jacqueline Mesaye (Nicki), Julia Manis (Linda), Gloria Ines (Monica), Kristyn Evelyn (Jessica), Sorel Carradine (Joyce), Mara Klein (Stacie), Danny Lee Gomez (Van), and Fox (Olivia the Dog).
In the basement quick change room of a Broadway theatre in the mid 1980s, life is full of angst as the long-running production may close at any time and the chorus women are at war with the wardrobe department. Will the new dresser, with her own sad past and uncertain future, be able to navigate this minefield? A funny, nostalgic behind-the-scenes look at a pivotal period in the history of Broadway where women’s issues and the AIDS crisis play out through the everyday lives of Equity performers and union dressers.
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Bess Wohl’s Camp Siegfried will run Oct. 26 – Dec. 4 (opening Nov. 15) at the Tony Kiser Theatre, directed by David Cromer.
Johnny Berchtold and Lily McInerny
During a golden summer at the real-life Camp Siegfried, a picturesque campground on Long Island, two teenagers find themselves on a collision course with youthful passion and unbridled extremism. Are they falling in love or falling for something more sinister? Set on the cusp of World War II, this boy-meets-girl-meets-cautionary tale about the seductive nature of fascism reveals a shocking part of America’s past and reminds us how easily darkness can sneak up on us.
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Video: Broadway’s KPOP performs “This is My Korea”
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The 28-track studio cast recording of Will Reynolds & Eric Price’s “The Violet Hour” will be released Nov. 4 on all digital platforms.
Santino Fontana (John), Jeremy Jordan (Denny), Brandon Uranowitz (Gidger), Erika Henninsen (Rosamund), and Solea Pfeiffer (Jessie).
Based on the 20o3 Broadway play by Richard Greenberg, the term The Violet Hour refers to that magical moment between afternoon and evening when the whole world stops and everything feels possible. This album was created at a moment when our world stopped, theaters were dark, and yet we sill believed that everything was possible.
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LA’s Center Theatre Group has just announced Ticket Drop Tuesdays, a new ticketing option for audiences starting Oct. 18. Created to encourage everyone to the theatre, this new initiative will make shows at the Center Theatre Group more accessible to everyone in Los Angeles.
On Tuesdays, theatre patrons will be able to purchase tickets for a flat $20 rate, all fees will be waived with the code TUESDAY20. A limited number of tickets will be made available every Tuesday at 12 PM, with new shows and ticket locations released each week.
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Into the Woods will run Nov. 8 – Jan. 28, 2023 at VA’s Signature Theatre, directed & choreographed by Matthew Gardiner.
Christopher Bloch (Narrator/Mysterious Man), Kurt Boehm (Steward), Simone Brown (Rapunzel), Alex De Bard (Little Red Riding Hood), Sherri L. Edelen (Jack’s Mother), Crystal J. Freeman (Cinderella’s Mother/Granny), Vincent Kempski (Cinderella’s Prince/Wolf), Jake Loewenthal (The Baker), David Merino (Jack), Adelina Mitchell (Florinda), Katie Mariko Murray (Cinderella), Nova Y. Payton (The Witch), Lawrence Redmond (Cinderella’s Father), Maria Rizzo (Cinderella’s Stepmother), Paul Scanlan (Rapunzel’s Prince), Erin Weaver (The Baker’s Wife), and Chani Wereley (Lucinda), with Drake Leach, Julia Wheeler Lennon, Dylan Toms, and Cassandra Victoria
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“Sondheim Unplugged: The NYC Sessions – Volume Three” will be released Nov. 18 on a two-disc CD set, as well as streaming & digital options.
George Lee Andrews, Danielle Ferland, Joy Franz, Annie Golden, Teri Ralston, Ken Jennings, Pamela Winslow Kashani, Pamela Myers, Sarah Rice, Melanie Vaughan, and Jim Walton.
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Rhiannon Giddens & Michael Abels’ Omar will run Oct. 22 – Nov. 13 at LA Opera, conducted by Kazem Abdullah. Tickets start at just $15.
Jamez McCorkle (Omar), Daniel Okulitch (2 different enslavers), Norman Garrett (Omar’s brother), Barry Banks (Auctioneer), and Jacqueline Echols (Julie).
In 1807, a 37-year-old scholar living in West Africa was captured and forced aboard a ship bound for Charleston, South Carolina. Omar Ibn Said’s life and Muslim faith are remembered and retold in this inspirational West Coast premiere inspired by his remarkable 1831 autobiography (the only known surviving American slavery narrative written in Arabic).
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Manhattan Theatre Club has announced complete casting for Anthony McCarten’s The Collaboration, to begin previews Nov. 29 and open Dec. 20 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah.
Paul Bettany (Warhol), Jeremy Pope (Basquiat), Krysta Rodriguez (Maya), and Erik Jensen (Bruno Bischofberger).
In the summer of 1984, longtime international superstar Andy Warhol and the art scene’s newest wunderkind, Jean-Michel Basquiat, agree to work together on what may be the most talked about exhibition in the history of modern art. But can these two creative giants co-exist, or even thrive?
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“Welcome to Chippendales” will begins streaming Nov. 22 on Hulu.
Annaleigh Ashford, Robin de Jesús, Andrew Rannells, Kumail Nanjiani, Murray Bartlett, Juliette Lewis, and Quentin Plair.
This sprawling true-crime saga tells the outrageous story of Somen “Steve” Banerjee, and Indian immigrant who became the unlikely founder of the world’s greatest male-stripping empire-and let nothing stand in his way process.
Video: Trailer
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Lindsey Hope Perlman’s ’60s jukebox musical, A Sign of the Times, will hold a series of developmental readings Oct. 24-28 at NYC’s Open Jar Studios, directed by Gabriel Barre, with choreography by JoAnn M. Hunter, and music supervision by Joseph Church. Click here to learn more about the show.
Chilina Kenney (Cindy), Ryan Silverman, CJ Pawlikowski, Caitlin Kinnuunen, Ryah Nixon, Lauren Boyd, Brad Bradley, Melessie Clark, Jeremy Gaston, Aaron Kaburick, Chani Maisonet, Alexandra Matteo, and Ralph Meitzler.
The year is 1965. The pulse of a changing era lures Cindy from Middle America to the swirl of New York. Set against the backdrop of women’s liberation, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War, she pursues her passion of making a difference in the world.
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An Intimate Evening with David Foster and Katharine McPhee will take place Sat. Mar. 4 at CA’s Cerritos CPA.
Tickets will go on sale Oct. 21.