Today’s Highlights:
Primary Stages‘ Dig, written & directed by Theresa Rebeck, featuring Mary Bacon, Jeffrey Bean, Greg Keller, David Mason, Triney Sandoval, and Andrea Syglowski, opens at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters.
POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, by Selina Fillinger, directed by Annie Tippe, featuring Kim Blanck (Jean), Allison Guinn (Bernadette), Stephanie Pope Lofgren (Margaret), Deirdre Lovejoy (Harriet), Susan Lynskey (Stephanie), Stephanie Styles (Dusty (His Dalliance), and Dominique Ariel Toney (Chris), opens at Berkeley Rep.
The Rainmaker, by N. Richard Nash, directed by Andrew Branicle, featuring Richard Baird (Noah Curry), Andrew Barnicle (Sheriff Thomas), Andy Hoff ((File), Jeffrey Markle (H.C. Curry), James Taylor Odom (Bill Starbuck), Nick Tag (Jimmy Curry), and Lizzie Zerebko (Lizzie Curry), begins previews at Laguna Playhouse.
She Was Dick’s Tracie podcast, by Sandra Cruze, directed by Bernadette Armstrong, featuring Gary Lamb, David Purdham, Peter Bonoff and Maureen Davis, now available here.
**********************
Reviews for Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages:
Theatermania (Christian Lewis): Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen’s Dracula: … the comedy is broad, the small cast is often in drag, the jokes are all played with a wink to the audience… The acting is superb and the company works together so well. James Daly, as our sexy Count Dracula, is a sort of Gothic Dolly Levi, and the audience is enraptured every time he is onstage. He is as hilarious as he is handsome. Andrew Keenan-Bolger does great work with meek Jonathan, and his and Daly’s height difference makes for comedy gold. Jordan Boatman as Lucy, Jonathan’s fiancée, has a great take on the classic horror flick heroine, most memorably in an inspired boudoir moment where she effortlessly shimmies her lacey robe off one shoulder as she throws herself against a wall.
DC Theater Arts (Deb Miller): …Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen take an over-the-top parodic approach to the classic horror tale, in a high camp gender-bending post-modern reimagining, loaded with witty wordplay, pop-culture references, silly slapstick, sleight-of-hand tricks, and special effects that are bloody hilarious…. rapid-fire no-holds-barred direction… a laugh-out-loud mash-up of the Victorian era and now… An across-the-board all-in cast delivers the full-out zaniness with masterful comedic skill and split-second spot-on timing….
New York Stage Review (): …there’s very little chance you’ll die of fright. However, you may die laughing during its 90-minute run… Of course, you won’t want to expire until the show is over so you can savor every moment of the deliciously irreverent script by Steve Rosen and Gordon Greenberg (who also directed the production). It oh-so-cleverly mixes elements of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire novel with anachronistic, up-to-the-minute updates for maximum hilarity…
**********************
Broadway Grosses for the week ending Sept. 17:
Click here fore the complete analysis.
**********************
Joan of Arc: The Opera will take place Sat. Oct. 14 at 8 PM at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater, directed by J.A. Diaz & Andrew Bell, and conducted by Sergio Martinez Zangroniz.
Victor Starsky, Michael Nansel, LA Rivers, Michael Rudko, J.A. Diaz, Ashley Galvani Bell, Liana S. Afuni, Jan Mizushima, and Liana S. Afuni.
The opera features music from both Tchaikovsky’s Maid of Orleans and Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco, as well as text from Bernard Shaw’s St. Joan.
**********************
A reading of Ryan O’Connor’s The Cowards will take place Sat. Oct. 21 at 8 PM at Hollywood’s LGBT Center, directed by John Hill.
Marissa Jaret Winokur, Alexandra Billings, Brendan Jordan, Vico Ortiz, Ryan O’Connor, George Salazar, Charlie Barnett, Nhut Le, and Elle Deran.
An unapologetically queer adaptation of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever. The four members of a dysfunctional chosen family unithave each invited a surprise guest to their Provincetown, Massachusetts home for the weekend. What ensues is a biting, wicked comedy in which a batch of wildly unpleasant people make for uproarious entertainment.
**********************
Kansas City, MO’s Starlight Theatre has announced its 2024 season:
The Cher Show (May 18 – June 22)
Stomp (June 14-16)
The Little Mermaid (July 9-14)
Shrek (July 26-28)
Come From Away (Aug. 6-11)
West Side Story (Aug. 20-25)
Peter Pan (Sept. 17-22)
**********************
Eliza Frakes’ Certain Death and Other Considerations will run Sept. 24 – Oct. 15 at the Echo Theater Company (link TBA), directed by Eliza Frakes & Emma Pierce Rempel.
Kyrie Dawson, Eliza Frakes, Scott Lipman, Emma Pierce Rempel, Christian Skinner.
Living in a world doomed to end in exactly 80 years, Marc and Steph think that’s just enough time to have a baby. Meanwhile, Krista and Tom can’t even decide whether or not to adopt a cat. When Krista catches feelings for Marc and Steph’s surrogate, the layers of impending doom only get more complex.
**********************
Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana will Dec. 6 – Feb. 25, 2024 (opening Dec. 17) at the Signature Theatre, directed by Emily Mann.
Tim Daly, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Lea DeLaria, Austin Pendelton, Jean Lichty, Carmen Berkeley, Eliud Kauffman, Keith Randolph Smith, Bradley James Tejeda, Dan Teixeira, Carmen Berkeley, Eliud Kauffman, Keith Randolph Smith, Bradley James Tejeda, and Dan Teixeira.
A defrocked clergyman encounters inside disturbances amid outside disturbances during one stormy night at the Costa Verde Hotel in Acapulco as the world prepares for World War II. After four women of different ages and backgrounds, along with a 97-year-old poet, engage in the clergyman’s spiritual struggles, their lives leap dramatically forward. And the catalytic, defrocked clergyman survives the night.
**********************
A screening of C.P. Taylor’s Good, directed by Dominic Cooke, will take place Sat. Sept. 23 at UCLA’s James Bridges Theatre.
David Tennant
As the world faces its Second World War, John Halder, a good, intelligent German professor, finds himself pulled into a movement with unthinkable consequences.
**********************
Off-Broadway’s Abingdon Theatre Company will celebrate its 31st anniversary on Mon. Oct. 23 at 6 PM at NYC’s Edison Ballroom, directed by Chad Austen, with choreography by Deidre Goodwin, and music direction by Robbie Cowan.
V (formerly Eve Ensler) and Mary Beth Peil.
Michelle Williams, Rosario Dawson, Christine Ebersole, Katie Finneran, Laura Benanti, Kate Baldwin, L Morgan Lee, Mary Testa, Bianca Marroquín, Lesli Margherita, Scarlett Strallen, Dee Roscioli, Ilda Mason, Michelle Williams, Rosario Dawson, Christine Ebersole, Laura Benanti, Kate Baldwin, L Morgan Lee, Mary Testa, Bianca Marroquín, Lesli Margherita, Scarlett Strallen, Dee Roscioli, Ilda Mason, Bonnie Milligan, Jeannette Bayardelle, Carolee Carmello, Mandy Gonzalez, Samantha Pauly, Maria Bilbao, Kennedy Caughell, Kara Lindsay, Amy Hargreaves, Shereen Pimentel, and Carrie St. Louis.
**********************
The 24 Hour Plays will hold a special Los Angeles show to benefit the Entertainment Community Fund on Mon. Oct. 2 at Hollywood’s Hudson Theatres, (start time not listed). A limited number of disctounted tickets are available for WGA and SAG-AFTRA members.
Writers: Steve Yockey, Kristin Newman Ariana Berkowitz, Laura Jacqmin, Ken Greller, and more TBA
Directors: David Wain, Nick Lieberman, Bridey Elliott, Nell Teare, Lovell Holder , and more TBA.
Performers: Clark Gregg, Shannon Purser, Olivia Holt, Drew Tarer, Daryl Sabara, Jessica Rothe, Vico Ortiz, Francesca Reale, Nicole Kang, Lewis Pullman), Midori Francis, Nico Greetham, Lisa Gilroy, Josh Ruben, Alice Kremelberg, Coral Peña, Chelsea Frei and more TBA.
**********************
A concert presentation of David Bryan & Joe DiPietro’s revised Diana: The Musical will take place Mon. Dec. 4 at 7:30 PM at the Eventim Apollo, directed by Owen Horsley.
Kerry Ellis (Older Diana), Maiya Quansah-Breed (Younger Diana), Denise Welch (Queen), Breed Alice Fearn (Camilla Parker Bowles), Andy Coxon (Prince Charles), Jay Perry (James Hewitt), and Aleyna Mohanraj (Sarah Spencer)with an ensemble cast of students from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.
**********************
Gingold Gala 2023 will take place Sun. Oct. 29 at 6 PM at NYC’s Robbie’s Restaurant at Columbus Circle. Link, additional information, creative team, performers, and more TBA.
Ethan E. Liwin, Dr. Brian Saltzman, and Dr. Wilma Bulkin Siegel.
**********************
Ode to the Wasp Woman, written directed by Rider McDowell, will run Oct. 30 – Jan. 31, 2024 (opening Nov. 9) at the Actors Temple Theatre.
Sean Young (Susan Cabot) and more TBA.
The play follows the last 48 hours of four different 1950’s B movie stars who were either slain or discovered dead under disputed circumstances.