Today’s Highlights:
Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic, directed by Torya Beard, featuring Ayodele Casel, Amanda Castro, Naomi Funaki, John Manzari, Anthony Morigerato, and Kurt Csolak, opens at Cambridge’s A.R.T.
The Thanksgiving Play, by Larissa FastHorse, directed by Raymond O. Caldwell, featuring Megan Graves (Logan), Parker Drown (Jaxton), David Schlumpf (Caden), and Dani Stoller (Alicia), begins previews at MD’s Olney Theatre.
“Drinks, Jokes and Storytelling” live podcast by Richchie Byrne & Mark Riccadonna, with Kathy Fitzgerald and Tom Cotter, at 7 PM ET at NYC’s Westside Comedy Club.
Hairspray, directed by Jack O’Brien, featuring Michael Ball (Edna Turnblad), Lizzie Bea (Tracy Turnblad), Les Dennis (Wilbur Turnblad), Jonny Amies (Link Larkin), Marisha Wallace (Motormouth Maybelle), Rita Simons (Velma Von Tussle), Georgia Anderson (Amber Von Tussle), Kimani Arthur (Inez), Dermot Canavan (Male Authority Figure), Lori Haley Fox (Female Authority Figure), with Mari McGinlay (Penny Pingleton) Ashley Samuels (Seaweed J Stubbs), Michael Vinsen (Corny Collings), Imogen Bailey (Shelly), and many more, closes at the London Coliseum.
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Reviews for Bedlam’s Persuasion at Off-Broadway’s Connolly Theatre:
New York Stage Review (David Finkle): Bedlam is presenting Jane Austen’s final novel, Persuasion …as a production for our times. This may sound like good news. It isn’t. To use a word Austen frequently turns to, it’s vexing… The momentous literary point is that Persuasion chronicles an era when the English upper classes, traveling by coach or steed between Bath and Lyme, kept their emotions to themselves, not their opinions necessarily but their deepest feelings… Neither director Tucker nor adapter Kearns… give Persuasion such a reading…
New York Theatre (Jonathan Mandell): …Given the track record — of their [Bedlam] productions, and of my reaction to them — I had good reason to expect that I would feel as nourished, impressed and entertained by Bedlam’s “Persuasion,” which is being presented Off-Off Broadway at the Connelly Theater through October 31, 2021. And indeed I was wholeheartedly engaged with the play –- for the last 15 minutes. The previous two hours — not so much…. As talented as the Bedlam company is, the cast of ten (large for Bedlam) perform (by my count) 28 roles, taxing my ability (willingness?) to follow it all…
Time Out New York (Naveen Kumar): …a gleeful if ultimately overstuffed exercise in diversion… Austen’s Persuasion lives especially close to its heroine’s point of view, so it makes sense that Capper’s Anne often feels like the only fully formed person on stage. With the exception of Wentworth (a quiet, brooding type), most of the others in her orbit read as caricatures. The dizzying melee that carries Anne right back to where she started can be amusing, but it doesn’t always sweep us up.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor.” ~ Neil Simon
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Video: Stars in the House, celebrating the Tonys, with special guests Brenda Braxton, Melba Moore, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Matthew Lopez and more. (1:20:47)
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Video: Stars in the House, a Boq VS Fiero Game Night, with special guests Andy Karl, Justin Guarini, Andy Mientus, and F. Michael Haynie. (2:07:59)
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Roundabout has announced additional casting for Alice Childress’ Trouble in Mind, to begin previews Oct. 19 and open Nov. 18 at the American Airlines Theatre, directed by Charles Randolph-Wright.
LaChanze (Wiletta), Michael Zegen (Al Manners), Chuck Cooper (Sheldon Forrester), Danielle Campbell (Judy Shears), Jessica Frances Dukes (Millie Davis), Brandon Michael Hall (John Nevins), Simon Jones (Henry), Alex Mickiewicz (Eddie Fenton), and Don Stephenson (Bill O’Wray).
The play follows an experienced Black stage actress through rehearsals of a major Broadway production, while examining racism, identity, and ego in the world of New York theatre. The play opened Off-Broadway in 1955.
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane, adapted by Joel Horwood, will run Oct. 26 – Feb. 12, 2022 at the Duke of York’s Theatre, directed by Katy Rudd.
Ruby Ablett, James Banford, Emma Bown, Charlie Cameron, Jeff D’Sangalang, and Kieran Garland.
Returning to his childhood home, a man finds himself standing beside the pond of the old Sussex farmhouse where he used to play. He’s transported to his 12th birthday when his friend Lettie claimed it wasn’t a pond, but an ocean… Plunged into a magical world, their survival depends on their ability to reckon with ancient forces that threaten to destroy everything around them.
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Linda Purl & Billy Stritch – In The Mood: Songs For Jumping Back Into Life will take place Sun. Nov. 7 at 7 PM at NYC’s Birdland.
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San Francisco’s 42nd Street Moon has announced its 2021-22 season:
A Little Night Music (Nov. 4-21), directed by Brandon Jackson, with music direction by Daniel Thomas.
Fun Home (Feb. 3-20, 2022), directed by Tracy Ward, with music direction by Dave Dobrusky.
A Grand Night for Singing (Mar. 10-27), directed & choreographed by Cindy Goldfield.
The Scottsboro Boys (Apr. 21 – May 8), directed by Brandon Jackson, with music direction by Daniel Alley.
The Pajama Game (June 2-19), directed by Amy Marie Haven, with music direction by Armando Fox.
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Virginia Stage has announced its productions of Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise and with Jeanne Sakat’s Hold These Truths, to run in rep Oct. 17 – Nov. 7 at the Wells Theatre, directed by Seema Sueko.
(Dear Jack, Dear Louise): Dan Fenaughty (Jack) and Larissa Klinger (Louise). The story of a military doctor and a Broadway chorus performer’s unlikely romance, entirely via letters, during WWII.
(We Hold These Truths): Greg Watanabe. Sakata’s brutally honest and sincere retelling of the lived experience of Gordon Hirabayashi, told from the perspective of the Asian-American Sociologist who openly spoke out against the internment of Japanese citizens during WWII.
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Video: The cast of Broadway’s Caroline, or Change on “Good Morning America.”
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Sherry Vine and Jackie Beat: Frenemies will take place Fri. Oct. 1 at 8:30 PM PT at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club.
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David E. Talbert is developing a new musical series for Disney Branded Television, “Madelyn Square Gardens.” Casting, timeline, and additional information TBA.
The series will follow a young girl who moves from Mississippi to New York City to attend an elite performing arts school and pursue her dream of becoming a Broadway star.
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Video: First look at Mystic Pizza at ME’s Ogunquit Playhouse.
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Theater for a New City has announced complete casting for Will Eno’s Gnit, which will run Oct. 30 – Nov. 21 (opening Nov. 7) at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center, directed by Oliver Butler.
Jordan Bellow (Stranger 1), Joe Curnutte (Peter), Christy Escobar (Stranger 2), Deborah Hedwall (Mother), David Shih (Town), and Jasmine Batchelor (Solvay).
Peter Gnit is a carefree young man on a reckless search for Experience and the True Self. Armed with tales from his mother of his early greatness and his absent father, he heads out into the world. Like all true stories of human endeavor and adventure, Gnit is part horror story, part fairy tale, and part road movie.
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Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater will present a livestream reading of Pericles on Mon. Oct. 25 at 7:30 PM ET, directed by Kent Gash.
Grantham Coleman, Kimberly Chatterjee, Callie Holly, Mahira Kakkar, Jordan Mahome, Anthony Michael Martinez, and Craig Wallace.
A poet returns from the dead to tell the tale of Pericles, Prince of Tyre — the touching and hopeful tale of loss and reconciliation about a hero whose adventures take him through the turbulent waters of both the literal seas and the tumultuous challenges of life itself. His odyssey is an epic journey of discovery, loss, and ultimately, redemption.
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RIP: Mike Renzi, composer, music director, pianist, and jazz musician, has died at the age of 80.
Renzi was musical director for Peggy Lee and Mel Torme for over 25 years. He also worked on Sesame Street as the music director for seasons 31 through 40 and recorded “Our First Christmas” with singer Cynthia Crane and leads the Mike Renzi Trio.
He served as musical director for legends including Ruth Brown, Laverne Butler, Ann Hampton Callaway, Diahann Carroll, Freddy Cole, Cynthia Crane, Meredith D’Ambrosio, Blossom Dearie, Scott Hamilton, Lena Horne, Etta Jones, Jack Jones, Eartha Kitt, Steve Laspina, Cleo Laine, Peggy Lee, Jay Leonhart, Gloria Lynne, Maureen McGovern, Liza Minnelli, Gerry Mulligan, Mark Murphy, Houston Person, John Pizzarelli, Annie Ross, George Shearing, an eight-week tour with Frank Sinatra, Carol Sloane, Grady Tate.
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The special virtual benefit concert performance of Nice Work If You Can Get It, in loving memory of Rebecca Luker, in support of Project ALS, which was to have taken place last night, was postponed at the last minute.
The concert has been rescheduled to Fri. Dec. 17 at 8 PM ET here, hosted by Judy Kaye.
Jesse Walker (Jimmy Winter) , Ricky DeRosa (Cookie McGee), Dinanda Klaassen (Billie Bendix), Estelle Balsirow (Duchess Estonia Dulworth), Helene Ciappetta (Millicent Winter), Lola Maltz (Jeannie Muldoon), and Haley Rice (Eileen Evergreen), and more TBA.
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The Dramatists Guild has announced the creation of its first ever Inclusion Rider. As part of its commitment to fostering a more equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist industry, the Guild has crafted this Rider as a resource to support all dramatists and producers who have a desire to exercise these principles in the hiring of personnel involved in their productions.
This Inclusion Rider is intended to be a model addendum that will enable dramatists who choose to employ it to work with their producer to audition or interview, cast, and hire members of historically excluded groups wherever possible. Intended to facilitate a conversation between the theatre writer and the producer about equitable hiring practices, this rider may be attached to any agreement with a producer or theatre who intends to produce one’s play or musical. It includes hiring objectives for cast, crew, creative team, and artistic personnel, as well as recommended best practices for how to conduct auditions and interviews.
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Manhattan Theatre Club has announced that the official opening of Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s solo show Lackawanna Blues has been postponed to Oct. 7 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
The actor sustained a back injury last week, forcing the show to cancel weekend performances. Previews resumed last night.
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The “Pretty Little Liars” reboot will air on HBO Max on a date TBA.
Lea Salonga, Sharon Leal, Elena Goode, Mallory Bechtel, Bailee Madison, Chandler Kinney, Maia Reficco, Malia Pyles, Zaria, Alex Aiono, and Eric Johnson, with Carly Pope and Zakiya Young.
The reboot will be set in present day, 20 years after a series of tragic events almost ripped apart the blue-collar town of Millwood. A group of disparate teen girls find themselves tormented by an unknown assailant and made to pay for the secret sin their parents committed twenty years ago.
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Video: Harper Miles, Nya, and Nasia Thomas perform “Salty Teardrops” from Broadway’s Caroline, or Change.