Today’s Highlights:
Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, directed by Graham C King, featuring Haskell V. Anderson, Blaire Battle, Oscar Best, Olivia Braun, Tara Brown, David Clayberg, Michael Franco, Edward Hoke, James Morris, Gregg Ostrin, Sharron Shayne, and Katerina Tana, opens at LA’s Pacific Resident Theatre.
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The UK’s National Theatre Live’s production of Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession, directed by Dominic Cooke, will screen Sat. Dec. 13 at 3 PM at UCLA James Bridges Theater.
Imelda Staunton and Bessie Carter (Staunton’s real-life daughter).
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Mark Shanahan’s A Sherlock Carol continues through Dec. 21 at Lyric Stage Boston, directed by Ilyse Robbins.
Leigh Barrett, Christopher Chew, Mark Linehan, Paul Melendy, Michelle Moran, and Jon Vellante.
Moriarity is as dead as a doornail. Sherlock Holmes is depressed. Without his number one adversary, what the point of it all? Enter a grown-up Tiny Tim and the mysterious death of everyone’s favorite humbug and it’s a festive literary mash-up with surprises around every corner. this fresh and charming reimagining of two of the most beloved literary characters is a “Dickens” of a yuletide detective story that’s as “good as gold.”
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The Long Beach Nutcracker will run Dec. 13-14 & 20-21 at CA’s Long Beach Ballet.
Angela Carter (Clara), Mariano Sanz (Herr Shatlbaum), Ben Majors (Drosselmyer), Kerek Drilon (Nutcracker Prince), Megan Wilcox (Sugar Plum Fairy (1st weekend), Vitor Luis and Tara Ghassmeieh.
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The Broadway production of Ragtime has announced that Julie Benko will join the cast as Emma Goldman Jan. 9 – Mar. 29 at the Lincoln Center Theatre, directed by Lear deBessonet.
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The Phil Crosby Jazz Trio will take place Sun. Dec. 14 at 7 PM at LA’s Pacific Resident Theatre.
The concert will feature personal selections of songs made great by his illustrious grandfather, Bing Crosby, as well as tunes from the heart and tales from ‘The road….’
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Red Bull Theater‘s Richard II, directed by Craig Baldwin, starring Michael Urie, will continue through Dec. 21 at Off-Broadway’s Astor Place Theatre.
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Emily Goglia Presents The Limelight Club will take place Dec. 15 at 8 PM at West Hollywood’s Bar Lubitsch, with music director & pianist Anthony Zediker.
Benny Lipson, Juliette Goglia, and the legendary Harmony Boys (Aaron Matajasic, Al Rahn, Gabriel Oliva, and Michael Hoy).
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Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol continues through Dec. 23 at Boston’s Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, adapted Steve Wargo, and directed by Steven Maler.
Joey Tremblay (Ebenezer Scrooge), Munish Sharma (Bob Cratchit), Munish Sharmer (Bob Cratchit), alden Adair (Jacob Marley & Spirits), Katie Moore (Mrs. Cratchit), Adrian Chevalier (Fred, Youn Ebenzer), Danelle Charette (Belle, Fred’s Wife), Jaedan Balkwill (Tiny Tim-tinsel Cast), and Ruby Manera (Tiny Tim -garland Cast), Danelle (Belle/Fred’s Wife), Jaedan Balkwill(Little Ebenezer), and Ruby Manera (Little Ebenezer).
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Making a Show of Myself, written & performed by Mary Kate O’ Flanagan, will run Feb. 4 -Mar. 1 (opening Feb. 8) at Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep, directed by Will O’Connell.
A modern twist on the essential act of storytelling. Deceptively funny, unexpectedly moving, and ultimately uplifting, the play celebrates seanchas—the ancient Irish art of storytelling—carrying audiences from laughter through darkness and back into light.
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Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors will run Dec. 26 – Jan. 4 (opening Dec. 18) at NY City Opera, directed by Kenny Leon.
Joyce Didonato (Amahl’s Mother), Albert Rhodes Jr. (Amahl), Phillip boykin (King Balthazar), Joyce DiDonato (Amahl’s Mother), Albert Rhodes Jr.(Amahl), Phillip Boykin (King Balthazar), Bernard Holcomb (King Kaspar), Todd Tomas (Kink Melchior), and Johnathan McCullough (Page), with Jesse Barrett, Miastasha Gonzalez-Colón, Brian Jeffers, Kathryn McCreary, Manuel Palazzo, Bryanna Strickland, Natalie Trumm, Miguel Ángel Vásquez, Olivia Vote, Madeline Wright, Jason Zacher, Patrick Bessenbacher, Tynan Davis, Kingston Nahm-Korn.
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Huntington Theatre will present Joshua Harmon’s We Had a World will run Feb. 12 – Mar. 15 at Boston’s Calderwood Pavilion, directed by Keira Fromm.
Amy Fesnick (Renee), Eva Kaminsky (Ellen), and Will Conard (Joshua), with Jack Greenberg and Joanna Strapp.
A dying woman calls her grandson and asks him to write a play about their family. “But I want you to promise me something,” she says. “Make it as bitter and vitriolic as possible.” In this searing, funny, and deeply personal play, the author of Prayer for the French Republic recreates thirty years of family fights, monstrous behavior, enduring love, and unexpected dishes of home-cooked spaetzle.
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The world premiere of Michael Dukakis’s Punish Me will fun Jan. 28 – Feb. 25 at Hollywood’s Hudson Backstage Theatre, directed by Monique Sorgen.
Brianna Bell, Jaiden Blessing, Michael Dukakis, Dylan Griner, and Anuradha Senevi.
A screenwriter struggling to make it in Hollywood becomes trapped in an increasingly abusive relationship with a narcissist who threatens both his career dreams and his legal status in America.
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Richard III will run Feb.8 – Mar. 8 (opening Feb. 14 at Pasadena’s A Noise Within, directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos.
Ann Nobleas (Richard III), Lynn Robert Berg (Buckingham), Lesley Fera (Queen Elizabeth), Neill Fleming (King Edward IV), Samuel Garnett (Hastings), Wesley Guimarães (Richmond), Veralyn Jones (Duchess of York), Trisha Miller (Queen Margaret), Alex Neher (Rivers), Tony Pasqualini ( Stanley), Erika Soto (Lady Anne), and Randolph Thompson (Clarence), with Brendan Burgos, Vic Crusaos, Dominick Jaramillo, Micah Lanfer and Sean Umeda.
The play is re-set in 1970s Britain. Charismatic and contemptible in equal measure, burdened by physical challenges and consumed by ambition, Richard claws his way to the crown with unrelenting ferocity, removing all obstacles, and all people, in his path. Manipulating, marrying and murdering his way to the top with unmatched charm and zeal, Richard turns the audience into his unwitting accomplice: we root for him even as his plans grow ever more monstrous.