“If the British armed forces are not perhaps what they were on the world stage, they’re certainly world beaters in ceremony and ritual and pomp. We’re still good for theater.” — Dominic West, who plays Prince Charles in Season 5 of The Crown (NY Times)
New York is still good for theater too, although in a different way.
November 2022 New York Theater Openings
Broadway lineup for Thanksgiving Day Parade:
The Week in New York Theater Reviews
Almost Famous
t’s not dumb enough to be enjoyed as straight-out rock n roll — like, for example, the jukebox rock musical “Rock of Ages.” But at the same time, although it has its pleasures, “Almost Famous” is not quite smart enough to have been fully satisfying to me as musical theater. I remember loving the movie. I don’t feel as enthusiastic about the musical, even though the story is virtually identical
You Will Get Sick
Inventive stagecraft, watchable stars, a vague, artsy script: In his New York debut, playwright Noah Diaz arguably has a story he wants to tell about caregiving and the psychological effects of illness. But his preference for an idiosyncratic style of storytelling renders “You Will Get Sick” largely indecipherable, although the production is at times entertaining, thanks largely to Linda Lavin and Daniel K. Isaac’s performances, and director Sam Pinkleton’s theatrical effects.
My Broken Language
as much dance theater as divvied-up memoir…The way Hudes has fashioned a 90-minute theater piece out of her 336-page memoir reflects both her personal interests, and her theatrical smarts. The resulting show offers some lively moments, and some lovely ones. Those of us who read her memoir, though, may have mixed feelings about some of the changes from page to stage.
Book Review: The American Theatre 1962 to 2002 as seen by Hirschfeld
A sign of the vitality of American theater in the 1960s is how many shows that Al Hirschfeld caricatured at the time are currently on New York stages in revivals: 1776, A Delicate Balance, Funny Girl, Fiddler on the Roof (see at link.) But what does that say about the vitality of Broadway now?
That was one of my first thoughts while leafing through “The American Theatre 1962 to 2002 as seen by Hirschfeld“ (The Al Hirschfeld Foundation, 245 pages), which is being published in conjunction with an exhibition of Hirschfeld’s art work at the new Museum of Broadway; both the exhibition and the museum are opening to the public on November 15th.
The Week in New York Theater News
New cast of Six the Musical, starting December 5th in the newly named Lena Horne Theater
First row: Hailee Kaleem Wright (Catherine Of Aragon), Leandra Ellis-Gaston (Anne Boleyn), Bella Coppola (Jane Seymour)
Second row: Nasia Thomas (Anna Of Cleves). Zoe Jensen (Katherine Howard),Taylor Iman Jones (Catherine Parr)
Third row: Alternates Marilyn Caserta, Kristina Leopold and Aubrey Matalon
The Music Man has extended two weeks and will now run through January 15, 2023.
Rush tickets for $59 will now be available for Into The Woods in person first come first serve, every day through the musical’s final performance Jan 8, 2023. Patina Miller will be the Witch, Fridays to Sundays, Montego Glover Tuesday to Thursdays
In Hadestown, Tom Hewitt will take over the role of Hades from original cast member Patrick Page in January.
Kinky Boots will play its final performance Off-Broadway on November 20. On Broadway it ran for six years; Off Broadway less than three months.
Under the Radar festival: The Public Theater’s 18th annual festival, running January 4–22, 2023, will feature 36 artists and companies from nine countries, presented in six venues. Sample:
“seven methods of killing kylie jenner,” by Jasmine Lee-Jones, explores cultural appropriation, queerness, friendship, and the ownership of Black bodies online and in real life.
“Otto Frank,” Robert Gouverneur Smith’s solo show about the father of Anne Frank
“LatinXoxo,” performed in English and Spanish by Migguel Anggelo
“Political Theater: Covid and Antisemitism
Broadway and Off Broadway shows and venues that still require the wearing of masks (Playbill)
Study Finds COVID Concerns Still Deterring D.C. Audiences (American Theatre)
Between Kanye and the Midterms, the Unsettling Stream of Antisemitism (NY Times)
“On Broadway, the best-selling new play of the fall season is Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt,” about three generations of a Jewish family in Austria largely destroyed by World War II.
Brandon Uranowitz, one of the play’s leading actors, said performing a story about the deadly effects of antisemitism in this climate has become both more painful and more important. “All of a sudden, objects in the mirror are closer than they appear,” he said.
Off Broadway, a group of artists is staging an unexpectedly timely revival of “Parade,” a musical about the antisemitism-fueled 1915 lynching of a Jewish man in Georgia. Ben Platt, that production’s star, made a similar observation, saying, ‘It’s felt urgent in a way that is shocking to all of us.'”
In Memoriam
Douglas McGrath, 64, playwright, screenwriter, director and actor, who died in the middle of a run starring in “Everything’s Fine,” his solo autobiographical show directed by John Lithgow.
Aaron Carter, 34, a singer and actor who got his first hit at the age of nine. He was also a veteran of the theater, having debuted on Broadway in Seussical at age 13, performed to acclaim at age 24 Off Broadway in the Fantasticks. My interview with him when he was in The Fantasticks
This Week’s Theater Video
Aaron Carter singing “Soon It’s Going to Rain” from The Fantasticks with Juliette Trafton at Broadway in Bryant Park in 2012.
CBS Sunday Morning on the new Museum of Broadway:
