The latest new artistic director of many announced this year: Christopher Ashley has been named the new artistic director of Roundabout Theater Company. The Tony winning director of Come From Away, and artistic director for 17 years of La Jolla, which has had a steady stream of shows transferring to Broadway, will take over in July 2026 for the 2027-2028 season.
The captioned photos above give away the answer to one of this month’s quiz questions
Theater Quiz for September 2024
October 2024 New York Theater Openings
The Week in New York Theater Reviews
The Hills of California Broadway
The Hills of California,” about four sisters in their thirties called back to their childhood home, to attend to their dying mother, and relive their traumatic childhood brush with fame, is the fourth play by British playwright Jez Butterworth to make it to Broadway. Some theatergoers might initially feel almost as disappointed in this play as the characters in it feel towards how their lives have turned out. But what “The Hills of California” does eventually offer, if you can decipher the cast’s English accents and commit to the nearly three hour running time, is the playwright’s finely tuned sense of irony, which subtly upends our expectations…Full Review
Fatherland
“Fatherland” is an unsettling title, a word that movie-goers associate with Germany under the Nazis, but there are several reasons why it fits this true story of the first man to be put on trial for attacking the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. “Fatherland” is just as much the story of the man’s relationship with his teenage son, who turned him into the FBI. And it is the story of his disturbing worship of Donald Trump. Full review
KS6: Small Forward
Her life story might have made an engaging show no matter which theater company had staged it: A globe-trotting professional basketball player and Olympian, Katsiaryna Snytsina awoke to the terror happening in her native land, the Eastern European country of Belarus,…But KS6:Small Forward is produced by Belarus Free Theater, which for two decades has been acclaimed for its fearless acts of political resistance…but also for its dazzling theatrical invention. [So she] at the center of an ever-busy, often electrifying, sometimes distracting theatrical swirl. Full Review.
The Week in New York Theater News
‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”, the musical adaptation of John Berendt’s non-fiction book is coming to Broadway in 2025. (Precise dates, venue, etc. to be announced.) The musical, written by Taylor Mac, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, choreography by Tanya
Birl-Torres and direction by Rob Ashford, had an extended run at the Goodman Theatre
in Chicago. “Southern charm is bountiful in Savannah, Georgia. But behind polite smiles, the eccentric residents are filled with secrets and motives. When wealthy antiques dealer Jim Williams is accused of murder, the sensational trial uncovers hidden truths and exposes the fine line between good and evil…”
More “Gypsy” cast: Joining six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald (Rose), Tony Award Winner Danny Burstein (Herbie), Joy Woods (Louise), Jordan Tyson (Dainty June), Olivier Award winner Lesli Margherita (Tessie Tura), Lili Thomas (Miss Mazeppa) and Mylinda Hull (Miss Electra) will be Jacob Ming-Trent (Uncle Jocko), Kyleigh Denae Vickers (Baby Louise), Marley Lianne Gomes & Jade Smith (Baby June), and Kevin Csolak (Tulsa). The ensemble features Shanel Bailey, Jace Bently, Brandon Burks, Hunter Capellán, Tony d’Alelio, Summer Rae Daney, Kellie Jean Hoagland, Aliah James, Brittney Johnson, Zachary Daniel Jones, Ethan Joseph, Andrew Kober, Krystal Mackie, James McMenamin, Cole Newburg, Majo Rivero, Sally Shaw, Thomas Silcott, Brendan Sheehan, Jayden Theophile, and Jordan Wynn. Additional standby and understudy casting to be announced.
Encores! Urinetown adds Jordan Fisher, Taran Killam, Keala Settle, February 5 – 16, New York City Center.
Andrew Scott will reprise his one-man Vanya at the Lucille Lortel Theater, opening March 18
The second cast for All In: Comedy about Love, starting Jan. 14, will feature: Lin-Manuel Miranda ,Aidy Bryant, Andrew Rannells Sam Richardson
| 2024 Relentless Award goes to MANAKIN by Dave Harris. Here is the supplied description of the play: “Manakin is a wedding story. But not just any wedding—this one brings together four generations for the union of Son and Daughter. Son and Daughter are getting married, just like their parents before them, and their parents before them. Oh, and this wedding is also a Satanic invocation. All the vessels are poised to spill. A raw, lyrical, darkly hilarious piece about intergenerational trauma, love in all its forms, and the ways in which language both describes and creates the world, this play channels ancient traditions and universal yearnings, drawing us into a sacred ritual. If this generation does things right, a bounteous future awaits us— including the arrival of the ultimate guest. |
In Memoriam
Maggie Smith, 89. She won Oscars for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” & “California Suite,” Emmys for “Downton Abbey,” a mass following for Harry Potter role. But the Tony winner defined herself mainly as a stage actress
Kris Kristofferson, 88, singer-songwriter and actor. His hit songs for Janis Joplin and Johnny Cash — “ Me and Bobby McGee” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” – were performed in respective Broadway musicals about those two performers, “A Night with Janis Joplin” and “Ring of Fire.”
The Week’s Theater Video
In the first episode of Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary season, first-time host Jean Smart reminisces about her move to New York at the beginning of her career, performing in her first play “an Off-off-off-off Broadway — Jersey actually,” Then she sings “I Happen To Like New York.” written by Cole Porter for the 1930 musical The New Yorkers
