The Fall 2013 Season on Broadway

[edjames]

Here's a glimpse of what's arriving on Broadway for the fall season.

Several shows have already opened (First Date, Soul Doctor,and Let It Be, (and some of these are about to close!).

But if your planning a NYC visit or some of these spark your interest, tickets are on sale, and in the case of The Betrayl, are close to selling out for the limited run.

 

I'll touch base on off-Broadway productions in the near future. In the meantime, today's NYPost has several articles on the upcoming season:

 

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/making_play_for_fall_igq9zHpdiF16zGUGLwTnSJ

 

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/we_re_all_on_bard_with_it_s1csoxVmjgeEBrryHhVN6O

 

September 19 - Romeo and Juliet (Richard Rodgers)

Starring Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad

 

September 26 - The Glass Menagerie (Booth) Starring Cherry Jones and Zachery Quinto

 

October 6 - Big Fish (Neil Simon) New Musical Starring Norbert Leo Butz

 

October 10 - A Night with Janis Joplin (Lyceum) Musical bio starring Mary Bridget Davies

 

October 17 - The Winslow Boy (American Airlines)

Revival of the Terrance Rattigan play starring Roger Rees

 

October 20 - A Time to Kill (Golden)

John Grisham classic first novel adapted by Rupert Holmes starring Sebastian Acelus and Tom Skeritt

 

October 24 - The Snow Geese (Samuel J. Friedman)

Starring Mary Louise Parker, Danny Burstein and Victoria Clark

 

October 27 - Betrayal (Ethel Barrymore)

Harold Pinter master work, starring Daniel Craig and Rachel Weiz, directed by Mike Nichols

Already a huge box office seller, limited 14 week run

 

November 3 - After Midnight (Brooks Atkinson)

Musical celebrating Duke Ellington, starring Idol Winner Fanastia Barrino

 

November 10 - Richard III/Twelfth Night (Belasco)

West End import, Shakespeare’s Globe Rep production starring Mark Rylance

 

November 13 - 700 Sundays (Imperial) - Starring Billy Crystal, limited run

 

November 17 - A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (Walter Kerr)

Starring Jefferson Mays, in multiple roles

 

November 21 - Macbeth (Vivian Beaumont) - Shakespeare, starring Ethan Hawke

 

November 24 - No Man's Land/Waiting for Godot (Cort)

Pinter and Beckett classic plays in rep starring Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart

 

ED

[actor61]

Sounds like a mixed bag. I tend to base what I want to see on who's in the shows, which is kind of silly, I admit. I won't pay money to see Danny Burstein in anything. He loused up "South Pacific" and "Follies" really badly for me. I'll see Mark Rylance in anything. In addition to playing Richard III, he will also be playing Olivia in Twelfth Night. I've seen his compnay several times and they perform the plays the way they were performed in Shakespeare's time with men in the female roles. He's a genius actor/director. I would love to see No Man's Land. I saw it in London with Gielgud and Richardson. Waiting for Godot is one of my favorite plays and I've heard the McKellan/Stewart production is magical. The Winslow Boy is a beautiful, touching, lyrical delight and Roger Rees is perfect for it. I'm so glad Rattigan is being revived; he was considered old fashioned for a while but his plays are so perfectly constructed and a feast for good actors. Isn't Denzel Washington slated to do "Raisin in the Sun" with Diahann Carroll? He's way too old for the role but it might be interesting. I saw him in Julius Caesar - not bad. Not great, but not bad.

[bostonman]

I'll see Mark Rylance in anything. In addition to playing Richard III, he will also be playing Olivia in Twelfth Night. I've seen his company several times and they perform the plays the way they were performed in Shakespeare's time with men in the female roles. He's a genius actor/director.

 

I'd be interested in seeing Rylance in both/either of these roles, if I would just get the chance to spend enough time in NYC to see a few shows...(I'm still very interested in seeing Matilda as well). However, I unfortunately have to say that I hope Rylance does NOT win a Tony this coming season, so we can be spared another of his pretentious readings of a Louis Jenkins "poem" in lieu of a gracious Tony acceptance speech.

[actor61]

I agree. His Tony acceptance speech was pretty eccentric and awful! But the performance for which he won was historical.

[playwrestler]

I saw "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" at it's initial run up in Hartford Connecticut... RUN!! don't walk. This is a brilliant new musical and I'm betting it will win all the awards. Jefferson Mays is sublime. Hilarious!

[ragazzolupo]

I'll see Mark Rylance in anything. In addition to playing Richard III, he will also be playing Olivia in Twelfth Night. I've seen his compnay several times and they perform the plays the way they were performed in Shakespeare's time with men in the female roles. He's a genius actor/director. I would love to see No Man's Land. I saw it in London with Gielgud and Richardson. Waiting for Godot is one of my favorite plays and I've heard the McKellan/Stewart production is magical. The Winslow Boy is a beautiful, touching, lyrical delight and Roger Rees is perfect for it. I'm so glad Rattigan is being revived; he was considered old fashioned for a while but his plays are so perfectly constructed and a feast for good actors. Isn't Denzel Washington slated to do "Raisin in the Sun" with Diahann Carroll? He's way too old for the role but it might be interesting. I saw him in Julius Caesar - not bad. Not great, but not bad.

 

I got no comment when I asked if anyone had seen him in London earlier in the year: http://www.companyofmen.org/showthread.php?91834-Mark-Rylance-in-12th-Night&highlight=rylance

 

However, the NYT got me thinking with the article http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/theater/mark-rylance-and-other-shakespeareans-at-work.html

 

So I would say, if you can seem him it is transformative. You need only to bring a soupçon of willing disbelief to an unbelievably fine production.

[+ beethoven]

I said this before, probably here, but EVERYONE I know who saw "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" on my enthusiastic recommendation LOVED it! It's scheduled to close in June, and will open next week. Do yourself a big favor, and see this!

[bostonman]

I agree. His Tony acceptance speech was pretty eccentric and awful! But the performance for which he won was historical.

 

SpeechES. He's pulled that stunt twice now, which I think is not only eccentric, but just plain ungracious.

[Griffin Donavon]

Im very new with theatre, for a younger guy. What would you guys give advice too check out around boston. Rylance would be interesting from what i read.. do they come into boston? Sorry for the questions, I just want to expand my theatre more.

[bostonman]

Im very new with theatre, for a younger guy. What would you guys give advice too check out around boston. Rylance would be interesting from what i read.. do they come into boston? Sorry for the questions, I just want to expand my theatre more.

 

I don't seem to think that the Globe Theatre productions (the ones with Rylance) are planning to tour - I think they're just playing NYC. However, there is plenty of wonderful theatre in and around Boston, from touring productions (the shows playing the Wang Theatre, the Opera House) to the local "big" regional companies (the A.R.T. and the Huntington), to the smaller regional theatres (the Lyric Stage, where, by the way, I will be doing a show in January, Speakeasy Stage, and Wheelock Family Theatre), to many smaller "fringe" groups as well. Plus, producing companies such as ArtsEmerson, at Emerson College's Paramount Theatre, who bring in diverse productions from all over the world.

 

Depends on what kind of theatre you might be looking for - musicals, standard repertory plays, something more avant-garde, new works...I can't make any specific recommendations as to what's happening right this moment (ironically, though I work in theatre in the area, I don't get to see nearly as many shows as I wish I could), but I can guarantee there's always good stuff to see. Glad to try to talk more specifically if you're interested. ;-)

 

Websites to some of the best local theatres:

 

The Huntington Theatre (currently running A.R. Gurney's comedy The Cocktail Hour) http://www.huntingtontheatre.org/

The Lyric Stage Company (about to open a new comedy called Becky's New Car) http://www.lyricstage.com/

Speakeasy Stage Company (currently premiering a Kurt Vonnegut comedy) http://www.speakeasystage.com

The American Repertory Theatre (or A.R.T. - home of the long-running The Donkey Show) http://americanrepertorytheater.org/

ArtsEmerson (about to open Mies Julie, a new South African take on Strindberg's Miss Julie) https://artsemerson.org/Online/default.asp

 

Also, try theatremania's Boston site - http://www.theatermania.com/boston-theater/ and Boston-Theatre.com - http://www.boston-theater.com/ - they'll have more on other local shows, and the touring shows.

 

I know we have a bunch of other Boston area guys out here - any current/specific recommendations?

[uwsman2]

Definitely see Glass Menagerie. The two male leads are incredible as is Cherry Jones.

Avoid the new Terrence McNally play, And Away We Go. Confusing and only intermittently entertaining. (Now in previews)

[bostonman]

Definitely see Glass Menagerie. The two male leads are incredible as is Cherry Jones.

Avoid the new Terrence McNally play, And Away We Go. Confusing and only intermittently entertaining. (Now in previews)

 

Just to clarify - these are on Broadway, not in Boston (in case this was meant to be a response to Griffin's post or mine).