Pacino’s ‘China Doll’ delays opening night
David Mamet’s new Broadway play “China Doll,” which stars Al Pacino as an airplane-buying billionaire, has delayed its opening night by two weeks (from Nov. 19 to Dec. 4) to give the creative team additional time to work on the piece. It has been doing sellout business since it began previews on Oct. 21.
‘Hamilton’ has record sales, Hillary tweets lyric
Just how well is “Hamilton” selling? Earlier this week on “60 Minutes,” it was revealed that the hit musical has racked up $57 million in advance sales, which a production source told Playbill.com is a record sum. “Hamilton” also entered into the thoughts of Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, who tweeted a lyric from the musical (“They don’t have a plan — they just hate mine”) regarding Tuesday night’s Republican presidential debate.
Ripley, Damiano join ‘American Psycho’
Alice Ripley, who won a Tony for her emotional performance in “Next to Normal,” will return to Broadway in the new musical adaptation of “American Psycho,” which begins previews in March. Also new to the cast is Jennifer Damiano, who was the original Mary Jane in “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.” As previously announced, Benjamin Walker will play the dark-minded Patrick Bateman.
Playwright speaks out against white actor playing MLK
Katori Hall, writer of the Martin Luther King drama “The Mountaintop,” is up in arms over a production of the play at Kent State University in which a white actor played Dr. King. “The casting of a white King is committing yet another erasure of the black body,” Hall wrote in an article posted on the website The Root. “Sure, it might be in the world of pretend, but it is disrespectful nonetheless, especially to a community that has rare moments of witnessing itself, both creatively and literally, in the world.”
Transgender musical to get Public Theater run
The Public Theater, which has enjoyed major success with the new musicals “Hamilton” and “Fun Home,” is set to produce “Southern Comfort,” a bluegrass musical based on the 2001 documentary about a group of transgender friends in rural Georgia, later this season. In a statement, artistic director Oskar Eustis called it “a beautiful, gentle, complicated look at a community that has been maligned, misunderstood and oppressed for centuries.” The theater is strongly encouraging transgender artists to audition.
Spotted …
Nathan Lane reading a love letter to Brian Dennehy at a Theatre Communications Group gala at the Edison Ballroom … Meryl Streep at “Henry IV” at St. Ann’s Warehouse … Elle Macpherson at “Misery” … Bette Midler, Frankie Valli, Rita Moreno and Diane Sawyer at “On Your Feet!” … Michael Keaton at “Something Rotten!”
