Best Bets: March 30th – April 5th

Welcome to the first week of April and Cultural Attaché’s Best Bets: March 30^th – April 5^th.

If you love New York theater, you know the frenetic countdown to the end of the season is underway. We’ll have many Broadway openings for you in the next several weeks. We open this week with one of the most compelling.

DOG DAY AFTERNOON – August Wilson Theatre – New York, NY – Now – July 12^th  OPENING NIGHT: MARCH 30th

The 1975 Sidney Lumet film, Dog Day Afternoon, was nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture. Frank Pierson’s original screen play won the sole Oscar. It was inspired by the true story of a Vietnam war veteran, Sonny, who attempts to rob a bank to have enough money to pay for his tranvestite partner’s sex change operation. It was anchored by fiery performances by Al Pacino as Sonny and Chris Sarandon as Sal, Sonny’s partner in the robbery who proves to be quite the wildcard. Both actors were Oscar nominees.

Jon Bernthal takes on Pacino’s role of Sonny and Ebon Moss-Bacharach takes on the role of Sal. Esteban Andres Cruz plays Leon, Sonny’s partner. Also in the cast are Jessica Hecht and John Ortiz.

Stephen Adley Guirgis, Pulitzer Prize winner for Between Riverside and Crazy wrote the play. Rupert Goold (King Charles III) directs.

I would rank this as one of the most compelling shows to see this season.

For tickets and more information, please go HERE.

WORKS & PROCESS AT GUGGENHEIM NEW YORK: THE MET OPERA’S “INNOCENCE” – Guggenheim New York – New York, NY – March 30^th

On April 6^th the Met opera will present the late Kaija Sarriaho’s final opera, Innocence. The opera is centered around a school shooting and its aftermath. The libretto was written by Sofi Oksanen and Aleksi Barrière.

At this Works & Process, Peter Gelb of the Met Opera and various members of the cast and creative time will come together to discuss the work and offer a preview of it. I don’t know specifically who will be there, but it may include Joyce DiDonato, Vilma Jää, director Simon Stone and conductor Susanna Mälkki.

For tickets and more information, please go HERE. For tickets and more information for the production at The Met, please go HERE.

GLASS’ COCTEAU TRILOGY – KATIA AND MARIELLE LABÈQUE  – Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall – Los Angeles, CA – March 31^st

Composer Philip Glass wrote three operas based on films by Jean Cocteau: Orphée, La Belle et la Bête and Les Enfants Terribles. The music from those operas has been arranged into suites for sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque to perform on two pianos.

This is a highly stylized show, albeit simply, that puts the emphasis where it should be: on the music.

The Labèques are wonderful interpreters of Glass’ music (as the 2024 album of this music can attest along with countless other recordings.)

For tickets and more information, please go HERE.

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR – Chicago Shakespeare Theater – Chicago, IL – April 2^nd – May 3^rd

In a world inexplicably drawn like moths to the fire of Real Housewives of…welcome back a Shakespeare comedy that did it all first.

John Falstaff (Jason Simon) has his eyes set on not one, but two women: Mistress Page (Ora Jones) and Mistress Ford (Issy Van Randwyck), but he is no match for their cunning ways. If you’ve seen Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2, you know he can be a bit of a buffoon – never more so than in The Merry Wives of Windsor. He’s so far out of his depth, that the results are bound to make you laugh.

Phillip Breen directs.

For tickets and more information, please go HERE.

SCORCHED EARTH – St. Ann’s Warehouse – Brooklyn, NY – April 3^rd – April 19^th

Drama, multimedia presentation and dance combine in Luke Murphy’s Scorched Earth having its US premiere beginning this week.

The work is inspired by The Field, a play by John B. Keane that looks at what happens when locals find their land being purchased out from under them in Ireland. The website calls it “part crime-drama, part thriller.”

Murphy directs, choreographs and performs with music by Rob Moloney.

For tickets and more information, please go HERE.

Enjoy your week! Go see a show!

Main Photo: Ebon Moss-Bacharach and Jon Bernthal in Dog Day Afternoon (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)