The fall season has started in earnest. This week’s Best Bets: September 14th – September 20th is quite possibly the largest list I’ve ever posted. Let’s dive right in.
MAN TO MAN – Royal Court Theatre / Traverse Theatre – London, England/ Edinburgh, Scotland – Now – November 7th
Tilda Swinton returns to the stage for the first time in three decades when she takes on the roles of Ella/Max in Manfred Karge’s play. It’s a role she played in the original production.
This one-person play is set in Germany in the 1930s. After Ella’s husband has died, she puts on his clothes.
In the process she faces the complications of the rise of fascism, the war that results from it, battles hunger and more.
Stephen Unwin directs. He also revised the original translation by Anthony Vivis.
For tickets and more information for the Royal Court Theatre, please go HERE.
For the Traverse Theatre, please go HERE.
THE ATTIC – The Goodman Theatre – Chicago, IL – Now – October 4th
This is a world premiere of a show by 7 Fingers, a company that combines acrobatics with powerful storytelling. The acrobatics aren’t merely theatrical; they serve a real purpose in telling the story.
The Attic is a semi-autobiographical story inspired by Cofounding Artistic Director Shana Carroll’s own life. Her time spent as a trapeze artist serves as the foundation for the show.
Not much else is known about the specifics, but the content advisory suggests that there are “adult themes around mortality and illness.”
Carroll directs the company of ten artists.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
PROKOFIEV & THE RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE – Guarneri Hall – Chicago, IL – September 15th, 22nd and 29th
Pianist Adam Neiman will perform all nine of Sergei Prokofiev’s piano sonatas over the course of three concerts. Prokofiev’s sonatas are considered some of the most demanding and exhausting in the repertoire.
The first concert, Love and War, will feature Sonatas No. 1, 2 and 6.
The second concert, Freedom and Irony, features Sonatas 3, 4 and 7.
The final concert, Echo and Image, features Sonatas 5, 8 and 9.
For tickets for Love and War, please go HERE. For Freedom and Irony, please go HERE. For Echo and Image, please go HERE.
THELMA & LOUISE – The Young Vic Theatre – London, England – Now – October 24th
OPENING NIGHT: September 16th
This is a musical adaptation of the 1991 Ridley Scott film that starred Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis. The film received six Academy Award nominations. The sole winner was screenwriter Callie Khouri.
I’m very optimistic about this musical, but I’m also concerned it might not live up to the movie. Thankfully Khouri is on board and wrote the book. The music and lyrics are by Neko Case.
Amy Lennox plays Thelma and Rachel Tucker plays Louise. Many of you might wonder who plays JD, the role that really put Brad Pitt on the map. Jordan Luke Gage gets that honor.
Trip Cullman directs. Choreography is by Bobbi Jene Smith & Or Schraiber.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
THE SURGE: AN ODE TO SINÉAD O’CONNOR – Joyce Theater – New York, NY – September 16th – September 27th
The combination of director/choreographer Sonya Tayeh and the music of Sinéad O’Connor is too tantalizing to miss.
The Surge was born out of Tayeh’s grief when O’Connor passed away and the joy she took in her music. Sonya Tayeh is a Tony Award-winner for her work on Moulin Rouge! The Musical.
O’Connor, of course, soared to fame with Nothing Compares 2 U in 1990.
There are fourteen songs in the show. All of them performed by O’Connor, but not all of them were written by her.
There is a company of ten dancers performing The Surge: An Ode to Sinéad O’Connor.
If I lived in New York, I wouldn’t miss this show.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
KOWALSKI – Lookingglass Theatre – Chicago, IL – September 15th – October 25th
OPENING NIGHT: September 19th
Gregg Ostrin’s play got great reviews in New York. Kowalski, of course, refers to Stanley Kowalski, the male lead in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. A role famously played by Marlon Brando on stage and in the film.
Ostrin imagines the first encounter between playwright Williams and Brando.
That encounter led to Brando being cast in the first production of Streetcar.
Johnny Galecki plays Williams. Jacob Moskovitz plays Brandon. The cast also includes Alison Cimmet as Margo Jones, Reece Dos Santos as Pancho and Ellie Ricker as Jo.
Colin Hanlon directs.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
HOW SHAKESPEARE SAVED MY LIFE – Public Theater – September 15th – October 25th
This one-man show was written by and stars Jacob Ming-Trent. He looks at a life he wants filled with poetry, but circumstances don’t give him those opportunities. In an effort to live the life he wants, he relies on various poets, preachers, rappers and Shakespeare to propel him towards his dream.
Tony Taccone directs.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
LILIOM – Joffrey Ballet at Lyric Opera House – Chicago, IL – September 17th – 27th
If the name Liliom isn’t familiar to you, the musical based on it is. Rodgers & Hammerstein used Ferenc Molnár’s play as the inspiration for the musical Carousel.
John Neumeier’s ballet had its world premiere in Hamburg almost 15 years ago. Composer Michel Legrand wrote the music. Their work, combined with that of the dancers, yielded overwhelmingly positive reviews.
This marks the first time Liliom has been performed in the United States.
Rob Parton’s Jazztech Big Band and the Lyric Opera Orchestra will perform Legrand’s music live at each performance.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
MULAN – David H. Koch Theater – New York, NY – September 18th – 20th
Choreographers Zhou Liya and Han Zhen created this China Dance Lotus Award-winning production. The award is as good as it gets for dance companies.
The show combines traditional Classical dance with grand theatricality and martial arts.
Mulan tells the story of a young Chinese girl who pretends to be a man.
Doing so allows her to go into battle in place of her father.
The music was composed by Du Ming.
The photographs show that Mulan is quite the spectacle.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
BEAT OF THE TRAPS – Warehouse at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA – Los Angeles, CA – September 18th – 20th
This work had its first U.S. performance in Los Angeles 34 years ago and was created by Mike Kelley, Anita Pace and Stephen Prina.
I’m not going to try to rewrite the show’s description. This comes straight from their website:
“This collaborative work assembles a dance performance, a percussion recital, a rock drum solo, a music fanatic’s vaudevillian monologue about rock star excess, and the number one song on Billboard’s Hot 100 at the time of the performance.”
That sounds like a hoot to me.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
JOFFREY BALLET: THE NEXT MOVE – PBS – Premieres September 18th – Check Local Listings
This documentary tracks the choreographers who won the 14th annual Joffrey Ballet’s Grainger Academy of Dance’s Winning Works program. Those choreographers are Manoela Gonçalves, Jainil Mehta, Martha Nichols, Xavier Núñez and Houston Thomas.
Winning the competition is one thing. Being able to live up to the excellence you showed to get there is another.
The document is directed by Cam Be.
The Next Movement can be watched on your local PBS station and streamed at PBS.org and on the PBS app.
OH, MARY! – US Tour – Multiple venues – September 19th – May 16, 2027
Cole Escola’s outrageously funny Tony Award-winning show is hitting the road.
The play is set shortly before President Lincoln’s assassination. Mary Todd Lincoln is a booze hound with dreams of being a cabaret artist. Mary’s husband is a closet case with a “special friend.” What’s a couple to do?
Make the audience laugh like they never have before. Escola’s writing and Sam Pinkleton’s direction make it impossible not to have a great time.
Alaska Thunderf*ck plays Mary until January 17, 2027. J. Harrison Ghee (Tony Award-winner for Some Like It Hot) plays Mary’s husband until the same date. Beginning January 19th, Ghee will take on the role of Mary Todd Lincoln and John-Andrew Morrison will take their place as Mary’s Husband.
The tour launches this week in Hartford, CT and then continues to San Diego, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles. The tour ends in West Palm Beach in May of 2027.
Pinkleton directs.
For tour dates and more information, please go HERE.
ORCHESTRA 2026-2027 SEASONS STARTING THIS WEEK:
Klaus Mäkelä with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Photo ©Todd Rosenberg/Courtesy Chicago Symphony Orchestra)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra – September 17th – 19th
Petr Popelka conducts the season opening program of Schumann’s Overture to Manfred, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Hilary Hahn as soloist and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 5.
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra – September 18th – 19th
Michael Sanderling conducts a program that opens with Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man followed by Barber’s Violin Concerto with Hyun Jae Lim as soloist.
The concert concludes with a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.
Memphis Symphony Orchestra – September 19th – 20th
Robert Moody opens MSO’s 75th season with Patterson’s Traffic at Tom Lee Park from Postcards from River City, Mason Bates’ Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.
That’s all for Best Bets: September 14th – September 20th.
It’s that time of year when your options are enormous. Take advantage of them.
Go see a show!
Enjoy your week.
Main Photo:Amy Lennox and Rachel Tucker in Thelma & Louise (Photo by Helen Murray/Courtesy The Young Vic Theatre)