Three days without internet delayed this week’s Best Bets: October 5th – October 11th. Luckily, none of the events I selected start until today. So, no harm, no foul.
MONK FESTIVAL – Smoke Jazz Club – New York, NY – October 7th – October 18th
If you love the music of Thelonious Monk as much as I do, this two-week festival should be on your must-see list.
Week one features pianist/composer Renee Rosnes and her quartet in a show entitled Monk’s Sphere. Which means any and all of his music might be performed.
Her quartet includes Carl Allen on drums, Nicole Glover on tenor saxophone and David Wong on bass.
They perform two sets Wednesday and Thursday; three sets on Friday and Saturday. Friday night’s first two shows (at 6:30 PM and 8:30 PM ET) are available via livestream.
On Sunday the show is Monk’s Sphere featuring Nicole Glover & Micah Thomas. Thomas takes to the piano instead of Rosnes and the rest of the line is the same for two shows that night.
Week two features the James Francies Trio plus special guest Joel Ross. Francies leads from the piano with Luca Alemanno on bass and Jeremy Dutton on drums. Ross, as you probably know, is a formidable vibraphonist.
They have two shows on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. There are three shows on Friday and Saturday. The first two shows on Friday will be available for livestream (6:30 PM ET/8:30 PM ET).
For in person tickets, please go HERE.
For livestream tickets, please go HERE.
NINA – Battersea Arts Centre – London, England – Now – October 24th
OPENING NIGHT: October 8th
This is a world premiere of a play inspired by Chekhov’s The Seagull. But it has a very compelling modern twist.
A stage director with a nasty reputation puts four actresses through untraditional auditions to play Nina in The Seagull.
What playwright Caroline Williams (who co-directs with Deborah Pearson) asks in her play is what compels women to play such a tortured character on stage? Particularly one who is left with nothing by the men in her world.
The four Ninas are played by Gemma Barnett, Samantha Begeman, Nina Bowers and Maya Bartley O’ Dea. The two men, Tim and Goran, are played by Joseph Payne and Rowan Polonski.
This sounds very interesting to me.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM – Yale Repertory Theatre– New Haven, CT – Now – October 24th
OPENING NIGHT: October 8th
This is a full circle moment on several levels for August Wilson’s 1984 play and Yale Rep.
First, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom had its world premiere there in 1984. The director of this production, Timothy Douglas, was an understudy in that production.
Additionally, with this production, Douglas will have directed all ten plays in Wilson’s American Century Cycle.
None of that would matter if this wasn’t a good play. It isn’t merely good, it’s great. It tells the story of Ma Rainey who, along with four musicians, want to have a say in what music they do and how they do it. One of those members, a very forward-thinking trumpeter, wants to take the music away from its old-school approach into something more modern and danceable.
Maiesha McQueen plays Ma Rainey and Jimmie J.J. Jeter plays trumpeter Levee Green. The other members of her band are played by Terence Archie, Dion Graham and Ray Anthony Thomas. The rest of the cast includes Peter Bisgaier, Brittany Antoinette Davis, Neal Lerner, Jeff Parker and Mark Yarde.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
DON GIOVANNI – Lyric Opera of Chicago – October 10th – November 1st
This is my favorite of all of Mozart’s operas. His take on Don Juan is powerful and filled with great music (of course!). Plus it gives the cast enormous opportunities to showcase their abilities.
For this Robert Falls production which had its premiere in 2014 at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the title character is sung by Christian Van Horn for all but the last two performances.
Kyle Ketelsen takes on the role for performances on October 30th and November 1st.
The role of Leporello (Don Giovanni’s servant) is sung by Tommaso Barea. Donna Anna (whose father is killed in the opening of the opera) is sung by Mané Galoyan. Don Ottavio, Donna Anna’s fiancé, is sung by Lawrence Brownlee. Donna Elvira, who is still in love with Giovanni even though he dumped her, is sung by Nina Solodovnikova. The young lovers Zerlina and Masetto are sung by Anna el-Khashem and Christopher Humbert, Jr. Finally, the Commendatore, Donna Anna’s dead father who returns as a statue, is sung by David Leigh.
If I could travel the world to see productions of this opera (and a few others), I would do so.
Enrique Mazzola conducts.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
WIVES – East West Players – Los Angeles, CA – Now – November 1st
OPENING NIGHT: October 11th
Jaclyn Backhaus’s play had its world premiere in 2019 at Playwrights Horizons in New York.
Wives takes a humorous (and pointed) look at women and how they’ve been treated by men throughout history.
The show careens throughout history, bouncing from France in the 16th century to India in the 1920s and Idaho in the 1960s.
Ben Brantley, writing in the New York Times about the original production said, “Wives is a gleeful work of historical subversion.”
The main cast includes Arasha, Parvesh Cheena, E.M. Davis and Rachna Khatau.
Arpita Mukherjee is the director.
While reviews were mixed for the play in 2019, I suspect that recent events, particularly as they involve the increasing prominence of South Asian American women in the political scene in Los Angeles and elsewhere, just might allow for a new perspective on Wives. Indian-American Nithya Raman is giving Karen Bass a tough battle for re-election as mayor of Los Angeles.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
That’s what’s on my list of Best Bets: October 5th – October 11th.
What will you see?
Enjoy your week!
Enjoy a show!
Main Photo: Maiesha McQueen and the company of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Photo ©Joan Marcus/Courtesy Yale Repertory Theatre)