There are four world premieres in Best Bets: October 19th – October 25th. One opera, one musical, one play and one contemporary classical work. There’s also Julia Louis-Dreyfus back on stage, a celebration of early AIDS-era plays and two women getting wildly drunk and making us laugh ourselves silly.
LINCOLN IN THE BARDO – Metropolitan Opera – New York, NY – October 19th – November 14th
If I could attend only one of my Best Bets this week, it would be this world premiere opera from composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek.
The opera is based on George Saunders’ 2017 Man Booker Prize winning novel. It takes place just before and after Abraham Lincoln’s son, “Willie,” dies of typhoid fever at the age of 11.
Lincoln’s grief overwhelms him, prompting repeated visits to his son’s tomb. Meanwhile, Willie remains suspended in the bardo, unable to move on.
A bardo is a Buddhist concept of the 49 days in which a deceased person transitions between death and reincarnation. I’d have to believe that the visualization of the bardo world will be truly something to see in this production.
Anything Mazzoli and Vavrek do will always be top of any list for me.
Peter Mattei sings the role of Lincoln. Everett Sobers sings the role of Willie for all but two performances. Michael Hurst sings the part on October 31 and November 14th.
The all-star cast includes Janai Brugger, Stephanie Blythe, Craig Colclough, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Christine Goerke, Ryan McKinny and more.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts all but two performances. Steven Osgood conducts on October 31st and November 14th.
Lileana Blain-Cruz directs.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
OTHER DESERT CITIES – Hudson Theatre – New York, NY – Now – January 17th
I first encountered this Jon Robin Baitz play in 2012 when it played on Broadway. The Wyeth family has gathered for Christmas in their Palm Springs home. Daughter Brooke announces that she’s written a memoir about her brother’s suicide. The circumstances that surround that will put the family’s decisions in the public eye.
And who wants that? Not this family.
This production marks Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ return to the stage. She is joined by Ed Harris, Allison Janney, Joe Keery and Lily Rabe.
John Benjamin Hickey directs.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
COPPERFIELD! – The Duke on 42nd Street – New York, NY – Now – December 6th
OPENING NIGHT: October 19th
This isn’t the first musical to be inspired by Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. In 1981 the songwriting duo who won an Academy Award for The Morning After from one of my favorite movies growing up, The Poseidon Adventure, had theirs officially open in April of 1981. It also unceremoniously closed in April of 1981 as well.
This new musical, which adds an exclamation point to its name, has book, lyrics and music by Jeffrey Scharf.
The Dickens novel is centered on the title character and his journey from birth to his ultimate success as a writer. But it isn’t an easy path as he faces so many major challenges, as Dickens normally gives his characters, that there’s a lot to cover in the course of a 2-1/2 hour musical.
What interests me in this new musical is that Bobby Conte (so memorable in Company) is playing Copperfield. I’m excited to see him carry a show. He’s a great singer and a wonderful actor.
Gabriel Barre directs and choreographs.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
860 – Imperial Theatre – New York, NY – Now – January 3rd
OPENING NIGHT: October 21st
Billy Crystal seems to have good luck with autobiographical one-man shows on Broadway that have numbers in the title. His 700 Sundays, which opened in 2004 and had a revival in 2013, won a Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event.
He returns with another look at events in his life, specifically the loss of his family’s home in the Pacific Palisades during the 2025 fires in California. A world premiere, 860 refers to the address of that home. That took place in January of that year.
2025 ended with the murder of his good friend Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner.
Those two events inspired this show.
Expect Crystal to be funny, personal, emotional and healing in this 90-minute show.
Scott Ellis directs.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
FALLEN ANGELS – Cinemas Worldwide – Beginning October 22nd
This 2026 revival of Noël Coward’s 1925 play earned five Tony Award nominations including Best Revival of a Play and nominations for both leading ladies for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play.
I watched the film that is being shown over the weekend. I was alone and laughing myself silly.
Those women are Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara who seem to me to have been inspired by Lucille Ball and Absolutely Fabulous. Their timing is extraordinary.
The premise is simple enough: Jane and Julia shared a lover, Maurice Duclos, just before each got married to their husbands, Willy and Fred. As the husbands leave for a golf match out of town, the two women find out that Duclos is returning to London. Their level of anticipation is off the charts. As they wait in Julia’s apartment for his arrival, they get crazy drunk and things don’t go quite as planned.
Byrne and O’Hara will keep you in stitches the whole time. This is first-rate comedy here. Christopher Fitzgerald (always a joy to watch) and Aasif Mandvi play Willy and Fred. Mark Consuelos plays Maurice.
Special mention should be made of the sixth and final character, Saunders, Julia’s new housekeeper. I’ve never seen Tracee Chimo before and now I can’t wait to see what she does next.
This production features additional material written by Claudia Shear (Dirty Blonde).
Scott Ellis directed the stage production. Annette Jolles directed the film.
To find a theater near you and get tickets, please go HERE.
BEFORE WE ARE HISTORY – Open Space Arts, Chicago, IL – October 23rd – November 8th
October is officially LGBTQ+ History Month and has been since 1994. Chicago’s Open Space Arts is celebrating with a program of four plays written by queer writers and works from the AIDS-era.
The program includes Jeff Hagedorn’s One; Lee Raines’ Blood Spill, Robert Chesley’s Jerker and Robin Swados’ A Quiet End.
One is a 30-minute monologue where a young man talks to the audience after being diagnosed with AIDS. It is considered the first publicly produced play about AIDS. Sandro Fullone stars and Rory Brady directs.
It shares the bill with Blood Spill. A theater director and an HIV-positive playwright navigate what plays about AIDS should be: a comforting evening or a provocative one. Keith Butler and Tierza Scaccia star and David Zak directs.
Jerker tells the story of two men who begin as phone sex partners but find themselves revealing greater truths about themselves. I’ve known about this play since it premiered in the mid-to-late 1980s. I’ve never seen it, but it is considered an important work from this era. Jason Bowen and Joshua Bowen star and created this production.
A Quiet End finds three men living together in New York City who are all living with AIDS. It celebrates the idea of the chosen family. This is a staged reading and there is only one performance on November 3rd. Rauly Luna directs.
Both Jerker and A Quiet End debuted 40 years ago.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
KAHANE, STILL & COPLAND – Oregon Symphony – Salem and Portland, OR – October 23rd – October 25th
This program of American music features Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait with Earl Blumenauer as the narrator and William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 4, Autochthonous on the bill.
As you can guess by now, it is a world premiere that catches my eye.
Every Love Song is a Protest by Gabriel Kahane is that piece. On the event website Kahane says, “Can an ethic of love – unconditional love for all mankind – help to build the solidarity necessary to create a better world?” That intrigues me. Plus, I think Kahane is wildly talented.
He sings vocals in these performances.
David Danzmayr conducts.
The first performance is at the Rose Auditorium at South Salem High School. The next two concerts take place at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
ORCHESTRE SYMPHONIQUE DE MONTRÉAL CALIFORNIA TOUR – Multiple Venues – October 25th – October 30th
This is a truly ambitious week for Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. A variety of pieces are being performed and they culminate in an intriguing pairing of two orchestras led by conductor Rafael Payare.
The tour begins October 25th at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall.
The concert kicks off with Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos as soloist and concludes with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. Kavakos is the featured soloist for the first three concerts.
On October 27th they will be at Walt Disney Concert Hall with a slightly different program. Samy Moussa’s Elysium and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor are performed in the first half. The Shostakovich 10th is performed in the second half.
October 29th they will be at Jacobs Music Center in San Diego for yet another slightly different program. Elysium and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto open the concert. The second half features Stravinsky’s The Firebird (full ballet).
October 30th is the most exciting program, in my humble opinion. The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal joins forces with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra for a free concert at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in San Diego.
The SDSO will open the program with Bartók’s Suite from the Miraculous Mandarin. Then the OSM will perform Ravel’s Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé.
Then the two orchestras combine to perform Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite, Op. 20 and Respighi’s Pines of Rome.
For tickets and more information, click on the date of each concert.
That’s all for Best Bets: October 19th – October 25th.
Enjoy your week and go see a show!
Note: Any artists names that are in GOLD contain links to previous Cultural Attaché interviews with them.
Main Photo: Peter Mattei and the company of Lincoln in the Bardo (Photo by Karen Almond/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)