Concluding Nov. 16
brownsville song (b-side for tray) (Off-Broadway at the Claire Tow Theater). The LCT3 New York premiere of Kimber Lee's brownsville song (b-side for tray), about a family that must move forward when a young man is killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, includes Sheldon Best, Sun Mee Chomet, Lizan Mitchell, Chris Myers and Taliyah Whitaker. According to LCT3, "brownsville song (b-side for tray) moves fluidly through time as the family of Tray (Sheldon Best), a spirited 17 year-old whose life is cut short, navigate their grief and find hope together." Visit LCT.org/LCT3.
The Band Wagon (Off-Broadway at New York City Center). The Band Wagon, an Encores! Special Event that stars Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell, is based on the classic MGM movie of the same title. The cast also includes Tracey Ullman, Tony Sheldon, Michael McKean, Laura Osnes, Michael Berresse and Don Stephenson. The musical, according to press notes, is described as such: "A washed-up Hollywood star trying to make a comeback by doing a Broadway show, a British director who is a genius but has no business directing a musical, a leading lady who’s never done a show before, and a composer and a lyricist who are at each other’s throats. All the things that could never happen in the New York theater today." Visit NYCityCenter.org.
The Fortress of Solitude (Off-Broadway at the Public Theater). The world premiere of the new musical The Fortress of Solitude features Ken Barnett, Kyle Beltran, Adam Chanler-Berat, André De Shields, Carla Duren, Stephane Duret, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Jahi Kearse, Kevin Mambo, Malaiyka Reid, Noah Ricketts, David Rossmer, Conor Ryan, Kristen Sieh, Britton Smith, Brian Tyree Henry, Akron Watson, Alison Whitehurst and Juson Williams. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Jonathan Lethem, the new musical is described as "the extraordinary coming-of-age story about 1970s Brooklyn and beyond — of black and white, soul and rap, block parties and blackouts, friendship and betrayal, comic books and 45s. And the story of what would happen if two teenagers obsessed with superheroes believed that maybe, just maybe, they could fly." Visit PublicTheater.org.
Saturday Night (Off-Broadway at the York Theatre Company at Saint Peter's). The York Theatre Company's production of Stephen Sondheim's Saturday Night — the 100th production in the company's acclaimed Musicals in Mufti Series — features Matthew Bauman, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Ben Fankhauser, Jeremy Greenbaum, Olli Haaskivi, Michael Thomas Holmes, Greg Kamp, Jared Loftin, Lindsay Mendez, Kenita Miller, Lance Roberts, Matthew Scott, Margo Seibert, Jim Stanek and Dana Steingold. "Gene isn't satisfied with life in Brooklyn - no, he's meant for bigger things," according to press notes. "After crashing a party and meeting a fabulous southern dame (also a crasher) he comes up with a scheme to get rich quick on the market, and this plan can't fail...can it?" Visit YorkTheatre.org.
