New York Spotlight: November 2010

The much anticipated new musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark arrives on Broadway, directed by Julie Taymor at the Foxwoods Theatre, beginning November 28. Featuring a score by Bono and The Edge of the band U2, the show is based on the Marvel Comics superhero, a teenager whose unremarkable life is turned upside-down when he’s bitten by a genetically-altered spider. Reeve Carney stars as Peter Parker/Spider-Man with Jennifer Damiano as Mary Jane Watson, and Patrick Page as Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin.

Film star Brendan Fraser makes his Broadway debut in Elling (Ethel Barrymore Theater, November 2-March 20), a comedy about a wildly mismatched pair of roommates. The cast also features Denis O’Hare, Jennifer Coolidge, Richard Easton, and Jeremy Shamos.

Based on the 2003 film of the same name, Elf is adapted into an original Broadway musical which will play a holiday engagement at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, November 2-January 2. Sebastian Arcelus stars as Buddy, a human raised as one of Santa’s elves. The cast also includes Mark Jacoby, Beth Leavel, Amy Spanger, and George Wendt.

Kelli O’Hara stars in the City Center Encores! production of Bells Are Ringing (City Center, November 18-21), about a lonely young woman who can’t help getting involved in the lives of her answering service clients. The cast also includes Will Chase, Dylan Baker, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Kaye, Brad Oscar, and David Pittu.

Oscar nominee Michael Shannon stars in the New York premiere of Mistakes Were Made, a new comedy by Craig Wright, at Off-Broadway’s Barrow Street Theatre, beginning November 4. Tony Award winner Andre De Shields headlines Charles Smith’s Knock Me a Kiss, (Abrons Arts Center, November 11-December 5), a fictional account inspired by the 1928 marriage of W.E.B. Du Bois’ daughter Yolande to Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen.

Larry Bryggman, Lisa Emery, Rebecca Henderson, Matt McGrath, and Darren Pettie are featured in The Collection & A Kind of Alaska: Two Plays by Harold Pinter, presented by Atlantic Theatre Company at Classic Stage Company, November 3 – December 12. Bill Camp stars in Theatre for a New Audience’s Notes from Underground, adapted from Fydor Dostoevsky’s novel of the same name, at the Jerome Robbins Theater, November 7-20.

Richard Dreyfuss and Rinde Eckert star in Imagining Heschel (Cherry Lane Theatre, November 4-28), which explores private conversations between Cardinal Augustin Bea and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel from 1962 – 1973, when Heschel was asked to aid the Vatican Council in formally exonerating the Jews for the death of Christ. Also at the Cherry Lane is Chiara Montalto’s solo, Emergency Used Candles (November 4-20).

Austin Pendleton stars in the Pearl Theatre Company’s production of Henrik Ibsen’s Rosmersholm (New York City Center – Stage II, November 12 – December 19). Richard Poe, Jeremy Strong, and Christopher Evan Welch are featured in the cast of Nick Jones’ The Coward, presented by LCT3 at the Duke on 42nd Street, November 8-December 4. This period comedy set in 18th century England involves a cowardly young gentleman who hires a common criminal to fight a duel for him. Radio personality Valerie Smaldone will be part of the cast of Girl Talk: The Musical (Times Square Arts Center, November 16-21), featuring hit songs from such recording artists as Jennifer Lopez, Aretha Franklin, Carrie Underwood, and the Pointer Sisters.

Downtown legend Everett Quinton is featured in Buddy Thomas and Kenneth Elliott’s campy comedy Devil Boys From Beyond (New World Stages, November 3-December 30). Heidi Schreck’s There Are No More Big Secrets (Rattlestick Theatre, November 5 – December 12) is about a man who returns to the U.S. with his new Russian wife. Trip Cullman directs the world premiere of Eliza Clark’s Edgewise (Walkerspace, November 9-December 4), about three teenagers who work at a suburban burger joint whose routine is interrupted by a bloodied stranger.

The Brits Off Broadway Festival kicks off at 59E59 Theaters with Hywel John’s Pieces (November 3-21), and continues with John Osborne and Anthony Creighton’s Personal Enemy (November 4-28), Peter Nichols’ Lingua Franca (November 9-28), Carl Caulfield’s biodrama Being Sellers (November 23 – December 12), and An Audience with Mrs. Moneypenny (November 30 – December 5), written by Heather McGregor and Robert McGregor.

Ping Chong’s adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood plays BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House, November 10-13. Actor-director-trapeze artist-acrobat-clown-illusionist-violinist James Thiérrée also returns to BAM with the solo theater/nouveau cirque show Raoul (November 5-14).

The Civilians present the company’s latest piece, In the Footprint: The Battle Over the Atlantic Yards (Irondale Arts Center, November 12-December 11), which investigates the story of Brooklyn’s controversial land development project. Meanwhile, Kneehigh Theatre presents its adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Red Shoes at St. Ann’s Warehouse, November 19-December 12.

Seasonal offerings include the perennial favorite, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, at Radio City Music Hall, November 5-December 30. The Flea presents the world premiere of Looking at Christmas (November 20-December 30), penned by Steven Banks, the Emmy Award-nominated head writer of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Also of note: TACT/The Actors Company Theatre’s presentation of Václav Havel’s The Memorandum (Beckett Theatre, through November 27); The Amoralists’ production of Adam Rapp’s Ghosts in the Cottonwoods (Theater 80, November 11-December 6); the English-language Korean musical The Covenant Journey (Gerald W. Lynch Theater, November 5-21); Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51 (Ensemble Studio Theatre, through November 21), about a driven young physicist; Stephen Jeffreys’ The Libertine (Kirk Theatre, November 5-20), about a notorious rake in Restoration England; Untitled Theater Company #61’s presentation of the sci-fi classic, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (3LD, November 18-December 11); and Reggie Cheong-Leen’s award-winning play The Nanjing Race (Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex, through November 21).