TV ladies will sing for you in Indiana, while a Dutch money company will tell you when you are allowed to sing "I Cain't Say No", which is a bit scary.

  • Mary Stuart, the Donmar transplant directed by Phyllida Lloyd, sounds terrific, and not just for the awesome-looking onstage rainstorm.
  • Another English exchange student, Alan Ackybourn's The Norman Conquests trilogy at Circle In the Square, was well-received too, though 1970's British sex farce doesn't exactly thrill this roundupper.
  • If you want to see The Nanny Diaries done by one lady, onstage, and apparently done well, go see Exit Cuckoo at the Clurman.
  • Should a white person direct any of August Wilson's plays? Wilson didn't think so, but his late wife signed off on the hiring of Bartlett Sher for the strongly reviewed Joe Turner revival on Broadway right now. Were a dead man's wishes unhonored?
  • Speaking of dead theater geniuses, the estates of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein have sold the rights to the duo's musicals—The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Rent (not actually)—to a Dutch pension fund. The CEO of the fund, Imagem, says that he "see[s] musicals as a very big growth area for investment," which, um, if people are turning to stage musicals to make money, then you know your world economy is fucked.
  • If you are lucky enough to be in Indianapolis at the end of November, do yourself a favor and go see Shirley Jones and Florence Henderson together in concert.
  • Oohh Broadway Week on Regis & Kelly. Aren't you excited?
  • Oh good. Someone's given poor Andrea McArdle work down in Florida.
  • It begins. Outer Critics Circle Award nominations have been announced, meaning we're just one short month away from that most dreaded, feared, and delightful New York evening, the Tony Awards.
  • Speaking of the outer circle, in Los Angeles you might want to steer away from The Seafarer at the Geffen. While lauded on B'way in 2007, this production of the great Conor McPherson's drunk Irishmen telling stories play sounds a bit less than seaworthy. In Boston you can be artsy but a little creepy by going to the Zeitgeist's mounting of teen sex cautionary tale Spring Awakening. No, not the full-of-itself musical. The actual old-ass play. Oh, and do take the wig down from the shelf and go see Hedwig and the Angry Itch at the American Theater Company in Chicago.