Wicked Turns 10, Bobby Cannavale Plays Charades & After Midnight Swings in This Week’s Datebook

Green is the new black! Yes, it’s Halloween week (and nobody loves Halloween as much as Broadway fans), but the real party is the day before, when the beloved blockbuster musical Wicked celebrates a decade on the Great White Way. So, get out your brooms and tiaras, and let’s party like it’s 2003 in this week’s Datebook!


MONDAY, OCTOBER 28
FIRST WORD, FOUR LETTERS, SOUNDS LIKE…
The annual LAByrinth Theater Company Celebrity Charades benefit is starry, silly and lots of fun.This year’s gala,  with a “Disco Fever” theme, will held at Capitale, featuring killer charades players Bobby Cannavale, Billy Crudup, Josh Charles, Padma Lakshmi, Chris Rock and more. Careful: They’re competitive!

ALSO: Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart gets a starry reading on Theatre Row benefitting The New Group, featuring Zosia Mamet and Allison Williams of Girls; Michael Mayer discusses the film Broadway Idiot at the Jacob Burns Film Center; Florence Henderson looks back her brilliant career at 54 Below.


TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29
GOOD SEX, AND A LOT MORE
There’s a lot more to Dr. Ruth Westheimer than her career as a sex therapist, and actress Debra Jo Rupp is bringing history to life in Becoming Dr. Ruth, which opens at the Westside Theatre. Hear the inspiring story of how young Ruth Siegel escaped the Nazis, became a sniper in Jerusalem and found happiness and fame in America.

ALSO: Sexy variety show La Soiree begins previews at the Union Square Theatre; cast recordings of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! are released.


WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30
ELPHIE & GLINDA TURN 10
It’s going to be an incredible night at the Gershwin Theatre, as original cast members and starry alums (think Stephanie J. Block, Teal Wicks, Julia Murney & Annaleigh Ashford) return for the 10th anniversary performance of Wicked. It’s a milestone only 10 other Broadway shows have reached, so the Citizens of Oz will definitely be partying.

ALSO: The comic thriller Small Engine Repair begins previews at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, produced by MCC Theater.


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31
BOO! HALLOWEEN, BROADWAY-STYLE
Halloween is the perfect night to see a show—you can get a bloody scare at Macbeth with Ethan Hawke or give yourself a completely different kind of fright at First Date. If you prefer dressing up, do some Broadway-style trick-or-treating in costume as Kinky Boots’ Lola, Cinderella, Matilda’s Miss Trunchbull or—taking a tip from The Glass Menagerie’s Celia Keenan-Bolger, above—Annie. Have a frightfully good evening!

ALSO: Into Sweeney Todd’s Woods, with special guest Len Cariou, is the perfect Halloween treat at 54 Below; the McKittrick Hotel, home to spooky interactive hit Sleep No More, hosts a Halloween bash. 


FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1
A SWINGING NIGHT WITH MONTEGO GLOVER
Got an itch to hear Benny Goodman-style big band music? Head to Carnegie Hall to see Tony nominee Montego Glover (Memphis) headline “Sing Sing Swing” with the New York Pops. Music director Steven Reineke welcomes Glover and clarinet player Dave Bennett for a tribute to Goodman’s live recording at the Hall 75 years ago.

ALSO: The 2013 Carols for a Cure CD gives fans a jump on the holidays; Mama Rose’s Turn: The True Story of America’s Most Notorious Stage Mother by Carolyn Quinn is released.


SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2
MY, MY! MAMMA MIA! HAS A NEW HOME
Broadway’s Dancing Queens will have their first dance party in a new Broadway home as Mamma Mia! gives its first performance at the Broadhurst Theatre. The smash-hit musical, which is heading toward its 5,000th performance, should look great in a slightly smaller house, so hitch up your Spandex and head to West 44th Street to sing along with ABBA hits.

ALSO: Jackie Hoffman, Mary Testa, Christime Pedi & Kristine Zbornik are Silly Witches at 54 Below; The Preacher and the Shrink, starring Dee Hoty, begins at the Beckett Theatre; The Awesome ‘80s Prom ends at The Wall; Every Day a Visitor begins at the Clurman Theatre.


SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3
AT THE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT
Harlem comes to Broadway as After Midnight celebrates its opening at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. Fantasia Barrino, Dule Hill, Adriane Lenox and a cast of fantastic singers and dancers join the incredible Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars for an evening that blends the songs of Duke Ellington with the prose of Langston Hughes. Fabulous!

ALSO: Jarrod Spector in concert and Martin Charnin’s Something Funny’s Going On revue play 54 Below.