If/Then Debuts, Matt Caplan Pedals 4000 Miles & More Cross-Country Highlights

It’s time for another cross-country road trip, with musical stops in Washington DC, Cincinnati and La Jolla, plus dramatic interludes in Atlanta and Costa Mesa. Grab your favorite map app, and make plans to see some of the hottest shows in the USA!


WASHINGTON, DC
If Idina Is the Star, Then We Want to See the Show
The wait is over—at least for those in or near our nation’s capital: The new musical If/Then begins its pre-Broadway engagement at the National Theatre on November 5. Starring Tony winner Idina Menzel as a woman who moves back to NYC just before her 40th birthday, If/Then boasts a score by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, direction by Michael Greif and a supporting cast led by LaChanze and Anthony Rapp. See it in DC through December 8, then…Broadway!


COSTA MESA, CA
Miles to Go Before They Sleep
Amy Herzog’s beautiful play 4000 Miles has swapped coasts, after an acclaimed off-Broadway debut starring Tony winners Mary Louise Wilson and Gabriel Ebert. In a new production at South Coast Repertory, Broadway vets Jenny O’Hara and Matt Caplan play a Vera, a 91-year-old grandmother, and Leo, her hippie grandson, who come together in Vera’s Greenwich Village apartment at the end of Leo’s disastrous cross-country bicycle trip. Watch their relationship bloom through November 17.


CINCINNATI, OH
Even the Orchestra Is Beautiful
Priscilla Queen of the Desert diva Nathan Lee Graham takes on the iconic role of the Emcee in Cabaret in a production that has jumped from St. Louis Rep to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Broadway vets Liz Pearce and Hunter Ryan Herdlicka play Sally Bowles and Clifford Bradshaw in Marsha Milgrom Dodge’s revival, which captures the divine decadence and existential dread of Kander & Ebb’s classic musical. Catch Cabaret through November 16.


LA JOLLA, CA
The Hilton Twins Will Never Leave You
Side Show played less than 100 Broadway performances back in 1997, and yet the musical has remained a source of fascination to actors and audiences. And why not? The lead characters are conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, who struggle to find love and acceptance as more than simply side-show performers. Oscar winner Bill Condon has reworked Bill Russell’s book and directs Emily Padgett and Erin Davie at La Jolla Playhouse, running November 5-December 15.


ATLANTA, GA
Politics as Usual
After winning strong reviews in its 2012 premiere at Second Stage Uptown, Kenneth Lim’s Warrior Class makes its way to Atlanta's Alliance Theatre in a production running through November 17. This topical thriller centers on a young politician being groomed for a big race in New York—until a former girlfriend threatens to upend his reputation. Can a political fixer figure out what she really wants? Discover this nail-biting drama by a rising Asian-American playwright.