Odds & Ends: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Approaches Broadway Record, Tom Sturridge and Brian d'Arcy James Join Michelle Williams and More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Approaches Longest-Running Broadway Play Record

As recently reported by Broadway.com, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will soon play its 2,328th performance, thereby moving up the rankings of the longest-running Broadway shows of all time. On September 1, it will overtake Abie's Irish Rose (2,327 performances) as the third longest-running Broadway play of all time and 34th longest-running Broadway show of all time. It will need to play 897 more performances to overtake Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse's 1939 play Life with Father (3,224 performances over seven years) and become Broadway's longest-running non-musical play ever.

The Band's Visit Orchestrator Jamshied Sharifi Dies

Producer, composer and orchestrator Jamshied Sharifi, whose Tony-winning orchestrations for The Band's Visit brought traditional Egyptian, Arab and Jewish musical sounds to Broadway, died on August 15 after a battle with cancer. He was 64. A graduate of MIT (where he developed a breath-controlled pitch bender for his synthesizer) and Berklee College of Music (where he studied jazz piano and composition), Sharifi produced musical artists from Japan, Korea, Tibet and Iran, composed scores for movies including The Rugrats Movie and The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) and recorded four albums with his world fusion band Mo Bama. His solo album A Prayer for the Soul of Layla was named Best Contemporary World Music Album at the New Age Voice Music Awards while prog metal fans know his work from his collaborations with the band Dream Theater.

Tom Sturridge and Brian d'Arcy James Join Anna Christie

Tom Sturridge and Brian d'Arcy James have joined Michelle Williams in the St. Ann's Warehouse production of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie. Sturridge, a Tony nominee for Orphans and Sea Wall/A Life, plays Mat Burke, Anna’s lover, replacing Mike Faist, who withdrew from the production. D’Arcy James, whose Tony-nominated Broadway credits include Days of Wine and Roses and Into the Woods, plays Chris Christopherson, a coal barge captain and Anna’s father. Thomas Kail, Williams' husband, directs her in the title role. The production begins performances on November 25.

Jasmine Amy Rogers to Host Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ NextGen Spotlight

Jasmine Amy Rogers will host Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ NextGen Spotlight. The intimate benefit concert will take place at The Green Room 42 on September 29, featuring rising stars sharing songs and stories, raising money for the nonprofit. Rogers starred as the title character in last season's BOOP!  Last year's event featured Amber Ardolino, Ali Louis Bourzgui, Joy Woods and more.

Broadway Backstage Vet and Sopranos Star Jerry Adler Dies

Jerry Adler—a longtime Broadway stage manager who pivoted to directing, then, much later in life, acting—has died at 96. Adler began his theatre career as a stage manager in 1950—attributing this to his theater manager father's nepotism—stage managing for around 50 productions including My Fair Lady and Of Thee I Sing. He began directing in the '70s—among his projects was a revival of My Fair Lady—then began getting screen acting roles in the '90s. He had no acting training, though his cousin was legendary acting teacher Stella Adler. His screen credits include Manhattan Murder Mystery, The Good Wife and, most notably, six seasons of The Sopranos. In 2015, he secured his final Broadway credit as an actor in Larry David's Fish in the Dark.

Lizzy McAlpine and Raúl Esparza to Star in Revised Sweet Smell of Success in Concert

Raúl Esparza and Lizzy McAlpine will feature in the premiere of a revised version of the Marvin Hamlisch musical Sweet Smell of Success. The 2002 musical, based on the 1958 film that starred Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, is being revised by book writer John Guare and lyricist Craig Carnelia. Conductor Ted Sperling, who will lead the 120-member MasterVoices Chorus and Orchestra, said, “This is a score that needs to be better known." Performances will run November 21-22 at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall.