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Stagefright

Playwright David Henry Hwang (pictured above) will be in Buffalo as part of Just Buffalo Literary Center’s Babel Series. His play M. Butterfly premiered on Broadway in 1988, and made him the first Asian American playwright to win a Tony award. The production launched the career of B.D. Wong. His latest play on Broadway was the comedy Chinglish, in the 2011-12 season (this is the text that will be the focus for Babel audiences). Hwang also wrote the books for the musicals Aida and Tarzan, and he revised the book for the revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song in 2002. Babel’s event will take place on November 19th at 8 p.m. at Kleinhans.

Broadway leading ladies Andrea McArdle, Faith Prince, Donna McKechnie, and Maureen McGovern will be touring in December with a show of song and dance called 4 Girls 4: A Christmas Together. John McDaniel is the music director. McArdle was nominated for a Tony for originating the role of Annie in 1977 (she turns 51 in November); McKechnie won the Tony for originating the role of Cassie in A Chorus Line; Prince won a Tony for the revival of Guys and Dolls; McGovern, best known for the #1 Gold Record “The Morning After,” starred on Broadway in the musical Little Women. 4 Girls 4 will play 710 Main Theatre on December 3rd. Tickets are already on sale.

Stephanie Bax will be the new cast member of Alleyway Theatre’s 32nd annual production of A Christmas Carol. She takes over for Katy Miner. David. C. Mitchell returns as Scrooge after last December when he became the seventh actor to play the part in the company’s long-standing traditional production. A Christmas Carol runs December 11th-21st.

Speaking of Miner, after a very well received turn in ART’s Hello Again!, she will be appearing in a cabaret performance to benefit The Robert Vehar Memorial Vocal Scholarship. Every Breath I Take: An Evening of Cabaret with Katie Miner will be performed at PAUSA Art House, 19 Wadsworth St. on November 12th at 8 p.m. The show will be a tribute to New York cabaret legend, the late Nancy LaMott. The five-piece band will feature Bobby Militello on sax and flute. Tickets are $25, and are available on line at www.katyminer.com. Doors open at 7:30.

On November 5th, The New Phoenix Theatre on the Park will hold its inaugural fundraiser, the Phoenix Festivus. The event will feature music by The Albrights and performances by Kelli Bocock-Natale, Kerrykate Abel, Chuck Basil, Franklin LaVoie, and Loraine O’Donnell who is now serving as a New Phoenix Theatre board member. The $25 ticket includes beer, wine, and food. Call 853-1334. Up next for the company, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, directed by Chris Kelly, starring, among others, Albrights band member Joe Donohue. The show opens on November 20th.

If you missed Stephen McKinley Henderson’s superb performance in Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York this past summer, then you are in luck. Off-Broadway’s Second Stage Theatre will remount the production for a limited winter engagement beginning January 16th, 2015. Directed by Austin Pendleton, the production had a sold-out run last summer and could not be extended again due to Henderson’s teaching responsibilities at UB.

Roslyn Ruff is back on the New York stage starring in the acclaimed Scenes from a Marriage by Ingmar Bergman at New York Theatre Workshop.

Michele Ragusa is heading back to Broadway. She is currently appearing in the Broadway bound new musical Little Dance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Will he survive another week? Antonio Sabato Jr., former Calvin Klein underwear model (pictured above right) is competing in Dancing with the Stars. The 42-year model/actor is looking for a stage project.

Happy birthday to Donn Esmonde of the Buffalo News (pictured below) who celebrates another year on October 26th.

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