Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett tell it on the Mountaintop… Woody and Ethan and Elaine (oh my!)… “Here’s a story” about Florence Henderson… and the final broadcast of “All My Children.”
Blake
Saturday, September 17
GO? Tony and Emmy Award-winner Mandy Patinkin brings his long-running critically acclaimed theatre concert, Mamaloshen, to Toronto. Mamaloshen (Mother Tongue) explores a variety of Jewish songs from Yiddish standards to more recent songs by Jewish composers — sung entirely in Yiddish. Later this fall, Patinkin will later join former Evita co-star Patti LuPone for the Broadway show An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin. (Through September 18, Bluma Appel Theatre, Toronto, info/tickets)
Sunday, September 18
WATCH? The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards, hosted by “Glee” star Jane Lynch, airs on FOX. Some performers up for television’s biggest prize have also made waves on Broadway including Edie Falco, Laura Linney, Martha Plimpton, Jim Parsons and Alec Baldwin. Presenters include Julianna Margulies, Sofia Vergara, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Zooey Deschanel, Ashton Kutcher and singer Mitzi Gaynor with designer Bob Mackie. (8 PM/ 5 PT on FOX, info)
Monday, September 19
LAST CHANCE? Hotel/Motel the double header from the Amoralists theatre company ends its extended run at the Gershwin Hotel. Hotel/Motel, also a site-specific immersion theatre offering, is two plays held in one hotel room. The Hotel part consists of Derek Ahonen's Pink Knees on Pale Skin, the story of a group of couples planning an organized orgy that gets a little rough (both emotionally and physically) thanks to a kinky doctor who has her own screwed up marriage. The Motel part comes from Adam Rapp, whose Animals and Plants finds two drug runners in a dingy motel room at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains passing the time during a blizzard. (Gershwin Hotel, 7 E. 27th St., btwn. Madison & 5th Ave., info/tickets)
Tuesday, September 20
PREVIEWS? The comedy hat trick that is Woody Allen/Ethan Coen/Elaine May’s Relatively Speaking begins performances. The glue holding these three one-acts together is director John Turturro. The cast comprises Caroline Aaron, Bill Army, Lisa Emery, Ari Graynor, Steve Guttenberg, Danny Hoch, Julie Kavner, Fred Melamed, Grant Shaud, Marlo Thomas, Katherine Borowitz, Jason Kravits, Richard Libertini, Mark Linn-Baker and Patricia O'Connell. (Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 W. 47th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., info/tickets. Officially opens Oct. 20.)
Wednesday, September 21
OPENING? The 2011-2012 New York Philharmonic season gets off to a start with its opening night gala featuring soprano Deborah Voigt in an interplay of vocal and orchestral works by Barber, Wagner and Richard Strauss. Under the baton of conductor and Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert. For those not able to attend the opening night gala, you can catch the rehearsal for free that morning at 9:45 AM. And if you’re not in the New York area, the concert will be broadcast live on PBS stations. (7:30 PM, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Broadway btwn. 62nd & 65th Sts., info/tickets)
Thursday, September 22
PREVIEWS? The final evening of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life is imagined in The Mountaintop, which took home last season’s Olivier Award for best new play. In The Mountaintop we find Dr. King (Samuel L. Jackson) at the infamous Lorraine Motel on the night after his iconic “I've Been to the Mountaintop” speech. It would also turn out to be the day before he is assassinated. He meets up with a feisty maid (played by Angela Bassett) who gets him to reveal the man behind the icon. Directed by Kenny Leon. (Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount previews tickets. Officially opens Oct. 13.)
GO? NBC contributor Dr. Gail Saltz is joined by Florence Henderson for a one-on-one interview about the Broadway and TV vet's life both onstage, on screen and behind all the glitz and glamour. Henderson discusses her memoir “Life Is Not a Stage: From Broadway Baby to a Lovely Lady and Beyond,” which chronicles the actress’ life growing up in poverty with an alcoholic father, her rise to fame, her bout with stage fright, and her ability to rise above it all to become the beloved entertainer she is today. (8:15 PM, 92nd Street Y’s Buttenwieser Hall, Lexington Ave. & 92nd St., $29, info/tickets)
Friday, September 23
WATCH? The long-running daytime soap opera “All My Children” will air its final network TV episode after more than four decades on ABC. Former cast members Josh Duhamel, Carol Burnett and Sarah Michelle Gellar have returned to the show for its final season. Of course "AMC" leading lady Susan Lucci will be there for the final episode. Fans of the denizens of Pine Valley will now have to get their “AMC” fix online, where the series will continue. (1 PM EST/ 12 PT/C on ABC, info)
