On Monday, November 27,  the 2023 global Light the World Giving Machines campaign showed Christ’s light and love. Three machines were unwrapped in Times Square.

The theme for these machines is “Let Your Light Shine,” words the Savior of the world spoke to His followers. Giving Machines provide a unique path to spread His light — in your community or in a faraway country. Instead of buying something for yourself, your purchase is a donation for someone in need.

As we start the process of hoping there will be greater light in the world, we invite all to light the world,” said Elder David Buckner, an Area Seventy. “Today we start that as a process of hope and promise and joy that the world so desperately needs.”

Giving Machines, now in their seventh year, offer a unique way to serve and care for others. Instead of buying something for yourself, your purchase is a donation for someone in need. Across machines in all locations are a combined 1,200 different items requested by carefully screened and reputable local, national and international nonprofit organizations. These include meals, groceries, shelter, clothing, healthcare, education, bedding, hygiene kits, job and career training, crops and livestock (such as chickens, goats, pigs, ducks, sheep and beehives). Patrons can type in 777 to purchase one of everything in a machine.

The Giving Machines are open for business and have move to their permanent Manhattan holiday location: The Church of Our Savior at 59 Park Ave. (at 38th Street). They will be available through January 1, 2024. In total, Giving Machines are available in 60 additional locations in seven countries.

Besides the machines, 15 digital displays will be in Times Square featuring Christmas messages from the Church of Jesus Christ. These messages will include the birth of Jesus Christ and gratitude for local interfaith leaders and charities who are working with the Church to help those in need.

The nine participating national and global nonprofits are:

• African Girls Hope Foundation
• American Red Cross
• Care
• Church World Service
• iDE (International Development Enterprise)
• Lifting Hands International
• Mentors International
• UNICEF
• WaterAid

The Church and UNICEF have collaborated on various projects to help children and mothers around the world. The American Red Cross of Greater New York, mission is to alleviate human suffering during times of disasters and emergencies. They provides 40% of the blood supply in the U.S. CARE has projects in over 111 countries and reaches more than 170 million people annually. The Church World Service, said her organization is focus on immigration legal fees, offer menstrual health products to help women and more.

In total, more than 250 local, national and global nonprofits are participating this year — more than all previous years combined.

It is time to bring light to what is admittedly a very dark world.

This fall, the Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) celebrates its 15th year as an industry-wide initiative that educates, motivates, and inspires the entire theatre community and its patrons to adopt environmentally friendlier practices on Broadway and beyond. To mark this milestone, the BGA will host a free celebratory “bike-powered” concert and birthday bash on Monday, October 23rd in the New Amsterdam Room at the New Amsterdam Theatre (214 W 42nd Street) which will be streamed live on Stars in the House.

The in-person event begins at 5:00pm ET with limited tickets available, and the live-stream concert begins at 6:30pm ET on the Stars in the House YouTube channel at youtube.com/starsinthehouse.

Broadway performers and hosts joining the event include Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley (Stars in the House), Tony Award Nominee Kerry Butler (Beetlejuice), Tony Award Nominee Anika Larsen (Almost Famous), Tony Award Nominee Kenita R. Miller (For Colored Girls…), Tony Award Nominee Adam Pascal (Rent), Mara Davi (A Chorus Line), Jenn Gambatese (Mrs. Doubtfire), Jackie Hoffman (Xanadu), James T. Lane (Chicago), Patti Murin (Frozen), Rachel Webb (& Juliet), and more to be announced.

On October 12th, Gutenberg! The Musical! opened on Broadway. Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells the original stars of The Book of Mormon are back together again, in a new musical from the guys who wrote Beetlejuice and the guy who directed Beetlejuice and Moulin Rouge. It’s the story of two best pals named Bud and Doug who put on a show together because they just love each other so damn much. It’s art imitating life imitating art!

Look for T2C’s review Wednesday.

Last night, three-time Tony Award winner Nathan Lane made a surprise cameo in the role of ‘The Producer’ opposite Tony Award nominees Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells at the star-studded Broadway opening night of Gutenberg! The Musical! at the James Earl Jones Theatre (138 West 48th Street).

Lane, wearing the show’s signature mustard yellow trucker cap emblazoned with the word ‘Producer,’ took the stage and said, “I’m a famous Broadway producer. Perhaps you’ve heard of me. The name is Bialystock…. Max Bialystock,” a nod to Lane’s Tony winning role in the Mel Brooks’ musical The Producers. Lane also exclaimed, “This show is fantastic. I had the same feeling when I saw Cats!”

Lane is the latest star to join Gutenberg! in the role of ‘The Producer.’ During previews Gad and Rannells have also been joined by Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Groff, JJ Abrams, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Nikki M. James, F. Murray Abraham, Annaleigh Ashford, and Leslie Odom Jr.

Gutenberg! The Musical! is playing a strictly limited engagement at the Jones Theatre through Sunday, January 28, 2024 only.

Full Principal Cast photo by Matthew Murphy

Pictures were released for the first look at Spamalot. As previously announced, Spamalot features

Christopher Fitzgerald photo by Matthew Murphy

Tony Award nominee Christopher Fitzgerald (Waitress) as Patsy

James Monroe Iglehart photo by Matthew Murphy

Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart (Aladdin, Hamilton) as King Arthur

Taran Killam photo by Matthew Murphy

Taran Killam (“Saturday Night Live”) as Lancelot

Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer photo by Matthew Murphy

Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer (Beetlejuice) as The Lady of the Lake,

Ethan Slater photo by Matthew Murphy

Tony Award nominee Ethan Slater (SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical) as The Historian/Prince Herbert

Jimmy Smagula photo by Matthew Murphy

Jimmy Smagula (Billy Elliot) as Sir Bedevere

Michael Urie photo by Matthew Murphy

Drama Desk Award winner Michael Urie (“Shrinking,” Torch Song) as Sir Robin

Nik Walker photo by Matthew Murphy

and Nik Walker (Hamilton) as Sir Galahad with David Josefsberg, Graham Stevens, Daniel Beeman, Maria Briggs, Gabriella Enriquez, Michael Fatica, Denis Lambert, Shina Ann Morris, Kaylee Olson, Kristin Piro, Drew Redington, Tyler Roberts, Anju Cloud, Darrell T. Joe, Lily Kaufmann, and Charlie Sutton. Iglehart, Kritzer, Smagula, Urie and Walker will be reprising their roles from the record-breaking sold-out run at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

Brooke Adams

Brooke Adams will join Caroline Aaron, Marilu Henner, and Melanie Mayron, under the direction of Thomas Caruso. Ms Adams replaces the previously announced JoBeth Williams who had to withdraw due to a scheduling conflict. 

Performances will begin Saturday November 11th at Actors Temple Theatre (339 West 47th Street, between 8th & 9th Avenues). Opening Night is set for Monday December 11th. This limited Off-Broadway engagement will continue through Monday January 1st.

Marilu Henner

Performances will be Saturday at 2pm & 7pm, Sunday at 2pm, and Monday at 7pm. Actors Temple Theatre, located at 339 West 47th Street (between 8th & 9th Avenues), is housed in the historical Actors Temple Synagogue in the heart of New York’s Times Square Theatre District. This theatre has been the home of the long-running production of Black Angels Over Tuskegee, which  played for almost ten years year Off-Broadway, as well as Cowboy, Sistas, Soul Doctor, Zero Hour, Rain Pryor’s Fried Chicken and Latkes,  It’s Just Sex, The Big Voice: God or Merman?, Goldstein, The J.A.P. Show: Jewish-American Princesses of Comedy  and  Paul Mecurio’s Permission To Speak.  
 
Tickets, which are now on sale, range from $39.50 to $119 and are available for purchase online at Telecharge.com, by phone at 212/239-6200, or visit the Actors Temple Theater box office (open one hour prior to showtime). Service fees will apply for online or phone orders

Jordan Fisher

Jordan Fisher will join the cast of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Hadestown as ‘Orpheus’ on Monday, November 20, 2023. Best known for his roles in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Teen Beach Movie franchises as well as his Broadway turns in Sweeney Todd, Dear Evan Hansen, and Hamilton, Fisher succeeds original cast member Reeve Carney. Carney will play his final performance as ‘Orpheus’ on Sunday, November 19. Carney began playing ‘Orpheus’ in 2017 at Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre before transferring with the production to London’s West End and Broadway in 2018 and 2019.

“Reeve helped define both stories at the center of this show — the cosmic love story of a young man who changes the laws of the space time continuum to save his lover, and the political story of a ‘poor boy’ who gets angry enough to question ‘the king,’” said director Rachel Chavkin. “His extraordinary musicianship as guitarist and singer was an endless source of inspiration to both Anaïs and I in the creation of the show, and his elegant leadership as an actor and company member, both onstage and off, will be deeply missed.”

“My gratitude goes out to Anäis Mitchell and all who have touched this show with their divine intention,” said Reeve Carney. “To my fellow cast mates, who have been with me in the trenches, giving of themselves freely and unceasingly, on and off the stage. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And to our incredible audiences here at The Walter Kerr Theater… It has been an honor bringing this story to life for you all night after night over these many years.”

Hadestown currently stars Tony Award winner Lillias White as Hermes, Solea Pfeiffer as Eurydice, Betty Who as Persephone, and Phillip Boykin as Hades. They are joined by Amelia Cormack, Lindsey Hailes, and Brit West as the Fates. The chorus of Workers is played by Emily Afton, Malcolm Armwood, Chibueze Ihumoa, Alex Puette and Grace Yoo. The cast includes swings Sojourner Brown, Brandon Cameron, Tara Jackson, Max Kumangai, Alex Lugo, and Tanner Ray Wilson.

Activation Dates & Times: Friday, October 13th from 5-8pm; Saturday, October 14th from 1-8pm; & Sunday, October 15th from 1-6pm
Location: 508 W 37th St., NYC (5-minute walk from Javits Center) *No NYCC badge required to attend!

NYCC attendees will step into the Buffyverse at “The Slayers Society,” an audio-led immersive experience showcasing new Audible Original, Slayers: A Buffyverse Story. At “The Slayers Society,” a meeting place for existing and wannabe Slayers, guests will grab a fortifying beverage from the Potion Bar, discover their destiny at Tarot Reading listening stations, train like a Slayer with a themed photo opp, enter a magical multiverse portal, and receive mystery Slayers swag.

Slayers: A Buffyverse Story is set to premiere October 12, 2023 on Audible, twenty years after the series finale of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’ The scripted audio original picks up in the Buffyverse 10 years after the events of the final episode. Since then, Spike (James Marsters) has gone deep undercover in LA, convincing the forces of darkness that he’s back to his evil ways. When his cover is compromised by sixteen-year-old Indira Nunnally (Laya DeLeon Hayes), Spike finds himself on baby-slayer-sitting duty once more. While he attempts to track down a watcher for his eager new protégé, their paths collide with the veteran Slayer of a parallel reality where Buffy Summers never existed…a reality where Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) is the one-and-only Slayer. She needs Spike’s help with a classic big bad terrorizing her world…his old flame, Drusilla (Juliet Landau).

 Official Panel Date & Time: Friday, October 13th from 1:30 – 2:30 pm

Location: Main Stage, Javits Center (429 11th Ave., NYC)

TheWriter, director and original cast member Amber Benson, writer and director Christopher Golden, and original cast members including Charisma Carpenter, Emma Caulfield Ford, James Charles Leary, Juliet Landau, James Marsters, along with newcomerLaya DeLeon Hayes.

Listen to Slayers: A Buffyverse Story exclusively on Audible, beginning October 12, 2023. In addition, Slayers: A Buffyverse Story will join Audible’s growing catalog of Originals that can be listened to in immersive spatial audio with Dolby Atmos from the Audible app. For more information, visit Audible.com.