Each week, BroadwayBox editor Josh Ferri narrows down all the happenings in NYC to three can’t-miss events. This week, the trio highlighted includes a solo concert by a Broadway-turned-TV actress, a sidesplitting off-Broadway star turn and a throw-back to the great musicals of yesteryear.
3. Cristin Milioti Makes Sweet Music at Joe’s Pub
Cristin Milioti won Broadway’s hearts as Girl in the Tony-winning musical Once before taking on a role that cemented her place in television history: the mysterious mother on How I Met Your Mother. So it’s a real treat for theater and TV fans alike that Milioti is returning to Joe’s Pub to perform a one-night-only concert on December 8. When the Tony-nominated actress performed at the downtown hotspot last May, her set included this sweet and haunting cover of Stephen Sondheim’s "Losing My Mind." If that’s not enough to get you there, what is?
2. Tracee Chimo Reigns as Queen of the Bad Jews
If you are looking to laugh until you are physically sore, look no further than Roundabout Theatre Company’s off-Broadway production of Joshua Harmon’s Bad Jews. Harmon’s play is funny and sharp (and moving despite the guffaws); but the real reason to go is to see Tracee Chimo create the repulsive yet lovable character of Daphna, the self-righteous young Jewish woman at the center of the comedy. Chimo is no stranger to the stage or screen, yet this is undeniably her star-is-born performance. Don’t miss Chimo, alongside fellow up-and-comers Michael Zegen, Molly Ranson and Philip Ettinger, at the Laura Pels Theatre through December 29.
1. After Midnight Tears Up Broadway’s Brooks Atkinson Theatre
Visionary director/choreographer Warren Carlyle pulls out all the stops in the new musical revue After Midnight. Set during the Harlem Renaissance at the famed Cotton Club, After Midnight is a showcase for today’s best African American talent. See street performers dance with Tony-nominated hoofers, hear the glorious voices of Fantasia Barrino and Carmen Ruby Floyd soar above the rafters and indulge in the wickedly funny star turn of Tony winner Adriane Lenox as the sassiest blues singer in NYC. Just when you thought, “they don’t make great musicals like that anymore,” After Midnight proves they do.
