When I visited London, I stayed at the home of my late, dear friend,, the English operatic baritone Derek Hammond-Stroud, who lived in in North London where the title of the play takes place. Muswell Hill by Torben Betts, at the Mainstage Theatre, is a co-production of The Barrow Group Theatre and the Pond Theatre Company. A wife (Colleen Clinton) is preparing dinner for four guests in the kitchen of her home where the play takes place. After imbibing lots of wine, the guests reveal their insecurities and chaos ensues. The six member cast display perfect English accents and are completely believable, under the expert direction of Shannon Patterson (photo below). We congratulated the cast and director at a champagne reception on opening night at the theater.
 

Rejoice! This is the season to be jolly. Home for the Holidays, The Broadway Concert Celebration, at the August Theatre, features magnificent singers and talented musicians performing Christmas songs. The voices are splendid, especially those of Candice Glover, Josh Kaufman and Bianca Ryan.  Peter and Evynne Hollins were the other two superb singers. Danny Aiello made a special appearance, and told stories of his youth and sang. A pretty Kaitlyn Bristowe was the host.. The excellent creative and musical direction was by Jonathan Tessero, who allowed the individual musicians to shine in solos.The nine musicians are terrific. I enjoyed every minute of this enchanting show, perfect at this time of the year. The opening night party took place at Copacabana, 268 West 47th St, where guests like Robert Cuccioli, Laila Robins, Patti Murin, Colin Donnell, Constantine Maroulis, Randy Jones, Andrew Rannels, Sierra Bogess, Jordan Roth, enjoyed the delicious food and wine as they congratulated the cast.