I got an e-mail yesterday afternoon from Patti Wolff, interim artistic director of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, informing me that the entire run of Satchmo at the Waldorf, my first play, is now sold out. It’s a hit.
Not to be obvious, but this couldn’t possibly have happened without the amazing work of John Douglas Thompson and Gordon Edelstein, the star and director, and the production team that designed Satchmo in 2012, moved it off Broadway last year, and now have brought it to California for its West Coast premiere. Plays don’t play themselves—especially not this well.. Heartfelt thanks, too, to Patti and her wonder-working colleagues for believing in our show and getting it up and running at the Wallis. They’re all made of gold.
What next for Satchmo? A new production, directed by Charles Newell, begins performances at Chicago’s Court Theatre on January 7. Meanwhile, the staging now playing at the Wallis will move to San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater on January 13. Two more runs of Satchmo, in Colorado Springs and West Palm Beach, will follow in due course, with further productions set for 2016-17.
After that? Well, we’ll see. But I’m more than happy just as is.