You know what I’m against?  Performers who do more than two shows at the same venue and calling it a residency.  A residency is when you move to a city, get an apartment, and live there by day and work by night.  Kinda like what Sam Smith had planned once the refurbished Castro Theatre opens in February 2026.  He announced two weeks of four shows each for his To Be Free stint in SF.  I’d call that residency-adjacent.  Those sold out pretty quickly, so he added another four.  Poof – sold out.  As of this writing, he’s up to 16 shows over four weeks.  That is definitely a residency.  He’s doing a similar schedule at Warsaw in Brooklyn over October, November and December.  To get the most up-to-date schedule, check out SamSmithWorld.com.

Since we’re talking New York, you know that Halloween is right around the corner.  And this will mark the 10^th time the delightful Jay Armstrong Johnson has presented his wildly popular I Put A Spell On You benefit to raise money for the Ali Forney Center.  Seeing Jay as Winifred Sanderson – well, you can’t put a price on that.  This year’s show will take place on October 20^th at Webster Hall in NYC.  You can get tickets and information at SpellOnYouNYC.com or JayArmstrongJohnson.org.

Last year marked the 25^th year Charles Busch and his merry band performed his play, Times Square Angel.  Since this is typically when tickets go on sale (and sell out in minutes), he made the following announcement.  “Last year marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of performing the play as a one night staged reading.  To Carl Andress and I, that seemed like an achievement to be proud of and time to call it a wrap.  At the risk of sounding like Anton Walbrook at the end of the movie, The Red Shoes, we won’t be performing Times Square Angel anymore.  Nothing goes on forever and time and the vagaries of age and the prosaic details and exhaustion of doing theater on a shoestring have gone into this decision.  What a joyous ride it’s been…To those who have joined us all these years, thank you so much for your loyalty and enthusiasm.  What a joy it’s been to share this play and experience with you.  And to our cast and band, designers and crew, my love, gratitude and admiration.  A special thank you to Theater for the New City and the indominable Crystal Fields who for six decades has given so many theater artists a home.  Thank you all for twenty-five years of Times Square Angel.  I exclaim this from my heart, truly, and sincerely, bless you, darlings!”  In the words of Belinda Carlisle, never say never…

By the by, the print edition of Busch’s play The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife and Other Plays turned up at the recent Julien’s Auction of Joan Rivers’ belongings.  The volume was autographed by Charles to Auntie Joan in 2007, and he wrote the following: “To Joan – Your early enthusiasm over these plays meant more than I can say.  Thank you.”  It was bundled with a few other entertainment books and sold for $320.  I’m sure Missy thanks you.