NEWS FROM THE RIALTO BROADWAY BOOMING , A LOOK AHEAD

                   By Jeannie Lieberman, editor Theaterscene.net

 

 

Broadway booms as tourists eat up both the old and the new productions, while incoming shows from the regionals hover, tightening their transcripts, honing their skills for entry.

This weeks grosses indicate the reigning supremacy of Wicked, Lion King and the apparently bullet proof Spider Man (good for you Julie Taymor, competing against herself with Lion King). Of the new shows How to Succeed (Bless you, Daniel Radcliff, who fills those seats no matter  how mediocre his performance), War Horse and Book of Mormon are the hot tickets while the unsophisticated out-of-towners are still catching up with Jersey  Boys, the perennial Phantom of the Opera, the merry Mary Poppins and, quelle surprise, Rock of Ages. Surprisingly Sister Act and Anything Goes showed a slight dip but nothing serious while Catch Me if You Can and Master Class seem falling from favor.

Nevertheless with no less than twenty-five shows hanging in there on Broadway we are still the theater world’s Mecca.

INCOMING: Eight regional productions are already lined up to transfer from theaters across the country. More will doubtless make their way here. These shows have the added advantage of trying out on the proverbial road thus avoiding the  New York critics’ vulture attack on the fetal Spider Man working out the glitches in  full view and creating a feeding frenzy.

Lincoln Center’s Other Desert Cities with Stockard Channing, Rachel Griffiths
Stacy Keach, Judith Light, Thomas Sadoski will take the Jon Robin Baitz play, as directed by Joe Mantello, to the Booth  Opening November 3

Follies

Follies despite mixed reviews at DC’s Kennedy Center will bring in Bernadette Peters, Jan Maxwell, Danny Burstein, and Ron Raines in Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s beloved musical to the Marquis Theatre for a limited engagement this fall, demonstrating that Sondheim will always have a home here Opens September 12.

Chinglish  

Playwright David Henry Hwang’s (M. Butterfly, Yellowface) long awaited next production, a humorous take on language barriers and cultural differences, is in Mandarin Chinese with projected super titles. It is currently looking for actors fluent in Mandarin Opens Fall 2011.

Detroit  

The city of Detroit will join cities like Memphis and Chicago on Broadway in Lisa D’Amour’s play Detroit touted as a “scary-funny comedy about the travails of middle Americans swamped in economic woes, and this backyard barbecue drama will surely resonate with everyone from the Windy City to the Big Apple”. Opens Fall 2011.

Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde, the much-anticipated new musical will finally get here after two regional tryout will finally take its Broadway bow this winter after not one, but two regional tryouts in California and Florida for two years. Now starring Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan as the trigger-happy sweethearts (with book by Ivan Menchell, music by Frank Wildhorn, and lyrics by Don Black) it will open with a bang or two Opens December 1.

Stick Fly

Two significant Broadway debuts: Grammy Award-winning artist Alicia Keys will add Broadway producer and writer Lydia R. Diamond herald the production’s booking at the Lyceum Theatre this winter. The play chronicles the gathering of an African-American family at their luxurious Martha’s Vineyard vacation home. With no casting announced yet, we’re nevertheless expecting some of Alicia’s famous friends to join in. Opens December 8.

 Porgy and Bess

Wow! Porgy & Bess with Audra MacDonald and Norm Lewis is a pre-opening sell out! It hasn’t even begun previews at American Repertory Theater but it’s scheduled to open on Broadway in January. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog, In the Blood) is updating Porgy and Bess as a musical for contemporary audiences (Norm Lewis???). Begins December 17.

And…….

          

Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett in On The Mountaintop By Katori Hall Directed By Kenny Leon  Taking Place On April 3, 1968, A Gripping Reimagining Of Events The Night Before The Assassination Of Civil Rights Leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. At The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre Performances Begins September 22, 2011 Opening Night Set For October 13, 2011

 

 

Harry Connick, Jr. In the newly imagined production of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever Opening Night Is Sunday, December 11, 2011 Previews Begin Saturday, November 12, 2011

Cynthia Nixon will star in the Broadway premiere of Wit, Margaret Edison’s 1998 drama about a brilliant and exacting poetry professor who undergoes experimental treatment for cancer. Performances begin in January

                                                                 More to come …….stay tuned!!!