THE WEEK AHEAD, March 2-8: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Kinky Boots, Matilda Begin, Cinderella Opens, Poppins Takes Flight
By Blake Ross
March 2, 2013
Playbill.com's weekly planner reminds you that a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical premieres on Broadway (over 50 years in the making!)… Breakfast at Tiffany's brings a huckleberry friend to Broadway… Cyndi Lauper kicks up her Kinky Boots… and Matilda casts her spell on the Great White Way! It may still be winter, but spring shows are starting to sprout this WEEK AHEAD!
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Saturday, March 2
LAST CHANCE→ Barry Manilow, the king of the Copa, plays his last night on Broadway. The Grammy-winning crooner famous for songs like "Mandy," "I Write the Songs" and "Copacabana" wraps up his Broadway concert, much to the dismay of Fanilows everywhere. (St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th St., btwn. 7th & 8th Aves. Info/tickets.)
Sunday, March 3
LAST CHANCE→ Steppenwolf's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, directed by Clybourne Park's Pam MacKinnon, closes on Broadway. With stunning performances by Tracy Letts and Amy Morton as the gin-soaked, tortured lovers George and Martha, critics hailed this most recent revival of Edward Albee's landmark play as a masterpiece. (Booth Theatre, 222 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
LAST CHANCE→ Everyone's favorite British nanny takes her last flight on Broadway when the Disney-Cameron Mackintosh production of Mary Poppins closes at the New Amsterdam Theatre. The family-friendly favorite featuring well-known Sherman Brothers tunes "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Chim Chim Cheree" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" has been on the Great White Way since 2006. The musical continues to fly across the country on tour. (New Amsterdam Theatre, 214 W. 42nd St., btwn. 7th & 8th Aves. Info/tickets.)
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| Laurie Metcalf in The Other Place. |
| photo by Joan Marcus |
LAST CHANCE→ Laurie Metcalf stars as a woman in crisis in Sharr White's haunting new drama The Other Place. Julia Smithton (Metcalf) is a neuroscientist whose relationships with her doctor husband (Bill Pullman) and daughter (Zoe Perry) unravel as she battles the same disease she's dedicated her life to curing. Directed by Tony winner Joe Mantello. (Friedman Theatre, 261 W. 47th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
OPENING→ Rodgers and Hammerstein's take on the classic fairy tale Cinderella arrives on Broadway for the very first time. The show began as a 1957 TV film starring Julie Andrews. Its Broadway version has an updated book by Douglas Carter Beane, and stars Laura Osnes as the girl with the glass slipper who catches the eye of the charming Prince (Santino Fontana). Directed by Mark Brokaw and co-starring Tony winner Victoria Clark as the Fairy Godmother and Harriet Harris as Cinderella's evil stepmother. (Broadway Theatre, 1681 Broadway at 53rd St. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
PREVIEWS→ Kinky Boots, the Cyndi Lauper-Harvey Fierstein-penned musical about a shoemaker who leaves his fledgling business in the fashionable hands of a feisty drag queen, opens on Broadway. Stark Sands plays Charlie Price, a regular bloke from Northern England who inherits his family's shoemaking business (and all the problems that come with it) following his father's untimely death. An angel in the form of a drag performer (Billy Porter) saves the day, with help from a funny factory worker (Annaleigh Ashford) and a bevy of transvestite beauties. Directed by Tony winner Jerry Mitchell. Officially opens April 4. (Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 W. 45th St., btwn. 8th & 9th Aves. Click here for Playbill Club discount previews tickets.)
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| Rita Moreno |
PREVIEWS→ Truman Capote's famous novella Breakfast at Tiffany's arrives on Broadway in a play adapted by Tony winner Richard Greenberg. "Game of Thrones" star Emilia Clarke stars as Holly Golightly, the role immortalized on screen by Audrey Hepburn. The other denizens of Capote's classic New York include Cory Michael Smith as one of Golightly's comely suitors and George Wendt as Holly's protector, bartender Joe Bell. Directed by Sean Mathias. Officially opens March 20. (Cort Theatre, 138 W. 48th St., btwn. 6th & 7th Aves. Click here for Playbill Club discount previews tickets.)
PREVIEWS→ The London hit musical Matilda arrives on Broadway. This musicalized version of Roald Dahl's beloved fable centers on a gifted girl who discovers she possesses extraordinary powers and uses them to battle her school's evil headmistress, Miss Trunchbull (played by Broadway newbie Bertie Carvel in an Olivier Award-winning performance). Directed by Tony winner Matthew Warchus. Officially opens April 11. (Shubert Theatre, 225 W. 44th St., btwn. 7th & 8th Aves. Click here for Playbill Club discount previews tickets.)
Tuesday, March 5
GO (FREE)→ Tony winning In The Heights creator Lin-Manuel Miranda will sit down with Tony and Oscar-winning legend Rita Moreno for a discussion about her newly released memoir. (7 PM, Barnes and Noble, 86th St. and Lexington Ave. Info.)
Wednesday, March 6
GO→ Michael John LaChiusa's Marie Christine, a vehicle that originally starred multiple Tony winner Audra McDonald, returns to New York in a rare staging by Columbia Stages — a program of Columbia University School of the Arts. The LaChiusa musical that sets Euripides' Medea in New Orleans hasn't been seen in New York since its short-lived Lincoln Center Theater debut in 1999. (Through March 9, 3DL, 80 Greenwich St. Info/tickets.)
Thursday, March 7
PREVIEWS→ New York City will receive another rare treat, Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years, in a new Off-Broadway production helmed by Brown himself. The two-hander, inspired by Brown's own experiences, has become a favorite among millennial theatre geeks thanks to the 2002 production and cast album featuring Sherie Rene Scott and Norbert Leo Butz. The 2013 revival features Betsy Wolfe and Adam Kantor as the couple at the center of this time-bending emotional rollercoaster. Officially opens April 21. (Second Stage's Tony Kiser Theatre, 305 W. 43rd St., btwn. 8th & 9th Aves. Info/tickets.)
Friday, March 8
GO→ "Smash" TV star and Broadway favorite Megan Hilty joins the New York Pops for Megan Hilty Sings Sinatra and More. The "and more" in this case includes songs from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Hilty recently starred in the Encores! revival) and original numbers from the NBC musical drama series. Ryan Silverman, currently playing Giorgio in CSC's Passion, will accompany Hilty to sing the swingin' songs of the Rat Pack era. (8 PM, Carnegie Hall, 157 W. 57th St., at 7th Ave. Info/tickets.)
Blake Ross is the editor of Playbill magazine. Follow her on Twitter @PlaybillBlake.
Manilow talks about Manilow On Broadway: