Hollywood glimmers this WEEK AHEAD!
Saturday, March 1 PREVIEWS→ The theatre blockbuster that is Les Misérables returns to Broadway with an all-new revival starring a bevvy of Broadway regulars filling the classic roles you know and love. Will Swenson, Caissie Levy and Tony winner Nikki M. James play Javert, Fantine and Eponine, respectively with Broadway newbies Ramin Karimloo and Andy Mientus playing Jean Valjean and Marius. Iranian-born, Canadian-raised Karimloo has stunned West End audiences for years, becoming one of the most in-demand leading men, despite having never had any formal training and being a tattooed rock and bluegrass singer on the side! Officially opens March 23. (Imperial Theatre, 249 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Info/tickets.)
Sunday, March 2 LAST CHANCE→ Rebecca Hall makes her Broadway debut in Sophie Treadwell's expressionistic drama Machinal. Hall plays a stenographer in the 1920s stuck in a passionless family. A torrid affair leads to longing, loss and murder in this thriller co-starring Tony nominees Suzanne Bertish and Michael Cumpsty and Drama Desk nominee Morgan Spector. (American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St., btwn. 7th & 8th Aves. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
LAST CHANCE→ Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, the first to cater to the hipster dinner-theatre crowd, serves its last pierógi at the Times Square popup theatre known as Kazino. (Kazino, 259 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
WATCH→ The 86th Academy Awards airs live this Sunday. Broadway producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are once again producing the festivities, bringing some musical flair to Hollywood's biggest night. This year's awards, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, will honor milestones in film, including the 75th anniversary of "The Wizard of Oz" (complete with a Judy Garland family reunion onstage!). Expect performances by Bette Midler and Tony winner Idina Menzel and a presenters list that includes Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lawrence, Daniel Day-Lewis, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Viola Davis, Whoopi Goldberg, Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson, Angelina Jolie, Michael B. Jordan, Matthew McConaughey, Ewan McGregor, Bill Murray, Tyler Perry, Brad Pitt, Sidney Poitier, Kevin Spacey, Kerry Washington, Emma Watson and Naomi Watts. (7 PM EST/4PM PT, ABC. Info.)
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| Jeanna de Waal |
LAST CHANCE--> Bronx Bombers is the latest from Lombardi and Magic/Bird scribe Eric Simonson, who has created a name for himself theatricalizing great American sports sagas. Bombers takes a look at the storied Yankees franchise through one of its most famous catchers, Yogi Berra, his wife Carmen and the team's most beloved players from Lou Gehrig to Derek Jeter. (Circle in the Square Theatre, 235 W. 50th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Info/tickets.)
Monday, March 3
OPENING→ Tony winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson is at the helm of the New York premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes' new play The Happiest Song Plays Last. The story follows to two cousins — one, a Hollywood hotshot, the other, a small-town doyenne — as they find their purpose in life. Grammy-nominee Nelson González peppers the play with traditional Puerto Rican folk music. (Second Stage Theater, 305 W. 43rd St., at 8th Ave. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
Tuesday, March 4
GO→ Oscar winner and famous "Partridge Family" matriarch Shirley Jones takes to the stage at the Café Carlyle for an evening of songs from Rodgers, Hammerstein and Hart. (Through March 15, Café Carlyle, 3 E. 76th St., at Madison Ave. Info/tickets.)
Wednesday, March 5
PREVIEWS→ Tony winner Idina Menzel returns to Broadway for the first time since Wicked in a new musical by Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal scribes Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. In If/Then, Menzel plays Elizabeth, a woman on the verge of her 40s who moves to Manhattan to start a new life. The show brings Menzel together with Tony winner LaChanze (The Color Purple) and former Rent collaborators, director Michael Greif and costar Anthony Rapp. Officially opens March 30. (Richard Rodgers Theatre, 226 W. 46th St. btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
OPENING→ Young gun Tarell Alvin McCraney lends his genius — his MacArthur Fellow Genius, that is — to a Shakespeare classic. McCraney adapts and directs Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, setting it in a New World on the eve of the 18th-century Haitian Revolution against the French. (The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St. Info/tickets.)
Thursday, March 6
OPENING→ Golden Globe and three-time Emmy winner Bryan Cranston trades "Breaking Bad" for breaking through on Broadway in All The Way, a suspenseful new drama by Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Schenkkan. This historical thriller follows Lyndon Baines Johnson's presidency through the tumultuous year that was 1964. (Neil Simon Theatre, 250 W. 52nd St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
Friday, March 7
GO→ Oscar winner Emma Thompson and Welsh opera star Bryn Terfel star in the New York Philharmonic's concert version of Sweeney Todd, directed by Lonny Price. Others cast in the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical theatre classic are Tony winner Christian Borle, Olivier winner Philip Quast, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Jay Armstrong Johnson and Erin Mackey. (March 5-8, Avery Fisher Hall, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, btwn. Broadway & Amsterdam. Info/tickets.)
