Get your Turkey Lurkey Time on this holiday Week Ahead!
Saturday, November 22
GO→ The 1997 original London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, starring Elaine Paige, Ken Page and the late Sir John Mills, re-airs in high definition and digital sound as part of PBS' "Great Performances." Next month, a new production of the Tony and Olivier award-winning tuner, directed by Sir Trevor Nunn starring Pussycat Cat Dolls frontwoman Nicole Scherzinger as Grizabella, will open at London's Palladium. (Info/Check local listings.)
Sunday, November 23
LAST CHANCE→ Blythe Danner heads up a family of feisty showbiz folk in Donald Margulies' The Country House. At the summer home of the title, an eclectic mix of creative types come together to discuss art and theatre, which ultimately becomes a discussion of their sordid pasts, which then dissolves into a humorous attempt to not kill each other. Directed by Daniel Sullivan. (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 W. 47th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
Monday, November 24
GO (FREE)→ Idina Menzel performs songs off her new holiday album at the Bloomingdale’s flagship holiday window displays. The Off-Broadway show iLuminate will also perform. Before the event, Menzel will sign copies of "Holiday Wishes" on the third floor. (Signing at 3 PM, Performances at 5 PM, Bloomingdale’s, 59th btwn. 3rd & Lexington Ave. Info.)
Tuesday, November 25
GO→ David Burtka, Broadway performer, TV personality and better half to erstwhile Tony host and current Tony winner Neil Patrick Harris, returns to the musical stage following a decade-long absence with the solo show Burtka, David. Harris directs his husband with musical direction by Playbill's own Seth Rudetsky! (9:30 PM, Encore performance Nov. 26, 54 Below, 254 W. 54th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Info/tickets.) Wednesday, November 26
PREVIEWS→ The old adage about the "magic of Broadway" takes a turn for the literal with The Illusionists—Witness the Impossible. Seven acclaimed magicians — Yu Ho-Jin (The Manipulator), Dan Sperry (The Anti-Conjuror), Jeff Hobson (The Trickster), Kevin James (The Inventor), Aaron Crow (The Warrior), Andrew Basso (The Escapologist) and Adam Trent (The Futurist) — perform death-defying stunts, tricks and sophisticated magic. The show will continue on a North American tour following this Broadway holiday engagement. (Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway, btwn. 45th & 46th St. Info/tickets.)
Thursday, November 27
GO/WATCH→ The 88th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade returns to the streets of New York (and the airwaves of NBC) unofficially kicking off the holiday season. This year's performers include opera star Renee Fleming, Nick Jonas, Tony winner Idina Menzel and the casts of Honeymoon in Vegas, Side Show, The Last Ship and On the Town. (9 AM on NBC/Info.)
Friday, November 28
GO→ A holiday mainstay returns to New York City! The New York City Ballet's famous production of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker begins its run at Lincoln Center. (Through Jan. 3, 2015, Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater, 20 Lincoln Center Plaza, at 63rd St., btwn. Columbus & Amsterdam Aves. Info/tickets.)
PREVIEWS→ You haven't seen the last of the rock star Rabbi! Soul Doctor — the bio musical about Shlomo Carlebach, an orthodox rabbi who made a big splash in the New York music scene in the 1960s and 70s thanks to his eclectic mix of spirituals and soul music (and an unlikely friendship with Nina Simone) — returns to Off-Broadway. Officially opens Dec. 14. (Actors Temple, 339 W. 47th St., btwn. 8th & 9th Aves. Info/tickets.)
