Theatre Reviews & Features 
The Pitmen Painters Get Tickets
Previews: September 1, 2010
Opening Night: September 30, 2010/Closing: November 14, 2010
(Limited Engagement)
Director: Max Roberts
Playwright: Lee Hall
Theatre: Samuel J. Friedman
Inspired by a book by William Feaver, the play centers on a group of miners in the 1930s who hire a professor to teach an art appreciation class, inspiring them to paint. The Broadway production is Manhattan Theater Club’s first of its 2010-11 season.
Brief Encounter Get Tickets
Previews: September 10, 2010
Opening Night: September 28, 2010
Director: Emma Rice
Playwright: Noel Coward
Theatre: Studio 54
Brief Encounter is an imaginative new work that combines elements of Noël Coward's beloved screenplay, and the one act play on which it was based, with song, dance and Technicolor displays of emotion. This breakout hit from London's Kneehigh Theatre played a sold out run at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY and has also played critically acclaimed engagements at ACT and the Guthrie Theater.
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson Get Tickets
Previews: September 20, 2010
Opening Night: October 13, 2010
Director: Alex Timbers
Book: Alex Timbers
Music and Lyrics: Michael Friedman
Theatre: Bernard Jacobs Theatre
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, an audacious mix of historical fact and invention, uses the story of America’s controversial seventh president—the man who invented the Democratic Party, doubled the size of our nation and signed the Indian Removal Acts that started the Trail of Tears — to investigate the attraction and terrors of American populism, using a raucous blend of outrageous comedy, anarchic theatricality and infectious emo rock. Following a sold-out run at Public LAB in 2009, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson returned to The Public for a full main stage production and opened to acclaimed reviews on April 6. It received an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical, a Drama Desk Award for Best Book of a Musical and a Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Off-Broadway Musical. When the show closed on June 27 after three extensions, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson was the second highest grossing show in The Public Theater’s downtown history.
Time Stands Still Get Tickets
Previews: September 23, 2010
Opening Night: October 7, 2010
Director: Daniel Sullivan
Playwright: Donald Margulies
Theatre: Cort Theatre
This 2010 Tony nominee will return with one new cast member, Christina Ricci. Sarah and James, a photographer and a journalist (Laura Linney and Brian d’Arcy James), have been together for years and share a passion for documenting the realities of war. But when circumstances compel them to return home to New York and their circle of friends (Eric Bogosian and Christina Ricci) the adventurous couple confronts the prospect of a more conventional life.
La Bete Get Tickets
Previews: September 23, 2010
Opening Night: October 14, 2010
Director: Matthew Warchus
Playwright: David Hirson
Theatre: Music Box
La Bete is a comic tour de force about Elomire, a high-minded classical dramatist who loves only the theater, and Valere, a low-brow street clown who loves only himself. When the fickle princess decides she's grown weary of Elomire's royal theatre troupe, he and Valere are left fighting for survival as art squares off with ego in a literary showdown for the ages. David Hyde Pierce, Mark Rylance and Joanna Lumley star.
Mrs. Warren's Profession Get Tickets
Previews: September 3, 2010
Opening Night: October 3, 2010/Closing: November 21, 2010
(Limited Engagement)
Director: Doug Hughes
Playwright: George Bernard Shaw
Theatre: American Airlines Theatre
Tony Award winner Cherry Jones returns to Broadway in George Bernard Shaw’s scorching tour de force! Mrs. Warren’s Profession tells the story of Kitty Warren, a mother who makes a terrible sacrifice for her daughter Vivie’s independence. The clash of these two strong-willed but culturally constrained women is the spark that ignites the ironic wit of one of Shaw's greatest plays. Mrs. Warren's Profession premiered on Broadway in 1905 at the Garrick Theatre and subsequently was revived on Broadway in 1907, 1918, 1922 and 1976.
A Life in the Theatre Get Tickets
Previews: September 21, 2010
Opening Night: October 12, 2010/Closing: January 2, 2011
(Limited Run)
Director: Neil Pepe
Playwright: David Mamet
Theatre: Gerald Schoenfeld
Describing life in the footlights from an actor’s point of view, A Life in the Theatre focuses on the relationship between two thespians: Robert, an older, experienced performer; and John, a relative newcomer. Though Robert’s guidance is welcomed by John at first, as the play progresses Robert falters as an actor and mentor, and John emerges as a mature actor. Mamet was inspired to write A Life in the Theatre by what he had observed backstage as well as by his own experiences in his early career as an actor. Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight star.
Lombardi Get Tickets
Previews: September 23, 2010
Opening Night: October 21, 2010
Director:Thomas Kail
Playwright: Eric Simonson
Theatre: Circle in the Square
Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi is unquestionably one of the most inspirational and oft-quoted personalities of all time, but who was the person behind the icon; the man behind the legend? Dan Lauria (The Wonder Years) and Judith Light (Ugly Betty, Who's the Boss?, Wit) head the cast of this new American play by Academy Award winner Eric Simonson, based on the best-selling biography When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss.Directed by Tony® nominee Thomas Kail (In The Heights), LOMBARDI isn't just a play about football. It's about the people and relationships that shaped the icon's life off the field, from his wife, Marie, to key players who were molded by his inimitable leadership.
Driving Miss Daisy Get Tickets
Previews: October 7, 2010
Opening Night: October 25, 2010
Director: David Esbjornson
Playwright: Alred Uhry
Theatre: John Golden Theatre
Driving Miss Daisy is a timeless, searing, funny, and ultimately hopeful meditation on race relations in America, told through the complex relationship between two of popular culture’s most enduring characters. When Daisy Werthan, a widowed, 72-year-old Jewish woman living in midcentury Atlanta, is deemed too old to drive, her son, Boolie, hires Hoke Colburn, an African American man, to serve as her chauffeur. What begins as a troubled and hostile pairing, soon blossoms into a profound, life-altering friendship that transcends all the societal boundaries placed between them. James Earl Jones, Vanessa Redgrave, and Boyd Gaines star.
The Merchant of Venice Get Tickets
Previews: October 19, 2010
Opening Night: November 7, 2010
Director: Daniel Sullivan
Writer: William Shakespeare
Theatre: Broadhurst
The Shakespeare work moves to Broadway for a limited run following an acclaimed run at 2010 Shakespeare in the Park. Al Pacino stars.
The Scottsboro Boys Get Tickets
Previews: October 7, 2010
Opening Night: Oct. 31, 2010
Director/Choreographer: Susan Stroman
Music and Lyrics: John Kander and Fred Ebb
Book: David Thompson
Theatre: Lyceum
The Scottsboro Boys is the thrilling final collaboration by musical theatre giants John Kander and Fred Ebb (Chicago, Cabaret). Based on the notorious "Scottsboro" case in the 1930s (in which nine African-American men were unjustly accused of a terrible crime) this daring and wildly entertaining musical explores a fascinating chapter in American history with brilliant originality. This critically-acclaimed production, directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman (The Producers) and featuring a book by David Thompson (who adapted the script for Chicago's record-breaking revival), comes to Broadway following a sold-out run at the Vineyard Theatre.
Rain - A Tribute to the Beatles on Broadway Get Tickets
Previews: October 19, 2010
Opening Night: October 26, 2010
Theatre: Neil Simon
Rain performs the full range of The Beatles' discography live onstage, including the most complex and challenging songs that The Beatles themselves recorded in the studio but never performed for an audience. From the early days of their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 through Sgt. Pepper and on to the Abbey Road years, Rain performs it all. The multi-media concert recaptures the era through all phases of The Beatles astounding musical career including Shea Stadium, the psychedelic late 60s and The Beatles long-haired hippie, hard-rocking rooftop days. A fusion of historical footage and hilarious television commercials lights up video screens and live cameras zoom in for close-ups.
Long Story Short Get Tickets
Previews: October 22, 2010
Opening Night: November 9, 2010
Theatre: Al Hirschfeld
Comically channeling the demise of great world empires, Colin Quinn uses his “articulate brand of comedy” in taking audiences through an uproarious history of the world in 75 minutes. From his personification of Caesar as the original Italian mobster to his complaints about Ancient Greece and Antigone giving way to Costco and Snooki, Quinn is at his satirical best, taking on the attitudes, appetites and bad habits that toppled the world’s most powerful nations. Colin Quinn Long Story Short proves that throughout human history, the joke has always been on us.
You Can’t Take It With You
Previews: Nov. 5, 2010
Opening Night: TBD
Director: Anna Shapiro
Playwright: George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
Theatre: TBA
Moss and Kaufman's play, according to press notes, "portrays the colorful, freethinking Sycamore family and the mayhem that ensues when their daughter's fiancé brings his conservative, straight-laced parents to the Sycamore residence for dinner on the wrong night. Literal and figurative fireworks erupt over the course of the evening in a household that appears to be a madhouse but proves, in fact, to be the opposite: a sanctuary from the lunacies of the outside world."
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown Get Tickets
Previews: October 02, 2010
Opening Night: November 04, 2010
Director: Barlett Sher
Music & Lyrics by: David Yazbeck
Book by: Jeffrey Lane
Theatre: Belasco
Set in late 20th-century Madrid, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown tells the story of the intertwining lives of a group of women whose relationships with men lead to a tumultuous 48 hours of love, confusion and passion. Laura Benanti, Patti LuPone, de'Adre Aziza, Danny Burstein, Nikka Graff Lanzarone, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Sherie Rene Scott star.
The Pee-Wee Herman Show Get Tickets
Previews: October 26, 2010
Opening Night: November 11, 2010
Director: Alex Timbers
Written by: Paul Reubens and Bill Steinkellner
Music by: Jay Cotton
Puppetry by: Basil Twist
Theatre: The Stephen Sondheim Theatre
Based on the Saturday morning television show that became a cultural phenomenon, The Pee-wee Herman Show reunites the one-and-only Pee-wee Herman (Paul Reubens) with many of the original Playhouse cast of characters – including Miss Yvonne, Cowboy Curtis, Pterri the Pterodactyl, Jambi the Genie, and Chairry – for an all new celebration of sophisticated silliness. An eye-popping 90 minutes of subversive humor and childlike wonder, The Pee-wee Herman Show charts a day in the life of our bow-tied hero, one of the most inspired comic personas of our time.
Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark Get Tickets
Previews: November 14, 2010
Opening Night: December 21, 2010
Director: Julie Taymor
Music & Lyrics by: Bono and The Edge
Book by: Julie Taymor and Glen Berger
Theatre: The Foxwoods Theatre (formerly the Hilton Theatre)
Drawing from more than 40 years of Marvel comic books for inspiration, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark spins a new take on the mythic tale of Peter Parker, a teenager whose unremarkable life in Queens is turned upside-down—literally—when he’s bitten by a genetically-altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to the ceiling. Bullied by his classmates and tortured by an unrelenting crush on next-door-neighbor Mary Jane Watson, this science geek discovers he has suddenly been endowed with astonishing powers. He soon learns, however, that “with great power comes great responsibility.” Maligned by the media, buffeted by financial woes, and stretched thin by the expectations of the world-at-large, Peter now must struggle to navigate the perilous and peculiar demands of being a web-slinging superhero. With the characters in Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark ranging from old familiar favorites to supervillains never-before imagined, Spider-Man’s battles will hurtle the audience through a story both recognizable and unexpected, culminating in an eye-popping, ultimate test for this iconic figure.
A Free Man of Color
Previews: October 21, 2010
Opening Night: November 18, 2010
Director: George C. Wolfe
Playwright: John Guare
Theatre: Vivian Beaumont
Lincoln Center Theater's presentation of a new John Guare play set in 1802's New Orleans.
Elf Get Tickets
Previews: November 2, 2010
Opening Night: November 10, 2010/Closing: January 2, 2011
(Limited Run)
Director/Choreographer: Casey Nicholaw
Lyrics by: Chad Beguelin
Music by: Matthew Sklar
Book by: Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin
Based on the 2003 New Line Cinema hit, Elf is the hilarious tale of Buddy, a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts and is transported back to the North Pole. Buddy is raised unaware that he is actually a human, until his enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa’s permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father and discover his true identity. Faced with the harsh reality that his father is on the naughty list and his step-brother doesn’t even believe in Santa, Buddy is determined to win over his new family and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas. This modern day Christmas classic is sure to make everyone embrace their inner elf.
Elling
Previews: November 2, 2010
Opening Night: November 21, 2010/Closing: March 20, 2011 (limited engagement)
Director: Doug Hughes
Playwright: Simon Bent
Theatre: Ethel Barrymore
Elling is based on the popular original Norwegian novels by Ingvar Ambjørnsen and adapted for the Oscar nominated film and the stage by Axel Hellstenius and Petter Næss, in a new English adaptation by Simon Bent. ELLING played the West End and was nominated for the Lawrence Olivier Award for Comedy of the Year.
Set in the current day, Elling is a comedy about a wildly mismatched pair of roommates trying to embrace life, love, friendship, pizza, poetry and women. Denis O’Hare plays obsessive/compulsive Elling. Brendan Fraser, plays the wildly enthusiastic gentle giant Kjell. Jennifer Coolidge plays Reidun, the object of Kjell’s considerable affection, and Richard Easton plays Alfons, Elling’s unlikely poet mentor.
