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Saturday, April 6
GO (Los Angeles)→ Andrew Rannells, Tyne Daly, Florence Henderson, Shirley Jones and Bruce Vilanch are just a few of the entertainers on the roster for the 29th annual Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event (S.T.A.G.E.) concert Broadway, My Way. The show will serve as a benefit for AIDS Project Los Angeles, one of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations, providing bilingual services, prevention education and leadership on HIV/AIDS-related policy and legislation. (8 PM, Saban Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA. Info/tickets.)
Sunday, April 7
PREVIEWS→ Alan Cumming "struts and frets his hour upon the stage" in his (almost) one-man interpretation of Macbeth. Once's John Tiffany and Andrew Goldberg co-direct Cumming's 90-minute visit to a creepy mental hospital where the Tony winner plays virtually every role in the famous Shakespeare tragedy. Officially opens April 21. (Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 243 W. 47th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
LAST CHANCE→ The life and music of the late Dusty Springfield are explored in the biomusical Forever Dusty. Co-written and starring Kirsten Holly Smith as the famously bouffanted pop singer, the show includes familiar Springfield hits like "Son of a Preacher Man," "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me," "I Only Want to Be With You," "Wishin' and Hopin" and "Tell Him." (New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., btwn. 8th & 9th Aves. Info/tickets.)
LAST CHANCE→ Annie Baker's new Off-Broadway drama The Flick — about a group of movie theatre employees who, while cleaning a shabby one-screen cinema, reveal their desperate, hard-luck lives in small-town Massachusetts — ends its acclaimed (and talked-about) run. Baker's frequent collaborator Sam Gold directs. (Playwrights Horizons, 419 W. 42nd St, btwn. 9th & 10th Aves. Info/tickets.)
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| Adam Pascal |
CAST CHANGE→ Broadway's favorite man belter (melter?) Adam Pascal and funny lady Christine Pedi join the company of the long-running, Tony-winning revival of Chicago. Pascal will play slick lawyer Billy Flynn, while Pedi takes over as Cook County Jail's Matron "Mama" Morton. The show currently stars Amy Spanger as Roxie Hart and Amra-Faye Wright as Velma Kelly. (Ambassador Theatre, 219 W. 49th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
Tuesday, April 9
IN PREVIEWS→ Tony winner Michael Cerveris, Tony nominee Stephen Kunken, Tony winner John Glover and Tony nominee Kathryn Erbe star as an eclectic group of creative Russia émigrés — choreographer George Balanchine and composers Igor Stravinsky and Nikolai Nabokov among them — in Nikolai and the Others. In this world premiere by Tony-winning playwright Richard Nelson, these iconic artists assemble at the outset of the Cold War for one creative weekend in Westport, CT — one that would result in the creation of the ballet Orpheus. Directed by David Cromer. Officially opens May 5. (Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, 150 W. 65th St., btwn. Broadway & Amsterdam. Info/tickets.)
Wednesday, April 10
PREVIEWS→ The new Bollywood-inspired musical, Bunty Berman Presents…, from Ayub Khan Din and veteran Broadway conductor-musical director Paul Bogaev, begins performances Off-Broadway. The New Group production casts Indian film and stage star Erick Avari as the title character, a Bombay-based producer working the Bollywood system in the 1950s. Scott Elliot directs, with colorful costumes by William Ivey Long. Officially opens May 9. (Acorn Theatre, 410 W. 42nd St., btwn. 9th & 10th Aves. Info/tickets.)
Thursday, April 11
OPENING→ Roald Dahl's beloved children's book Matilda comes to life onstage courtesy of Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company. The story of a precocious girl who develops extraordinary powers has taken the London theatre scene by storm, earning seven Olivier Awards (a record-breaker) and playing to sold-out crowds for nearly two years. Tony winner Matthew Warchus directs the cast lead by Olivier Award winner Bertie Carvel as the evil Miss Trunchbull and a rotating quartet of girls in the title role (Sophia Gennusa, Oona Laurence, Bailey Ryon and Milly Shapiro). (Shubert Theatre, 225 W. 44th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave.. Info/tickets.)
Friday, April 12
GO→ Some of Broadway's best performers team up with the New York Pops for a celebration of the music of Stephen Schwartz in The Wizard and I: The Musical Journey of Stephen Schwartz. Jeremy Jordan, Norm Lewis, Julia Murney and Jennifer Laura Thompson serenade the Godspell, Pippin and Wicked composer, who recently celebrated his 65th birthday. (8 PM, Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave., at 57th St. Info/tickets.)
Blake Ross is the editor of Playbill magazine. Follow her on Twitter @PlaybillBlake.
"Love Power" from Forever Dusty:
