One last enchanted evening for South Pacific…Mamet’s racially charged, aptly titled new play races away…a Tony winner and the music of Nat King Cole…and Mary gets her Bert back.
Across a crowded room,
Blake
Friday, August 20 
GO (FREE)? The 1982 movie musical version of “Annie” starring Bernadette Peters, Carol Burnett, Ann Reinking, Tim Curry, Albert Finney and Aileen Quinn as the adorable red-headed orphan Annie, has remained one of the most beloved children’s films of all time. With Annie poised to make a comeback on Broadway in late 2012, now is the perfect time to remember all those great Charles Strouse/Martin Charnin songs like “Tomorrow” and “Maybe” with a free outdoor screening of the classic flick. (8:30pm, Hudson River Park’s Pier 46, Charles St. and West St., info)
Saturday, August 21 
BEFORE IT CLOSES? Race, David Mamet’s newest Broadway offering, explores race, lies and what’s right versus what’s true. Currently starring Eddie Izzard, Dennis Haysbert, Afton C. Williamson and original cast member Richard Thomas, the show also marked Mamet’s Broadway directorial debut. After closing up shop at Broadway’s Barrymore, the daring legal drama will continue on to regional theatres across the county next year. (Barrymore Theatre, 243 West 47th St., btwn Broadway and 8th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
*Click here to see clips from Race
Sunday, August 22 
BEFORE IT CLOSES? The critically acclaimed, Tony-winning revival of South Pacific will play one last enchanted evening at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont. (Lincoln Center Theater, 150 West 65th St, btwn Broadway and Amsterdam Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
Monday, August 23 
GO? Tony winner Lillias White joins jazz great Maurice Hines for a tribute to Nat King Cole. The evening will benefit The New York Pops residency at the Ronald McDonald House New York, which brings music and creative writing to kids fighting cancer. (8:30pm, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, 540 Park Ave., at 61st St., info/tickets)
GO? Sutton Foster, currently playing a dominatrix in Off-Broadway’s Trust, will don a more wholesome persona when she jumps on board to play Reno Sweeney in the much-anticipated Broadway revival of Anything Goes, in 2011. Director Kathleen Marshall will join her leading lady for a discussion of the upcoming show. (6pm, The TimesCenter Stage, 242 W. 41st St. btwn 7th and 8th Aves., $15, info/tickets)
GO? The kids from Memphis take a break from the stage at the Shubert and head over to Joe’s Pub for a concert benefiting the grassroots marriage-equality organization Broadway Impact. (7pm, Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St., $25-$100, info/tickets)
Tuesday, August 24 
GO? Broadway’s Mary Poppins welcomes back her original leading man, Gavin Lee. Lee originated the role of Bert both on Broadway and in the West End production of Poppins, for which he garnered both a Tony and Olivier Award nomination. (New Amsterdam Theatre, 214 West 42nd St., btwn 7th and 8th Aves, Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
Wednesday, August 25 
GO (FREE)? Beowulf, the epic tale of man vs. dragon, gets a jazz/cabaret/indie rock/punk makeover courtesy of the multidimensional band Banana Bag & Bodice. Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage promises to “retell” (and uses that term very loosely) the classic tale with the help of the eight-piece band that includes a set of dueling trombones, an accordion and a saw. (8pm, Through August 27, SummerStage Theater’s East River Park, enter at Delancey Street bridge over the FDR Drive and walk south or via Cherry St./Jackson Ave., info/directions)
Thursday, August 26 
GO? Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party pits parents against history as re-imagined by a small-town elementary school’s Christmas Pageant. A graduate from last year’s NY International Fringe Festival, the politically incorrect Dance Party — about Honest Abe’s sexuality — revels in its new Off-Broadway home. (Acorn Theatre, 410 W. 42nd St., off 9th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
