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Saturday, March 16
LAST CHANCE→ Herb Alpert joins his singer-wife Lani Hall for their final show at the Café Carlyle. The Tijuana Brass may be absent here, but the Latin-infused jazzy sound that helped Alpert earn eight Grammy Awards is still very much present. (Café Carlyle, 35 W. 76th St., at Madison Ave. Info/tickets.)
Sunday, March 17
GO→ Charles Busch, Joel Grey and Kate Mulgrew will celebrate St. Patty's Day at Project Shaw's annual Golden Shamrock Gala. This year's event will honor Judith Ivy, Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne and (naturally) the company's namesake, George Bernard Shaw. The evening promises festive Irish music and Irish-American fare. (5PM, Players Club, 16 Gramercy Park S., on 20th St. Info/tickets.)
Monday, March 18
GO→ Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' annual Broadway Backwards concert returns with a new slate of gender-bending performances. Backwards enlists Broadway stars to perform numbers traditionally sung by actors of the opposite sex. This year's lineup boasts performances and appearances by Victor Garber, Estelle Parsons, Jan Maxwell, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Bruce Vilanch, Stephanie J. Block, Andrew Keenan-Bolger and more! (8 PM, Palace Theatre, 1564 Broadway, btwn. 46th & 47th Sts. Info/tickets.)
PREVIEWS→ Peter and the Starcatcher, the inventive play with music by Jersey Boys scribe Rick Elice, continues to spread the "starstuff" even after its successful Broadway run last season. The Off-Broadway incarnation of the Alex Timbers-Roger Rees-helmed prequel to Peter Pan stars Rick Holmes as Black Stache and Jason Ralph as the nameless orphan who will one day be Peter Pan. A national tour of the show will begin in August in Denver. (New World Stages' Stage 1, 340 W. 50th St., btwn. 8th & 9th Aves. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.) Tuesday, March 19
GO→ Tony winner Bebe Neuwirth brings her show Stories with Piano #4 to 54 Below. The Chicago and Sweet Charity star promises the songs of Kurt Weill, Tom Waits and, of course, Broadway tunes, in her show that interlaces intimate character stories with music. (Through March 23, 54 Below, 245 W. 54th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Info/tickets.)
Wednesday, March 20
OPENING→ Richard Greenberg's adaptation of Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's opens on Broadway. "Game of Thrones" star Emilia Clarke portrays the quintessential quirky beauty Holly Golightly. Among the men who fall for Golightly's child-like feminine wiles are Cory Michael Smith and George Wendt. Sean Mathias directs. (Cort Theatre, 138 W. 48th St., btwn. 6th& 7th Aves. Click here for Playbill club discount tickets.)
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| photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN |
OPENING→ Downtrodden dreamers long for a new lease on life in the new musical Hands on a Hardbody. The "hardbody" of the title refers to a pickup truck that contestants are vying for at a Texas car dealership. The competitors see a ride toward easy street in that shiny new truck, and so they endure the hot, blazing Texas sun, hoping to keep their hands on the truck the longest. Featuring the blues and honkytonk sounds of Phish frontman Trey Anastasio (music), Amanda Green (lyrics/music), with a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Wright. (Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 W. 47th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
PREVIEWS→ Nathan Lane stars in The Nance, set in the world of burlesque. In the Douglas Carter Beane drama, Lane plays Chauncey Miles, a headline "nance" (a popular vaudevillian character portraying an effeminate man) who struggles with his sexuality in an unforgiving 1930s New York. Officially opens April 15. (Lyceum Theatre, 149 W. 45th St., btwn. 6th & 7th Aves. Info/tickets.)
PREVIEWS→ Fresh off his Breakfast at Tiffany's opening, Tony winner Richard Greenberg debuts a new play also set in New York City, The Assembled Parties. In Parties, Greenberg explores family friction, first in the 1980s and later in 2001. Jessica Hecht and Tony winner Judith Light play sister-in-laws with support from Jeremy Shamos, Mark Blum and Sam Robards. Officially opens April 17. (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 W. 47th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Click here for Playbill Club discount previews tickets.)
Friday, March 22
OPENING→ Kelly AuCoin, Kerry Butler, Eisa Davis, Crystal A. Dickinson and Russell G. Jones star in the world-premiere of Tanya Barfield's The Call, a politically charged drama about a white couple adopting an African baby. Leigh Silverman directs the co-production by Playwrights Horizons and Primary Stages. (Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 416 W. 42nd St., btwn. 9th & 10th Aves. Info/tickets.)
PREVIEWS→ Glengarry Glen Ross star Bobby Cannavale takes his second turn on Broadway this season with the revival of Clifford Odets' The Big Knife. This also marks the second helping of Odets we get this season (following fall's revival of Golden Boy). The Big Knife takes a look at the grit behind the glitz and glamour of old school Hollywood. Also staring Marin Ireland, Richard Kind and Adam Rapp. Officially opens April 16. (American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St., btwn. 7th & 8th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount previews tickets.)
Blake Ross is the editor of Playbill magazine. Follow her on Twitter @PlaybillBlake.
Watch highlights of Breakfast at Tiffany's:
