By Robert Simonson
08 Sep 2009

	Jonny Lee Miller and Sienna Miller
	photo by Jason Bell

Completing the roster of new plays this fall are British playwright Patrick Marber's three-character After Miss Julie, a new take on August Strindberg's famous play about class and relationships, beginning Sept. 18 at the American Airlines Theatre; In the Next Room or the vibrator play, the new play with the giggle-inducing title that will put rising dramatist Sarah Ruhl on Broadway, beginning previews at the Lyceum Theatre Oct. 22; and Wishful Drinking — in which Carrie Fisher will explain to us that it's not easy being the daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, the wife of Paul Simon, and Princess Leia, all in the same lifetime — starting at Studio 54 Sept. 22. The first and third are courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company, the second by Lincoln Center Theater.

Broadway's third big nonprofit, Manhattan Theatre Company will be reaching back into the canon for its fall offering, Kaufman and Ferber's send-up of the Barrymore clan, The Royal Family. Doug Hughes directs a cast that's pretty regal on its own: Rosemary Harris, Stephen Collins, John Glover, Tony Roberts, Jan Maxwell and Reg Rogers. Previews at the Friedman begin Sept. 15. Playing the role that once redeemed John Barrymore's reputation (albeit briefly) will be an actor who's almost as handsome, Jude Law. He will bring his London Hamlet to Broadway this fall. Michael Grandage will direct the film fave at the Broadhurst beginning Sept. 12.

The most talked-about new musical of the fall will likely be the most ambitious: Fela!. The new musical based on the life of groundbreaking African composer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti was acclaimed when it played a limited engagement in fall 2008 at Off-Broadway's 37 Arts — enough so that it will begin previews at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre Oct. 19. Bill T. Jones, who won a 2007 Tony Award for his Spring Awakening choreography, directs and choreographs Fela, and Sahr Ngaujah, who starred in the title role Off-Broadway, will again star on Broadway.

Also new is Memphis, the Joe DiPietro-David Bryan (the latter a member of the rock band Bon Jovi) rock musical, which will begin previews on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre Sept. 23. The pulpy plotline is worth quoting: "In the smoky halls and underground clubs of the segregated 50's, a young white DJ named Huey Calhoun fell in love with everything he shouldn't: rock and roll and an electrifying black singer. Memphis is an original story about the cultural revolution that erupted when his vision met her voice, and the music changed forever." Sounds like a page-turner.

	Gina Gershon and John Stamos
	photo by Aubrey Reuben

For lovers of classic musicals, Broadway has three choices. People seem inordinately excited about the return of the 1960 Charles Strouse work Bye Bye Birdie to the stage. Could it be our current obsession with the "Mad Men" territory of the early sixties? Roundabout Theatre Company has invited director Robert Longbottom to direct the likes of Nolan Gerard Funk, John Stamos, Gina Gershon, Bill Irwin and Dee Hoty. It all begins at Henry Miller's Theatre on Sept. 10.

Many musical enthusiasts thought the one-time 1949 hit Finian's Rainbow too hard a nut to crack in modern times, what with its tricky, bordering on ridiculous, plot. But Encores! did a fine job with it during their recent season, earning applause from the critics. So the production was shipped, director (Warren Carlyle), cast (Cheyenne Jackson, Kate Baldwin, Jim Norton) and all, to Broadway. If you don't count a couple brief City Center productions, this is the first Broadway revival since the original. The St. James gets it Oct. 8.

The third revival didn't take as long getting back to town. It's Ragtime, which debuted on Broadway only back in 1998. The Stephen Flaherty-Lynn Ahrens-Terrence McNally musical blew many people away at the time. It had a huge cast! A huge set! It had sweep! It had grandeur! But it also had future felon Garth Drabinsky as a producer (uh-oh), and The Lion King across the street as competition (yikes!). It closed after a two-year run that many people thought should have been longer. The new staging, beginning Oct. 23 at the Neil Simon, is a transfer of the recent Kennedy Center production. Marcia Milgrom Dodge directs and choreographs. Starring are Stanford White, Emma Goldman, Harry Houdini, Booker T. Washington, Teddy Roosevelt and Henry Ford. Now, those are what I call headliners!

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