OK, sports fans, we’re at the home stretch. At midnight tonight, LeBron James (aka King James), will become a free agent and will start courting suitors in an attempt to possibly find a new court.
Will he become a Bull? A member of the Heat? Stick to being a Cavalier? Or become a Knickerbocker?
Every New Yorker from the Bronx to the Battery is hoping that James will succumb to the very public campaign by some of New York’s most famous residents (including Mayor Bloomberg, “Today Show” host Matt Lauer, the Mister Softee guy, Al Sharpton, and even the ladies over at Promises, Promises), officially bite the apple, and join the Knicks.
Bloomberg says he’s shilling for James to “C’Mon” to New York because having him play here would add $57.8 million to the city economy. Just think of how many Spider-Mans we could get for that!
So, for today’s WEBWay Wednesday, I give you some of the greatest tunes about our fair city. And whether or not we get LeBron, we’re still a helluva town.
Frank Sinatra singing the Kander & Ebb classic “New York, New York”
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis love New York in “Every Street’s a Boulevard” by Jule Styne and Bob Hilliard from the Broadway musical Hazel Flagg.
A younger Sinatra with Gene Kelly and Jules Munshin in Leonard Bernstein/Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s ode to New York, “On the Town.”
The late Jerry Orbach performing the classic “Lullaby of Broadway” with the company of 42nd Street at the Tony Awards.
So you see, LeBron? If you’d just c’mon…you’d be able to go to sleep to sweet sounds of the lullaby of Broadway every night!
Sting and the sounds of love in the 1800s… Let the music of Rodgers & Hammerstein transport you to the ’50s…and spend one more night in the rocking ’60s with the cast of Hair…
Warm up the DeLorean, McFly!
Blake
Friday, June 25
GO→ Ever wonder what it would be like to hear Mae West sing Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” or the hip-hop tune “Blame it on the Alcohol?” Well, the closest you’ll get is by going to see Lady Rizo, in all her sparkly and massive-eyelashed splendor, at Joe’s Pub. (Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette, $15-$18, info/tickets)
Saturday, June 26
GO→ Celebrity Autobiography enlists a roster of famous celebrities (Mario Cantone, Cheyenne Jackson, Kristin Johnston, John Cameron Mitchell, B.D. Wong and Bruce Vilanch) to explore the trials and tribulations of other (more infamous) celebrities. This month, the troupe will celebrate Gay Pride Week with a slew of stories from the pen of some of the world’s greatest gay icons: Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Diana Ross and good ol’ Britney Spears. Oops! They did it again. (7:30pm, Gramercy Theatre, 127 e. 23rd st., $25-$125, info/tickets)
BEFORE IT CLOSES→ Stephen Belber’s Dusk Rings a Bell, starring Kate Walsh (of “Grey’s Anatomy” fame) and Paul Sparks (Hedda Gabler), explores the relationship between Molly and Ray, two former flames who run into each other after 25 years. Molly is a chatty, perky career gal and Ray (who lives with his mother and holds a deep, dark secret) is, well, not. Of course, we wouldn’t have a play if everything were as it seemed, and the reunion brings out different sides of each character. Directed by Sam Gold, who won much acclaim for his productions of The Aliens and Circle Mirror Transformation. (Atlantic Stage 2, 330 W. 16th St., btwn. 8th and 9th Aves., info/tickets)
WATCH→ Mike Nichols, the man who brought us Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park, the original Odd Couple, Annie, Hurlyburly, The Seagull, Spamalot and many other Broadway greats (scooping up eight Tony Awards along the way), also has a pretty successful film career…and by pretty, I mean, pretty extraordinary (see “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” “The Graduate,” “Silkwood,” “Working Girl,” “The Birdcage,” “Closer,” HBO’s “Angels in America,” etc.). He’s also one of only 12 EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winners in the world. AFI (American Film Institute) honored Nichols at a gala recently that included tributes from Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Spacey, Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Nora Ephron and others. (Airs 9pm ET/PT on TV Land, info)
Sunday, June 27
BEFORE IT CLOSES→ The sun will shine in one more time on the Tony-winning Broadway revival of Hair. The current cast of the ’60s hit musical features “American Idol” alums Ace Young and Diana DeGarmo. (Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 W. 45th St., btwn. 8th & 9th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
BEFORE IT CLOSES→ Another big Tony winner will end its Broadway run this week. Six-time Tony-winning play Red, featuring the superb Alfred Molina and newly minted Tony winner Eddie Redmayne, explores the brilliant and troubled mind of the famous abstract impressionist painter, Mark Rothko. (Golden Theater, 252 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves., info/tickets)
BEFORE IT CLOSES→ Get an intimate look into the life of musical theatre legend Stephen Sondheim in Sondheim on Sondheim. Sondheim himself appears through a series of videotaped interviews projected on giant, moving screens. Of course, the story of Sondheim wouldn’t be complete without the music, performed by Tony-winning legend Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams and Norm Lewis. (Studio 54, 254 W. 54th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
Monday, June 28
GO (FREE)→ Talk about a romantic evening! Grab your blanket and your honey, and head over to Bryant Park for movie night where they’ll be screening one of the most romantic movie musicals of all time, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel,” starring Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae. (5pm, the lawn at Bryan Park, enter at 6th Ave. btwn. 41st and 42nd Sts., info) (more…)
Ever since 2006, Playbill’s Cue & A, our quirky pop-culture questionnaire, has revealed some of the most interesting (and oddest) tid-bits about the Broadway people you know and love.
How else would we have known that Matthew Modine was once a ditch digger? Or that Bobby Steggert loves watching “Toddlers and Tiaras” on TLC? Or that the one performer that Matthew Morrison would drop everything to see is Ethan Hawke? Or that Bebe Neuwirth’s first Broadway show was Hair…at 11 years old!? Or that Jonathan Groff doesn’t have an iPod? Or that Kristin Chenoweth thinks that an Olsen should play her in a movie?
Now, you can get all these goodies and more straight from the horses’ (or in this case, performers’) mouths with our brand new Video Cue & A feature. This month, we sit down with Hair hottie Ace Young. What does he eat before a show? What show has he been recommending to his friends? What was life like on the “American Idol” tour? Is his name really Ace?
Check out the video below and you’ll find out.
Keep an eye out for more Video Cue & A’s with Sutton Foster, Valerie Harper, Gregory Jbara, among others, in the coming weeks! And if there’s an actor you’ve been dying to hear from…email me. We’ll try to Cue ‘em soon!
Two Tony winners spend their last “Weekend in the Country” at the Walter Kerr…Have an “Enchanted Evening” with Kristin Chenoweth, Linda Lavin and Norm Lewis…and “Walk the Line” with Melissa Etheridge
Wishing I was spending a weekend in the country,
Blake
Friday, June 18 OPENING→ “Saturday Night Live” alum Colin Quinn’s one-man-show, Long Story Short, promises to cover more than 2,000 years of history in 75 very funny minutes. Jerry Seinfeld directs! (Through August 15, Bleecker Street Theatre, off of Lafayette, 45 Bleecker St., between Lafayette & Mott Streets, $25-$65, info/tickets)
Saturday, June 19
GO→ Are you a Rock of Ages groupie? Is that because you’re an original wild child of the ’80s who used to steal your parents’ T-top Camaro and blast “I Wanna Know What Love Is” as your Aqua Net-laced hair billowed out the windows? Then head on over to Jones Beach to catch the original rockers for the ages: Styx, Foreigner and Kansas. (7pm, Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY, $10-$99, info/tickets) GO (FREE)→ Kick off Gay Pride Week in NYC with the 42nd annual Heritage of Pride Rally at Summer Stage, featuring performances by The New York Gay Men’s Chorus, Bruce Vilanch, Wendy Williams, and others. (4pm, Central Park/Mainstage at Rumsey Playfield, info)
Sunday, June 20 LAST CHANCE→ It’s your last chance to see five-time Tony winner Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones (in her Tony-winning performance) in the Broadway revival of A Little Night Music. The production will go on hiatus before returning in July with Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch taking over as the ladies Armfeldt. (Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 W. 48th St., btwn Broadway and 8th Aves., info)
GO→ Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS celebrates 20 years of getting Broadway actors to strip down to their skivvies for a good cause with Broadway Bares. Dancers will be joined by Charles Busch, The Addams Family’s Kevin Chamberlin and Jackie Hoffman, Promises, Promises‘ Kristin Chenoweth and Katie Finneran, Lucy Lui, Christopher Sieber, Jane Krakowski, Sondheim on Sondheim’s Vanessa Williams and Norm Lewis, and many other Broadway stars to help raise funds for BC/EFA! (9:30pm and midnight, Roseland Ballroom, 239 W. 52nd St, $55-$250, info/tickets)
GO→ Six-time Tony-winning play Red will perform a special performance to benefit The Actors Fund. (The Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Aves., info/tickets)
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Monday June 21 GO→ One Enchanted Evening features an enchanted list of Broadway stars in a tribute to the late Richard Rodgers, his daughter Mary Rodgers and her son Adam Guettel. Performers include: Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth, Tony winner Victoria Clark, Tony winner Linda Lavin, Norm Lewis, Tony winner James Naughton, Kelli O’Hara and others. The evening will benefit The Acting Company (7pm, Kaye Playhouse, East 68th St., btwn. Park and Lexington Aves., $125-$500, call 212.772.4448 for tickets, info)
GO→ David Mamet’s Race will welcome new cast members Eddie Izzard, and Dennis Haysbert. (Through August 21, The Barrymore Theatre, 243 W. 47th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
11-year-old Shannon Tavarez lived every little girl’s dream performing as young Nala in The Lion King on Broadway. In April, Shannon was diagnosed with AML Leukemia, and now she lives at Schneider Children’s Hospital in Long Island, fighting her cancer with daily chemo treatments.
Shannon’s chances of beating this horrible disease will greatly increase with a bone marrow transplant. African American’s have a particularly hard time finding a match, as they make up less than seven percent of the national registry (according to DKMS, the largest bone marrow donor center).
Want to help? Here’s how. Register to find out if you are a donor match for Shannon or someone like her. CLICK HERE to read about how you can receive a simple registration kit with DKMS through the mail.
Don’t be fooled by Sutton Foster’s tiny frame and sweet demeanor. Sister can belt it out as big ‘n’ bad as any chanteuse twice her size — and she’s got the sheet music to prove it.
Foster (in her new show at the Café Carlyle) busts out a binder labeled “The Big Book of High Belt Songs,” which includes tunes that would make even the greatest of singers shake in their boots (or, as it were, high heels). Tunes in the BBHBS include “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” “Defying Gravity” and “And I’m Telling You, I’m Not Going.” (Upon stumbling on that one she mumbles, “Yeah, ’cause when you think of Sutton Foster…”)
To help her choose which one of these big, brassy, belty numbers she should attempt, Foster called up her upcoming Trust co-star, Zach Braff, to sift through her “Ho” cup (i.e. opposite of a Pimp cup) which contained the titles of songs in the BBHBS. (Never thought I’d hear the word “ho” uttered from the stage at the Carlyle, but never mind that.)
Rummaging through the Ho cup, Braff eventually found one he liked: “Defying Gravity.” Foster shot him a dirty look. “What?” he said. “I like that song!”
Foster took a few deep breaths, warned everyone in the snug Café Carlyle to “back it up!” and proceeded with the Stephen Schwartz show-stopper, and, well, she gave every Elphaba that ever flew high above the Gershwin stage a run for their money.
Foster also told a great story about the evolution of a song from her Tony-winning turn as Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie. (more…)
This WEEK AHEAD features Broadway’s biggest night of the year: The Tony Awards!
Don’t have a ticket to the big bash? Not to worry…your pals from Playbill have got you covered with the latest in backstage, onstage, red carpet, press room and after-party exploits!
Merry Tony watching everyone!
Blake
Saturday, June 12 WATCH→ Want to make sure you’re going to win your Tony pool? Then make sure to catch the “On Stage” pre-Tony special on cable’s NY1. I’ll be joining Time Out New York’s theatre critic David Cote, former chief theatre critic for Variety David Rooney and “On Stage”’s Donna Karger and Frank DiLella to try and predict the winners. (Airs 9:30am and 730pm and again Sunday at 930 am)
Sunday, June 13 GO→ Want to catch the Tony festivities with fellow theatre lovers? Playbill’s Adam Hetrick tallied up the best and most dramatic (because this is theatre, right?) Tony parties in New York City and beyond. (Click here)
CLICK→ Plan on watching the awards from the comfort of your home? Be sure to stay on Playbill.com for all the latest breaking news, photos, and gossip from the Tony Awards. We have staff inside the Hall, on the red carpet, in the press room; at the after parties (whew…we’re tired already!) all to make sure our Playbillians are in the know on Tony night. I guess we’ll sleep when we’re dead.
WATCH→
6-7pm ET: I’ll be on the Tony red carpet with NY1’s Donna Karger and Roma Torre chatting it up with all the celebs as they make their way into Radio City Music Hall. Michelle Williams, of Destiny’s Child and Chicago, will also be covering the pre-show festivities live from Times Square along with Rock of Ages star Constantine Maroulis. (Tune into NY1 or watch on tonyawards.com)
7-8pm ET: Catch the first 15 Tony Awards on NY1 (in the New York-area) or streaming on tonyawards.com
8pm ET/PT: The big show kicks off LIVE on CBS!
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION ON ALL OF PLAYBILL’S COVERAGE OF THE 2010 TONY AWARDS.
Not since Broadway Joe Namath treaded the boards in the 1983 Broadway revival of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial has a pro-baller loved Broadway so much! Today, we got word that Mark Sanchez, another power QB for the New York Jets will present at the Tony Awards on Sunday.
Sanchez’s love of Broadway is well documented. His teammate Brandon Moore told the New York Post last year: “He’s into Broadway shows… He told us a story that he was on line for a Broadway show and someone said, ‘Oh, my God, it’s Mark Sanchez— he’s like a model.’”
Sanchez himself is out and proud about his love of the Great White Way. Why, just last week, he took to Twitter to give away seven tickets to Jersey Boys and to talk about his night out at Rock of Ages and Del Frisco’s. This December, he said of Memphis: “Soooooo good! Music, lyrics, choreography, costumes all great… Overall a great show.”
The whole National Football League is feeling the love too. This fall, the NFL is producing the Broadway show Lombardi, based on the life of legendary coach Vince Lombardi. Lombardi will be played by Dan Lauria (“The Wonder Years”) who himself is a former football player for Southern Connecticut University.
Could other green ‘n’ white quarterbacks share the same passion for the stage? Watch out Chad Pennington, Boomer Esiason and Vinny Testaverde…we’re coming for you next!
This Sunday, June 13, I’ll be joining NY1’s Roma Torre and Donna Karger to guest host “On STAGE’s Red Carpet to the TONY’s.” As you no doubt have read, the carpet will be filled with tons of stars including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Scarlett Johansson, Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Kelsey Grammer, Douglas Hodge, Sherie Rene Scott, David Alan Grier, Cate Blanchett, Barbara Cook, Angela Lansbury, Jude Law and many more.
So, Playbillians, now’s your chance to get in on the action! Send me what questions you want to ask a Tony nominee or presenter and I’ll get the answer for you! Email me at bross@playbill.com (P.S. No, I won’t ask Matthew Morrison to marry you. That’s my question.)
Be sure to tune in to NY 1 at 6pm for all the action LIVE from the red carpet of the 64th annual Tony Awards. The pre-show and the Awards themselves will also be simulcasted in Times Square from 6pm-11pm in Duffy Square.
Sarah Ruhl imagines Passion and Reagan… Carnage’s final playground-politics debate…Fisher Stevens, Valerie Plame and RFK Jr. explore Guantanamo…and Bush on trial for war crimes?
For the people… Blake
Friday, June 4 GO→ The fabulous sister-act that is Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway take to the stage at NYC’s Town Hall for BOOM!, a show featuring songs from the ’60s and ’70s made popular by Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and The Beatles. (8pm, Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, between Broadway and Avenue of the Americas, $45-$50, info/tickets)
GO & EAT→ Good music and good eats…what could be better? The NY Philharmonic hosts four post-concert suppers featuring menus created by some of the best chefs in the city: Alain Ducasse, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Lidia Bastianich and Daniel Boulud. (10pm, Arpeggio Food and Wine, Avery Fisher Hall Lobby, $150, only available to attendees of the evening’s concert, info)
Saturday, June 5
CLOSING→ Sarah Ruhl’s on a roll this year. Her play In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play was nominated for both a Tony and a Pulitzer, and her Passion Play got a big (and critically acclaimed) overhaul courtesy of the Epic Theater Ensemble. The production takes a look at three passion plays set in different eras: Queen Elizabeth’s England, Nazi Germany and Reagan’s America. (Irondale Center, 85 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn 11217, $22.50 – $42.50, info/tickets)
Sunday, June 6 CLOSING→ From the gory mind of Martin McDonagh and using the genius comic skills of Tony-nominated actor Christopher Walken comes A Behanding in Spokane. Telling you the plot wouldn’t matter much (let’s just say there’s a suitcase full of hands). It’s mostly all about Walken’s incredible performance. (Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 West 45th St., btwn Broadway and 8th Aves., info) ..
CLOSING→ Yasmina Reza’s Tony-winning comedy, God of Carnage, explores a drama- (and puke-) filled evening with two couples that meet after their kids get into a fight. Currently starring original cast member Jeff Daniels (in the part James Gandolfini originated on Broadway), Dylan Baker, Lucy Liu and Janet McTeer. (Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 W. 45th St. btwn Broadway and 8th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
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GO→ Famed director/chorographer Jerry Mitchell had the sense of mind to know that sex sells. So he, along with the great folks over at BC/EFA, decided to put some cute guys n’ gals (emphasis on the guys) in tiny costumes (mostly of the assless variety) and a whole lot body paint and make them strut their toned tails to raise some money for BC/EFA. Thus began Broadway Bares. Twenty years later, the guys are still shakin’ their money makers. Mitchell himself will take one last strip down memory lane this weekend for Broadway Bares: Classic, a prelude to this year’s very big show coming at the end of the month. (9pm and 11pm, Splash, 50 W. 17th St., $20, info/tickets or call 212-620-7310, ext. 268)
Monday, June 7 GO→ Actor Fisher Stevens directs an all-star, multi-media performance in Blueprint for Accountability, exploring different stories of Guantanamo Bay detainees a year after President Obama sought to close the controversial Cuban-based prison. Archival footage from Guantanamo will screen while performers James Spader, (more…)
Sting and the sounds of love in the 1800s… Let the music of Rodgers & Hammerstein transport you to the ’50s…and spend one more night in the rocking ’60s with the cast of Hair…
BEFORE IT CLOSES→ Stephen Belber’s Dusk Rings a Bell, starring Kate Walsh (of “Grey’s Anatomy” fame) and Paul Sparks (Hedda Gabler), explores the relationship between Molly and Ray, two former flames who run into each other after 25 years. Molly is a chatty, perky career gal and Ray (who lives with his mother and holds a deep, dark secret) is, well, not. Of course, we wouldn’t have a play if everything were as it seemed, and the reunion brings out different sides of each character. Directed by Sam Gold, who won much acclaim for his productions of The Aliens and Circle Mirror Transformation. (Atlantic Stage 2, 330 W. 16th St., btwn. 8th and 9th Aves., 
WATCH→ Mike Nichols, the man who brought us Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park, the original Odd Couple, Annie, Hurlyburly, The Seagull, Spamalot and many other Broadway greats (scooping up eight Tony Awards along the way), also has a pretty successful film career…and by pretty, I mean, pretty extraordinary (see “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” “The Graduate,” “Silkwood,” “Working Girl,” “The Birdcage,” “Closer,” HBO’s “Angels in America,” etc.). He’s also one of only 12 EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winners in the world. AFI (American Film Institute) honored Nichols at a gala recently that included tributes from Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Spacey, Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Nora Ephron and others. (Airs 9pm ET/PT on TV Land, 
OPENING→ “Saturday Night Live” alum Colin Quinn’s one-man-show, Long Story Short, promises to cover more than 2,000 years of history in 75 very funny minutes. Jerry Seinfeld directs! (Through August 15, Bleecker Street Theatre, off of Lafayette, 45 Bleecker St., between Lafayette & Mott Streets, $25-$65, 
GO (FREE)→ Kick off Gay Pride Week in NYC with the 42nd annual Heritage of Pride Rally at Summer Stage, featuring performances by The New York Gay Men’s Chorus, Bruce Vilanch, Wendy Williams, and others. (4pm, Central Park/Mainstage at Rumsey Playfield, 
LAST CHANCE→ It’s your last chance to see five-time Tony winner Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones (in her Tony-winning performance) in the Broadway revival of A Little Night Music. The production will go on hiatus before returning in July with Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch taking over as the ladies Armfeldt. (Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 W. 48th St., btwn Broadway and 8th Aves., 
GO→ Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS celebrates 20 years of getting Broadway actors to strip down to their skivvies for a good cause with Broadway Bares. Dancers will be joined by Charles Busch, The Addams Family’s Kevin Chamberlin and Jackie Hoffman, Promises, Promises‘ Kristin Chenoweth and Katie Finneran, Lucy Lui, Christopher Sieber, Jane Krakowski, Sondheim on Sondheim’s Vanessa Williams and Norm Lewis, and many other Broadway stars to help raise funds for BC/EFA! (9:30pm and midnight, Roseland Ballroom, 239 W. 52nd St, $55-$250, i
GO→ One Enchanted Evening features an enchanted list of Broadway stars in a tribute to the late Richard Rodgers, his daughter Mary Rodgers and her son Adam Guettel. Performers include: Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth, Tony winner Victoria Clark, Tony winner Linda Lavin, Norm Lewis, Tony winner James Naughton, Kelli O’Hara and others. The evening will benefit The Acting Company (7pm, Kaye Playhouse, East 68th St., btwn. Park and Lexington Aves., $125-$500, call 212.772.4448 for tickets, 
WATCH→ Want to make sure you’re going to win your Tony pool? Then make sure to catch the “On Stage” pre-Tony special on cable’s NY1. I’ll be joining Time Out New York’s theatre critic David Cote, former chief theatre critic for Variety David Rooney and “On Stage”’s Donna Karger and Frank DiLella to try and predict the winners. (Airs 9:30am and 730pm and again Sunday at 930 am)
GO→ The fabulous sister-act that is Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway take to the stage at NYC’s Town Hall for BOOM!, a show featuring songs from the ’60s and ’70s made popular by Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and The Beatles. (8pm, Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, between Broadway and Avenue of the Americas, $45-$50, 
CLOSING→ From the gory mind of Martin McDonagh and using the genius comic skills of Tony-nominated actor Christopher Walken comes A Behanding in Spokane. Telling you the plot wouldn’t matter much (let’s just say there’s a suitcase full of hands). It’s mostly all about Walken’s incredible performance. (Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 West 45th St., btwn Broadway and 8th Aves., 
CLOSING→ Yasmina Reza’s Tony-winning comedy, God of Carnage, explores a drama- (and puke-) filled evening with two couples that meet after their kids get into a fight. Currently starring original cast member Jeff Daniels (in the part James Gandolfini originated on Broadway), Dylan Baker, Lucy Liu and Janet McTeer. (Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 W. 45th St. btwn Broadway and 8th Aves., 
GO→ Famed director/chorographer Jerry Mitchell had the sense of mind to know that sex sells. So he, along with the great folks over at BC/EFA, decided to put some cute guys n’ gals (emphasis on the guys) in tiny costumes (mostly of the assless variety) and a whole lot body paint and make them strut their toned tails to raise some money for BC/EFA. Thus began Broadway Bares. Twenty years later, the guys are still shakin’ their money makers. Mitchell himself will take one last strip down memory lane this weekend for Broadway Bares: Classic, a prelude to this year’s very big show coming at the end of the month. (9pm and 11pm, Splash, 50 W. 17th St., $20, 
GO→ Actor Fisher Stevens directs an all-star, multi-media performance in Blueprint for Accountability, exploring different stories of Guantanamo Bay detainees a year after President Obama sought to close the controversial Cuban-based prison. Archival footage from Guantanamo will screen while performers James Spader, 
