The witches of Wicked turn eight… BC/EFA celebrates a Hedwig Hallows Eve… Christmas is a nightmare with the Wyeth family of Other Desert Cities…and the murderous duo Bonnie & Clyde hoof-it on the Main Stage

Happy Halloween, Playbilians!
Blake

Saturday, October 29

GO (FREE)→ The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, hosts a special Halloween weekend screening of the 1986 movie musical “Little Shop of Horrors.” The Alan Menken and Howard Ashman-scored flick tells the tongue-and-cheek story of a flower shop worker (Rick Moranis) who helps his fledgling shop on Skid Row get out of the red thanks to the addition of a man-eating plant. The museum continues its Halloween celebration with screenings of other thrillers like “The Shining,” “Alien” and a special 80^th anniversary screening of “Frankenstein,” as well as a special horror makeup tutorial with special effects makeup artist Mike Marino (added $15 admission fee). There’s also a brilliant exhibition about the life and work of Jim Henson at the museum at the moment. (Through Oct. 30, free with museum admission, Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35 Avenue, Astoria, NY 11106, info)

Sunday, October 30

GO→Wicked, Stephen Schwartz’s blockbuster musical about those famous witches from Oz, hosts Wicked Day, in celebration of the show’s 8^th anniversary on Broadway. Immediately following the Oct. 30 matinee, cast members will perform a special concert that will be made available at 9 PM ET on Facebook for fans around the world. (Gershwin Theatre, 222 W. 51^st St., btwn. Broadway & 8^th Ave., info)

Monday, October 31

GO→ Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS hosts a one-night-only benefit performance of the gender-bending rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. David Brian Colbert will star as Hedwig, a transsexual glam rocker who comes to America after a botched sex-change operation. John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s musical debuted Off-Broadway in 1998 and has since become a cult classic spawning many revivals and a film version in 2001. (8 PM, New World Stages, 340 W. 50^th St., btwn. 8^th & 9^th Aves., info/tickets)

Tuesday, November 1

OPENING→ Inspired by the 2008 report of a group of teenagers from Massachusetts and an infamous “pregnancy pact,” Kirsten Greenidge’s Milk Like Sugar follows the not-so-sweet lives of three inner-city high schoolers who grow up too fast thanks to their plan to get pregnant at age 16. Sugar received great notices for its world premiere at La Jolla and makes a New York transfer starring Tony winner Tonya Pinkins as a feisty mother of one of the teens. (Through Nov. 20, Playwrights Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, 416 W. 42nd St., btwn. 9^th & 10^th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)

Wednesday, November 2

OPENING→ Andrew Hinderaker’s dark comedy Suicide, Incorporated — about an unconventional consultancy service that offers help writing suicide notes — gets its New York City debut (following a Chicago premiere) courtesy of the Roundabout Underground program that nurtures new and emerging playwrights, with low ticket prices.  Jonathan Berry directs. (Through Dec. 23, Roundabout’s Black Box Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center, 111 W. 46th St., btwn 6^th & 7^th Aves., info/tickets)

Thursday, November 3

OPENING→ Christmas with the Wyeth family of Other Desert Cities is anything but cheery. Mother and Father Wyeth (Tony winners Stockard Channing and Stacy Keach) welcome their novelist daughter Brooke (Rachel Griffiths) to their perfectly appointed Palm Springs compound for the holidays. When Brooke reveals her latest project — a tell-all memoir that spills the family’s well-hidden secrets — it causes an earthquake in the lives of Brooke, her GOP-darling parents, her TV producer brother (Thomas Sadoski) and her ultra-liberal alcoholic aunt (Judith Light). By Jon Robin Baitz and directed by Joe Mantello. (Booth Theatre, 222 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8^th Ave., info/tickets)

PREVIEWS→Tony winner Alice Ripley and Patrick Breen star in Wild Animals You Should Know, playwright Thomas Higgins’ New York debut. The play centers around two adolescent boys who go on a bizarre camping trip where one of the boys innocently instigates an “erotic game of cat and mouse.” Both of their lives, and the lives of their parents, are changed. (Lucille Lortel Theatre,
121 Christopher St., btwn. Bleecker & Hudson, Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets. Officially opens Nov. 20.)

Friday, November 4

PREVIEWS→ Tony-nominated composer Frank Wildhorn puts a rockabilly and blues twist on the infamous Depression-era mobsters Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow with his newest musical Bonnie & Clyde. Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan play the titular young outlaws whose crimes captivated a nation and inspired numerous romanticized versions of their exploits including the famous 1967 film of the same name starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Tony winner Don Black provides lyrics, with Tony nominee Jeff Calhoun directing and choreographing. (Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Ave., info/tickets. Officially opens Dec. 1.)

 Blake

 Saturday, October 22

GO→Four-time Tony winner Audra McDonald (set to appear in the Broadway revival of Porgy & Bess next month) will make a stop at New York City’s Carnegie Hall as a part of her 17-city solo concert tour. McDonald will be backed by a Broadway-sized orchestra and promises a “trademark mix of show tunes, classic songs from movies, and pieces written expressly for [McDonald] by leading contemporary composers.” I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a little taste of McDonald’s Bess to cap-off what is sure to be a great evening of music. (8 PM, Carnegie Hall, 881 7^th Ave., at 57^th St., $37-$108, info/tickets)  

Sunday, October 23

GO→The Mountaintop star Angela Bassett will sit down with Jujamcyn president Jordan Roth for his ongoing Broadway Talks series at the 92^nd Street Y. Bassett’s Mountaintop co-star, Samuel L. Jackson, will appear a day later (Oct. 24) as part of another special public interview, this one hosted by the New York Times for the ongoing Times Talk series. (7:30 PM, 92 Street Y, 92^nd St. and Lexington Ave., $29, student ticket prices available, info/tickets)

 Monday, October 24

WATCH→“Dancing With The Stars” celebrates Broadway Week! Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth will perform on the broadcast, as will the cast of Broadway’s Sister Act. The six remaining mirror-ball trophy contenders — J.R. Martinez, Ricki Lake, Hope Solo, Rob Kardashian, David Arquette, Nancy Grace and Chaz Bono — will be two-stepping to Broadway show tunes. (8 PM ET on ABC, info)

Tuesday, October 25

PREVIEWS→ Everyone’s favorite show man, Hugh Jackman, returns to the Great White Way with his solo concert Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway. The Tony winner will be backed by an 18-piece orchestra and promises selections from his favorite Broadway shows (including The Boy from Oz) as well as contemporary tunes. (Broadhurst Theatre, 235 W. 44^th St., btwn. Broadway & 8^th Ave. info/tickets. Officially opens November 10.)

GO→Hockadoo! Tony nominated Rent star Adam Pascal joins the cast of Memphis as Huey Calhoun, a white radio DJ in 1950s Tennessee who falls in love with soul music and, in turn, a black singer. Pascal takes over for Chad Kimball (who plays his last performance on Oct. 23). (Shubert Theatre, 225 W. 44^th St., btwn. Broadway & 8^th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)

Wednesday, October 26

GO→ The hit interactive show Sleep No More — which retells the murderous tale of Shakespeare’s Macbeth set in a Victorian-style hotel straight out of a Hitchcock film — kicks off a week-long series of masquerade events leading up to Halloween. As a part of this Halloween promotion, the show promises unique post-performance acts and special one-night-only shows. (McKittrick Hotel, 530 W. 27th St., btwn. 10^th & 11^th Aves., info/tickets)

Thursday, October 27

PREVIEWS→Tony nominee Alan Rickman stars in Theresa Rebeck’s biting new comedy, Seminar, as a famous author who teaches a master class to eager writing students (Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater, Hettienne Park and Jerry O’Connell). Rickman’s character Leonard stirs the pot by pitting his students against one another and favoring his teacher’s pets. (Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8^th Ave., info/tickets) 

PREVIEWS→ Direct from the National Theatre comes the political thriller Blood and Gifts which spans ten years and three political hotspots — Washington, DC, Pakistan and Afghanistan — to tell the story of a secret spy war of the 1980s that helped set the stage for today’s Mid-East problems. (Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, 150 W. 65^th St., btwn. Broadway & Amsterdam Ave., info/tickets)  

Friday, October 28

GO→Tony winner Vanessa Redgrave and West End actor Rhys Ifans star in the Roland Emmerich film thriller “Anonymous,” a piece of speculative fiction with the tag-line of “Was Shakespeare a fraud?” Ifans plays the 17th Earl of Oxford who claims to be the true author of William Shakespeare’s classics. Redgrave plays his incestuous lover, Queen Elizabeth I. (Info)  

Blake

Saturday, October 15
PREVIEW→ Oscar, Emmy and Tony winner Ellen Burstyn and Tony winner John Glover star in David Bar Katz’s The Atmosphere of Memory, about a playwright struggling with the development of an autobiographical play. The drama starts manifesting offstage once the playwright’s real-life mother gets cast in the play and his estranged father resurfaces. (Through Nov. 13, LAByrinth Theater Company, 155 Bank St., btwn. Washington & West Sts., info/tickets. Officially opens Oct. 30.)

Sunday, October 16
GO→ Primary Stages’ third annual New York One-Minute Play Festival will feature one-minute shorts from dozens of high-profile writers including Tina Howe, David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph, Neil LaBute, Donald Margulies and Lydia R. Diamond. The fest will travel to Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Brunswick, Chicago, South Florida, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, and the DC/Baltimore Metro area throughout the 2011-2012 season. (59E59 Theatres, 59 E. 59th St., btw. Park & Madison Aves., $20-$50, info/tickets)

Monday, October 17
GO→ Short plays from Tanya Barfield, Bathsheba Doran, Richard Dresser, Daniel Goldfarb, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Jeanine Tesori and Alfred Uhry take center stage at the annual Stories on 5 Stories benefit. Each writer will present a different play focusing on the airing of dirty laundry. Performers — including Dana Ivey, Parker Posey, Campbell Scott, Josh Hamilton, two-time Tony Award winner Judd Hirsch, Tony winner Tonya Pinkins, and Daniel Breaker — will stage the different vignettes throughout Playwrights Horizons’ five-story home on 42nd Street. (8 PM, Playwrights Horizons, 416 W. 42nd St., btwn. 9th & 10th Aves., info/tickets)

Tuesday, October 18
PREVIEWS→ Oscar nominee Sam Waterston returns to the Public Theater, and to the Bard, for King Lear. Waterston plays the tragic monarch who descends into madness after abandoning his youngest daughter (Kristen Connolly) and is betrayed by his other daughters and their scheming husbands (Kelli O’Hara, Enid Graham, Frank Wood and Richard Topol). Tony winner Bill Irwin plays Lear’s not-so-foolish Fool. (Through Nov. 20, Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., info/tickets. Officially opens Nov. 8.)

Wednesday, October 19
GO→ Comedian and New Yorker writer Andy Borowitz hosts The Fifty Funniest American Writers, a collection of humor writing from the likes of Mark Twain, David Sedaris and the staff of The Onion read by director/writer Nora Ephron (Love, Loss & What I Wore, “Julie & Julia”), writer and performer Jenny Allen (I Got Sick Then I Got Better), and humorist Calvin Trillin. (8 PM, 92nd St. Y, 92nd St. and Lexington Ave., info/tickets)

Thursday, October 20
OPENING→ Relatively Speaking — an evening of one-act plays by Woody Allen (Honeymoon Motel), Ethan Coen (Talking Cure) and Elaine May (George Is Dead) — tackles how the relationships between family members, spouses, lovers, and even distant acquaintances can drive people crazy. Tackling the various levels of insanity are Marlo Thomas, Steve Guttenberg, Julie Kavner, Caroline Aaron, Bill Army, Lisa Emery, Ari Graynor, Danny Hoch, Grant Shaud, Katherine Borowitz, Jason Kravits, Richard Libertini, Mark Linn-Baker and Patricia O’Connell. Keeping it all together is director John Turturro. (Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 W. 47th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)

GO→ The 22nd Annual New York Cabaret Convention kicks off with an opening night gala featuring Liz Callaway, Barbara Carroll and Christine Ebersole. The three-day convention continues with a tribute to Margaret Whiting hosted by Andrea Marcovicci; and Stars Are Bright on Saturday Night, featuring an array of singers including Amra Faye Wright, Karen Oberlin, Nancy Anderson, and Anna Bergman. (All shows begin at 6 PM, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th St., info/tickets)

Friday, October 21
GO→ Tony winner Joanna Gleason stars in the New York premiere of the dark comedy Sons of Prophet by Stephen Karam (Speech & Debate). Prophet revolves around a Lebanese-American family in crisis and a Manhattan book editor who sticks her nose where it doesn’t belong. (Through Dec. 23, Laura Pels Theatre, 111 W. 46th St., btwn. 6th & 7th Ave., info/tickets)

Frank Langella as a mesmerizing and ruthless Man … speaking Chinglish … Linda Lavin in The Lyons‘ den… and the PBS Arts Fall Festival!

Blake

Saturday, October 8
LAST CHANCE→ Elaine Stritch formally ends her three-week engagement at the intimate Café Carlyle with the aptly-titled Elaine Stritch At Home at the Carlyle: Singin’ Sondheim… Again. Why Not? on Saturday, but fret not Stritch fans, she’ll do an encore performance at the Carlyle on Oct. 15 before heading downtown to perform at the Town Hall at the end of the month. (The Café Carlyle, 35 E. 76th St., at Madison Ave., info/tickets)

Sunday, October 9
OPENING→ Three-time Tony Award winner Frank Langella stars in Terence Rattigan’s Depression-set 1963 drama Man and Boy. Langella plays Gregor Antonescu, a callous financier who reunites with his estranged son (Adam Driver) in the hopes that they can pull off one last scheme to save G.A.’s multi-million dollar empire. Maria Aitken (The 39 Steps) directs. (American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St., btwn. 7th & 8th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)

Monday, October 10
GO (FREE)→ Dana Ivey, Kevin Collins and Bryce Pinkham will read selections from Stephen Mitchell’s new translation of Homer’s “The Illiad” in a free public presentation by Poetry for Peace. Anthony Newfield (who will also participate in the reading) founded Poetry for Peace in 2003 during the start of the Iraq War. Since then, the organization has staged several readings of great works dealing with war and peace. (7 PM, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Ave., at 111th St., info)

Tuesday, October 11
PREVIEWS→ Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang brings his critically acclaimed bi-lingual comedy Chinglish to Broadway after its world premiere at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Chinglish follows an American businessman trying to expand his Ohio company in China. He soon realizes the language barrier is only the first hurdle he must overcome. Most of Chinglish’s Chicago cast (including Jennifer Lim) will make the transfer to Broadway. (Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount previews tickets. Officially opens Oct. 27.)

OPENING→ Tony winner Linda Lavin passed over not one but two Broadway shows this season (Follies and Other Desert Cities) to star in a new Off-Broadway comedy by Nicky Silver called The Lyons — one she calls “a piece of writing that doesn’t happen very often; you sit down to read [it] and know within the first five pages you’ve got to do it.” Lavin plays Rita Lyon, a woman trying to hold her family together as her husband (Tony winner Dick Latessa) lays dying in a hospital bed. (Vineyard Theatre, 108 E. 15th St., btwn. Lexington & Park Aves., info/tickets)

Wednesday, October 12
PREVIEWS→ Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities marks Rachel Griffiths’ (“Brothers & Sisters,” “Six Feet Under”) Broadway debut. She’ll play a novelist who returns home to Palm Springs for Christmas to share her latest manuscript with her Reaganite parents (Stacy Keach and Stockard Channing), TV producer brother (Thomas Sadoski), and outspoken, newly-sober liberal aunt (Judith Light). As it turns out, this family’s closet is filled with skeletons — ones that the right-wing conservative parents would rather keep quiet. Directed by Joe Mantello. (Booth Theatre, 222 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Aves. Click here for Playbill Club discount previews tickets. Officially opens Nov. 3.)

PREVIEWS→ Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg makes his playwriting debut with Asuncion. The play gets its title from the name of a Filipina woman who moves into the pad of Eisenberg’s character, Edgar, and his current roommate, Vinny (Justin Bartha). How will these two assuage their liberal guilt when cultural differences reveal some less-than-flattering character traits? (Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce St., btwn. Bedford & Hudson Sts., info/tickets. Officially opens Oct. 27.)

OPENING→ Actress Zoe Kazan also tries her hand at playwriting with We Live Here, a dark comedy about a young woman named Dinah (Betty Gilpin) who shows up at parents’ home a few days before her sister’s wedding. She brings an unexpected gift — a new boyfriend. When said boyfriend’s sordid past (and eerie connection to Dinah’s family) comes to the surface, Dinah’s mother (Oscar nominee Amy Irving) and soon-to-be-wed older sister (Jessica Collins) are none too pleased. Directed by Sam Gold (Circle Mirror Transformation, Kin). (Through Nov. 6, New York City Center, 131 W. 55th St., btwn. 6th & 7th Aves., info/tickets)

Thursday, October 13

OPENING→ Samuel L. Jackson plays Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Katori Hall’s Olivier Award-winning play, The Mountaintop, which places King at the infamous Lorraine Motel the evening after he has delivered his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. It would also be his last night on earth. Angela Bassett plays a mysterious chambermaid who seems to have an otherworldly connection to the icon and the doom that awaits him once morning breaks. (Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 W. 45th St. btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)

PREVIEWS→ Tony nominee Nina Arianda returns to Broadway and to the play that made her a star on the New York Theatre scene — David Ives’ Venus in Fur. Arianda plays Vanda, an actress auditioning for a play based on the classic erotic novel “Venus in Fur.” When Vanda meets the director Thomas, played by Hugh Dancy, at an after-hours audition, the old “casting couch” predicament rears its ugly head. (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 W. 47th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Aves. Click here for Playbill Club discount previews tickets. Officially opens Nov. 8.)

Friday, October 14
WATCH→ The PBS ARTS Fall Festival — chronicling different arts scenes in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Cleveland, and Chicago — kicks off on Friday featuring an array of special programming across the country. Hosts include Tony nominee Linda Ronstadt, Rainn Wilson, Andy Garcia, and Rosanne Cash introducing locally produced shows about renowned artists and musicians like Tony winner Bill T. Jones, Steve Martin, Andrea Bocelli, and Pearl Jam. PBS’ multi-platform arts festival will air every Friday through Dec. 16.  (Fridays through December, info)

OPENING→ David Hyde Pierce directs an all-star cast — including Tyne Daly, Richard Kline, Harriet Harris and Howard McGillin — in a new musical comedy, It Shoulda Been You, at George Street Playhouse in New Jersey. Two very different families come together to celebrate the pending nuptials of a Jewish bride and a Catholic boy. As you can probably guess, both families have their own quirks, that doesn’t necessarily mesh. (Through Nov. 6, George Street Playhouse, 9 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick, NJ 08901, info/tickets)

Audra McDonald on tour… The Phantom turns 25…Stephen Sondheim and the hunt of a lifetime…and Mother’s Day comes early to Primary Stages.

Blake

Saturday, October 1
LAST CHANCE (FREE)→ The Tenant, the newest offering of site-specific immersion theatre, features a retelling of Roland Topor’s novel and subsequent Roman Polanski film of the same name. Created by the Woodshed Collective and featuring an accompanying score by Tony winner Duncan Sheik, audience members explore five stories of a church transformed to look like a Paris apartment building, while dozens of actors perform around them. (West-Park Presbyterian Church, Amsterdam Ave. and 86th St., info/reservations for free tickets)

GO→ Prior to bringing her critically acclaimed performance in the ART version of Porgy and Bess to Broadway this December, Audra McDonald will tour the country in concert. The four-time Tony Award winner will launch her multi-city tour at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center and make stops in Boston, Washington, DC, New Jersey, California, New York, Michigan, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and ending in University Park, PA. (Multiple locations, Click here for a tour itinerary)

Sunday, October 2
WATCH→ Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its London premiere with a lush restaging at Royal Albert Hall, to be simulcast at movie theatres around the globe. The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall will feature Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess (who originated the roles of Phantom and Christine in the Phantom sequel Love Never Dies). (Simulcasts begin at 2 PM ET, Click here for a compete list of screenings near you)

Monday, October 3
GO→ Attendees at the 20th Anniversary Celebration for Friends in Deed, hosted by Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, will go on a wild goose chase throughout the Museum of Natural History thanks to none other than Stephen Sondheim. Beyond the usual gala hoopla, this benefit will feature a treasure hunt designed by Sondheim, with music provided by Barbara Cook and Raúl Esparza. (6:30 PM, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West & 79th St., $1,500 tax deductible, info/tickets)

Tuesday, October 4
OPENING→ Mothers of all different shapes, sizes and sexes are explored in Motherhood Out Loud. Featuring a mélange of short stories from writers Leslie Ayvazian, David Cale, Jessica Goldberg, Pulitzer Prize winner Beth Henley, Lameece Issaq, Claire LaZebnik, Lisa Loomer, Michele Lowe, Marco Pennette, Theresa Rebeck, Luanne Rice, Annie Weisman and Cheryl L. West, Motherhood explores the many ways to “mother” someone — from a playground-hating stay-at-home mom, to a newly-minted gay father, to a bitter lover of a mama’s boy, to a man taking care of his ailing mother. (Through October 29, Primary Stages, 59 E. 59th St., btwn. Park & Madison Aves., info/tickets)

Wednesday, October 5
OPENING→ Annette O’Toole and Jeff McCarthy star in Southern Comfort, a new musical based on the Sundance award-winning documentary about transgender friends in rural Georgia. Featuring a folk/bluegrass score from Dan Collins and Julianne Wick Davis, Comfort follows Robert (played by O’Toole) and Lola (played by McCarthy) as they struggle for acceptance and normalcy in the back hills of “Bubba Land” Georgia. (CAP21 Black Box Theatre, 18 W. 18th St., btwn. 5th & 6th Aves., $18, info/tickets)

Thursday, October 6
GO→ Broadway’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying dedicates an evening to The Trevor Project. A portion of the ticket sales from this Thursday’s performance, as well as items from a post-show auction hosted by Daniel Radcliffe, will benefit the organization that provides crisis intervention services for LGBT youth. If you’re unable to make that evening’s performance, you can support the initiative by purchasing tickets to another performance through Givenik.com, which donates 5 percent of tickets sold to the organization. (Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 West 45th St., btwn. 8th and 9th Aves., info/tickets)

Friday, October 7
TRANSFERRING→ The doctor is once again in as the long-running Mark St. Germain play Freud’s Last Session makes another move, this time to New World Stages. (The production began at Barrington Stage Company in Massachusetts before making its New York City debut at the Upper West Side’s new Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater). Germain’s drama imagines a fictional meeting between a then-burgeoning Christian writer C.S. Lewis (Mark H. Dold) and the atheist psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (Martin Rayner). (New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., btwn 8th & 9th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)

BC/EFA’s 25th Annual Flea Market & Grand Action… NYMF begins… Jonathan Groff submits… and one last meal of “liver with a nice Chianti” for Silence! The Musical

Blake

Saturday, September 24
LAST CHANCE→ Silence! The Musical, a parody of the 1991 Academy Award-winning film Silence of the Lambs, plays its final performance at Off-Broadway’s Theatre 80. A chorus of fluffy lambs helps tell the story of rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jenn Harris) who enlists the help of the notorious murderer “Hannibal the Cannibal” (Paul Michael Valley) to help her catch a serial killer before he strikes (or “skins”) again. Featuring a score by Jon and Al Kaplan and a book by Tony nominee Hunter Bell. (Theatre 80, 80 St. Marks Pl., btwn. 1st & 2nd Aves., info/tickets)

Sunday, September 25
GO→ The Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Flea Market and Grand Auction celebrates its 25th year with a new footprint. Theatre lovers will now be able to treasure hunt into Times Square as the market wends its way into the pedestrian plaza and down 44th Street. One of the fall’s most anticipated events, the flea market and auction offers tons of memorabilia donated by the theatrical community, as well ample opportunity to meet and greet with Broadway’s biggest celebs. In anticipation of inclement weather, BC/EFA’s exec. director Tom Viola says: “Come sunshine or drizzle the Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction will go on. Only heavy rains in the morning would knock us out. Please check the website, Facebook and Twitter for an update.” (10 AM-7 PM, Times Square and W. 44th St., info)

Monday, September 26
GO→ The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) kicks off its eighth year of exploring new and exciting musical theatre talent. Over 30 productions will be put on as a part of this year’s fest including: Gatsby: The Songs in Concert, featuring songs from the Hugh Wheeler, Lee Pockriss and Carolyn Leigh Broadway musical from the 1970s that never came to fruition; Greenwood, about a reunion of former performing arts campers, starring Andrea McArdle; Outlaws, about the real story of Billy the Kid; and Cyclops, a rock-scored adaptation of the Euripides’ play of the same name. (Through Oct. 16, multiple venues, Click here for a full schedule of performances/tickets)

GO→ The Bound for Broadway concert series hosted by Liz Callaway will feature previews from five new musicals slated for fall. Among the offerings is a new work from the [title of show] folks called Now. Here. This.; Room 16 about the relationship between G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt (the chief architects of the Watergate Hotel break-ins); The Boy Detective Fails, a murder mystery featuring Callaway; …And Then I Wrote a Song About It set in the early 1980s New York City; and a musical comedy (believe it or not) called The Suicide set in Stalin’s Soviet Union. (Merkin Concert Hall, 129 W. 67th St., btwn. Broadway & Amsterdam, info/tickets)

Tuesday, September 27
OPENING→ In The Submission, Jonathan Groff stars as a burgeoning playwright named Danny Larsen who gets his first big break thanks to a stirring new play about growing up in the projects. Too bad Larsen’s real life bares no resemblance to that of Shaleeha G’ntamobi, his now-famous pen name. Written by Jeff Talbott, who earlier this year, took home the first-ever Laurents/Hatcher Award for the play. Directed by Walter Bobbie, also starring Will Rogers (When the Rain Stops Falling), Eddie Kaye Thomas (“American Pie”) and Rutina Wesley (HBO’s “True Blood”). (Through Oct. 22, Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher St., btwn. Bleecker & Hudson Sts., info/tickets)

GO (FREE)→ Tony Award winner John Lithgow (slated to return to Broadway this season in The Columnist) makes an in-store appearance in Manhattan to promote his memoir “Drama: An Actor’s Education.” (7 PM, Barnes & Noble, 33 E. 17th St., btwn. Park Ave. and Broadway, info)

Wednesday, September 28
PREVIEWS→ Stephen Karam’s newest dark comedy Sons of the Prophet stars Tony winner Joanna Gleason as a kooky former Manhattan book editor who believes she’s found her ticket outta Dodge (or in this case, Eastern Pennsylvania) in the tragedy that has beset Joseph Douaihy (Santino Fontana) and his family. (Laura Pels Theatre, 111 W. 46th St., btwn. 6th & 7th Aves., info/tickets. Officially opens October 20.)

Thursday, September 29
GO→ Tony Bennett celebrates his 85th birthday with the sequel to his hit “Duets” album. The new disc features the famous crooner alongside some musicbiz heavyweights like Lady Gaga, Aretha Franklin, Michael Bublé, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and the late Amy Winehouse. Photos from these recording sessions (taken by Kelsey Bennett and Josh Cheuse) make up a new exhibit  at Manhattan’s Morrison Hotel. (Morrison Hotel, 124 Prince St., btwn. Greene & Wooster Sts., info)

Friday, September 30
GO→ Roman Polanski’s cinematic take on Yasmina Reza’s 2009 Tony-winning play God of Carnage opens the New York Film Festival. Polanski’s “Carnage” — which chronicles two couples that meet after a playground fight between their kids — drops the “God of” but gains an all-star cast in Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly. (Screening at 6:30 PM, 7 PM, 9 PM and 9:30 PM, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and Walter Reade Theatre, 65th St., btwn. Broadway & Amsterdam, info/tickets)

Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett tell it on the Mountaintop… Woody and Ethan and Elaine (oh my!)… “Here’s a story” about Florence Henderson… and the final broadcast of “All My Children.”

Blake

Saturday, September 17
GO→The tragic occurrence of teen suicide in small-town America is at the center of Troy Deutsch’s play Lake Water, starting its world premiere in an Off-Off-Broadway production at IRT Theatre in Greenwich Village. Writer Deutsch (a standby for John Gallagher Jr. in Broadway’s Rabbit Hole) and Samantha Soule (Broadway’s Coram Boy, The Philanthropist, Dinner at Eight, Off-Broadway’s Gabriel) appear as high-school seniors who meet after their best friend suddenly commits suicide. It opens Sept. 22 and plays to Oct. 2. (IRT Theatre, 154 Christopher Street, Manhattan, tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com)

Sunday, September 18
WATCH→ The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards, hosted by “Glee” star Jane Lynch, airs on FOX. Some performers up for television’s biggest prize have also made waves on Broadway including Edie Falco, Laura Linney, Martha Plimpton, Jim Parsons and Alec Baldwin. Presenters include Julianna Margulies, Sofia Vergara, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Zooey Deschanel, Ashton Kutcher and singer Mitzi Gaynor with designer Bob Mackie. (8 PM/ 5 PT on FOX, info)

Monday, September 19
LAST CHANCE→ Hotel/Motel the double header from the Amoralists theatre company ends its extended run at the Gershwin Hotel. Hotel/Motel, also a site-specific immersion theatre offering, is two plays held in one hotel room. The Hotel part consists of Derek Ahonen’s Pink Knees on Pale Skin, the story of a group of couples planning an organized orgy that gets a little rough (both emotionally and physically) thanks to a kinky doctor who has her own screwed up marriage. The Motel part comes from Adam Rapp, whose Animals and Plants finds two drug runners in a dingy motel room at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains passing the time during a blizzard. (Gershwin Hotel, 7 E. 27th St., btwn. Madison & 5th Ave., info/tickets)

Tuesday, September 20
PREVIEWS→ The comedy hat trick that is Woody Allen/Ethan Coen/Elaine May’s Relatively Speaking begins performances. The glue holding these three one-acts together is director John Turturro. The cast comprises Caroline Aaron, Bill Army, Lisa Emery, Ari Graynor, Steve Guttenberg, Danny Hoch, Julie Kavner, Fred Melamed, Grant Shaud, Marlo Thomas, Katherine Borowitz, Jason Kravits, Richard Libertini, Mark Linn-Baker and Patricia O’Connell. (Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 W. 47th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., info/tickets. Officially opens Oct. 20.)

Wednesday, September 21
OPENING→ The 2011-2012 New York Philharmonic season gets off to a start with its opening night gala featuring soprano Deborah Voigt in an interplay of vocal and orchestral works by Barber, Wagner and Richard Strauss. Under the baton of conductor and Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert. For those not able to attend the opening night gala, you can catch the rehearsal for free that morning at 9:45 AM. And if you’re not in the New York area, the concert will be broadcast live on PBS stations. (7:30 PM, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Broadway btwn. 62nd & 65th Sts., info/tickets)

Thursday, September 22
PREVIEWS→ The final evening of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life is imagined in The Mountaintop, which took home last season’s Olivier Award for best new play. In The Mountaintop we find Dr. King (Samuel L. Jackson) at the infamous Lorraine Motel on the night after his iconic “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. It would also turn out to be the day before he is assassinated. He meets up with a feisty maid (played by Angela Bassett) who gets him to reveal the man behind the icon. Directed by Kenny Leon. (Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount previews tickets. Officially opens Oct. 13.)

GO→ NBC contributor Dr. Gail Saltz is joined by Florence Henderson for a one-on-one interview about the Broadway and TV vet’s life both onstage, on screen and behind all the glitz and glamour. Henderson discusses her memoir “Life Is Not a Stage: From Broadway Baby to a Lovely Lady and Beyond,” which chronicles the actress’ life growing up in poverty with an alcoholic father, her rise to fame, her bout with stage fright, and her ability to rise above it all to become the beloved entertainer she is today. (8:15 PM, 92nd Street Y’s Buttenwieser Hall, Lexington Ave. & 92nd St., $29, info/tickets)

Friday, September 23
WATCH→ The long-running daytime soap opera “All My Children” will air its final network TV episode after more than four decades on ABC. Former cast members Josh Duhamel, Carol Burnett and Sarah Michelle Gellar have returned to the show for its final season. Of course “AMC” leading lady Susan Lucci will be there for the final episode. Fans of the denizens of Pine Valley will now have to get their “AMC” fix online, where the series will continue. (1 PM EST/ 12 PT/C on ABC, info)

Elevator Repair Service continues servicing the classics… Follies finds the Broadway spotlight once again… and Newsies “seizes the day” at Paper Mill.

Open the gates!
Blake

Saturday, September 10
LAST CHANCE→ The “summer of love” Broadway stop on the national tour of Hair comes to an end. This Tony Award-winning revival of the quintessential 1960s rock musical about peace, love and sex during the time of the Vietnam War includes the hit songs “Let the Sunshine In,” “Aquarius,” “Good Morning Starshine” and the title song. After Broadway, the tour continues with stops in Dallas, Denver, San Diego and San Francisco. (St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)

Sunday, September 11
OPENING→ The Elevator Repair Service has made a name for itself with theatrical word-for-word stagings of great American classics like “The Great Gatsby” and “The Sound and the Fury.” The troupe returns with The Select — their theatricalized adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises.” (New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E 4th St, btwn. 2nd Ave. and Bowery, info/tickets)

GO→ Tony winner Richard Nelson continues exploring the state of the nation with the second in a series of plays about the Apple Family. We first met the Apples in Nelson’s That Hopey Changey Thing. In this newest play, Sweet and Sad, we check back in on the liberal Apples, back together again on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The production reunites the cast of Hopey Changey, including Tony Award winners Shuler Hensley and Maryann Plunkett, as well as Jon DeVries, Laila Robins, Jay O. Sanders and J. Smith-Cameron. (Through Sept. 25, Public Theater, 435 Lafayette St., info/tickets)

Monday, September 12
OPENING→ The starry Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies reunites the famous composer-lyricist with frequent collaborator and brilliant interpreter of his work, Bernadette Peters. This show is all about reunions, as it follows former members of the famous “Weismann” (read Ziegfeld) Follies as they reunite to see their former theatre (and, in some cases, their former selves) face demolition. Also starring Jan Maxwell, Elaine Paige, Mary Beth Peil, Jayne Houdyshell, Rosalind Elias, Florence Lacey, Terri White, Danny Burstein and Ron Raimes. (Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway, btwn. 46th & 47th Sts., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
Tuesday, September 13

OPENING→ Elaine Stritch returns to the Café Carlyle stage with her acclaimed ode to Stephen Sondheim: At Home at the Carlyle: Elaine Stritch Singin’ Sondheim…Again. Why Not? (Yep—that’s the title!) Stritch is an incomparable performer. Don’t miss her takes on songs like “Rose’s Turn” from Gypsy, “Send In The Clowns” and “Every Day a Little Death” from A Little Night Music, and “The Road You Didn’t Take” from Follies. Sublime! And it wouldn’t be an Elaine Stritch show without a ton of laughs and interesting stories about her time in some of Sondheim’s finest shows. (Through October 8, Café Carlyle, 35 E. 76th St., info/tickets)

GO→ Kristin Chenoweth makes an in-store appearance promoting her new solo CD “Some Lessons Learned,” which the Tony winner has said “is more along the lines of what I grew up singing, like the music I sang in church in Oklahoma.” The CD boasts songs by Diane Warren, Desmond Child and Dolly Parton. (Barnes & Noble, 555 5th Ave., at 46th St., info)

Wednesday, September 14
GO→ PR guru-turned-movie-maker-turned-playwright Dan Klores debuts The Wood, a new play about the larger-than-life New York Post and Daily News columnist Mike McAlary. Klores’ play chronicles McAlary’s life in-between the time he was diagnosed with cancer (which would eventually kill him at the age of 41) and pursuing the story that would win him a Pulitzer Prize — the 1997 Abner Louima case. (Through Oct. 9, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, 224 Waverly Place, off of 7th Ave., info/tickets)

Thursday, September 15

GO→ The London hit comedy One Man, Two Guvnors (rumored to be making a Broadway transfer this season) will play as part of the “National Theatre Live” broadcast series, which screens the theatre’s acclaimed shows in cinemas around the world. The series continues throughout the fall and New Year with screenings of The Kitchen and Dominic Cooke’s version of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. (Click here for tickets and a list of venues near you)

Friday, September 16

GO→ The Paper Mill Playhouse will debut the new musical Newsies based on the 1992 Disney film featuring songs by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman. This expanded stage version features a new book by Harvey Fierstein and stars Jeremy Jordan (soon to be seen in Broadway’s Bonnie & Clyde). Newsies is based on the true story of a newsboys’ labor strike in 1890s New York. Includes the songs “Seize the Day” and “Santa Fe.” (Through Oct. 16, Paper Mill Playhouse, 22 Brookside Drive, Millburn, NJ, info/tickets)

Phantom says farewell to its last original… Tyne Daly does her final Callas bow… Catch Me If You Can gets caught… it’s the last party for Baby It’s You! (and they’ll cry if they want to)… and a fond farewell to summer this Labor Day weekend.

You say goodbye, and I say hello (to fall!)
Blake

Saturday, September 3
LAST CHANCE→ George Lee Andrews, the last remaining original cast member in Broadway’s The Phantom of the Opera, will (along with David Cryer) depart the production after 23 years. Andrews — who started his Phantom run in the ensemble in 1988 — currently plays opera manager Monsieur André. Replacing Andrews, who currently holds the Guinness World Record as the longest-running actor in the same Broadway show, is Aaron Galligan-Stierle (Andrews’ son-in-law, as it turns out). Kevin Ligon (succeeding longtime Phantom player Cryer) and Christian Šebek are also joining the cast as the other opera manager, Firmin, and the vain tenor Piangi, respectively. (Majestic Theatre, 245 W. 44th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)

Sunday, September 4
LAST CHANCE→ Tony winner Tyne Daly takes her last turn as opera great Maria Callas in the Broadway revival of Terrence McNally’s Master Class. McNally’s Tony-winning play re-imagines one of Callas’ legendary master classes, which she taught at Juilliard during the last years of her life in the 1970s. As she coaches the next generation of opera stars (played by Alexandra Silber, Garrett Sorenson and Sierra Boggess) she recalls her triumphs and flops, both in the theatre and in her personal life. (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 W. 47th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)

LAST CHANCE→ Catch Me If You Can, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman’s musicalization of the Steven Spielberg film of the same name, closes on Broadway. Norbert Leo Butz earned his second Tony Award for his performance as Carl Hanratty, an FBI agent chasing after teen conman Frank W. Abagnale, Jr., played by the always-alluring Aaron Tveit. Kerry Butler is the girl who wins Frank’s heart and Tom Wopat plays his father, Frank, Sr. (Neil Simon Theatre, 250 W. 52nd St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)

LAST CHANCE→ The life and music of suburban housewife-turned-music-mogul Florence Greenberg (played by Tony winner Beth Leavel) is documented in the jukebox musical Baby It’s You! The show chronicles Greenberg’s pioneering rise through the music industry with the discovery of one of the greatest girl groups of the 1960s, The Shirelles. It’s packed with jukebox classics from the ’50s and ’60s including “Dedicated To The One I Love,” “Duke Of Earl,” “He’s So Fine,” “It’s My Party,” “Louie Louie,” “Mama Said,” “Sixteen Candles” and “Twist and Shout”. (Broadhurst Theatre, 235 W. 44th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)

Monday, September 5
GO→ Former “American Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi joins the merry murderesses of Broadway’s fourth longest-running hit Chicago. DioGuardi will make her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in the Tony-winning revival for an eight-week engagement. (Ambassador Theatre, 219 W. 49th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)

Tuesday, September 6
GO→ Memphis will welcome nationally syndicated conservative radio host and Fox News contributor Mike Gallagher to the cast for a week-long stint. Gallagher will make a special cameo at the top of each show. While this will mark Gallagher’s Broadway debut, it will not be his first time onstage. He has appeared in regional productions of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Show Boat, Funny Girl and Love Letters and was seen this past June in a production of Oliver! at the Lyric Stage in Texas. (Shubert Theatre, 225 W. 44th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)

GO→ Michael Feinstein opens the newest season at his eponymous nightclub alongside Linda Eder in Two for the Road. The pair take on (what else?) songs from the Great American Songbook, including classics from George Gershwin and Harold Arlen; later composers like Michel Legrand; and the hits of Frank Sinatra. (Though Oct. 1, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, 540 Park Ave., at 61st St., info/tickets)

Wednesday, September 7
GO→ With the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks almost upon us, many people will be remembering the tragedies of that day and the hope that rose from the rubble. One such remembrance is A Blue Sky Like No Other, a one-man show from Steve Fetter. Fetter is not an actor by trade, rather someone who lived through the events that took place at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Proceeds will benefit charities assisting families of fallen firefighters. (Through Sept. 25, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 25th St., btwn. 3rd and Lexington Aves., $15-$25, info/tickets)

Thursday, September 8
GO→ Cynthia Nixon, Tony Shalhoub, Samuel L. Jackson, Lauren Ambrose, Andre Braugher, Mario Cantone, Billy Crudup, Melissa Leo, Jeremy Piven, Pablo Schreiber, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tamara Tunie, Kathleen Turner and Ben Vereen are among the many stars on the docket for a reading of Sarah Tuft’s 110 Stories which chronicles those affected by the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Proceeds benefit the New York Says Thank You Foundation. (Through Sept. 9, Skirball Center for Performing Arts at NYU, 
566 Laguardia Place, 
at Washington Square, info/tickets)

WATCH→ Oprah Winfrey’s newly minted cable network OWN debuts “Most Valuable Players.” This award-winning documentary follows three high school theatre troupes as they compete for a Freddy Award, a competition honoring excellence in the arts at the high school level. (9 PM, Check your local listings, info)

Friday, September 9
PREVIEWS→ Three-time Tony Award winner Frank Langella stars in the revival of Terence Rattigan’s Man and Boy a story about a ruthless financier named Gregor Antonsecu who, after reuniting with his estranged son, puts him in a precarious position in order to pull off one last scheme. Directed by Maria Aitken. (American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St., btwn 7th & 8th Aves., info/tickets. Officially opens Oct. 9.)

GO→ The Broadway community will honor the tenth anniversary of 9/11 with a special presentation in Times Square. Ten years ago, days after the attacks, the Broadway community rallied to help inspire fellow New Yorkers and celebrate the fallen with a performance of Kander & Ebb’s love letter to the city, “New York, New York.” That moment will be recreated for the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in support of 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance. (4 PM, Duffy Square, 45th-47th Sts., btwn. 7th Ave. and Broadway, info)

Love Never Dies dies a little…Frank Langella goes one-on-one with Ted Koppel… Miranda Sings with Andrew Rannells… and Porgy and Bess Redux finally opens.

Stay safe, NYC!
Blake

Saturday, August 27
LAST CHANCE→ Andrew Lloyd Webber’s much talked-about Phantom sequel, Love Never Dies, closes in London. But not to fret Webber fans — Love Never Dies isn’t completely dead. The show is currently in Australia with a new design team, including director Simon Philips, working out a revised vision of the show which places the masked menace and his lost love Christine Daaé in Coney Island. It seems that should the kinks that plagued the show’s London debut get ironed out, it could move to Broadway as originally planned. (Adelphi Theatre, West End, info/tickets)

Sunday, August 28
WATCH→ If you’re in New York this weekend and find yourself stuck indoors due to Hurricane Irene, tune-in to “Ted Koppel/Frank Langella — One on One” a sit-down interview between the famous newsman and the three-time Tony Award-winning actor. Langella, who will star in the upcoming Broadway revival of Terence Rattigan’s Man and Boy this fall, will talk about his long and varied career both onstage and in films.(10:30 PM EST, PBS, Check your local listings, info)

Monday, August 29
GO→ The Book of Mormon’s Tony nominated leading man Andrew Rannells will join YouTube sensation Miranda Sings for her eighth concert appearance at Birdland. Miranda, the alter ego of Colleen Ballinger, became an Internet comedy sensation with her unabashed self-promotion of her God-awful singing. It’s a hilarious bit and Rannells is sure to bring an extra dimension to the live show. (7PM, Birdland, 315 W. 44th St., btwn. 8th & 9th Aves., $24-$35 plus food/drink minimum, info/tickets)

Tuesday, August 30
GO (FREE)→ The Metropolitan Opera’s Summer HD Festival continues with a free screening of Puccini’s La Rondine starring Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna. One of Puccini’s lesser-known works, the opera returned to the Met in 2008 for the first time in over 70 years. The fest continues through September with screenings of Nixon in China, Carmen, and Don Carlo. (8 PM, Lincoln Center Plaza, info)

Wednesday, August 31
OPENING→ Four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald and Broadway vet Norm Lewis star in the re-imagined (and much debated-over) version of Porgy and Bess at American Repertory Theater. The famous George and Ira Gershwin-DuBose Heyward folk opera has been revamped into a two-and-a-half-hour musical with dialogue and has been renamed The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. Tony-winning director Diane Paulus, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and Pulitzer Prize nominee Diedre Murray have taken up the task of updating the classic work for modern audiences. The show will transfer to Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre in December. (Through October 2, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA, info/tickets)

Thursday, September 1
GO (FREE)→ A new “bad boy” has emerged in classical music. Charles Yang — a musical virtuoso who plays the violin, guitar, electric violin, and sings — has been hailed as one of classical music’s foremost crossover artists, playing everything from Rachmaninov to Michael Jackson. Yang presents a free concert as a part of Lincoln Center’s Target Free Thursdays. (8:30 PM, David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 62nd St., info)

Friday, September 2
GO→ Rapper, comedian and performance artist Baba Brinkman raps his way through the development of mankind and hip-hop music in The Rap Guide to Evolution. Brinkman’s acclaimed one-man show takes on everything from Darwinism to urban warfare. (Through Oct. 2, SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam St., btwn. 6th & 7th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)