Broadway celebrates Easter with its annual star hunt courtesy of BC/EFA this WEEK AHEAD!
Also… Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong takes one last run at “sainthood” at the St. James… Ben Stiller and Edie Falco play House… Joe Mantello makes a rare return to acting… and the sweet sounds of the Shirelles take over the Broadhurst.
Happy Easter!
Blake
Sunday, April 24
LAST CHANCE→ Green Day’s foray on the Great White Way, American Idiot, comes to an end. The Grammy-winning punk band’s lead singer (and show’s co-author) Billie Joe Armstrong has remained a presence throughout the show’s yearlong run — frequently guest starring as drug dealer St. Jimmy. Armstrong will play the show’s final performance at the St. James Theatre before sending it off for a national tour later this fall. (St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., info/tickets)
OPENING→ Jim Belushi, Robert Sean Leonard and newcomer Nina Arianda star in Garson Kanin’s 1940s comedy Born Yesterday. Belushi plays Harry Brock, an “uncouth” businessman who comes to Washington, D.C. to strong-arm a dirty congressman into playing by his rules. Brock’s decision to hire a journalist (Leonard) to play Henry Higgins to his ditzy Doolittle-esque girlfriend (Arianda) proves to be a big, albeit funny, mistake. (Cort Theatre, 138 W. 48th St., btwn. 6th & 7th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
Monday, April 25
OPENING→ Ben Stiller and Edie Falco star in the revival of John Guare’s classic tragicomedy The House of Blue Leaves. Stiller, who made his Broadway debut in the original Broadway production 25-years ago, upgrades to leading man Artie Shaughnessy, a zookeeper who dreams of becoming famous and hobnobbing with the Pope. Falco plays his wife Bananas (talk about a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown) with Jennifer Jason Leigh adding to the drama as mistress, Bunny. (Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 W. 48th St., btwn Broadway & 8th Ave., info/tickets)
GO→ Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ 25th Annual Easter Bonnet Competition promises a bevy of star talent including: La Cage’s Harvey Fierstein, Anything Goes’ Sutton Foster, How to Succeed’s Daniel Radcliffe, Begal Tiger’s Robin Williams, Ghetto Klown’s John Leguizamo, High’s Kathleen Turner and Book of Mormon’s Josh Gad and Andrew Rannalls. Catch Me If You Can’s Kerry Butler will do the honors of singing the BC/EFA anthem “Help Is On the Way.” (April 25th at 4:30 PM and April 26th at 2 PM, Minskoff Theatre, 200 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th, info/tickets)
Tuesday, April 26
CLICK→ Tony winner Tyne Daly and Tony nominee Brian d’Arcy James will announce the nominees for this season’s Outer Critics Circle Awards. Playbill.com will post the nominees immediately following the live announcement at the Algonquin Hotel at 11 AM. Be sure to check in to see if your favorites made the Critics’ cut!
Wednesday, April 27
OPENING→ Tony winner Beth Leavel stars as housewife turned music mogul Florence Greenberg in the new jukebox musical Baby It’s You! Featuring classic hits from the groups Greenberg discovered — namely the Shirelles — including “Dedicated to the One I Love,” “Duke of Earl,” “He’s So Fine,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “It’s My Party,” “Louie Louie,” “Mama Said,” “Shout,” “Sixteen Candles,” “Stop in the Name of Love,” “Twist and Shout” and many more. (Broadhurst Theatre, 235 W. 44th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
OPENING→ Larry Kramer’s seminal drama The Normal Heart finally receives a Broadway debut — 25 years in the making. Heart chronicles the life of early AIDS activist Ned Weeks played by Joe Mantello. Joel Grey, currently playing Moonface Martin in the revival of Anything Goes, co-directs the production that also stars Ellen Barkin, Emmy winner Jim Parsons, Patrick Breen, John Benjamin Hickey, Lee Pace and Wayne Wilcox. (John Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
Thursday, April 28
OPENING→ The People in the Picture, a new musical by Iris Rainer Dart (the novelist of “Beaches”), Mike Stoller (Smokey Joe’s Café) and Artie Butler, officially opens starring two-time Tony winner Donna Murphy as a grandmother recalling her dicey past as a Yiddish stage star in pre-war Poland. (Studio 54, 254 W. 54th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
GO (FREE)→ The Musicians of Lenox Hill, under the artistic direction of Soo-Kyung Park, will play a free concert featuring the music of Chopin, Borodin and a recovered piece of music from Holocaust victim Marcel Tyberg. Tyberg’s “Piano Trio” will be played for the first time in New York City. (Temple Israel of the City of New York, 112 W. 75th St., btwn. Lexington & Park Aves., suggested donation of $20, info)
Friday, April 29
GO→ Telly Leung (Pacific Overtures, Wicked, Rent), Ann Sanders (Avenue Q, Beauty and the Beast) and television star George Takei headline Tomo Yo — which means “my friend” in Japanese — a benefit concert for the victims of the recent earthquake in Japan. (Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St., $20, info/tickets)
GO (FREE)→ The great Carol Channing will make a public appearance in support of the release of her latest album entitled “For Heaven’s Sake,” a collection of the Tony winner’s favorite gospel songs including “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” (6pm, Barnes and Noble Lincoln Triangle at 66th Street and Broadway, 
GO (FREE)→ The company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will take over Central Park’s SummerStage with a free show featuring two classic Ailey works and a piece by Ronald K. Brown—with music by Duke Ellington and Wynton Marsalis—that pays tribute to Judith Jamison, current artistic director of the famed dance troupe. (Central Park Main Stage at Rumsey Playfield, enter at 69th St. and 5th Ave., July 23 and 24, 8pm, 
GO→The kids from American Idiot take a break from the stage at the St. James Theatre and head downtown for a concert to benefit Broadway Impact, a group that mobilizes the theatre community and others to support equal rights for the LGBT community. (9:30pm, Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St., $25-$100, .jpg)
GO→ Town Hall’s Summer Broadway Festival continues with All Singin’ All Dancin’, a show featuring some of Broadway’s up-and-coming choreographers and performers. This Broadway revue is said to be inspired by the work of legendary performers/choreographers like Fred and Adele Astaire, Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins and Bill Robinson. (8pm, Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St., btwn 6th and 7th Aves., $40-$50,
GO (FREE)→ The movie that helped introduce the hilarious troupe Monty Python to the world (and later, Broadway), “Monty Python and The Holy Grail,” enjoys a free, outdoor screening as part of the HBO Bryant Park Film Festival. One, two, five! (Begins at sunset btwn. 8-9pm, Bryant Park, btwn. 40th and 42nd Sts. & 5th and 6th Aves., 
GO→ Before there was Avenue Q’s Lucy the Slut, there was the original raunchy puppet, Madame. Madame, along with the late puppeteer Wayland Flowers, gained fame in the ’60s for their antics on TV shows like the “Andy Williams Show” and “Rowan & Martin.” Lady M returns to NYC to crack wise in her new show It’s Madame with an E, featuring Rick Skye at her side. (Through August 19, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, 540 Park Ave., at 61st St., $33-$50 with food/drink min., 
GO→ South Pacific’s Paulo Szot and Kelli O’Hara reunite at Carnegie Hall for The Best of Lerner and Loewe. Expect the classics from the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe songbook including tunes from My Fair Lady, Brigadoon and Camelot. (8pm, Carnegie Hall, 57th Street and 7th Ave., $33-$104, 
OPENING→ Jerry Herman and Harvey Feirstein’s musical “with a little extra,” La Cage Aux Folles, returns to Broadway bringing with it feathers, high heels, glitter, glam and Kelsey Grammer. Olivier Award-winning actor Douglas Hodge makes his Broadway debut as Albin (aka Zaza), the drag queen partner of Grammer’s Georges. Oh, but don’t worry! Grammer gets his chance to show off his “goods” when he takes over the role of Albin six months into the run. (Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves., 
OPENING→ The punk masters of Green Day debut their rocking new Broadway musical, American Idiot, based on the best-selling album of the same name. This rock opera for a new age stars Tony winner John Gallagher Jr. and is directed by Tony-winning director Michael Mayer (both of Spring Awakening). (St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves, 
GO→ The hallowed halls of Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency get a Vitamin “N” shot in the form of 20-something crooners Will and Anthony Nunziata in From Pelham to Park Avenue. For their debut engagement at the house that Feinstein built, the baby-faced duo will put a fresh spin on the classics (Sondheim, Loesser and the like) while also taking on some contemporary hits. (April 20-24, Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency, 540 Park Ave., at 61st St., $50.08-$71.86, call 212.339.4095 or 
OPENING→ Stephen Sondheim completes his Broadway hat trick with Sondheim on Sondheim (joining West Side Story and A Little Night Music, currently on the boards). The legendary songstress (and frequent Sondheim interpreter) Barbara Cook joins Vanessa Williams, Tom Wopat and Norm Lewis in this James Lapine creation paying homage to a man who changed the course of contemporary American musical theatre. (Studio 54, 254 W. 54th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Ave., 
WATCH→ The National Theatre’s production of Nation will screen around the world this Saturday. Nation (adapted from the Terry Pratchett novel by Mark Ravenhill) follows a young girl in 1860 stranded on a strange island that has been devastated by a tsunami. It features a wonderfully diverse cast set in a what some have likened to a type of Alice in Wonderland fantasy world. For ages 10 and up. (2pm, New York screenings include: 
GO→ Tony winners LaChanze, Lillias White, Adriane Lenox along with Tituss Burgess, Bobby Daye and others join Lee Summers’ Just a Piano: Open Mic series launch, which will serve as a benefit for The American Red Cross and The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. (Triad Theatre, 158 W. 72nd Street, between Broadway & Columbus Avenues, $10 with a drink minimum, 
WATCH→ The cast of the upcoming musical American Idiot will perform the song “21 Guns” (alongside Green Day) at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards. American Idiot, adapted from Green Day’s best-selling album of the same name, opens on the Main Stem April 20th at the St. James Theater. It is directed by Tony Winner Michael Mayer and features orchestration by Tony Winner Tom Kitt. (8pmET/PT on CBS)
GO→ Sax master and all around jazz great Jimmy Heath and the Jimmy Heath Big Band perform with special guest MC Bill Cosby. (Blue Note Jazz Club, 131 West 3rd Street, $20-$30, 
GO→ Fabulous songstress and two-time Tony winner Christine Ebersole returns to the Carlyle for a show described as “an eclectic musical evening on the subjects of sex, politics, religion…and weather.” But not before the Carlyle says a fond farewell (and a happy 85th birthday) to Elaine Stritch, whose show Singin’ Sondheim…One Song at a Time will play the room one more time on Tuesday, February 2. Of the added birthday performance, Stritch says: “OK, I’ll do it. But damn it if Christine Ebersole isn’t going to be up there with me!” (8:45pm, The Café Carlyle, 35 East 76th Street at Madison Avenue, For reservations call 212.744.1600)
