Time to play ball this WEEK AHEAD!
Broadway goes to the Bronx to play with the Bombers… Brooke Shields meets her new family… Liza in Switzerland!… and some limited runs come to an end.
Blake
Saturday, June 25
LAST CHANCE→ Ben Stiller, Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh star in the revival of John Guare’s tragicomedy The House of Blue Leaves. Falco plays Bananas, a mentally ill wife who is forced to come to terms with the end of her marriage to Artie (Stiller), a zookeeper with stars in his eyes and love in his heart for the neighbor (Leigh). (Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 W. 48th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
OPENING→ The Public Theatre’s 2011 Shakespeare in the Park series officially opens on Saturday with the first show in its summer rep. schedule: All’s Well That Ends Well, directed by Daniel Sullivan. The second show, Measure for Measure, directed by David Esbjornson, will officially open on Thursday, June 30. Cast members for both shows include Tony winner John Cullum, Reg Rogers, Tony winner Tonya Pinkins, André Holland and Lucas Caleb Roone. (Through July 30, The Delacorte Theatre, enter at 81st St. and Central Park West or 79th St. and Fifth Ave., free tickets available starting 1 PM on day-of performance or by visiting ShakespeareInThePark.org.)
Sunday, June 26
LAST CHANCE → The revival of Garson Kanin’s Born Yesterday — starring Jim Belushi, Robert Sean Leonard and Nina Arianda — closes on Broadway. Arianda earned rave reviews (and a 2011 Tony nomination) for her portrayal of ditzy gangster’s moll Billie Dawn. Directed by Doug Hughes. (Cort Theatre, 138 W. 48th St., btwn. 6th & 7th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
LAST CHANCE → 2011 Tony nominee for Best Actor in a Play Brian Bedford stars as the formidable Lady Bracknell in the Broadway revival of Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy The Importance of Being Earnest. We’ve had a lot of fun with the crew of Earnest through their seven-month stay at the American Airlines Theatre (see: Jersey Shore Gone Wilde and our photo recreation of the original 1895 production). We’ll miss you, Ernest (or, whatever your name is). (American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St., btwn. 7th & 8th Ave., info/tickets)
Monday, June 27
GO→ Broadway and the Bombers (these are a few of my favorite things)! Billy Crudup, Edie Falco, Aaron Tveit, Tom Wopat, Mitch Jarvis, Gregory Jbara and Frank Wood join past heroes-in-pinstripes David Wells, Jeff Nelson, Cecil Fielder, Charlie Hayes, Mike Stanley, Jesse Barfield and Joe Pepitone at Yankee Stadium for the first annual Bombers Boomer Broadway Softball Classic. Proceeds from the celebrity ball game will benefit The Actors Fund and the Boomer Esiason Foundation Fighting Cystic Fibrosis. (10 AM, Yankee Stadium, One East 161st St., Bronx, $200, info/tickets)
Tuesday, June 28 (more…)
WATCH→ Stage and screen legend Liza Minnelli discusses her equally legendary parents, Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli, in the TCM special “Liza and Family,” a two-night event featuring an interview with Minnelli, and screenings of Minnelli family flicks. Films include “Gigi,” “An American in Paris,” “Meet Me in St. Louis,” “Madame Bovary” and “Cabaret.” (Airs Dec. 11 and Dec. 14, 
BEFORE IT CLOSES→ Featuring the songs of legendary songwriting team John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, The Scottsboro Boys tackles the notorious Scottsboro Boys case of the 1930s, where a group of young black men were arrested in Alabama and jailed for years for a crime they didn’t commit. Featuring Tony winner John Cullum as the Interlocutor. Tony-winning director-choreographer Susan Stroman tells this harrowing story through the use of the now-defunct but highly theatrical minstrel show form. (Lyceum Theatre, 149 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway and 6th Aves., 
BEFORE IT CLOSES→Tony Award winner Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) returns to the mines with The Pitmen Painters, a drama based on a group of real-life miners in 1930s and ’40s Northern England who, after taking an art appreciation course, went on to become renowned artists themselves. (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 W. 47th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Ave., 
GO (CA)→ A Shrektacular Holiday Extravaganza will feature members of the touring company of Shrek together with Deborah (or, if you’re of the “Electric Youth” era, Debbie!) Gibson. Proceeds will benefit The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. (8 PM, Theatre 39 on Pier 39, Embarcadero and Beach Streets, San Francisco, CA, $35-$65, 
GO→ Comedy troupe The Improvised Shakespeare Co. brings its campy-n-classic humor to NYC. Think Upright Citizen’s Brigade in tights with a whole lot of “thee’s,” thou’s” and “m’lord’s” thrown in. (Through May 24, Barrow Street Theatre, 27 Barrow Street at 7th Avenues and the South corner of Christopher St., $20, 
GO→ Patti LuPone puts the “drama” in Drama Desk when she hosts the group’s 55th Annual Awards ceremony. This season’s recent revival of Ragtime earned the most nominations of any Broadway production, with The Scottsboro Boys nabbing the top-spot for Off-Broadway. Individual nominees include Cheyenne Jackson, Victoria Clark, Katie Finneran, Angela Lansbury, Ethan Hawke and Twyla Tharp. (LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center, 65th and Amsterdam, tickets starting at $225, 
GO→ The cast of Hair teams up with Bumble and Bumble for a “cut-in”: a day of free haircuts for a good cause. Cast members will be at the salon greeting guests, and tickets to the show will be raffled-off every hour. The hair collected from the event will be donated to Matter of Trust, a non-profit group that helps clean up oil spills. (12-4pm, 146 East 56th Street, btwn. 3rd and Lexington Aves., first come/first serve)
GO→ The seminal holiday classic, The Nutcracker, opens this Friday featuring the work of the legendary late George Balanchine, an on-stage snowstorm, and a Christmas tree weighing it at one ton! (Through January 3, David H. Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center, 20 Lincoln Square at 66th Street, 
GO→ Chicago has seen its fair share of guest stars with the likes of George Hamilton, Taye Diggs, Melanie Griffith, Wayne Brady, Brooke Shields, Usher and even Jerry Springer taking on the Kander and Ebb classic. Now, it’s Ashlee Simpson’s turn. The songstress, playing Roxie Hart, will be the latest lady to be locked up in the Cook County jail on Broadway. (Through February 7, The Ambassador Theatre, 219 W. 49th Street at Broadway, for special Playbill Club discount tickets 
