The 2000-2001 theatre season kicks off on Sunday, Sept. 10, with the annual "Broadway on Broadway" concert in Times Square. As many as 50,000 people are expected to attend the preview of new shows and last chance performances from productions that are scheduled to close.

Theatre's increasingly sophisticated profile will be boosted by the live coverage of the gala by local New York television station WNBC. NBC weatherman Al Roker will host the festivities. This year's "Broadway on Broadway" starts at Noon and runs through 2 PM.

Production sources say that "this year’s extravaganza will offer numbers from almost every musical on Broadway with never-before-seen sneak peaks at several upcoming musicals."

The artists and production numbers scheduled for performance at "Broadway on broadway" are:

• Cheryl Ladd and Patrick Cassidy
“Anything You Can Do...” from Annie Get Your Gun • Lea Thompson
“Cabaret” from Cabaret

• Betty Buckley
“Memory” from Cats

• Jasmine Guy and Charlotte D’Amboise
“My Own Best Friend” from Chicago

• Claudia Shear, Bob Stillman and Tom Riis Farrell
“Dirty Blonde” from Dirty Blonde

•Shannon Lewis, Ken Alan, and Byron Easley
“I Gotcha” from Fosse

•Sebastian Bach
“This is the Moment” from Jekyll & Hyde

•Brian Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazzie
“So In Love” from Kiss Me, Kate

• J. Mark McVey
“Bring Him Home” from Les Misérables

•Melinda Chua and Michael Flanigan
“Last Night of the World” from Miss Saigon

• Rebecca Luker and Quartet
“Lida Rose/Dream of Now” from The Music Man

• Howard McGillin
“The Music of the Night” from The Phantom Of The Opera

• Trey Ellett and Manley Pope
“What You Own” from RENT

• Margaret Motsage, Brian Kennedy and chorus
“Endless Journey” from Riverdance

• Paige Price and Orfeh
“Nights on Broadway” from Saturday Night Fever

• Ann Hampton Callaway
“Blues in the Night” from Swing!

"Broadway on Broadway" will be the first chance for the public to see numbers from the upcoming Broadway musicals The Full Monty, Jane Eyre and The Rocky Horror Show and the last chance to see a number from Cats, which closes that afternoon. Sponsored by Continental Airlines and American Express, "Broadway on Broadway" is produced by the League of American Theatres and Producers and the Times Square Business Improvement District in association with the Recording Industries Music Performance Trust Funds, in cooperation with Local 802, American Federation of Musicians.

For information on call The Broadway Line at (888) BROADWAYor visit the Times Square Visitors Center at 1560 Broadway between 46 & 47 Streets.

-- By Murdoch McBride