Arts & Entertainment
In The Spotlight
Our roundup of new shows with a Jewish connection
on Broadway and Off-Broadway stages.
Alice Burdick Schweiger
Special to the Jewish News
BROADWAY
Anything Goes, starring Joel Grey
(Dancing With the Stars winner Jennifer
Grey's dad!) and Sutton Foster, is a revival of
the Cole Porter classic. Previews begin March
10. Stephen Sondheim Theatre, 124 West 43rd
St.; (212) 239-6200.
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, with
music and lyrics by Michael Friedman,
mixes fact and fiction in telling the story
of America's seventh president. Joining
Benjamin Walker as Jackson is Darren
Goldstein, who plays John Calhoun. Closes
Jan.2. Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 W 45th
St.; (212) 239-6200.
Catch Me If You Can, a new musical
based on the 2002 Tom Hanks/Leonardo
DiCaprio film about a charming con artist
who disguises himself as a pilot, doctor and
lawyer while being pursued by the FBI, stars
Norbert Leo Butz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
and Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal), with
music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by
Scott Wittman. Opens in March. Neil Simon
Theatre, 250 W 52nd St.; (800) 745-3000.
How to Succeed in Business without
Really Trying, a revival about a young
window cleaner who rises from the mail
room to vice president of advertising at the
World Wide Wicket Company, stars Daniel
,
Radcliffe (Harry Potter himself)). Music and
lyrics by Frank Loesser. Previews begin
Feb. 26; show opens March 27. Al Hirschfeld
Theatre, 302 W 45th St.; (212) 239-6200.
La Bete, written by David Hirson and
starring David Hyde Pierce, is a comedy
set in 17th-century France about a popular
street performer and a classical writer who
vie for a royal endorsement. Closes Jan 9.
Music Box Theatre, 239 W 45th St.; (212)
239-6200.
Cohn Quinn Long Story Short is a
one-man comic look at the history of the
world, written by and starring Colin Quinn
(Saturday Night Live) and directed by his pal
Jerry Seinfeld. Closes Jan. 8. Helen Hayes
Theatre, 240 W 44th St.; (212) 239-6200.
Lombardi tells the story of the iconic
Packers football coach Vince Lombardi;
Judith Light (Ugly Betty) plays his wife
Marie. Circle in the Square Theatre, 235 W
50th St.; (212) 239-6200.
The Pee-wee Herman Show, starring
Paul Reubens, re-creates the ground-
breaking hit TV show Pee-wee's Playhouse.
Through Jan. 2. Stephen Sondheim Theatre,
124 West 43rd St.; (212) 239-6200.
Sister Act, with music by Alan
Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater, is
fresh off a successful run in London's
West End and is based on the 1992
Whoopie Goldberg film of the same
name. Directed by Jerry Zaks. Previews
begin in March; the show opens in April.
Christina Ricci in the Donald Margulies play Time Stands Still
Broadway Theatre, Broadway and 53rd
St.; (212) 239-6262.
Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, based
on the Marvel comic book character
and directed by Julie Taymor (The Lion
King) with amazing special effects, is the
most costly show ever to hit Broadway.
Music and lyrics by Bono and the Edge.
Currently in previews; show opens Jan.
11. Foxwoods Theatre, 213 West 42nd St.;
(212) 307-4100.
Time Stands Still, by Pulitzer Prize-
winning playwright Donald Margulies, tells
the story of a photojournalist and a foreign
correspondent who try and find happiness
and make a difference in the world. The all-
star cast includes Laura Linney, Brian d'Arcy
James, Eric Bogosian and Christina Ricci.
Closes Jan. 30. Cort Theatre, 138 W 48th St.;
(212) 239-6200.
Women on the Verge of a Nervous
Breakdown, a comedy adapted from
the Pedro Almodovar film of the same
name, has a musical score by David
Yazbek (The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten
Scoundrels) and features Patti LuPone,
Laura Benanti, Brian Stokes Mitchell and
Danny Burstein. Through Jan. 23. Belasco
Theatre, 111 W 44th St.; (212) 239-6200.
OFF-BROADWAY
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia
on National Themes is the first New York
revival of Tony Kushner's work about the
beginning of the AIDS crises of the 1980s.
Its two parts, Millennium Approaches and
Perestroika, alternate in repertory. Closes
March 27. Peter Norton Space, 555 W 42nd
St.; (212) 244-7529.
The Divine Sister, a comic parody about
Hollywood films with nun themes writ-
ten by and starring Charles Busch (The
Allergist's Wife), tells the story of a mother
superior determined to build a new school
for her Pittsburgh convent. Soho Playhouse,
15 Vandam St.; (212) 691-1555.
Other Desert Cities, starring Linda
Lavin, Stockard Channing and Stacy
Keach, brings a once promising novel-
ist home for the holidays after a six-year
absence as she announces that she's about
to publish a memoir that includes a sensi-
tive time in the family's history. Previews
begin Dec. 16; show opens Jan. 13. Mitzi E.
Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, 150
W 65th St.; (212) 239-6200.
The Whipping Man tells the story of a
Jewish Confederate soldier in 1865 who
returns home wounded to find his family
house in ruins. He has been abandoned
by everyone except two former slaves,
who were raised as Jews in his home. The
three men reunite to celebrate Passover.
Previews begin Jan. 13; runs through
March 13. At the MTC Stage 1 at NYC City
Center, 131 W 55th St.; (212) 581-1212. ❑
e W S
*a I Nate Bloom
ealm
16. Special to the Jewish News
ICI One Tough Jew
fij The action-thriller The Tourist opens
vim Friday, Dec.10.
Ai It stars Johnny Depp as Frank, an
4
American tourist in Italy. Angelina
Jolie plays Elise, a
‘11110
woman whose former
lover is a con-man
wanted by the police
and by a big-time
gangster from whom
he has stolen a lot of
money. Elise seduces
Steven Berkoff Frank with the intent
of making an inves-
tigating police agent (Paul Bettany)
and the gangster (Steven Berkoff, 73)
think that Frank is actually the con-
‘111 Z
52
.
Laura Lmney, Brian d'Arcy James, Eric Bogosian and
December 9 • 2010
iN
man (after plastic surgery).
Berkoff is an acclaimed playwright,
actor and stage director who says
that he works in film to support his
theater work. He has the look of a
chic villain and memorably played
the main bad guy in the James Bond
movie Octopussy and in the first
Beverly Hills Cop film.
A British Jew, Berkoff has written
Jewish-themed plays and directed
plays in Israel. While not a support-
er of the Israeli right wing, last year
he said of the English:
"There is an inbuilt dislike of Jews.
Overt anti-Semitism goes against
the British sense of fair play. It has
to be covert and civilized. So certain
playwrights and actors on the left
wing make themselves out to be
stricken with conscience. They say:
'We hate Israel; we hate Zionism; we
don't hate Jews.'
"But Zionism is the very essence
of what a Jew is. Zionism is the act
of seeking sanctuary after years
and years of unspeakable outrages
against Jews. As soon as Israel does
anything over the top, it's always the
same old faces who come out to dem-
onstrate. I don't see hordes of people
marching down the street against
Mugabe when tens of thousands are
dying every month in Zimbabwe."
Fisher On HBO
Wishful Drinking, an autobiographical
one-woman play that actress-writer
Carrie Fisher, 54, has toured for four
years, premieres on HBO on Sunday,
Dec.12, with multiple showings.
The theater piece explores her life
as the bipolar famous daughter of a
famous Hollywood couple (actress
Debbie Reynolds and
the late singer Eddie
Fisher).
In 2008, Fisher
spoke to San
Francisco's Jewish
paper in conjunction
with his daughter's
Carrie Fisher
play opening there.
Carrie Fisher said at
the time that even though she wasn't
raised Jewish, early memories of her
father singing in synagogue had "a
big effect on her" and that she and
her then 16-year-old daughter (she's
a single mother) often attend Friday
night services and have Shabbat
meals with Orthodox friends. ❑
Contact Nate Bloom at
middleoftheroadl@aol.com .