arts & entertainment
New York! New York!
Heading to the Big Apple? Check out our roundup of new musicals
and plays (some Tony-nominated) with Jewish connections.
Alice Burdick Schweiger
Special to the Jewish News
BROADWAY
Anything Goes, starring Sutton Foster (who
spent part of her growing-up years in Troy),
with Joel Grey and Jessica Walter, is a
revival of the Cole Porter classic. As the S.S.
American heads out to sea, two unlikely pairs
set off on the course to find true love. Nine
Tony nominations, including Best Revival of
a Musical.
At the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, 124 W
43rd St. (212) 239-6200.
Arcadia, a revival of playwright Tom
Stoppard's 1995 Tony-winning Best Play,
is set in England and switches back and
forth between 1809 and 1993 as present-day
scholars piece together clues about a 19th-
century teenage girl and her years-ahead-
of-the-time mathematical theory. The cast
of the comedy includes Billy Crudup (who
made his Broadway debut in the 1995 pre-
miere of Arcadia) and Noah Robbins. Tony
nominee for Best Revival of a Play. Closes
June 19.
At the Ethel Barryntore Theatre, 243 W
47th St. (212) 239-6200.
Baby It's You, a jukebox musical that tells
the story of New Jersey housewife Florence
Greenberg, who teams up with songwriter
Luther Dixon to launch the career of the
girl group the Shirelles, features Brandon
Uranowitz in a dual role as Greenberg's
blind son, Stanley, and a music promoter
named Marvin.
At the Broadhurst Theatre, 235 W 44th St.
(212) 239-6200.
Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, directed
by Venezuelan-born Moises Kaufman,
takes place in 2003 Baghdad during the Iraq
War when a caged tiger inside the Baghdad
Zoo attacks one man and is shot by another.
The ghost of the tiger (Robin Williams in
his Broadway debut) haunts the streets of
Baghdad searching for the meaning of life.
Oak Park native Jeffrey Seller is one of the
producers. Closes July 3.
At the Richard Rodgers Theatre, 226 W
46th St. (212) 307-4100.
Born Yesterday, a Washington, D.C.-set com-
edy about sex, politics, a corrupt business-
man and his showgirl mistress, was written
by Garson Kanin in 1946 and originally ran
on Broadway starring Judy Holliday (who
reprised her role in a 1950 film adaptation).
This revival stars Jim Belushi as the busi-
nessman. Closes July 31.
At the Cort Theatre, 138 West 48th St. (212)
239-6200.
Catch Me If You Can, like the Leonardo
DiCaprio/Tom Hanks 2002 film and the
book upon which it is based, is about a
charming con artist who disguises himself
as a pilot, doctor and lawyer while being pur-
sued by the FBI. Starring Norbert Leo Butz
and Aaron Tveit. Music and lyrics by Marc
Shaiman and his life partner, Scott Wittman
(Hairspray). Four Tony nominations, includ-
ing Best New Musical.
At the Neil Simon Theatre, 250 W 52nd St.
(212) 307-4100.
How to Succeed in
Business Without
Really Trying, star-
ring Daniel Radcliffe
(Harry Potter) as a
young window cleaner
rising from the mail
room to vice president
of advertising at the
World Wide Wicket
Company, features
music and lyrics by
Frank Loesser. Eight
Tony nominations,
including Best Revival
of a Musical.
At the Al Hirschfeld
Theatre, 302 W 45th St.
(212) 239-6200.
Priscilla Queen of the Desert, like the
Australian film on which it is based, tells the
story of a Sydney-based performing trio who
take their show to the middle of the outback
while traveling on an old bus they nick-
name "Priscilla." With a book by Stephan
Elliott and Allan Scott, this musical features
songs from the likes of Madonna and Cyndi
Lauper, as well as drag queens, outlandish
costumes and energetic dance numbers.
At the Palace Theatre, 1564 Broadway,
between 46th and 47th streets. (877) 250-
2929.
Sister Act, produced by Whoopi Goldberg,
who starred in the 1992 film version, features
music by Alan Menken and tells the story
of a disco diva who witnesses a murder and
is put in protective custody in a convent,
The House of Blue Leaves, a revival of a
1966 satirical comedy by John Guare set
in New York about a zookeeper/wannabe
songwriter who is trying to deal with a
schizophrenic wife, a mistress and a visit
from Pope Paul VI, stars Ben Stiller, Tony-
nominated Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason
Leigh. Closes July 23.
At the Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 West 48th St.
(212) 239-6200.
The Normal Heart, written by Larry
Kramer and starring Tony-nominated
Ellen Barkin and Joe Mantello, focuses on
the early years of the AIDS crisis in New
York City. Mantello plays Ned Weeks, a gay
Jewish founder of an HIV advocacy group.
Directed by Joel Grey and George C. Wolfe.
Nominated for Best Revival of a Play. Closes
July 10.
At the John Golden Theatre, 252 W 45th St.
(212) 239-6200.
OFF-BROADWAY
Tony-nominated Donna Murphy as Bubbie and Rachel
Resheff as her granddaughter Jenny in People in the
Picture, a musical about mother love, Yiddish theater
and the Holocaust.
People in the Picture is a musical about
three generations of Jewish women in 1977
New York City, including Bubbie/Raisel
(Donna Murphy, Tony nominated for Best
Leading Actress in a Musical, in a dual
role), a former star of the Yiddish Theater
in pre-war Poland. Bubbie's granddaughter
Jenny, played by Rachel Resheff, the real-
life granddaughter of Holocaust survivors,
embraces Bubbie's stories of the Yiddish
past, but her daughter, Red (Nicole Parker), a
television writer and single mother, doesn't
want to look back. Klezmer-inflected music
by Mike Stoller and Artie Butler. Book
and lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart, the author of
Beaches. Closes June 19.
At Studio 54, Broadway and 54th St. (212)
719-1300.
disguised as a nun. Directed by Jerry Zaks.
Five Tony nominations, including Best New
Musical.
At the Broadway Theatre, Broadway and
53rd St. (212) 239-6200.
The Book of Mormon, from South Park
creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, along
with Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez, is an
outrageous musical comedy, geared toward
adults, about two young missionaries (Tony-
nominated Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells)
who go to Uganda to try to convert the
natives to the Mormon religion. Currently the
only first-run, non-adaptation, non-review
musical on Broadway, it leads the pack with
14 Tony nominations, including Best New
Musical.
At the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, 230 W 49th
St. (212) 239-6200.
Cradle and All is a new comedy by Daniel
Goldfarb (Modern Orthodox, which played
at JET earlier this season), in which a Jewish
couple in Brooklyn Heights have trouble
getting their newborn to sleep while their
neighbors are contemplating getting married
and starting a family. Closes June 19.
At Manhattan Theatre Club at New York
City Center, Stage 1, 131 W. 55th St. (212) 581-
1212.
The Adventures of Hershele Ostropolyer is
a musical about a Jewish Robin Hood who
mobilizes an entire community to thwart the
evil intentions of the town's leading citizen,
the miserly Reb Kalmen. Closes June 26.
At the Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55
Lexington Ave. at 25th St. (866) 811-4111.
The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide To
Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the
Scriptures, written by Tony Kushner, takes
place during a family reunion in Brooklyn
and explores family connections, marriage,
sex and politics. Closes June 12.
At the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St. at
Astor Place. (212) 967-7555.
The Tony Awards airs 8 p.m. Sunday,
June 12, on CBS. Catch numbers and
scenes from nominated, some of
which are listed above.
May 26 • 2011
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