A Bite Of
The Big Apple
actors playing some 50 characters on a
journey to discover how Peter Pan became
the boy who wouldn't grow up. Music and
lyrics by Rick Elice (Jersey Boys) and
Wayne Barker, both Tony-nominated for
Best Musical Score.
At the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 W
47th St. (800) 745-3000.
The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess stars
Audra McDonald and David Alan Grier in
a new version of the classic folk opera.
At the Rogers Theatre, 226 W 46th St.
(877) 250-2929.
Planning a weekend in New York City?
Here, a roundup of shows currently on the Big White Way.
Alice Burdick Schweiger
Special to the Jewish News
T
he Tony Award nominations have
been announced, with some
30 shows vying for the coveted
Broadway honor.
The strongest contenders include Once
(11 nominations); The Gershwins' Porgy
and Bess (10); Nice Work If You Can Get It
(10); Peter and The Starcatcher (9); Follies
(8), which has closed; Newsies (8); Death
of a Salesman (7); One Man, Two Guvnors
(7); and Other Desert Cities (5). Winners
will be revealed on June 10.
Check out some of our favorites with
Jewish cast and behind-the-scenes cre-
ative names (which are bolded).
BROADWAY
Clybourne Park, a Pulitzer Prize-winning
play about race and a neighborhood
that undergoes radical changes, co-stars
Jeremy Shamos, Tony nominated for Best
Actor in a Featured Role. Through July 15.
At the Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 W 48th
St. (212) 239-6200.
Death of a Salesman, the Pulitzer Prize-
winning classic by U-M grad Arthur
Miller about down-on-his-luck sales-
man Willy Loman, stars Philip Seymour
Hoffman as Willy and Andrew Garfield
(soon to be seen as Spiderman on the big
screen) as his wayward son, Biff. Both
are Tony nominated, as is Director Mike
Nichols. Through June 2.
At the Barrymore Theatre, 243 W 47th
St. (212) 239-6200.
Ghost, inspired by the 1990 hit movie,
is set in modern-day New York City and
stars Caissie Levy in the lead female role.
The musical's book is by Detroit native
Bruce Joel Rubin, also the film's screen-
writer.
At the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, 205 W
46th St. (877) 250-2929.
Harvey, starring Carol Kane and Larry
Bryggman, is the charming story of
Elwood P. Dowd, whose companion is a
6-foot-tall invisible white rabbit.
At Studio 54, 254 W 54th St. (212) 719-
1300.
Jesus Christ Superstar, the Andrew Lloyd
Webber rock opera revival that debuted
last year at the Stratford Festival in
Canada, co-stars Josh Young, nominated
for Best Actor in a Featured Role for his
portrayal of Judas.
At the Neil Simon Theatre, 250 W 52nd
St. (877) 250-2929.
Newsies, based on the 1992 Disney movie
about the 1899 youth-led Newsboys Strike
in New York City; with music by Alan
Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman and
book by Harvey Fierstein — all Tony-
nominated. Cast includes Ben Fankhauser
(see sidebar on opposite page) and
Matthew J. Schechter. Through Aug. 19.
At the Nederlander Theatre, 208 W 41st
St. (866) 870-2717.
Once, inspired by the movie of the same
name, tells the story of an Irish musi-
cian and a Czech immigrant who connect
through their shared love of music. The
cast includes David Abeles. Nominated
for Best Lighting Design is Natasha Katz.
At the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 W
45th St. (212) 239-6200.
One Man, Two Guvnors, a hit British
comedy adaptation of the 18th-century
Goldoni farce The Servant of Two Masters,
celebrates low-brow British humor and is
set in 1960s Brighton, where a hapless fel-
low agrees to work for a local gangster as
well as a criminal in hiding. Directed by
Nicholas Hyntner, the celebrated director
of England's National Theatre, who is Tony-
nominated for Best Direction of a Play.
At the Music Box, Theatre, 239 W 45th
St. (212) 239-6200.
Other Desert Cities, written by Jon Robin
Baitz and starring Stockard Charming and
Judith Light (all three nominated for a
Tony), is about a once-promising novel-
ist, home for the holidays after a six-year
absence, who announces she is about to
publish a memoir focusing on a sensitive
time in the family's history.
At the Booth Theatre, 222. W 45th St.
(212) 239-6200.
Peter and the Starcatcher features 12
The Columnist, by playwright David
Auburn, portrays Washington's feared
political writer Joseph Alsop. Set in the
1960s, the drama stars John Lithgow,
Margaret Colin and Stephen Kunken.
Through June 24.
At the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261
W 47th St. (212) 239-6200.
The Lyons, a dark comedy about a
dysfunctional Jewish family written by
Nicky Silver, stars Linda Lavin, Tony-
nominated for Best Actress in a Leading
Role. Ben Lyons is dying, and his caustic
wife, homosexual son and recovering alco-
holic daughter gather in his hospital room,
forced to find their own truths and reality.
At the Cort Theater, 138 W 48th St. (212)
239-6200.
OFF-BROADWAY
A Jew Grows in Brooklyn is the musical
memoir of baby boomer Jake Ehrenreich,
the son of Holocaust survivors, who grows
up in 1960s Brooklyn, yearning to be
"American:'
At the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Theater, 120 W 46th St. (866) 811-4111.
Old Jews Telling Jokes, created by Peter
Gethers and native Detroiter Daniel
Okrent and inspired by the website
oldjewstellingjokes.com, showcases actors
telling classic Jewish jokes — about birth
and death and everything in between
— while paying tribute to Jewish giants
in the comedy world. The cast includes
Audrey Lynn Weston, Lenny Wolpe,
Todd Susman, Bill Army and Marilyn
Sokol.
At the Westside Theatre, 407 W 43rd St.
(212) 239-6200.
❑
Nice Work If You Can Get It, set during
Prohibition, features songs by George
and Ira Gershwin. A wealthy soon-to-be-
married-again playboy falls in love with
an attractive tomboy bootlegger who is
hiding alcohol in his basement. Starring
Matthew Broderick, Kelli O'Hara, Estelle
Parsons and Judy Kaye, nominated for
Best Actress in a Featured Role.
At the Imperial Theater, 249 W 45th St.
(212) 239-6200.
The cast of Old Jews Telling Jokes
42 May 17 • 2012