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