There are the stars — Daniel Craig making his Broadway debut, opposite Hugh Jackman; Carrie Fisher offering a one-woman show entitled “Wishful Drinking”; Jude Law in “Hamlet” — and the Broadway veterans — Nathan Lane, Linda Lavin and Laurie Metcalf (known once only as the sister in “Roseanne).
There are the musical revivals — Bye, Bye, Birdie; Ragtime; Finian’s Rainbow — and the Broadway musical adaptations of blockbusters — The Addams Family; Spiderman.
There are two double-bills that are odd in their juxtaposition — two of Neil Simon’s comedies playing in repertory, and then a double bill of plays by Eugene O’Neill and Samuel Beckett.
The 2009-2010 Broadway season also offers some intriguing and exciting new works.
From the playwright of “August: Osage County,” Tracy Letts, comes “Superior Donuts” for example. David Mamet, whose play “Oleanna” about accusations of sexual harassment on a college campus is being revived, will have his directorial debut on Broadway with his new play, entitled “Race.”
Here is the tentative, continually updated schedule of the Broadway season 2009-2010; the titles of the plays are linked to the shows’ official Web sites. I also link to my reviews or other articles I have written on the shows as they open.
* Longacre Theatre
* First Preview: July 25
* Opening: Aug. 2
* Director: Jason Gilkison
* Choreographer: Jason Gilkison
* Cast: Sharna Burgess, Anya Garnis, Sarah Hives, Peta Murgatroyd, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff
* Latin and Ballroom dance spectacular created by world champion dancer Gilkison.
* Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
* First Preview: Sept. 10
* Opening: Sept. 29
* Director: John Crowley
* Cast: Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman
* A new two-character play by Keith Huff about two friends who are Chicago cops.
Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman Broadway Reviews: So-So
* The Music Box Theatre
* First Preview: Sept. 16
* Opening: Oct. 1
* Director: Tina Landau
* Cast: Michael McKean
* Transfer of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s presentation of Tracy Letts’ new play set in Chicago. Arthur Przybyszewski owns a decrepit donut shop in the uptown neighborhood of Chicago. Franco Wicks, a black teenager who is his only employee, wants to change the shop for the better.
Superior Donuts, Tracy Letts And The Shock Of The Sitcom
* Studio 54
* First Preview: Sept. 22
* Opening: Oct. 4
* Director: Tony Taccone
* Cast: Carrie Fisher
* Roundabout Theatre Company’s presentation of Fisher’s auto-biographical solo show.
‘Instant Gratification Takes Too Long’: The Best Lines in Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking
* Broadhurst Theatre
* First Preview: Sept. 12
* Opening: Oct. 6
* Director: Michael Grandage
* Cast: Jude Law
* Transfer of the Donmar Warehouse’s production of the William Shakespeare tragedy.
Jude Law, Hamlet As Hunk, Yoga, Olympic Sprinter (These Are Not Necessarily Good Things)
* Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
* First Preview: Sept. 15
* Opening: Oct. 8
* Director: Doug Hughes
* Cast: Rosemary Harris, Stephen Collins, John Glover, Tony Roberts, Jan Maxwell and Reg Rogers
* Manhattan Theatre Club’s presentation of George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber’s comedy of manners.
* Golden Theatre
* First Preview: Sept. 29
* Opening: Oct. 11
* Director: Doug Hughes
* Cast: Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles
* Transfer of Center Theatre Group’s production of the David Mamet’s play about a professor and his student.
Oleanna Review: Sexual Harassment, David Mamet’s Sexism or Something Else?
Update: Oleanna is scheduled to close on January 3, 2010.
* Henry Miller’s Theatre
* First Preview: Sept. 10
* Opening: Oct. 15
* Director: Robert Longbottom
* Choreographer: Robert Longbottom
* Cast: John Stamos, Gina Gershon, Jayne Houdyshell, Bill Irwin, Dee Hoty, Nolan Gerard Funk, Allie Trimm, Matt Doyle, Molly Ephraim and Jake Evan Schwencke
* The Roundabout Theatre Company revival of the Michael Stewart-Lee Adams-Charles Strouse 1960s-set musical.
Bye Bye Birdie And What Separates Broadway Musicals From All Other Theater (1. Money. 2. The Set)
* Shubert Theatre
* First Preview: Sept. 23
* Opening: Oct. 19
* Director: Christopher Ashley
* Choreographer: Sergio Trujillo
* Cast: Chad Kimball, Montego Glover
* A new rock ‘n’ roll musical penned by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan.
Memphis Review: The Birth of Rock and Roll Yet Again
* American Airlines Theatre
* First Preview: Sept. 18
* Opening: Oct. 22
* Director: Mark Brokaw
* Cast: Sienna Miller, Jonny Lee Miller
* The Roundabout Theatre Company American premiere production of Patrick Marber’s August Strindberg-inspired drama.
After Miss Julie Reviews: Better To Put It And Sienna Miller Behind Us
THE NEIL SIMON PLAYS: BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS/ BROADWAY BOUND
* Nederlander Theatre
* First Preview: Oct. 2/ Nov. 18
* Opening: Oct. 25/ Dec. 10
* Director: David Cromer
* Cast: Laurie Metcalf, Noah Robbins, Josh Grisetti, Santino Fontana, Dennis Boutsikaris, Jessica Hecht, Allan Miller and Alexandra Socha
* Revivals of Neil Simon’s coming-of-age comedies to run in repertory.
Brighton Beach Memoirs Review: Neil Simon’s Nostalgia With An Edge
Update: Brighton Beach Memoirs closed a week after opening, and Broadway Bound has been cancelled.
FINIAN’S RAINBOW
* St. James Theatre
* First Preview: Oct. 8
* Opening: Oct. 29
* Director: Warren Carlyle
* Choreographer: Warren Carlyle
* Cast: Kate Baldwin, Jim Norton, Cheyenne Jackson
* Transfer of the City Center Encores! revival of the Burton Lane, Fred Saidy and E.Y. Harburg musical.
Finian’s Rainbow Review: Old-Fashioned Broadway Hit…With A Problem
* Neil Simon Theatre
* First Preview: Oct. 23
* Opening: Nov. 15
* Director: Marcia Milgrom Dodge
* Choreographer: Marcia Milgrom Dodge
* Cast: Ron Bohmer, Quentin Earl Darrington, Christiane Noll, Robert Petkoff, Bobby Steggert, Stephanie Umoh
* Transfer of the Kennedy Center’s production of the E.L. Doctorow-based musical by Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.
Ragtime Review: Exhilarating, Exhausting
IN THE NEXT ROOM (OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY)
* Lyceum Theatre
* First Preview: Oct. 22
* Opening: Nov. 19
* Director: Les Waters
* Cast: Laura Benanti, Michael Cerveris, Maria Dizzia
* Lincoln Center Theater’s presentation of Sarah Ruhl’s new play set at the dawn of the electric age.
* Eugene O’Neill Theatre
* First Preview: Oct. 19
* Opening: Nov. 23
* Director: Bill T. Jones
* Choreographer: Bill T. Jones
* Cast: Sahr Ngaujah
* Transfer of the Off-Broadway musical about African composer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
RACE
* Ethel Barrymore Theatre
* First Preview: Nov. 17
* Opening: Dec. 6
* Director: David Mamet
* Cast: James Spader, Kerry Washington, Richard Thomas, David Alan Grier
* The world premiere of a new David Mamet play.
* Walter Kerr Theatre (219 West 48th Street)
* First Preview: November 24
* Opening: December 13
* Director: Trevor Nunn
*Cast: Catherine Zeta-Jones, five-time Tony Award®-winner Angela Lansbury and Alexander Hanson.
The first Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s 1973 Tony Award-winning musical, based on Ingmar Bergman’s film Smiles of a Summer Night, and set in a weekend country house in turn of the century Sweden. “The story centers on the elegant actress Desirée Armfeldt and the spider’s web of sensuality, intrigue and desire that surrounds her.”
*Irving Berlin’s White Christmas
*Marquis Theater (1535 Broadway)
*First Preview: November 13th
*Apparently no official opening
*Director: Walter Bobbie
*Cast: James Clow, Melissa Errico, Tony Yazbeck and Mara Davi
Stage version of the Paramount Pictures film starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney
A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
*Cort Theater (138 West 48th Street)
*First Preview: December 28
Opens: January 24
*Director: Gregory Mosher
*Cast: Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson
The latest revival of Arthur Miller’s 1955 play, which marks Scarlett Johansson’s Broadway debut, focuses on Eddie Carbone, a Brooklyn longshoreman who is obsessed with his 17-year-old niece Catherine.
2010
PRESENT LAUGHTER
* American Airlines Theater (227 West 42nd Street)
* First Preview: Jan. 2, 2010
* Opening: Jan. 21
* Director: Nicholas Martin
* Cast: Victor Garber
* The Roundabout Theatre Company revival of the Noel Coward comedy about an aging matinee idol.
TIME STANDS STILL
* Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
* First Preview: Jan. 5, 2010
* Opening: Jan. 28
* Director: Daniel Sullivan
* Cast: Eric Bogosian, Brian d’Arcy James, Laura Linney, Alicia Silverstone
* Manhattan Theatre Club’s presentation of Donald Margulies’ new play about a war journalist and a photographer forced to return home.
THE MIRACLE WORKER
*Circle in the Square Theater (1633 Broadway)
*First Preview: February 12, 2010
*Opening: March 3, 2010
*Director: Kate Whoriskey
*Cast: Abigal Breslin, Alison Pill
A revival of the 1959 play by William Gibson about Helen Keller, born blind and deaf, the the teacher who taught her to communicate with the world.
A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE
*Gerald Schoenfeld Theater (236 West 45th Street)
*Opening: March 4, 2010
*Director: John Crowley
*Cast: TBA (it is a four-character play)
*A world premiere of a new play by Martin McDonagh (The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Lonesome West, The Pillowman, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Cripple of Inishmaan), this is the first of his to originate on Broadway. A man searches for his missing hand, two con artists try to make a few hundred dollars, a hotel clerk is overly curious, etc.
NEXT FALL
*Helen Hayes Theater (240 West 44th Street)
*First Preview: February 16
*Opening: March 11
*Director: Sheryl Kaller
Cast: Patrick Breen, Maddie Corman, Sean Duga, Patrick Heusinger, Connie Ray, Cotter Smith
*Transfer of Geoffrey Nauffts’ original Off-Broadway play about the 5-year relationship between Adam and Luke, an atheist and a committed Christian, a serious comedy that explores issues of faith.
* Hilton Theatre
* First Preview: Feb. 25, 2010
* Opening: TBA
* Director: Julie Taymor
* Choreographer: Daniel Ezralow
* Cast: Evan Rachel Wood, Alan Cumming
* New musical based on the Marvel comic book hero featuring songs by Bono and The Edge with a book by Taymor and Glen Berger.
* Theater: Lunt-Fontanne (205 West 46th Street)
* First Preview: March 4, 2010
* Opening: April 8, 2010
* Director: Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch
* Cast: Nathan Lane, Bebe Neuwirth, Carolee Carmello, Kevin Chamberlin, Jackie Hoffman, Zachary James, Terrence Mann, Adam Riegler, Wesley Taylor and Krysta Rodriguez
* New Andrew Lippa, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice musical inspired by Charles Addams macabre characters.
ALL ABOUT ME
*Theater: to be announced
*First Preview: March 6
*Opening: March 23
*Director: Jerry Zaks
Dame Edna Everage (aka Barry Humphries) and Michael Feinstein appear in a new show written by Christopher Durang, with Feinstein performing Broadway standard melodies along with a small orchestra.
SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM
*Theater: Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street)
*First Preview: March 19
*Opening: April 22
*Director: James Lapine
*Cast: Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams
The cast will perform more than two dozen tunes by Stephen Sondheim the composer of such musicals as “Company,” “Sweeney Todd”…and “A Little Night Music,” which includes his most famous song, “Send in the Clowns.” There will also be “exclusive interview footage” to explore Sondheim’s personal life and artistic process.
HUGHIE/ KRAPP’S LAST TAPE
* Theatre: TBA
* First Preview: April 12, 2010
* Opening: TBA
* Director: Robert Falls/ Jennifer Tarver
* Cast: Brian Dennehy
* Transfer of the Goodman Theatre’s production of Eugene O’Neill and Samuel Beckett works.
PROMISES, PROMISES
*Theater: TBA
*First Preview: Sunday, March 28, 2010
*Opening: April 25
*Director: Rob Ashford
*Cast: Sean Hayes, Kristin Chenoweth
*The first Broadway revival of the 1968 musical with book by Neil Simon, music by Burt Bacharach and lyrics by Hal David, based on the 1960 Billy Wilder film “The Apartment” starring Jack Lemmon.
* Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
* First Preview: April 6, 2010
* Opening: April 28
* Director: Doug Hughes
* Cast: Linda Lavin
* Manhattan Theatre Club’s presentation of Donald Margulies’ new play about two female writers.
LA CAGE AUX FOLLES
*Longacre Theater (220 West 48th Street)
*First Preview: April 16
*Opening: April 18
*Director: Terry Johnson
*Cast: Douglas Hodge
London’s Menier Chocolate Factory production of the 1983 musical with book by Harvey Fierstein, music and lyrics by Jerry Herman.
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