by josie
After a 40-year Broadway hiatus, Bette Midler returns to star in the one-woman show “I’ll Eat You Last.”
Both New York City locals and visitors alike are drawn to Broadway, and this year, theaters from West 42nd to 50th Street are offering a great mix of musicals, comedies and dramas. Planning a visit to Manhattan? Here’s a rundown of shows you won’t want to miss.
Pippin This musical revival from the 1970s is the show of the season, at least in my book! (It was one of the first Broadway shows I ever saw and it’s stayed with me for a lifetime.) Opening April 25, this show is the fictionalized story of Prince Pippin, the son of King Charlemagne, and his quest to find meaning and happiness through sexual conquests, power plays, great feats and the love of an “average, ordinary, wonderful girl.” The 2013 production features the same fabulous songs and many of the Bob Fosse dance moves of the original show, but is updated with a Cirque de Soleil form of acrobatics.
Kinky Boots Singer Cyndi Lauper has teamed up with playwright Harvey Fierstein (best known for Newsies and Torch Song Trilogy) to create a musical based on the 2005 English film of the same name. The story centers on a young man by the name of Charlie Price who inherits a dying shoe factory. With the help of drag queen Lola, he switches production to making, you guessed it, kinky boots in men’s sizes. The story is predictable but the songs, dancers (mostly men in drag) and cast quickly grow on you. Their enthusiasm and the show’s message — accept people for who they are — are hard to resist. I particularly enjoyed the hysterical Annaleigh Ashford singing a quintessential Lauper song, “The History of Wrong Guys,” about her crush on Charlie.
Matilda Based on a character created by Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Penguin Classics, 2011), this musical follows the story of a 5-year-old girl with smarts, wit and a can-do spirit. It was a smash hit in London, and has been receiving sparkling reviews in New York since it opened earlier this month. Ben Brantley of The New York Times called it “the most satisfying and subversive musical ever to come out of Britain.” Apparently, it will appeal to children and adults alike, and it’s on my must-see list.
For star power, check out:
Lucky Guy This play is notable for three things: (1) it stars Tom Hanks, making his Broadway debut; (2) it was written by the late, great Nora Ephron (You’ve Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally) and (3) it reunites Hanks with his Bosom Buddies co-star, Peter Scolari. Surprisingly, it’s not an outright comedy, though that’s what we expect from these players. It’s a dramatic treatise on journalism, focusing on the true-life story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mike McAlary, who spent the 1980s and 1990s uncovering corruption in New York City. Reviews of the play have been less than stellar, but let’s face it, theatergoers like me are going to witness Hanks in the flesh!
I’ll Eat You Last This one-woman show opening today stars Bette Midler, who’s appearing on Broadway for the first time in 40 years. The Divine Miss M takes the stage as the late Sue Mengers, one of Hollywood’s most notorious talent agents (she represented the biggest stars of the 1970s and 1980s, such as Cher, Faye Dunaway, Ali MacGraw, Ryan O’Neal and Barbra Streisand) and a party-giver extraordinaire.
Orphans A comedic drama about two orphaned brothers (Ben Foster and Tom Sturridge) from Philadelphia who kidnap a notorious Chicago gangster (Alec Baldwin) — a man who ends up becoming the father figure they’ve longed for all their lives. Hot gossip: Transformers star Shia LaBeouf was originally slated to play Foster’s part, but bowed out after clashing with Baldwin. LaBeouf later attended a preview and praised the production on a TV talk show.
To purchase full-price tickets to Broadway shows, visit Telecharge or the selected show’s box office. For discounted tickets, check out websites Theatermania and BroadwayBox. And if you’re not fussy about what you see, you can stand in line on show days at one of the three TKTS discount booths to score discounted tickets to productions that haven’t sold out.
Photo credit: Richard Termine
