Issue #163: January 1, 2006

• On the off-Broadway front, look for Adrienne Barbeau to star in the Judy Garland play The Property Known as Garland.  Barbeau, best known for her role opposite Bea Arthur in the ‘70s sitcom Maude, plays the lead in this Billy Van Zandt work that is scheduled to open on March 23 for a limited run to June 4 at the Actors’ Playhouse.

• Funny lady Ana Gasteyer (Saturday Night Live) joins Alan Cumming (Cabaret) and pop star Cyndi Lauper in the April 20 Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera at Studio 54.

• Dance superstar Savion Glover is currently wowing them at the Joyce Theater with his latest show Visions of a Bible…..but only until January 15!

• Previews for The Wedding Singer begin March 30 at the Al Hirschfeld Theater.  Starring in this new musical are Stephen Lynch and Laura Benanti.

• Author, actor and activist Eve Ensler takes her latest work The Good Body on the road with a stop in Toronto at the New Music Hall theatre on March 7.  Known for her world-famous play The Vagina Monologues, Ensler’s The Good Body had its Broadway premier in 2004, which deals with coming to terms with a 40+ body.  The one-woman show promises, says the New York Times, “forthrightly funny, bristling with wisecracks and exotically harvested snippets of wisdom.”  Ladies, take your daughters!

• It looks like the Hollywood has invaded the West End recently.  With Rob Lowe in Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men and David Schwimmer in Some Girls, you may have caught up recently with Brooke Shields, Woody Harrelson, Val Kilmer and of course the Old Vic’s artistic director Kevin Spacey.  

• 2006 promises to be a busy season with loads of Broadway fare.  Look for Movin’ Out, Avenue Q, Wicked, Monty Python’s Spamalot and Caroline, or Change each taking a bow.

• Now the legit world is getting in on the reality TV craze.  Apparently Lord Lloyd Webber is in negotiations with the BBC to create a talent show that will end with the latest Maria for the producer’s revival of the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music.

• The little Westside Theater on 43rd Street is one of those wonderful success stories seldom found in the off-Broadway world.  Currently the theater is host to two long running productions: I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change now in its 10th year, and Jewtopia in its second year with no end in sight.  And let’s not forget that other little pay The Vagina Monologues that ran for more than three years.  So if you’re heading to New York, be sure to look into some of the interesting off-Broadway fare.