New York Spotlight: June 2006

Leave town at your own risk this month! While Broadway is resting on its laurels, Off-Broadway is chockablock with major marquee names that are sure to entice even the weariest theatergoer.

Talk about your all-star casts: Eric McCormack, Maura Tierney, Fran Drescher, Judy Reyes, and Brooke Smith share the stage in the MCC Theater production of Neil LaBute’s Some Girl(s) (Lucille Lortel, June 8), about a man who decides to visit four ex-girlfriends right before he gets married. Then, Desperate Housewives star Mark Moses joins fellow TV favorites Wendie Malick, James Badge Dale, and Ashley Williams and Broadway stars Nancy Anderson, Jason Antoon, and John Lavelle in Burleigh Grime$ (opening on June 13 at New World Stages), Roger Kirby’s new comedy about Wall Street. Directed by David Warren, the show features original music by two-time Tony Award nominee David Yazbek.

The Atlantic Theatre Company presents its first-ever musical, Spring Awakening (June 15), based on the classic Franz Wedekind play about young people discovering love and sex. This world premiere is directed by Michael Mayer; it boasts a score by pop music sensation Duncan Sheik, book and lyrics by Steven Sater, and choreography by the great Bill T. Jones. The 14-person cast is headed by Tony winner Frank Wood, Mary McCann, and John Gallagher, Jr. Also on the 15th, Kate Burton and Tony Goldwyn bow in the Second Stage Theatre production of Theresa Rebeck’s thriller The Water’s Edge.

Lincoln Center Theatre concludes its season with Richard Greenberg’s latest, The House in Town (Mitzi Newhouse, June 19). Set in 1920s Manhattan, this intimate portrait of a marriage stars Becky Ann Baker, Mark Harelik, and Jessica Hecht, under the direction of Doug Hughes. Jill Clayburgh plays a minister with family problems in Keith Bunin’s The Busy World is Hushed at Playwrights Horizons (June 25). Over at the Roundabout’s Laura Pels, there’s yet another world premiere: Greg Kotis’s absurdist comedy Pig Farm (June 27), starring Tony winners Denis O’Hare and Katie Finneran plus the hot-hot-hot Logan Marshall-Green.

For sheer star power, it’s hard to top Shakespeare in the Park this summer. The two-show season kicks off with a production of Macbeth (beginning performances on June 13 and opening officially on June 28) that stars two Tony winners: Liev Schreiber as the man-who-would-be-king and Jennifer Ehle as his scheming partner in crime. (In August, the offering at the Delacorte will be Mother Courage and Her Children, starring Meryl Streep!) Another must-see for fans of the Bard is the A.R.T. production of King Lear, with the extraordinary Alvin Epstein in the title role (La MaMa, June 19).

Elsewhere around town, the offerings may be less star-studded but they’re quite interesting nonetheless: The Brick Theatre in Williamsburg presents its eclectic $ell Out Festival (June 2-July 2); the Brits Off-Broadway festival at 59E59 continues with four new works, including the Glasgow Citzens’ Theatre production of Nothing (June 7-July 2) and Dennis Kelly’s psychological thriller After the End (June 13-July 2); Mary Pat Gleason’s solo show Stopping Traffic debuts at the Vineyard (June 7); Keen Company concludes its season with a revival of In The Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Connelly Theatre, June 7); and Fred Willard and David Rasche star in the comedy Elvis and Juliet (Abingdon Theatre, June 7).

The Play Company presents the German erotic fantasy Arabian Night (13th Street Theater, June 12); the New Group (naked) serves up Sheryl Kaller’s Jayson With a Y, about two sisters deciding who will take care of their troubled nephew (Theatre Row, June 13), Second Stage Theatre’s Uptown series begins with Anton Dudley’s urban fairy tale Getting Home (McGinn/Cazale, June 14) starring Manu Narayan and Marcy Harriell; and Sallie Bingham’s Treason explores the life of the poet Ezra Pound (Perry Street, June 15).