Fall Preview 2005

SEPTEMBER

While there are no Broadway openings this month, many of New York’s most prestigious theater companies are kicking off their seasons, making for an unusually star-studded — and hectic — September. The ever-provocative Rattlestick Theater serves up Craig Wright’s drama The Pavilion, the latest in his “Pine City” series of plays, starring Stephen Bogardus, Brian d’Arcy James, and Jennifer Mudge (September 20). Playwrights Horizons gets things going with James Lapine’s drama Fran’s Bed, starring Mia Farrow, Julia Stiles, Heather Burns, and Harris Yulin (September 25). Manhattan Class Company brings over British playwright Laura Wade’s Colder Than Here, about an obsessive mother planning her own funeral; the production stars Judith Light, Brian Murray, Lily Rabe, and Sarah Paulson. (September 28). Stewart F. Lane’s backstage comedy In The Wings comes to the Promenade with Peter Scolari, Marilyn Sokol, Josh Prince, Brian Henderson, and Lisa Datz (September 29), while the great Shirley Knight and Obie winner Brenda Wehle return to the stage in the comedy Cycling Past the Matterhorn (also September 29).

For those hungering for a double-dose of Brecht, the Jean Cocteau Repertory is offering his classic play Mother Courage (September 4), and Creative Mechanics is presenting the rarely seen Edward II (opening September 8). The award-winning Keen Company joins the Somerset Maugham bandwagon with a rare production of his domestic comedy The Breadwinner, directed by Carl Forsman (September 10), while Irish Arts serves up Ronan Noone’s drama The Blowin of Baile Gail (September 13). As for more offbeat fare, New York Theater Workshop gives us the improvisational British import Spirit (September 15) and the Atlantic Theater presents the New York premiere of Rolin Jones’ comedy The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, about an unhappy girl and her robot (September 19). Meanwhile, the Mint Theater offers the world premiere of the late Dawn Powell’s Walking Down Broadway (September 25).

Musical lovers, fear not! The Vineyard Theater will serve up Kirsten Childs’ Brazilian-flavored musical Miracle Brothers with Tyler Maynard, Clifton Oliver, Kerry Butler, and Cheryl Freeman heading the cast (September 18). Drama Desk Award nominee Jennifer Simard and Brian Noonan play those wild-and-crazy researchers Alfred and Clara Kinsey in the whimsical Dr. Sex at the Peter Norton Space (September 20), and The Great American Trailer Park Musical moves into Dodger Stages with a cast led by Shuler Hensley, Orfeh, Linda Hart, and Kaitlin Hopkins (September 22).

OCTOBER

The Broadway season starts in earnest this month, with five openings. First up is Tony Award winner Richard Greenberg’s comedy A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, starring Jill Clayburgh, Richard Thomas, and Matthew Morrison (October 6). Finally set to hit New York after many years of successfully touring the country is Latinologues, a collection of monologues about Latino life by writer Rick Najera, directed by Cheech Marin (October 13). Manhattan Theater Club revives Alan Ayckbourn’s laugher Absurd Person Singular at the Biltmore, starring Mireille Enos, Clea Lewis, Sam Robards, Alan Ruck, Deborah Rush, and Paxton Whitehead (October 18). Joe Brooks, who has written some of the world’s most popular commercial jingles — not to mention the super smash hit “You Light Up My Life” — now turns to musical theater with In My Life (October 20), about the love affair between a musician with Tourette’s Syndrome and a journalist with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Of course, the biggest news on the Rialto is the revival of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, which reunites Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick of The Producers in the roles of sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison and fussbudget photographer Felix Unger, respectively. (Unless they decide to switch roles at some point!) The very funny Brad Garrett, Rob Bartlett, Peter Frechette, Lee Wilkof, Olivia D’Abo, and Jessica Stone round out the cast of this classic comedy, under the direction of Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (October 27).

The stars also shine brightly Off-Broadway this month, both in musicals and dramas: Andy Karl, David Josefsberg, Jenn Collella, Jim Stanek, and Harriett D. Foy come together for the musical Slut (October 1). The extremely talented Amanda McBroom turns to the ladies of William Shakespeare for inspiration in A Woman of Will (October 2). Heather Ayers, John Bolton, and Jeff Gurner serve up the tasty-sounding Five Course Love (October 16). Tony nominee Barbara Walsh heads the cast of the Transport Group production of Normal (October 20), while Mike Burstyn can once again be found On Second Avenue (October 27).

On the dramatic front, Shawn Elliott and Aasif Mandvi take center stage in Einstein’s Gift (October 6). The great French actress Isabelle Huppert makes a rare visit to our shores in Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychose (October 19), while the hot-hot-hot Taye Diggs, Anthony Mackie, and James McDaniel headline Second Stage Theatre’s much-awaited revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winner A Soldier’s Play (October 20). Dianne Wiest, Charles Durning, Jason Ritter, and Gaby Hoffman share the stage in Wendy Wasserstein’s provocative drama Third, about a college student accused of plagiarism (October 24), and Obie winner Dierdre O’Connell heads the cast of Sarah Schulman’s lesbian-tinged comedy Manic Flight Reaction (October 30).

NOVEMBER

In this month of Thanksgiving, theatergoers have plenty to be grateful for on the Main Stem and elsewhere. Topping the list is the return of Tony Award winner Patti LuPone to the Broadway musical stage in an unusual, nine-person, everyone-in-the-cast-plays-a-musical-instrument production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. LuPone tackles the tuba while fellow Tony Award winner Michael Cerveris strums the guitar as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (November 3).

The biomusical Jersey Boys (November 6) tells the story of Frankie Vallie and The Four Seasons. Judy Kaye trills embarrassingly off-key (on purpose) as society songstress Florence Foster Jenkins in the two-character comedy Souvenir (November 10). British stars Maria Friedman and Michael Ball headline Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest tuner, The Woman in White, based on the classic Wilkie Collins novel (November 17), while George Grizzard, Frances Sternhagen, Frederick Weller, and Elizabeth Marvel are the fabulous foursome who’ll inhabit a revival of Edward Albee’s Seascape, the play that earned its author his second Pulitzer Prize (November 21).

Off-Broadway also has its share of award winners. Olympia Dukakis, Veanne Cox, and George S. Irving lead the cast of Barra Grant’s dark comedy A Mother, A Daughter, and A Gun (November 1). The always watchable Michael Cumpsty tackles the title role in Hamlet at Classic Stage Company (previews begin November 2). Tony winner Richard Easton, Jeffrey Carlson, Michael Emerson, Reg Rogers, and David Schramm go back to the 18th century in Itamar Moses’ Bach at Leipzig at New York Theater Workshop (November 14), while Annie Golden goes back to Biblical times in the new musical The Ark at 37 Arts (November 14).

Hilda, a new play written by the renowned French novelist Mirie Ndiaye and directed by Carey Perloff, tells the haunting story of an upper-class woman’s obsession with the woman she hires to take care of her children (November 15). Emmy nominee Michael C. Hall takes on the title role in Noah Haidle’s Mr. Marmalade at the Roundabout’s Laura Pels (November 20), while Obie winner Kristine Nielsen is Christopher Durang’s Miss Witherspoon at Playwrights Horizons (November 29).

DECEMBER

You may have to wait to the last minute to do your holiday shopping, as the frantic theatrical pace continues during the first two weeks of December. The first Broadway show of the month is the long-discussed musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s beloved novel The Color Purple (December 1). Next up, the Roundabout presents a new production of Eugene O’Neill’s A Touch of the Poet, starring Gabriel Byrne and directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes (December 8). Last but not least — and sure to be far less depressing! — is Chita Rivera: A Dancer’s Life, in which the Tony-winning dynamo looks back on her amazing career with the help of writer Terrence McNally, composer Stephen Flaherty, lyricist Lynn Ahrens, director Graciela Daniele, and 10 of the most sensational dancers found anywhere (December 11).

Heading Off-Broadway, Signature Theater kicks off its 20th anniversary season with a revival of Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful, directed by Harris Yulin (December 4); Manhattan Theater Club gets into the swing of things with Ariel Dorfman’s comedy The Other Side, starring Tony winners Rosemary Harris and John Cullum (December 6); and the Atlantic moves forward with a double-bill of one-acts by Harold Pinter, Room and Celebration (December 8). Capping the month, Theatre for a New Audience gets into the act when it presents the Globe Theater of London’s production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure at St. Ann’s Warehouse (December 20), starring Mark Rylance.