New York Spotlight: December 2005

You may have to wait to the last minute to fit in your holiday shopping, since you’ll be spending the weeks before hand happily ensconced in the theater.

Kicking off the month is the long-discussed musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s beloved novel The Color Purple (December 1), with a dynamite cast headed by LaChanze, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Felicia P. Fields, Elisabeth Withers-Mendes, and Brandon Victor Dixon. Oprah says go! Switching continents and centuries, 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 at Studio 54 (December 8). Sure to be far less depressing is Chita Rivera: A Dancer’s Life, in which the Tony-winning dynamo looks back on her historic career in the theater 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).

There’s some changes afoot on the Great White Way as well. At the megahit Spamalot, Hank Azaria returns on December 2; Tim Curry and Sara Ramirez leave on December 18, while British acting great Simon Russell Beale takes over the role of King Arthur and Lauren Kennedy steps in as the Lady of the Lake on December 20. Latin recording star Jaime Camil moves into Latinologues on December 6, and newcomer Katie Clarke takes on the role of Clara in The Light in the Piazza on December 16. (Kelli O’Hara departs on December 4, only to re-emerge next month as Babe Williams in The Pajama Game.)

It’s Hollywood-on-the Hudson time when the award-winning play Dog Sees God arrives at the Century Center, with such young Tinseltown types as Eliza Dushku, Logan Marshall-Green, Ian Somerhadler, and Eddie Kaye Thomas showing off their stage skills in this parodic take on one of America’s most beloved comic strips (December 15). The New Group begins its season with Mike Leigh’s downbeat Abigail’s Party starring Oscar nominee Jennifer Jason Leigh and the always brilliant Lisa Emery (December 1). Signature Theater serves up revival of Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful, with the brilliant Lois Smith in the role that earned Geraldine Page an Academy Award (December 4).

In an even more prestigious vein, the Atlantic Theater Company moves forward with Celebration and The Room, a double-bill of one-acts by newly named Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter (December 5); Manhattan Theater Club gets into the swing with Ariel Dorfman’s dark comedy The Other Side starring Tony winners Rosemary Harris and John Cullum (December 13); the Irish Repertory Theater revives George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession with the remarkable Dana Ivey; and Theatre for a New Audience gets into the class act by presenting the Globe Theater of London’s production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure starring Mark Rylance at St. Ann’s Warehouse (December 20).

Elsewhere, the Drama Department returns with the classic suspense drama Rope — best known for its film treatment by Alfred Hithcock — at the Zipper; the production is directed by David Warren and starrs Sam Trammell, Chandler Williams, John Lavelle, Zak Orth, and Ginnifer Goodwin (December 4). For holiday cheer, consider A Broadway Diva Christmas starring Kathy Brier, Maya Days, Ellen Greene, Christine Pedi, and Marla Schaffel at the Julia Miles Theater (December 4); while Anne Washburn tries to the scare the pants off audiences in Apparition at the Connelly Theater (December 4).

Finally, the provocative Romulus Linney explores the lives of poet Delmore Schwartz in Klonsky & Schwartz at EST (December 5); INTAR continues its 40th anniversary season with the world premiere of Jorge Ignacio Cortinas’ political thriller Tight Embrace at the Kirk (December 6); and the Alchemy Theater Company presents the New York premiere of the social drama Haymarket at the Beckett Theater (December 12).