Broadway Ahead!

The very busy 2008-2009 Broadway season is continuing apace, with much anticipation for the revival of the 1960s musical Hair, now in previews at the Al Hirscheld Theatre in advance of a March 31 opening. Here is R&B sensation Sasha Allen leading the company in a rehearsal of the opening number Aquarius.

Bryce Ryness, Gavin Creel, and Darius Nichols — who play Woof, Claude, and Hud respectively — are just three of the dynamic performers involved in the production.

Kacie Sheik plays Jeanie and Allison Case plays Crissy, two more members of Hair’s tribe

The scene-stealing Will Swenson co-stars in the musical as the hedonistic Berger.

On March 30, a revival of Freidrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart begins previews at the Broadhurst Theater. The wonderful American actress Maria Tucci co-stars alongside British acting royalty Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter, who play Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth I.

Broadway veteran John Benjamin Hickey plays Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester

Robert Stanton co-stars as William Davison.

Tony Award nominee Brian Murray portrays the Earl of Shrewsbury

Chandler Williams, who will play Mortimer, has starred on Broadway in Translations.

On April 3, the Roundabout Theatre Company will unveil a new production of Samuel Beckett’s classic Waiting for Godot at Studio 54, starring Tony Award winner Nathan Lane as Estragon and stage and television favorite John Goodman as Pozzo.

Tony winners John Glover and Bill Irwin will play Lucky and Vladimir, respectively, in the production.

The Roundabout will also offer a revival of The Philanthropist, starring Tony winner Matthew Broderick as Philip, a sweet natured British professor, starting on April 10 at the American Airlines Theatre.

Here are playwright Christopher Hampton and Steven Weber, who plays Philip’s colleague, Donald

Finally, here’s the lovely British actress Anna Madeley, who plays Philip’s fiancée Celia, the handsome Jonathan Cake, who plays self-involved novelist Braham, and the show’s director, David Grindley.