Cat Sinks Its Claws Into Broadway, Barry Manilow Makes It Happen Again & Molly Ringwald Gets Jazzed Up in This Week’s Datebook
Broadway.com is spreading the news all season long, spotlighting tons of must-see events! From welcoming Cat On a Hot Tin Roof to bidding bon voyage to Peter and the Starcather to the star-studded Celebrity Charades at LAByrinth Theater Company—what more could your calendar hold? Read on for this week’s top picks.
MONDAY, JANUARY 14
THREE WORDS, SOUNDS LIKE: CELEBRITIES PLAYING CHARADES!
A slew of stage and screen favorites, including Glengarry Glen Ross’ Bobby Cannavale, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Chris Rock, America Ferrera, Zosia Mamet and Jesse L. Martin, will head to Capitale to duke it out Gladiator-style at LAByrinth Theater Company's annual Celebrity Charades benefit. Loincloths and lions not included.
ALSO: Ghost star Caissie Levy and her husband, composer David Are, celebrate the launch of their new recordings by playing the Galapagos Arts Space in Brooklyn with special guests Matt Doyle, Leslie Odom, Jr. and Lauren Molina; Edwin Drood's Gregg Edelman performs at 54 Below.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 15
DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT MOLLY RINGWALD AT 54 BELOW
Though she's best known as the redheaded epitome of suburban teen angst in Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club, former Cabaret star Molly Ringwald has a jazz background. She'll perform standards from her upcoming upcoming solo album Except...Sometimes at 54 Below, including Breakfast classic "Don't You (Forget About Me)." Don't, don't, don't, don't!
ALSO: New live albums from Norbert Leo Butz (Memory & Mayhem), Patti LuPone (Far Away Places) and Backbeat: The Musical are released on CD and/or iTunes; Butz signs copies of his album at Barnes & Noble; Jesus Christ Superstar - Live Arena Tour is available on Blu-Ray; Howard McGillin and Rebecca Luker take on The Carlyle.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16
THE HEIRESS’ JESSICA CHASTAIN ZEROES IN ON JON STEWART
She has already hunted down love on Broadway in The Heiress and Osama bin Laden on screen in Zero Dark Thirty, and now Jessica Chastain is turning her sights on political satirist Jon Stewart. Chastian heads to The Daily Show to discuss her big Broadway debut, her second Oscar nomination and maybe she’ll even share her secret to taking over the world.
ALSO: Patti LuPone signs copies of her new album at Barnes & Noble; Composer Dave Malloy plays selections from the vodka-infused, War and Peace-esque electro-pop opera (phew!) Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 at Joe’s Pub.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 17
SCARLETT JOHANSSON PURRS LIKE A CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
The cat is out of the bag! In Rob Ashford’s production of Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, Tony winner Scarlett Johansson and Benjamin Walker steam up the stage as sexy and ferocious Maggie and aging football hero Brick. This is the fifth Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, but the sexual pleas, family tension and mendacious barbs remain fresh.
ALSO: 54 Below welcomes back Andrea McArdle; The Spirits of Exit Eleven strip down at off-Broadway’s Lion Theatre; Clive, starring Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio and Zoe Kazan, begins previews at Acorn Theatre; The Magistrate, starring John Lithgow, is broadcast live in movie theaters.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 18
FANILOWS CELEBRATE! BARRY MANILOW MAKES BROADWAY SING
Could it be magic? Grammy winner Barry Manilow returns to his hometown and heads to Broadway to begin a limited engagement of Manilow on Broadway at the St. James Theatre. The concert marks the classic crooner’s return to the Great White Way for the first time in two decades. Broadway’s had a hard time smiling without you, Barry!
ALSO: Silence! The Musical brings the silly scares back to the Elektra Theatre; Evita’s Michael Cerveris and his band Loose Cattle herd up at 54 Below; Jessica Chastain’s horror flick Mama opens in theaters; Hamish Linklater's The Vandal begins previews at the Flea Theatre.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 19
CHRISTINE EBERSOLE WARBLES WITH THE WHIFFENPOOFS
Two-time Tony winner Christine Ebersole joins forces with the Yale Whiffenpoofs, the NYU N’Harmonics and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City for Sing Out, Raise Hope at Town Hall. The benefit concert, now in its third year, aids the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and has featured Broadway favorites like Idina Menzel and Darren Criss.
ALSO: Martin Moran's solo show All the Rage begins previews at off-Broadway’s Peter Jay Sharp Theatre.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 20
SOME OF BROADWAY’S BEST BOYS WAVE BUH-BYE
Snaps and snails and puppy-dogs' tails! This is the last chance to see Broadway revivals of Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy and David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, plus the Tony-nominated treat Peter and the Starcatcher (which is headed off-Broadway in the spring). These guys took audiences from a boxing ring to an expletive-filled real-estate office to a fantastical Neverland ship, and we’ll miss them.
ALSO: Final day to see the off-Broadway mountings of Broadway.com-approved August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, Tribes and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; Scandalous songwriter David Friedman heads to 54 Below.