A starry week is headed our way on NYC stages! On tap: Joan Rivers, Zachary Quinto and Elizabeth Olsen, plus a star-studded Broadway Salutes special and a benefit concert from Sting. Read on to get the scoop on the most exciting happenings in theater, TV, concerts and films in our calendar of events for Broadway lovers.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
CINDERELLA STARS WARBLE FOR CHARITY
Broadway.com Audience Choice Award winners and Tony nominees Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana are Broadway's most charitable royals. The Cinderella stars will appear together at 54 Below in the benefit concert Remember When… Hosted by Steven Reineke, the one-night-only event will benefit the New York Pops Education Programs at Ronald McDonald House New York. Santino and Laura, do we love you because you're beautiful? Yes, but also because you're bighearted!
ALSO: The Skivvies (a.k.a. Lauren Molina and Nick Cearley) drop trou and sing songs with The Book of Mormon’s Matt Doyle, Matilda’s Lesli Margherita, Nick Adams and more at 54 Below.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
THEATER PROS GET A NEW YORK SALUTE
Broadway's benevolence doesn't end with Laura and Santino! Tony nominee Holland Taylor will host the fifth annual Broadway Salutes celebration at the Times Square Visitor Center. Phantom's Hugh Panaro, Tony winner Lillias White and Kinky Boots' Annaleigh Ashford are set to perform at the event, which honors theater professionals who have worked 25, 35 and 50 years in their respective theatrical crafts.
ALSO: Tovah Feldshuh starts swinging as Berthe in Pippin; Alli Mauzey returns to Wicked as Glinda the Good; Elevator Repair Service’s Arguendo opens at the Public Theatre; Joan Rivers brings her stand-up act to the Laurie Beechman Theatre; the revival cast recording of The Last Five Years, featuring Betsy Wolfe and Adam Kantor, is available on CD; the original Broadway cast album for First Date, featuring Zachary Levi and Krysta Rodriguez, is available for digital download; the Tony-winning Elaine Stritch at Liberty is available on DVD.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
STING DOCKS THE LAST SHIP AT THE PUBLIC
Every move you make, Sting, we'll be watching you. The Grammy winner will perform songs from his new album, The Last Ship, in the first of 10 concerts at the Public Theater. The Last Ship is Sting's first album with original material since 2003 and draws inspiration from the former Police frontman's childhood in northern England. It's a fascinating first look at songs to be featured in a musical of the same name debuting on Broadway in fall 2014!
ALSO: Smash songwriter Joe Iconis hosts Writer's Block: Songwriter's Night at 54 Below.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
THE GLASS MENAGERIE GOES ON DISPLAY
The Wingfields are officially back on Broadway! Tony winner Cherry Jones, Zachary Quinto, Tony nominee Celia Keenan-Bolger and Brian J. Smith headline The Glass Menagerie, in which matriarch Amanda pines for a better life for her crippled daughter Laura and begs her son Tom to bring home a "gentleman caller." Directed by Tony winner John Tiffany, Tennessee Williams' classic drama celebrates its opening night at the Booth Theatre.
ALSO: Tony-winning songwriting team Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (the upcoming Rocky) celebrate their 30-year collaboration at 54 Below with a rotating roster of Broadway stars, including Little Miss Sunshine’s Stephanie J. Block, If/Then’s LaChanze, Annie alum Lilla Crawford, Big Fish’s Bobby Steggert, Pippin alum Andrea Martin and more; William Inge’s Natural Affection, starring John Pankow and Kathryn Erbe, opens at the Beckett Theatre; Marianne Tatum joins the cast of James Wesley’s Unbroken Circle at St. Luke’s Theatre.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
ELIZABETH OLSEN STEPS OUT ON HER BALCONY
Romeo & Juliet is everywhere this fall, with not one but two productions on New York stages and a film adaptation slated for release on October 11. Breakout film star Elizabeth Olsen will make her off-Broadway debut as Juliet in Classic Stage Company's revival of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy. Julian Cihi, a recent graduate of Tisch School of the Arts, will play Romeo in the production, which also stars Emmy nominee T.R. Knight as Mercutio and Tony nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega as the Nurse.
ALSO: The original Broadway cast album for Matilda, featuring Tony nominees Bertie Carvel and Lauren Ward, is available for digital download; Don Jon, starring Tony winner Scarlett Johansson, and Therese, starring Elizabeth Olsen and Jessica Lange, open in theaters.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
ALL RISE FOR THE HONORABLE A TIME TO KILL
Sebastian Arcelus, Fred Dalton Thompson and John Douglas Thompson lead the Broadway cast of A Time To Kill, playwright Rupert Holmes' stage adaptation of the John Grisham legal thriller, which begins previews at the Golden Theatre. Directed by Ethan McSweeny, the courtroom drama follows a young white lawyer defending a black man for a revenge murder in Ford County, Mississippi. Tony winner Tonya Pinkins, Tom Skerritt and Patrick Page round out the cast of A Time To Kill, the first stage adaptation of a Grisham novel.
ALSO: Last chance to see Tony winner Sutton Foster at Cafe Carlyle.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
LAST CHANCE TO SEE THE TWO-CHARACTER PLAY
Tennessee Williams' seldom-seen The Two-Character Play is wrapping up its critically acclaimed run at New World Stages. Don't miss Brad Dourif and Tony winner Amanda Plummer in this bizarro tale of the downward spiral of sibling actors, whose lives were damaged beyond repair when their father shot their mother and then himself. The Two-Character Play uses irony, existential angst and a broken fourth wall to keep audiences on the edge of their seats.
ALSO: Regina Taylor’s stop. reset. closes at the Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre; Varla Jean Merman (a.k.a. Jeffery Roberson, of Chicago) and Donna Vivino perform at 54 Below; Hands on a Hardbody Tony nominee Amanda Green kicks off her concert, featuring Keith Carradine, Allison Case, Jenn Colella and more, at Birdland.