Andrew Garfield & Finn Wittrock in "Death of a Salesman". Photo by Brigitte Lacombe.

It’s raining men in a drenched round-up of the week’s theater headlines:

• The superstar combo of director Mike Nichols, Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield’s arms (at least judging by the press pic) opened last night in a revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman to mixed and glowing reviews. And about those press pictures, what do you think of the arty/appropriate/cool/pretentious choice to release only black and white images for the 60 year old play?

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  Gavin Creel. Photo by Monica Simoes.

  Supporting the March 20 release of his new album Get Out, my imaginary boyfriend and double Tony-nominee Gavin Creel will perform two sold out concerts at Joe’s Pub March 19. For those of us who don’t have tickets (or who are barred from attending because of restraining orders), the wonders of modern technology will allow us to watch it all via livestream on the web, Monday night at 9:30.

• Remember the Ricky Martin video where everyone is dancing around in a sexy deluge? Well, it was like that (except not so sexy, I assume) on the stage of Martin’s revival of Evita when a fire safety mechanism misfired and drenched the stage after the first preview Monday night. The Tuesday night and Wednesday matinee performances were canceled for clean-up and a rehearsal.

• Thank the Gods! My current talent crush Denis O’Hare and partner in storytelling Stephen Spinella are getting an extra week of performances now that An Iliad has been extended until April 1 at New York Theatre Workshop.

• The Olivier Awards (London’s Tony equivalent) announced their 2012 nominees including multiple nods for Broadway bound shows like Matilda: The Musical, Ghost: The Musical, and One Man, Two Guvnors. In a Billy Elliot-style twist, two acting categories featured single nominations for multiple people sharing the same role: four young Matildas, two alternating Frankensteins…and a partridge in a pear tree.

• Thinking person’s Hollywood heartthrob David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck) will join Jessica Chastain in next season’s revival of The Heiress. This one is definitely getting interesting.

Yesterday, I said that Show Folk this month was “getting epic;” you thought it was just a lame Homer joke. Truth is, we’re doubling up on great interviews with another leading man of the stage pulling up a chair to our cyber table and joining us for a little conversation. As usual, I’ve edited the transcripts (removing the truly libelous parts) and posted the results. If yesterday was all about Gods, today we’re going straight to the devil…

Howard McGillin in "Damn Yankees". Photo by Ken Jaques.

Tony-nominated actor Howard McGillin has exchanged a mask for a set of horns…and we ain’t talking a brass band. Having famously played The Phantom of the Opera for more than 2500 record breaking performances, he’s descending to new devious depths (and crossing the river to Jersey) to take on the devilish Applegate in Paper Mill Playhouse’s new production of the classic musical comedy Damn Yankees. Busy with last Sunday’s opening night, the dashing star still found the time to chat with us about some favorite co-stars, making up lyrics to “Music of the Night” and his run-in with a bionic wardrobe malfunction.

The devil comes in so many different guises; what inspired your take on Applegate in Damn Yankees?

Well, he’s the classic comic villain. He’s vain, revels in all the mischief he causes, and is ultimately brought down in a satisfying tumble of self-inflicted grandiosity. It’s delicious. Of course I remember Ray Walston’s performance, and my friend Victor Garber’s wonderful take on the guy. But I just try to find a way to make it mine, and I think the key is his ridiculous vanity. It makes it so much fun to see him fall.

You famously hold the record for playing the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera  more times than anyone else. What are the benefits and challenges of doing a short run like the month of Damn Yankees at Paper Mill?

It’s a joy to tackle any part, no matter how long or short the run. Of course, when you sign on for something like Phantom you never imagine you could be doing it over 2500 times! It just happened that I loved performing it and the creative team seemed to like what I was doing and decided to keep me on. The process of performing a role remains the same. You always set foot on stage with the goal of making it a fresh performance. The only difference is that after many years of doing long runs in Broadway shows, four weeks seems unfairly short. I know I will miss doing this show. It’s just so much fun.

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