Daniel Clarkson & Jefferson Turner in "Potted Potter". Image via David Gersten & Associates.

The stars, as in big name stars, are aligning on Broadway and we’ve got the scoop in a bite-sized theater news round-up:

• Harry Potter is coming back to the New York. Well, not exactly THE Harry Potter but the 2012 Olivier Award nominee Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Experience. The family friendly parody will play a limited engagment at the Little Shubert Theater starting May 19, promising to squeeze all seven books into seventy minutes…which basically makes the guy from One Man Star Wars Trilogy look like a total slacker.

• Oscar-nominee Amy Adams will be The Baker’s Wife in this summer’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Into the Woods. No word yet on the rest of the leads but if this is the first announcement (and it’s pretty great casting, even if she strikes me more as a Cinderella), one has to imagine there are even bigger names to come. The mind boggles…Meryl as the Witch?

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  "Through a Glass Darkly". Photo by Ari Mintz.

  The first award nominations are out for the 2011-2012 season!  The Lucille Lortel Awards, given to excellence in Off-Broadway theater, and they feature a strong line-up of worthy works including Broadway Blog favorites director/choreographer Oscar-nominee Carey Mulligan (Through a Glass Darkly), Christopher Gattelli (Silence), An Iliad and Marin Mazzie (Carrie). Of particular note, the musical Once–now on Broadway–received a number of nominations which are likely to be matched at the Tonys.

• If the Tony Awards committee could bestow sainthood, you know that the second name on the list (after Audra McDonald, of course) would be Neil Patrick Harris for his telecast-saving turns as host. Look for him to add another miracle to his resume when he returns to lead the 2012 Tony Awards show in June.

• And finally, the biggest star of them all (at least in his/her fantasy world of retro-fabulousness) Charles Busch has another hit on his hands even before it opens. His latest vehicle, Judith of Bethulia, has already sold out all tickets for its limited run at Theater for the New City. That’s epic, indeed.

There are times when the news from the stage gets so exciting, I want to jump up and sing. Like I’m built out of Legos. And performing Mamma Mia. With Czech subtitles.  If I did, it might look something like this:

I told you. Wow. (And, somehow, you still get the nuances of the story.) Well, that’s exactly how I feel about this quick news round-up:

• The Atlantic Theater Company isn’t playing around as it celebrates it’s 25th Anniversary; it’s pulling out the big guns and loading them with super high caliber talent. (Ouch, that metaphor even hurt me.) 10×25 features a rotating set of ten-minute plays by the iconic likes of John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation), Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men), Jez Butterworth (Jerusalem), Tina Howe (Coastal Disturbances), Craig Lucas (Reckless), David Auburn (Proof), Sam Shepard (Buried Child) and, of course, Atlantic leading light David Mamet (do I really have to?). As Mamet might say, this big f—ing deal runs through June 26.

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Photo by Joan Marcus.

• Two big openings last night: a revival of Anything Goes headlined by the sparkling and (if you’ve seen the show, you know what I mean) indefatigable Sutton Foster; and the star-studded—heck, more like star-swamped—limited engagement concert version of Company. The Sondheim classic features so many one-named (Lupone, Colbert), two-named (Jon Cryer, Katie Finneran) and even three-named (Neil Patrick Harris, New York Philharmonic) megastars that, according to this fascinating piece in the New York Times, they had to rehearse via Skype. It gives new meaning to going online and asking “what are you wearing?”
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  Photo by Joan Marcus.

  The dresses are going back in the closet for two recent theatrical hits. The Broadway revival of La Cage Aux Folles announced it is shuttering May 1 (giving Chris Sieber his much deserved rest after all) and, on the same day, my Off-Broadway favorite, The Divine Sister, hangs up her habit.  Time to find some sensible shoes for pounding the pavement, gals.

• Two of the best singer-actors in the business, Kelli O’Hara (South Pacific) and Brian d’Arcy James (Time Stands Still) headline a tribute to music theater power couple Jason Robert Brown and Georgia Stitt on Monday, April 11. The concert benefits CAP21, an amazing organization devoted to developing new work and training the next generation of performers. Full disclosure: they’re workshopping one of my pieces so your ticket dollars help keep me and other music theater ruffians off the streets and out of singing-dancing gangs.
• The cast is in place for the revival of Larry Kramer’s groundbreaking A Normal Heart which means that Lee Pace is now breathing the same New York air as I am. Seriously folks, was there ever a more perfect Broadway-loving show on TV than the late, lamented Pushing Daisies?
• And don’t forget to get posting updates by joining The Broadway Blog gang on facebook.

Every first Wednesday of the month, get caught up on what’s new on stage with a review round-up. And that vaguely hollow, clinking sound you hear at the end of each segment? That’s me tossing in my two cents.

With the spring season about to ramp up, I thought I’d offer a sneak peek edition of “To See or Not to See” featuring a critical look at two shows that are up and running (or tumbling into the pit) and a tease for the three shows I’m most excited to catch in the months ahead.

Image via Google (Sara Krulwich, The New York Times)

SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK

Following multiple delays and bruised bodies (as well as egos), the bank-busting, comic book musical—directed by The Lion King‘s Julie Taymor and with music by U2′s Bono and The Edge—still hasn’t officially opened.  But that hasn’t stopped most major critics from piling on like a spandex sale at the Justice League.

“Spider-Man is not only the most expensive musical ever to hit Broadway; it may also rank among the worst.” New York Times

“An inconsistent, maddening show that’s equal parts exciting and atrocious.” New York Post

“It’s by turns hyperstimulated, vivid, lurid, overeducated, underbaked, terrifying, confusing, distracted, ridiculously slick, shockingly clumsy, unmistakably monomaniacal and clinically bipolar. But never, ever boring.” New York Magazine

“Beyond the offstage drama and lavish budget, and all the feats and flash accompanying them, lies an endearingly old-fashioned musical.” USA Today

Mizer’s Two Cents:  If you love stagecraft, go for the jaw-dropping mixture of high tech wizardry and classic theater/puppetry techniques. And now with reports spreading that major reworking is about to happen (with script and music doctors), this could be a truly fascinating chance to see a new show being built before our eyes. But, at Broadway ticket prices, this graduate level theater class won’t come cheap. All that being said, I do hope folks can take a step back from some of the more sensational talk about the working conditions. One of the guys in charge of the flying harnesses actually flew me for a year when I was on tour and he would have thrown himself in front of a two ton set piece to protect me. Whatever stories have been spread, I’d wager my life savings that the crew of this show is doing everything humanly possible to ensure the safety of the performers.

UPDATE: NY1 is reporting that Julie Taymor is out as director. What a tangled web, indeed.

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