Broadway Blog editor Matthew Wexler offers his monthly picks of what’s hot on The Great White Way and beyond.
The 2014-15 Broadway season is in full force with revivals, new plays and musicals, and plenty of star turns to clog the streets of the theater district as patrons clamor for selfies with some of Broadway’s best. Here are our three picks for the month, but why limit yourself?
The cast of ‘It’s Only A Play’ (photo: F. Scott Schafer via The Broadway Blog.)
It’s Only a Play
Terrence McNally was on the boards last season with his gay marriage drama, Mothers and Sons, but this fall sees a revival of one of his quirkier works, It’s Only A Play. His homage to the wild world of commercial theater dates back to 1982 and follows the exploits of opening night and features an all-star cast including Matthew Broderick as the panicked playwright, Nathan Lane as his best friend, Stockard Channing as the doped-up diva and F. Murray Abraham as the lethal critic—and that’s just for starts.
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 West 45th Street
Opening night: October 9
On The Town
There may be no other show that embraces New York City quite as ebulliently as Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolf Green and Jerome Robbin’s On The Town.
Boasting the biggest orchestra on Broadway, the show follows the escapades of three sailors on shore leave. The show’s last revival lasted a dismal 69 performances (and also featured the now-famous Jesse Tyler Ferguson of Modern Family.) But this latest incarnation boasts a stellar cast including Broadway vets Tony Yazbeck, Jackie Hoffman, Michael Rupert and what is sure to be knockout vocals from Alysha Umphress.
The Lyric Theatre
213 West 42nd Street
Opening night: October 16
The Last Ship
Grammy Award winner Sting tries his hand at crafting a Broadway score inspired by the English seafaring town of Wallsend. While you may not recognize many names of the 29-member cast (except perhaps hunky Aaron Lazar), the A-list creative team is a producer’s dream, including director Joe Mantello (Wicked) and choreographer Steven Hoggett (Once). The jury is still out on whether Sting can pull off an award-winning score as Cyndi Lauper did two seasons ago with the mega-hit Kinky Boots. Will this ship sink or sail?
The Neil Simon Theatre
250 West 52nd Street
Opening night: October 26
Take the leap for other Broadway openings this month…
Blythe Danner in ‘The Country House’ (photo: Joan Marcus via The Broadway Blog.)
The Country House
October 2
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
October 5
Disgraced
October 23
The Real Thing
October 30
Matthew Wexler’s illustrious theatrical career includes a stint as an inept stunt double in the original Broadway production of Ragtime. Honing his theatrics for the written word, his work has appeared in Passport Magazine, Hemispheres, Hamptons Magazine, and online at EDGE Media Network, Gothamist and ShermansTravel, among others. Read more at www.scribd.com/roodeloo.