Printer Friendly Version - My Most Anticipated New York Shows

Peter Dinklage with Charlie Thurston in Goodspeed’s developmental production of Cyrano. Dinklage will again star in the new musical adaptation of the play in a production being staged by The New Group at the Daryl Roth Theatre beginning in October. Photo by Diane Sobolewski

The New York theater scene is much more fluid that Connecticut’s. Only the subscription-based companies announce a full season; many producers announce a production only a month or two before it opens, based on availablity of theaters.

Moulin Rouge was the big musical that opened this summer; I wanted to see it, I saw it, and I didn’t love it.

I was much more impressed by Sea Wall/A Life, two one-act monologues: one performed by Tom Sturridge and the other by Jake Gyllenhaal. I really liked these and would see them again. It only runs to Sunday, Sept. 29.

Other fall Broadway shows on my list are the revival of Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo with Marisa Tomei, beginning previews Thursday, Sept. 19; the highly acclaimed Slave Play, which is moving from off-Broadway, which also begins previews that day.

The Sound Inside sounds interesting with Mary-Louise Parker as a tenured professor and a talented student. Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Tracey Letts (August, Osage County) has a new dark comedy, Linda Vista, opening in the fall.

Also on my list is The Great Society, the sequel to All the Way about the early days of Lyndon Johnson’s presidency. This one starts after his election in 1964. It has a great cast including Brian Cox, Marc Kudisch, and Richard Thomas.

Jonathan Pryce and Eileen Atkins, two terrific British actors, are coming to Broadway in the drama The Height of the Storm about a long-married couple and a life change.

The Inheritance, which also opened first in London, is about three generations of gay men searching for community in New York City. It’s by American Matthew Lopez.

Although various musicals are opening, none truly excite me. Dates haven’t been set for the London revival of Company, which featured gender-switched roles, whereas America Utopia with music by David Byrne, Jagged Little Pill based on the Alania Morissette concept CD, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, and even the revival of West Side Story don’t make my must-see NYC list, though I will undoubtedly see most of them. The latter (West Side Story) doesn’t make the list because I haven’t always liked director Ivo Van Hove’s reinterpretations.

Cyrano, the new musical adaptation of the popular play, is opening off-Broadway this fall at the Daryl Roth Theatre. You may remember that it sold out at Goodspeed’s Terris Theater in Chester last summer. Peter Dinklage again will star as Cyrano.

I am looking forward to a production of George Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra produced by the Gingold Group, which has somewhat specialized in Shaw. City Center’s Encores will have a semi-staged production of Evita for just about 10 days in November. I tend to focus on specific companies that do good work: Irish Rep, Signature, Playwrights Horizons, Mint, Atlantic, and the smaller productions by Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout, and Lincoln Center.