Broadway makes moves in Hollywood this WEEK AHEAD.
Saturday, February 21
LAST CHANCE→ Bradley Cooper ends a celebrated Broadway turn as the disfigured man at the center of Bernard Pomerance's classic, The Elephant Man. A day later, Cooper will compete against Tony winner Eddie Redmayne, Olivier winner Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Keaton and Steve Carell for Best Actor at this year's Oscars! Come May, Cooper will reprise the role of John Merrick at London's Theatre Royal. (Booth Theater, 222 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Info/tickets.)
Sunday, February 22
LAST CHANCE→ It's your last chance to spend some time with the quirky denizens holed up in the house that booze built in Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Delicate Balance. There's Agnes and Tobias (Glenn Close and John Lithgow), the upper-crust suburbanites whose titular balance is disrupted by the arrival of some interesting players, including an alcoholic sister (Lindsay Duncan), paranoid neighbors (Bob Balaban and Clare Higgins) and bratty progeny (Martha Plimpton). (John Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
LAST CHANCE→ Two-time Tony winner James Earl Jones rules the roost in the madcap comedy You Can't Take It With You. Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's classic revolves around the eccentric Sycamore household, inhabited by "Veep" star Anna Chlumsky, Tony Award winner Elizabeth Ashley, Tony nominees Annaleigh Ashford, Kristine Nielsen and Reg Rogers and Emmy winner Richard Thomas. (Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Aves. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
WATCH→ Broadway's favorite host Neil Patrick Harris is "on loan" to those Hollywood types out West for the 87th Annual Academy Awards. Broadway producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are once again at the helm of the broadcast, perfectly utilizing the best of Broadway’s talents to razzle and dazzle the nation. Expect performances by Jennifer Hudson (star of the fall revival of The Color Purple) and Into the Woods and The Last Five Years film star Anna Kendrick, working under a top-notch Broadway production team of choreographer Rob Ashford, musical director Stephen Oremus, and production designer Derek McLane. Nominees up for the Oscar statue include Meryl Streep for "Into the Woods," Cabaret star Emma Stone and Michael Keaton for the Broadway-based drama "Birdman," Elephant Man star Bradley Cooper for "American Sniper" and Tony winner Eddie Redmayne for "The Theory of Everything." (7 PM ET, ABC. Info.) Monday, February 23
PREVIEWS→ "Mad Men" star Elisabeth Moss takes the Peggy empowerment movement to the next level with the first Broadway revival of Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles. Moss plays the eponymous feminist art historian we follow as she navigates the tumultuous decades between the 1960s and the 1980s. Also starring Jason Biggs, Bryce Pinkham and Tracee Chimo as the myriad personalities who shape Heidi’s journey through political, personal and professional development. Officially opens March 19. (Music Box Theatre, 239 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.)
Tuesday, February 24
OPENING→ Playwright David Ives and director John Rando reunite for Lives of Saints, a new(ish) set of comedies from the mind of Ives. Read about the two-decade development with these frequent collaborators here. (The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 W. 42nd St., btwn. 7th and 8th Aves. Info/tickets.)
GO→ Spend an "Enchanted Evening" with South Pacific's Tony-winning leading man Paulo Szot. The Brazilian opera star turned Broadway matinee idol fills a new program with the sounds of Frank Sinatra. (Through February 28, 54 Below, 254 W. 54th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Info/tickets.)
Wednesday, February 25
OPENING→ Cue the horn-rimmed glasses, flannel shirts and strategic facial scruff, Brooklyn is coming to Manhattan by way of the much-buzzed-about new musical Brooklynite. The Michael Mayer-Peter Lerman show musicalizes the hipsters of that quirky outer borough, specifically the creative types behind the real-life Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company. (Vineyard Theatre, 108 E. 15th St., btwn. Union Sq. & Irving Pl. Info/tickets.)
Thursday, February 26
OPENING→ Andrew Lippa's musical two-hander John & Jen officially opens with Tony nominee Kate Baldwin and Cinderella star Conor Ryan as the titular pair whose coming of age in the decades between the 1950s and 1990s serves as the basis for the exploration of a changing country and the evolution of relationships between parents and siblings. (Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd St., btwn. 9th & 10th Aves. Info/tickets.)
Friday, February 27
WATCH→ Josh Groban, Renée Fleming and Joshua Bell bring the songs of classic Italian cinema to life with La Dolce Vita, filmed live at Lincoln Center. Backed by the New York Philharmonic, the trio takes on the songs that brought Fellini and Sergio Leone films to life. (9 PM, PBS. Info.)
