Summertime offerings heat up this WEEK AHEAD!

Friday, July 18
GO→ The 20th anniversary of the Fire Island Dance Festival kicks off in the Pines. Tony winner and Broadway Bares founder Jerry Mitchell and If/Then choreographer Larry Keigwin co-host the three-day event that features a myriad of dance performances throughout the picturesque island. Proceeds benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. (Click here for tickets and schedule info.) 

Saturday, July 19

	Mary Rodgers
	Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

GO→ The Paley Center for Media pays tribute to the great Mary Rodgers, who passed away June 26 at the age of 83. The daughter of Richard Rodgers and mother of Adam Guettel was an accomplished composer in her own right, having penned the popular musical comedy Once Upon a Mattress. A Celebration of Mary Rodgers includes screenings of the 1959 TV special of Mattress starring Carol Burnett and the rarely seen 1961 musical fantasy Feathertop, along with a discussion of Rogers' legacy with Martin Charnin, Ted Chapin and Bill Rudman. (2 PM, Paley Center for Media, 25 W. 52nd St., btwn. 5th & 6th Aves. Pay at the door. Info.) 

Sunday, July 20
LAST CHANCE→ Daniel Radcliffe stars as Cripple Billy, a disabled orphan from a rural Irish village in search of Hollywood stardom and the affections of a feisty young lass (Tony nominee Sarah Greene), in the revival of Martin McDonagh's dark comedy The Cripple of Inishmaan. Michael Grandage directs. (Cort Theatre, 138 W. 48th St., btwn. 6th & 7th Aves. Info/tickets.)  LAST CHANCE→ Tony winner Kenny Leon helms the ambitious new musical Holler If Ya Hear Me, featuring the music of rapper Tupac Shakur. Famed orator and beat poet Saul Williams stars as a man returning to his inner city home after being released from prison. (Palace Theatre, 1564 Broadway, at 47th St. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets.) 

Monday, July 21
GO→ Two-time Tony winner Patti LuPone returns to 54 Below with her show The Lady With The Torch, singing classic songs of unrequited love by masters of the art form — Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn, the Gershwins, Cole Porter and others. Conceived and directed by Tony winner Scott Wittman. (Through Aug. 2, 54 Below, 254 W. 54th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Info/tickets.) 

Tuesday, July 22

	John Lithgow in rehearsal
	photo by Tammy Shell

PREVIEWS→ Two-time Tony winner John Lithgow takes on Shakespeare's most notorious paterfamilias in the Shakespeare in the Park production of King Lear. Annette Bening and Jessica Hecht play Lear's evil elder daughters, Goneril and Regan, respectively. "Zero Dark Thirty" star Jessica Collins plays Cordelia, Lear's youngest daughter "who with best meaning have incurr'd the worst." Directed by Daniel Sullivan. Officially opens Aug. 5. (Delacorte Theater, Central Park, Enter at 81st St. and Central Park West or 79th St. and Fifth Ave. Info.) 

CASTING→ Tony winner Priscilla Lopez will take flight in the Tony-winning revival of Pippin. Lopez will play the title character's trapeze-flying grandmother, Berthe, through Aug. 27. (Music Box Theatre, 239 W. 45th St., btwn. Broadway & 8th Ave. Info/tickets.) 

Wednesday, July 23
PREVIEWS→ Jeremy Jordan and Laura Michelle Kelly star in the stage version of the 2004 Johnny Depp film, Finding Neverland. Tony-winning director Diane Paulus helms the Broadway-bound tuner at Harvard's A.R.T. (where she serves as artistic director). U.K. pop songwriters Gary Barlow (lead singer of the pop group Take That) and Eliot Kennedy pen the score. Officially opens Aug. 13. (American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA. Info/tickets.) 

Thursday, July 24
GO (FREE)→ This week's Broadway in Bryant Park offerings include performances from the Broadway companies of The Phantom of the Opera, Bullets Over Broadway and Cinderella, as well as Off-Broadway performers from Avenue Q and the new jukebox tuner Piece of My Heart. (12:30 PM, Bryant Park, Bryant Park, 6th Ave., btwn. 40th & 42nd Sts. Info.) 

Friday, July 25
GO→ Opera star Renée Fleming tries her hand at musical theatre in Tony winner Joe DiPietro's Living on Love. Joining the famous soprano in the Kathleen Marshall-helmed tuner are "Veep" star Anna Chlumsky, film star Justin Long and Tony nominee Douglas Sills. (Through July 26, Williamstown Theatre Festival, 1000 Main St., Williamstown, MA. Info/tickets.)