Fall Arts: New York Theater calendar

September 10, 2006

Critic's Picks

A Chorus Line, opening Oct. 5 at the Schoenfeld Theatre. All together now: "five, six, seven, eight!" The Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning monument to Broadway gypsy dancers is back where its fans believe it has always belonged. Created 31 years ago at the Public Theater, this high-concept landmark was the longest-running Broadway show when it closed in 1990 after 15 years. Bob Avian, who was Michael Bennett's co-choreographer for the original, has staged what is promised to be a faithful recreation of the grueling, heartsick, heart-thumping experience of a Broadway audition. Is it too soon for a 30-year-old show to be new again? Or, as Avian told Variety, does its "acceptance-or- rejection concept" still "hit the Everyman button. Like 'American Idol'"?

The Coast of Utopia at Lincoln Center Theater. Who but Tom Stoppard would be audacious enough to dramatize the political and intellectual history of 19th century Russia in three full-length plays? What New York theater besides Lincoln Center would dare to restage this epic, which Trevor Nunn directed at London's National Theatre in 2002? Jack O'Brien, America's reigning Stoppard specialist, will take a fresh look at the work with an amazing cast that includes Billy Crudup, Richard Easton, Ethan Hawke, Brían F. O'Byrne, Jennifer Ehle, Josh Hamilton and Martha Plimpton. The first part, "Voyage," opens Nov. 5. "Part Two: Shipwreck" opens Dec. 21. The finale, "Salvage," opens Feb. 15. Daylong marathons are slated for Feb. 24, March 3 and March 10, 2007.

The Times They Are A-Changin', opening Oct. 26 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. Twyla Tharp made Broadway history four years ago by molding Billy Joel songs into a brilliant Vietnam-era dancical called "Movin' Out." Now she takes on the equally iconic music of Bob Dylan in a coming-of-age dance-theater piece. The dazzling John Seyla, who didn't have to say a word to communicate the impact of war on young America in "Movin' Out," will be back.

The Vertical Hour, opening Nov. 30 at a theater to be announced. Julianne Moore will make her Broadway debut in this drama by David Hare ("Stuff Happens") about a U.S. war correspondent who teaches political studies at Yale. English provocateur Hare breaks with tradition by having the play's world premiere on Broadway instead of in London's West End. It is directed by Sam Mendes, who redefined "Cabaret" for a new generation.

Butley, opening Oct. 26 at the Booth Theatre. Anyone who first fell for Nathan Lane in a drama will be thrilled to know that Broadway's clown prince at last is abandoning musical comedy for a bit. He stars in Simon Gray's dark comedy - last seen on Broadway in 1972, with Alan Bates - about a literary professor who loses his wife and his lover in the same day. This is the same acclaimed production that played three years ago in Boston, with Lane in the title role.

-LINDA WINER

In Preview

The Treatment. Eve Ensler's two-character play about the relationship between a traumatized soldier (former military interrogator) and his female colonel psychologist; Dylan McDermott stars, previews to Tuesday's opening, The Culture Project, 45 Bleecker St. at Lafayette Street, $55.

The Pain and the Itch. Play by Bruce Norris about a family Thanksgiving celebration gone awry; cast includes Jayne Houdyshell, Reg Rogers, Mia Barron, Peter Jay Fernandez and Christopher Evan Welch, previews to Sept. 21 opening, Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage, 416 W. 42nd St., $65; through Oct. 8.

Theophilus North. Keen Company presents a new play by Matthew Burnett, based on the novel by Thornton Wilder, about a young man who arrives in 1926 Rhode Island and proceeds to set to rights the lives of the people of Newport, previews to Thursday's opening, Clurman, 410 W. 42nd St., $40; through Oct. 14.

Asylum: The Strange Case of Mary Lincoln. Ten years after the assassination of her husband and the death of three of her sons, Mary Todd Lincoln battles for her freedom as she is judged insane and committed to an asylum, previews to Thursday's opening, York Theatre Company, 619 Lexington Ave., $45; through Oct. 1.

Richard II. Shakespeare's drama chronicling the fall of one of England's great monarchs; Michael Cumpsty stars and Brian Kulick

directs, previews to next Sunday's opening, Classic Stage Company, 136 E. 13th St.; through Oct. 15.

subUrbia. Eric Bogosian's play about a day in the life of seven rootless young Americans who gather in the parking lot of a Pakistani family's convenience store; cast includes Jessica Capshaw, Kieran Culkin, Daniel Eric Gold and Peter Scanavino, and Jo Bonney directs, previews to Sept. 28 opening, Second Stage, 307 W. 43rd St., $66.25; through Oct. 29.

John Ferguson. St. John Ervine's 1919 tragedy about a poor and pious farmer in Ulster County, Ireland, whose faith is tested when an expected loan from his brother in America fails to arrive, previews to Sept. 25 opening, Mint Theater, 311 W. 43rd St., $45 ($35 previews); through Oct. 15.

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New York Musical Theatre Festival 2006. Annual fall festival of new musicals in 12 Manhattan venues, nymf.org; through Oct. 1.

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