Below are the shows currently on Broadway or about to open.
To see a schedule of the new Spring shows and read reviews of those that have opened, see Broadway’s April Avalanche.
List of 2012 Tony Award nominations

ANYTHING GOES
Stephen Sondheim Theater
Opened: April 7, 2011
Cast: Joel Grey
Twitter feed: @AnythingGoesRTC
Revival of Cole Porter’s musical
An old-fashioned show you go to for the dancing, and for Cole Porter’s evergreen songs
My review of Anything Goes: Cole Porter in Red, White and Blue
Buy tickets to Anything Goes

THE BOOK OF MORMON
The Eugene O’Neill Theater
Opened: March 24, 2011
Director: Jason Moore and Trey Parker
Twitter feed: @BookofMormonBWY
This new musical by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (book), the creators of South Park, and Robert Lopez, one of the composer-lyricists for “Avenue Q” (music and lyrics) is about both the founder of the Church of Latter-Day Saints and modern disciples. It is outrageous, irreverent in one way, but also deeply reverent to (even while parodying) the best traditions of the Broadway musical.
Buy tickets to The Book of Mormon

My review of The Book of Mormon: Ridiculing Religion, Worshiping The Great White Way

CHICAGO
Ambassador Theater (219 West 49th Street)

Opened: November 14, 1996
Twitter: @ChicagoMusical
A chorus girl in 1920’s Chicago murders her lover and becomes a star. This cynical, tuneful 1975 musical adaptation by John Kander and Fred Ebb (“Cabaret” team) of a 1926 play was revived to great acclaim by director Walter Bobbie and choreographer Ann Reinking in homage to original choreographer Bob Fosse. But it has gone through many, many cast changes since then. Some say this is the production that invented the modern Broadway practice of “stunt casting.”

Buy tickets to Chicago

CLYBOURNE PARK
Walter Kerr Theater
First preview: March 26, 2012
Opening: April 19, 2012
Closing: July 8, 2012
Twitter: @ClybournePark
A “white update” of “A Raisin in the Sun” that won the Pulitzer Prize. Both funny and provocative.
My review of Clybourne Park
Buy tickets to Clybourne Park

THE COLUMNIST
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
David Auburn’s (Proof) latest drama portrays the dilemma faced by powerful Washington columnist Joseph Alsop, host to the Kennedy Camelot circle who becomes involved in a political, and personal, drama.
Director: Daniel Sullivan
Cast: John Lithgow
First preview: April 3 2012
Opening: April 25, 2012
Closing: July 1, 2012
My review of The Columnist: Journalism’s Original Dinosaur
Buy tickets to The Columnist

DEATH OF A SALESMAN
Ethel Barrymore Theater
A revival of the 1949 play by Arthur Miler
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Linda Emond, Andrew Garfield, John Glover
First preview: February 13, 2012
Opening: March 15, 2012
Closing: June 2, 2012
Twitter handle: @SalesmanBway
This tragedy of a common man by Arthur Miller holds up as a play, is deeply moving and relevant, and offers some astonishing performances
My review of Death of A Salesman: Mad Men vs. Salesman
Buy tickets to Death of a Salesman

DON’T DRESS FOR DINNER
American Airlines Theater
The play by Marc Camoletti is a sequel to “Boeing-Beoing”
Director: John Tillinger
First preview: March 30, 2012
Opening: April 26, 2012
Closing: June 17, 2012
A farce by Marc Camoletti, the French playwright who also wrote “Boeing Boeing.”
My review of Don’t Dress for Dinner
Buy tickets to Don’t Dress for Dinner

END OF THE RAINBOW
Peter Quilter’s play with music is set in December, 1968, when Judy Garland is about to make her (final) comeback.
Director: Terry Johnson
Cast: Tracie Bennett, Michael Cumpsty
First preview: Monday, March 19, 2012
Opened: April 2, 2011

My review of End of the Rainbow
Buy tickets to End of the Rainbow

EVITA
A revival of the 1978 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical about Argentina First Lady Eva Peron
Director: Michael Grandage
Cast: Elena Roger, Ricky Martin, Michael Cerveris
First preview: March 12, 2012
Opened: April 5, 2012
My review of Evita
Buy tickets to Evita

The GERSHWIN’S PORGY AND BESS
A “re-imagined” version of the opera by George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin set in the 1930’s in Catfish Row in Charleston South Carolina
Director: Diane Paulus
Cast: Audra McDonald, Norm Lewis, David Alan Grier, Phillip Boykin
Opened: January 12, 2012
My review of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Buy tickets to Porgy and Bess

GHOST The MUSICAL
Lunt-Fontanne
A new musical based on the 1990 Whoopi Goldberg Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore movie, with unprecedented special effects for the stage.
Director: Matthew Warchus
Cast: Richard Fleshman, Cassie Levy
First preview: March 15, 2012
Opened: April 23, 2012
My review of Ghost

Buy tickets to Ghost The Musical

GODSPELL
Circle in the Square
Director: Daniel Goldstein
Opened: November 7 2011
My review of Godspell
Buy tickets to Godspell

GORE VIDAL’S THE BEST MAN
A revival of the 1960 play about a race for the president
Director: Michael Wilson
Cast: Candice Bergen, James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, John Larroquette
First preview: March 6, 2012
Opened: April 1, 2012
Set to close: July 22, 2012
My review of Gore Vidal’s The Best Man
Buy tickets to The Best Man

HARVEY
Studio 54
Revival of the 1944 play by Mary Chase about Elwood and his friend, a six-foot-tall invisible rabbit named Harvey.
Director: Scott Ellis
Cast: Jim Parsons, Jessica Hecht, Charles Kimbrough
First preview: May 18, 2012
Opening: June 14, 2012
Closing: August 5, 2012
Buy tickets to Harvey

JERSEY BOYS

August Wilson Theater (245 West 52nd Street)
Opened: November 6, 2006
Twitter: @JerseyBoysInfo
The story of the 1950’s-60’s singing group Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, whose hits include “December 1963 [Oh, What A Night]” (my favorite) as well as “Sherry,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You,” etc.
Here is what I wrote about the show recently, in an article entitled Jersey Boys vs. Jersey Shore: Although the music is better known than the musicians, and yes there are almost three dozen songs in the show, the story of the group is better than most of those ‘Behind The Music’ documentaries.
Buy tickets to Jersey Boys

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
A revival of the 1971 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical
First preview: March 1, 2012
Opened: March 22, 2012

My review of Jesus Christ Superstar
Buy tickets to Jesus Christ Superstar

THE LION KING
Minskoff Theater (200 West 45th Street)
Opened: November 13, 1997
Twitter: @TheLionKing
Based on the 1994 Disney animated film about the coming-of-age of a young lion in the African jungle, this musical offers African-inflected music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice and the visual magic of Julie Taymor. Taymor is the director, a composer and lyricist for some of the songs. But above all, she is the designer of the costumes, masks, and puppets — and it is these visuals that make this show a good first theatrical experience.
Buy tickets to The Lion King

THE LYONS
Long-time hip indie playwright Nicky Silver’s Broadway debut mixes traditional stage comedy with an untraditional edge about a dysfunctional Jewish family
Director: Mark Brokaw
Cast: Linda Lavin, Dick Latessa
Opened: April 23, 2012
My review of The Lyons

MAGIC/BIRD
A play by the same team that produced “Lombardi,” that chronicles the rivalry and intertwined stories of basketball players Larry Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
Director: Thomas Kail
First preview: March 21, 2012
Opened April 11 2012
Closing: Saturday, May 12, 2012
Cast: Tug Coker
Kevin Daniels
Deirdre O’Connell
Peter Scolari
Rob Ray Manning, Jr.
Francois Battiste
Twitter feed: @MagicBirdBway
My review of Magic/Bird
Buy tickets to Magic/Bird

MAMMA MIA!
Winter Garden (1634 Broadway)
Opened: October 18, 2001
Twitter: @MammaMiaMusical
It’s hard even for hard-core Mamma Mia fans to argue that the story pieced together using some two dozen hits from the 1970’s pop group ABBA makes very much sense: A young woman getting married on the Greek island where she has grown up invites the three men who may be her father to the wedding, without telling her mother: She had summer-quickie affairs with all three. The lyrics of some of the songs don’t always actually fit with what’s supposed to be happening at any moment.
But fans don’t care. The infectious music, most memorably “Dancing Queen,” and the whimsical disco-era dance numbers are enough for them. And whatever else you may think about the musical, it is true what the fans say: It is not quite as cheesy at the Meryl Streep movie.
Buy tickets to Mamma Mia

MARY POPPINS
New Amsterdam Theater (214 West 42nd Street)
Opened: November 16, 2006
Twitter: @PoppinsMusical
The musical is based on the 1964 movie musical starring Julie Andrews with some added songs, and added plot from the original P.A. Travers stories that tells of unruly children tamed by a magical, flying nanny. There is more of a focus on the overworked parents, and their strained relationship. I did not see this Broadway musical until recently. I am told the London version was darker and more sophisticated, and that its transfer to Broadway was sweeter but still suited for adults. What I saw, though, were sets that stood out — they seemed expensive and with sufficient mechanical innovations (such as Mary Poppins flying over the audience) to distract theatergoers with Attention Deficit Disorder. But otherwise I found this version longer and more lumbering that I was expecting.
Buy tickets to Mary Poppins

MEMPHIS
Shubert Theatre
Opened: Oct. 19, 2009
Director: Christopher Ashley
Choreographer: Sergio Trujillo
Original Cast: Chad Kimball, Montego Glover
A new rock ‘n’ roll musical penned by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan.
Memphis Review: The Birth of Rock and Roll Yet Again
Buy tickets to Memphis

NEWSIES
Nederlander
A musical based on the 1990 film of the New York Newsboys Strike of 1899
Director: Jeff Calhoun
Cast: Jeremy Jordan, Andrew Keenan-Bolger
First preview: March 19, 2012
Opening: March 29, 2012
Closing: June 10, 2012
Twitter feed: @Newsies
My review of Newsies
Buy tickets to Newsies

NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT
Imperial
A new screwball romantic comedy with a book by Joe DiPietro using the songs of George and Ira Gershwin
Director: Kathleen Marshall
Cast: Matthew Broderick, Kelli O’Hara
First preview: March 29, 2012
Opened: April 24, 2012
Twitter handle: @NiceWorkBway
My review of “Nice Work If You Can Get It”

Buy tickets to Nice Work If You Can Get It

ONCE
Bernard B. Jacobs Theater
Based on the hit 2006 movie, Once tell the story of the romance between a Dublin street musician and a Czech immigrant. Its song “Falling Slowly” won the Oscar.
First preview: February 18, 2012
Opened: March 18, 2012
Twitter handle: @OnceMusical
My review of Once: Falling Slowly on Broadway
Buy tickets to Once

ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS
Music Box Theater
The production by the National Theatre of Great Britain of a comedy by Richard Bean about a confused man who works both for a local gangster and a criminal in hiding.
Director: Nicholas Hytner
Cast: James Corden
First preview: April 6, 2012
Opened: April 18, 2012
My review of One Man, Two Guvnors
Buy tickets to One Man, Two Guvnors

OTHER DESERT CITIES
Booth Theater
Director: Joe Mantello
Cast: Stockard Channing, Rachel Griffiths, Stacy Keach, Judith Light, Thomas Sadowski
Opened: November 3, 2011
My review of Other Desert Cities
Buy tickets to Other Desert Cities

PETER AND THE STARCATCHER
Brooks Atkinson Theater
Directors: Roger Rees and Alex Timbers
Opened: April 15, 2012
Twitter Feed: @StarcatcherBway
Although it is promoted as the story of how Peter Pan came to be, this is more an original adventure story with its own delights — meta jokes and slapstick involving orphans and pirates, mermaids and killer mollusks.
My review of Peter and the Starcatcher
Buy tickets to Peter and the Starcatcher

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Majestic Theater (247 West 44th Street)
Opened: January 26, 1988
Twitter: @TheOperaGhosts
The Phantom of the Opera, based on a 1911 French novel by Gaston Leroux, is about a disfigured genius named Erik who lives in the catacombs of the Paris Opera House and falls in love with Christine, an aspiring singer whom he helps…until an old flame of Christine’s named Raoul steps back into the picture.
However, the story in the musical, written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber — with more than its share of 1980’s heavy power ballads — is starting to take second place to the story of the musical, which is the longest-running Broadway musical of all time, and probably the most profitable.
Webber has written a “sequel,” entitled “Love Never Dies,” which was set for Broadway in the 2010-2011 season, but, after scathing reviews in London, will now be delayed.
Buy tickets to The Phantom of the Opera

PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT
Palace Theater
Opened March 20, 2011
Director: Simon Philips
Cast: Will Swenson, Tony Sheldon and Nick Adams
My review of Priscilla Queen of the Desert: Excess as Entertainment
Buy tickets to Priscilla Queen of the Desert

ROCK OF AGES
Brooks Atkinson Theater (256 West 47th Street)
Opened: April 7, 2009
Twitter: @RockOfAges
It is 1987 in an L.A. club, and a girl meets a boy — she is new to town, he is shy but has the voice of an aircraft carrier and dreams of being a rock star. Both are smitten by the 1980’s rock songs of big-hair bands like Journey, Bon Jovi, and Poison….which you must be too, in order to appreciate this generally well-reviewed juke-box musical.
Buy tickets to Rock of Ages

SISTER ACT
The Broadway Theater
Opened: April 20, 2011
Director: Jerry Zaks
Musical based with songs by Alan Menken (“Little Shop of Horrors,” “Beauty and the Beast”) based on the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg movie about a lounge singer disguising herself as a nun and hiding out in a convent to escape the mob.
My review of Sister Act

SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK
Foxwoods Theater
First preview: November 28
Original Director: Julie Taymor
Cast: Reeve Carney, Jennifer Damiano
Twitter feed: @SpideyOnBway
This musical originally by Julie Taymor and Glen Berger (book) and Bono and The Edge (music and lyrics) follows the story of Spider-man the geek turned superhero. It was originally scheduled to begin previews in February, 2010, finally did in November, 2010, and opened on June, 13 2011.
Buy tickets to Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark
My review of Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark

A Streetcar Named Desire
Broadhurst
Revival of the Tennessee Williams play set in the French Quarter of 1940’s New Orleans about vulnerable Southern belle Blanche DuBois who comes to live with her sister, Stella, and her ruffian brother-in-law Stanley. The play has probably the most famous line ever uttered in an American drama.
Director: Emily Mann
Cast:Blair Underwood
Nicole Ari Parker
Daphne Rubin-Vega
Wood Harris
First preview: April 3, 2012
Opening: April 22, 2012
Closing: July 12, 2012
Twitter handle: @Streetcar2012
My review of A Streetcar Named Desire: On Broadway With A Black Blanche, and Blair Underwood
Buy tickets to A Streetcar Named Desire

VENUS IN FUR
Reopened at the Lyceum beginning February 7, 2012
David Ives play inspired by an infamous 19th century erotic novel is most notable for the star-making performance by Nina Arianda
Director: Walter Bobbie
Cast: Nina Arianda, Hugh Dancy
Twitter handle: @VenusinFurBway
My review of Venus in Fur
Buy tickets to Venus in Fur

WAR HORSE
Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center
Opened: April 14, 2011
Directors: Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris
A new play based on a novel by Michael Morpurgo about a boy and his beloved horse during World War I. This is the American premiere of a play that has been on the London stage for several years, and will be designed by the London team, including video and puppetry.
My review of War Horse
Buy tickets to War Horse
Wicked
Gershwin Theater (222 West 51st Street)
Opened: October 30, 2003
Twitter: @WICKED_Musical
The musical tells the story of “The Wizard of Oz” from the witches’ perspective, more specifically from the Wicked Witch of the West, who was not, as a child, wicked at all, but just green-tinted, taunted, and misunderstood. There is so much to like about this musical, the clever twists on the familiar tale, the spectacular set, and music that is a lot more appealing in context (such as the song “Defying Gravity”) that I will forgive the contortions necessary to tack on a happy ending.
BUY TICKETS TO WICKED

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