BROADWAY can finally breathe a sigh of relief now that this year’s Tonys are history.
The gloom-and-doom scenario that gripped the Great White Way last fall because of the economy did not come to pass.
Most theaters will be full this summer, and there are plenty of productions in the pipeline for the fall and winter.
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One new show that’s causing a lot of buzz is the drama “A Steady Rain.”
It will star two big-screen stars, Daniel “007” Craig, who’s making his Broadway debut, and Hugh “Wolverine” Jackman, who’s returning to the theater for the first time since winning a Tony for “The Boy From Oz” in 2005.
Craig and Jackman will play Chicago police officers whose lifelong friendship is disrupted when they become entangled in a domestic dispute that turns out to be anything but routine.
This is a spare and harrowing drama, and its two meaty roles will give Craig and Jackman a chance to show off their stage chops.
Another movie star likely headed to Broadway is Jude Law, who just opened to rave reviews in a London production of “Hamlet.”
A bunch of New York theater owners and producers next week are flying to see the production, and you can be sure there’ll be a scramble to grab it.
On the musical front, the show sure to generate the most press — good or bad — is “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.”
The great Julie Taymor, who staged “The Lion King,” is directing this show, which is currently budgeted at $40 million.
Insiders think the cost could reach $50 million by the time the show opens in March at the Hilton Theatre, making
“Spider-Man” the most expensive musical in the history of Broadway.
U2’s Bono and The Edge have written the score, which is moody, gritty and hauntingly melodic, and Alan Cumming is in negotiations to play the lead villain, the Green Goblin.
The $15 million “Addams Family” musical opens in Chicago in November and in New York in April.
The cast couldn’t be better: Nathan Lane as Gomez, Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia, Kevin Chamberlin as Uncle Fester, and
Jackie Hoffman as Grandmama.
The stage production is based on Charles Addams’ original cartoons for The New Yorker, not the movies from the ’90s or the TV series from the ’60s.
But just a few a weeks ago, the producers struck a deal to use composer Vic Mizzy’s famous TV theme song in the musical.
After all, an “Addams Family” without “da da da dum, snap, snap” just wouldn’t feel right.