April 25 is an important date on Broadway this year. It is the last possible opening day to be included in the 2019 Tony Awards. Thus many shows crowd into next month to be eligible. There will be 10 opening nights and I will give you a quick rundown in two parts. If you are traveling to New York in April you may find bargains as producers try to stuff their theaters to the rafters for the energy and to have a full house for critics.

KING LEAR Sam Gold directs Glenda Jackson in Shakespeare’s classic with a gender bending twist. This is one of my favorite Shakespeare scripts and it has an outstanding cast. I am scheduled to see it next week and will review it the following week. (opens April 04).

This production of old familiar OKLAHOMA! by Rodgers and Hammerstein has been dubbed “Sexy Oklahoma” by the good folks at the Broadway Today podcast. When it sold out off Broadway before transferring the New York Times termed it “intimately staged and darkly revisionist.” (opens April 07)

I saw the Lanford Wilson play BURN THIS earlier this week and will review it after it opens. It features Adam Driver and Keri Russell. (opens April 16)

Hadestown is a new musical directed by Rachel Chavkin (who guided a surprise Broadway transfer of Great Comet last year). A retelling of the classic myth of Orpheus traveling to the underworld to retrieve his beloved Eurydice it comes with strong word of mouth from the off-Broadway and London runs. (opens April 17)

Directed by Joe Mantello and featuring John Lithgow and Laurie Metcalf (who won a Tony for her work in Playwright Lucas Hnath’s play “A Doll’s House, Part 2”). We wait to see if it stays relevant or if we are seriously politics weary. (opens April 18)

More tomorrow as I take on the other last minute opening nights of April 2019. Come to New York. Come see a live play!

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