Debra Messing Debuts, Stark Sands Says Goodbye & Pippin Gets a New Granny in This Week's Datebook

If you’re a fan of famous faces, the week of January 20-26 is your time to get busy! On tap on stages around NYC are Carol Channing, Annie Potts, Debra Messing and Sutton Foster, plus a star-studded concert special. Read on to get the scoop on the most exciting happenings in theater, TV, concerts and films in our calendar of events for Broadway lovers.


MONDAY, JANUARY 20
CAROL CHANNING & JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND CALL ON DOLLY!
Hello! Hello there, how are you? Oh hello! On this cold winter night, you'd do best to go see three-time Tony winner Carol Channing, who's returning for a one-night engagement celebrating the 50th anniversary of the opening of Hello, Dolly! A Man's A Man star Justin Vivian Bond hosts the celebration at Town Hall, which includes celebrity tributes, video questions from fans and footage from Channing’s illustrious career. Holy cabooses!

ALSO: Kenita R. Miller, Michael James Scott, Stephanie Umoh and more star in a one-night-only benefit performance of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens' Once on This Island at the Lucille Lortel Theater; Constantine Maroulis, Jason Gotay, Alex Brightman, Molly Ranson and more celebrate the music of Jeff Thomson in Go Where the Love Is at 54 Below; Ariana DeBose (Motown The Musical) does mash-ups, medleys and more in Typed Out at 54 Below.


TUESDAY, JANUARY 21
ANNIE POTTS STARTS SWINGING IN PIPPIN
Oh, it's time to start livin'! Annie Potts, best known for her role as Mary Jo Shively on TV's Designing Women (go ahead, go treat yourself to that saxophone-heavy intro for a minute) joins the Tony-winning Broadway revival of Pippin. Potts takes on the high-flying role of grandma Berthe in the show, so don't miss your chance to see her on the trapeze and belting "No Time at All."

ALSO: Tony winner Victoria Clark goes back to granting wishes as the fairy godmother in Cinderella; Broadway vet Edward Hibbert returns to 54 Below with his hit show Can't Something Be Done?; The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner opens at Atlantic Theater Company; Tim Federle's follow-up to Better Nate Than Ever—Five, Six, Seven, Nate!—is available at bookstores; Jennifer Holliday: The Song Is You and Isabela Moner's (Evita) Isabela are released on CD; Blue Jasmine, Woody Allen's update on A Streetcar Named Desire starring Cate Blanchett, gets the DVD treatment.


WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22
SEX TIPS! SEX TIPS! GET YOUR SEX TIPS HERE!
The theory that gay men give better advice than women is being put to the test in the off-Broadway comedy Sex Tips for a Straight Woman From a Gay Man. Adapted from the book of the same name by Matt Murphy and Jim Brochu, the stage show at 777 Theatre follows authors Dan Anderson and Maggie Berman as they deliver sage advice to the audience with the help of a friendly and hot male model. Hey, if it worked for Meryl, it'll work for you!

ALSO: Lincoln Center’s American Songbook 2014 season opens with a free concert in the David Rubenstein Atrium.


THURSDAY, JANUARY 23
DEBRA MESSING IS LOVESTRUCK IN MULLINGAR
Interior designer Grace Adler Famed lyricist Julia Houston Emmy winner Debra Messing makes her Broadway debut in Tony, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley’s Outside Mullingar, opposite Tony winner Brian F. O’Byrne. In the new rom-com, Messing plays an eccentric Irish farmer who’s trying to make a romantic connection with her shy neighbor. Go for Messing's charming debut and stay for the show's last-minute quirky curveball.

ALSO: Donna Vivino's witty and delightful show It’s Not Easy Being Green returns for one night only at 54 Below.


FRIDAY, JANUARY 24
SUTTON FOSTER BIDS CAFE CARLYLE ADIEU
Sutton Foster (a.k.a. the world's best character actress with the vocal chops of a musical leading lady) wraps up her enchanting cabaret show at the swanky NYC nightspot. Featuring an eclectic evening of standards, pop and Broadway, including her rousing medley of “Not for the Life,” “NYC” and “Astonishing” from Thoroughly Modern Millie, Annie and Little Women, Foster unleashes her powerful pipes like no one else.


SATURDAY, JANUARY 25
DON'T LEAF THE SKIVVIES OUT IN THE COLD
Spring has (almost) sprung! Lauren Molina and Nick Cearley are The Skivvies, and they know how to get your attention. The undie-rock, comedy-pop duo returns to 54 Below for a concert titled One Giant Leaf for Mankind, featuring special guests Lena Hall, Morgan James, Justin Matthew Sargent, Zak Resnick and Grammy nominee Sophie B. Hawkins. Don't miss the show, or you'll be saying, "Damn, I wish I was in your audience."

ALSO: Kim Pirrella, sister of Real Housewives of New Jersey star Melissa Gorga, returns to My Big Gay Italian Wedding and My Big Gay Italian Funeral at off-Broadway's St. Luke's Theatre.


SUNDAY, JANUARY 26
STARK SANDS HANGS UP HIS KINKY BOOTS
This is time for a shake-up! Since Kinky Boots opened last April, Stark Sands has been turning in a gangbusting, Tony-nominated performance as Charlie Price, the contemplative counterpoint to Tony winner Billy Porter’s colorful drag queen, Lola. Celebrate Sands' final performance by hearing him belt Cyndi Lauper's Tony-winning pop score one last time.

ALSO: The Commons of Pensacola, starring Emmy winner Sarah Jessica Parker and Tony winner Blythe Danner, ends its off-Broadway run at MTC's New York City Center Stage I; The Real Housewives of Atlanta's Kandi Burruss plays her final performance in NEWSical the Musical; Broadway Bares: Winter Burlesque heats up XL Nightclub; Sondheim Unplugged returns to 54 Below.