This Week’s Picks! Adopt a Pup with Bernadette Peters & Andrew Rannells, Wake Up with Taye Diggs & More

Hey, you, taking another shower to combat that New York City heat. You look like a human-sized raisin. As long as you have deodorant and a roll of paper towels, you can venture outside and enjoy all the cool happenings. Such as? Well, there’s Penn and Teller’s return to Broadway, a salute to Andrew Lloyd Webber, and another summer of Broadway in Bryant Park. Here come this week’s picks!


Start the Day with Taye
July 7, check local listings
We don’t want to be critical, but if Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan fail to ask Taye Diggs about his upcoming stint as Hedwig on their show today, they should be demoted to reading the crop report on Topeka public access. Here’s how the conversation should go. Kelly and Michael: “How are you?” Taye Diggs: “Great!” Kelly and Michael: “Aaahhh! Tell us everything about being Hedwig! Spare no detail!” You’re welcome.


Cast a Spell with Penn & Teller
Begins July 7 at the Marquis Theatre
For six weeks, Broadway will get a bit more magical. No, the cabs are getting new air fresheners. Penn & Teller are back! The world-famous magicians are bringing their tricks from their super-popular Las Vegas act, along with their classics, to the Great White Way. It’s not every day you get to see, let’s say, someone run over by a tractor, so don’t let this opportunity…disappear. We’ll show ourselves out. Click for tickets!


Make Lunch More Musical
Begins July 9 at Bryant Park
Forget about lunch at your desk, serenaded by Carol in accounting’s ear-rattling laugh and the printer’s whirring. Head over to Bryant Park to hear selections from It Shoulda Been You and more tuners. Yup, Broadway at Bryant Park returns for another summer of lunch-hour pleasure featuring Broadway (and off-Broadway’s) best talent. Upcoming performances of the free series—which takes place Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. through August 13—including Finding Neverland and Something Rotten!


Enjoy the Dog Days of Summer
July 11 at Shubert Alley
All these Broadway charitable events get confusing. It’s time for a clarification. Broadway Bares is the stripping revue. Broadway Barks, taking place this week, is the star-studded pet adoption event hosted by Bernadette Peters and Andrew Rannells. It features Christian Borle, Sierra Boggess, and other Broadway headliners presenting dogs and cats for you to take home. So, yeah, leave the tear-away pants and thongs in the bedroom. They’ll be put to better use there anyway.


Witness the Music of the Night
July 12 at Birdland
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock isn’t due for months, and you’ve seen The Phantom of the Opera so many times that you’re attending the ushers’ birthday parties. Well, we have a fix for you, ALW fans. The current Phantom cast, including James Barbour, assembles at Birdland to sing numbers from Webber’s voluminous songbook. This performance, the first in a series of tribute concerts by the cast, benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Click for tickets!