Norbert Leo Butz Lets Loose, John Lloyd Young Heads Back to Jersey & Broadway Has a Picnic in This Week’s Datebook

It's officially January, which means that there's a whole month of resolution making (and breaking) and, of course, exciting Broadway events ahead of us! Read on to see what we've picked as the cream of the crop from the week ahead, which includes opening nights for The Other Place and Picnic, a thrilling Jersey Boys return and a surfeit of stars bringing their talents to 54 Below.


MONDAY, JANUARY 7
DAVID YAZBEK & NORBERT LEO BUTZ HEAD DOWNTOWN
Six-time Tony-nominated composer and musician David Yazbek welcomes his Dirty Rotten Scoundrels star, Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz, to Yazbek's monthly concert series at 92YTribeca. The super-talented duo promise to deliver favorite musical numbers and debut new songs at the downtown hotspot.

ALSO: Bunheads, starring Sutton Foster, pirouettes back to ABC Family; Tony winner Hinton Battle and original Mamma Mia! star Louise Pitre take on 54 Below; The Heiress' Jessica Chastain swings by the Late Show with David Letterman; Anne Hathaway talks Les Miz on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.


TUESDAY, JANUARY 8
WATER BY THE SPOONFUL FLOWS OFF-BROADWAY
Quiara Alegria Hudes’ Pulitzer Prize-winning drama makes its eagerly awaited NYC bow at Second Stage. Second in a trilogy about the effects of the Iraq war, this piercing look at a fragmented family stars Armando Riesco, Liza Colon-Zayas, Bill Heck and more.

ALSO: Smash season one, featuring Megan Hilty & Christian Borle, is available on DVD; Linda Lavin returns to 54 Below; Compliance, starring theater vet Ann Dowd, is released on DVD; Matt Bomer guest stars as Andrew Rannells’ (s)ex(y)-boyfriend on The New Normal.


WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9
THE JAMMER HAMMERS ATLANTIC THEATER AUDIENCES
Suit up for the first preview of hard-hitting roller derby drama The Jammer at Atlantic Theater's Stage 2. Written by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Boardwalk Empire scribe Rolin Jones, this rollicking play stars Patch Darrah and In the Heights favorite Christopher Jackson as the colorfully named Jack Lovington and Charlie Heartbreak, respectively Game on!

ALSO: Watch stage and screen stars like Scarlett Johansson, Neil Patrick Harris, Andrew Garfield, Jake Gyllenhaal and more strut their stuff at the People's Choice Awards on CBS. 


THURSDAY, JANUARY 10
LAURIE METCALF TRAVELS TO THE OTHER PLACE
In The Other Place, Emmy winner and Tony nominee Laurie Metcalf reprises her role as Juliana Smithton, a neurologist who presents an honest account of the unraveling of her life—until her version of events becomes suspect. Directed by Joe Mantello, Sharr White’s drama, at Broadway's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, features a tour-de-force performance from Metcalf that’ll keep you guessing.

ALSO: The Wonderful Wizard of Song: The Music of Harold Arlen opens at St. Luke’s Theatre; former Book of Mormon star Josh Gad’s new White House comedy 1600 Penn begins on NBC.


FRIDAY, JANUARY 11
JOHN LLOYD YOUNG CROONS AGAIN IN JERSEY BOYS
Tony winner John Lloyd Young returns (for a third time!) to the role of famous falsetto frontman Frankie Valli in Broadway's Jersey Boys for a limited engagement. Lloyd Young joins Drew Gehling, Matt Bogart and Jeremy Kushnier in the Tony-winning musical, which follows the rise of Valli and his chart-topping group The Four Seasons. “Oh, What a Night!” indeed.

ALSO: La Rondine, starring Kristine Opolais, opens at The Metropolitan Opera; Darlene Love takes 54 Below by storm.


SATURDAY, JANUARY 12
BRUNCH, BOYS & BROADWAY BALLADS AT 54 BELOW
Let's hear it for the Boys! Some of Broadway's hottest singers have joined forces to show off their range in a concert that mixes funk/pop/gospel/rock and traditional showtunes for an exciting new sound. At their debut concert at 54 Below, The Boys will perform new arrangements with an acoustic band. 

ALSO: 54 Below hosts Morgan James, Broadway-bound in Motown the Musical.


SUNDAY, JANUARY 13
PACK A BASKET & HAVE A PICNIC ON BROADWAY
William Inge's Pulitzer Prize-winning play lays out a blanket at Broadway’s American Airlines Theatre in a delicious revival helmed by director Sam Gold. Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn stars alongside theater vets Reed Birney and Elizabeth Marvel, rising stars Maggie Grace and Sebastian Stan, Emmy winner Mare Winningham, Madeleine Martin and Ben Rappaport. 

ALSO: The Midtown Men, featuring Jersey Boys faves Tony winner Christian Hoff, Tony nominee J. Robert Spencer, Michael Longoria and Daniel Reichard, bring their doo-wop concert experience to the Gramercy Theater; Final day to see the off-Broadway productions of Terrence McNally's Golden Age, starring Lee Pace and Bebe Neuwirth, and Amy Herzog’s The Great God Pan.