Daniel Craig Faces Betrayal, Big Fish Makes a Splash & Lady Day Sings the Blues in This Week's Datebook

Welcome to October! As the fall season kicks into gear, it's time to fill your calendar with the best stage-related events in the week ahead. Read on to get the scoop on the most exciting happenings in theater, TV, music and films in our calendar of events for Broadway lovers.


MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
ALISON BECHDEL'S FUN HOME GETS ERECTED
If you love family dysfunction and edgy musicals, this one's for you: Alison Bechdel’s genre-defining 2006 graphic memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is hitting the stage at the Public Theater. Starring Tony winner Michael Cerveris and Tony nominee Judy Kuhn, Fun Home is set in a funeral home and centers on Bechdel's fraught relationship with her controlling, closeted father. Directed by Sam Gold, the musical is composed by Tony nominee Jeanine Tesori and features a book and lyrics by Tony nominee Lisa Kron.

ALSO: Tony winner Judy Kaye and pianist Steven Blier lead a Festive Evening of Song benefit at New York Botanical Garden; Broadway Unplugged, featuring Emily Skinner, Marc Kudisch and Matilda's Jill Paice, plays Town Hall; The Old Friends' Betty Buckley performs Signature Songs at The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center; 54 Below hosts the fourth annual Born for Broadway benefit concert, featuring a slew of Broadway favorites.


TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1
DANIEL CRAIG & RACHEL WEISZ BEGIN THEIR BETRAYAL
Real-life husband and wife Daniel Craig (Skyfall) and Oscar winner Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener) play an adulterous stage couple in the much-anticipated Broadway revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal. Directed by Tony winner Mike Nichols and co-starring Rafe Spall, Pinter's modern classic goes back in time with Emma (Weisz), who is married to Robert (Craig) but engages in a seven-year affair with her husband's best friend Jerry (Spall). Betrayal will play a limited engagement at the Barrymore Theatre through January 5, 2014.

ALSO: The Snow Geese, starring Tony winners Mary-Louise Parker and Victoria Clark and Tony nominee Danny Burstein, begins previews at Broadway's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre; Jon Robin Baitz's The Film Society opens at the Clurman Theatre; Eric Bogosian's (100) Monologues begins previews at the Bank Street Theatre; Broadway alum Ariana Grande rocks out on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.


WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2
THE SIN TWISTERS CAUSE A RUCKUS AT 54 BELOW
Sin Twisters is the Spooner-ific title for an evening of memories and melodies from two of the grandest dames of the theater at 54 Below. Tony nominees Anita Gillette and Penny Fuller have often been mistaken for each other (they both played Sally Bowles during the original Broadway production of Cabaret), but now, Sin Twisters brings these savvy performers together for a celebration of their similarities and their remarkable differences as women and artists. Nostalgic but no nostalgia act, Gillette and Fuller join forces to show that they've still got the stuff!


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3
DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER SINGS THE LADY DAY BLUES
It's easy to live when you're in love, and fans are so in love with Lady Day! The bio play with music, featuring Tony and Grammy winner Dee Dee Bridgewater as the late, legendary jazz artist Billie Holiday, opens at off-Broadway's Little Shubert Theatre. Featuring 25 songs, including "Strange Fruit," "My Man," and "Good Morning Heartache," Lady Day tells the inspiring story of how the singer/songwriter attempts a final comeback performance. Written and directed by Stephen Stahl, the show garnered an Olivier nomination for Bridgewater.

ALSO: Bad Jews opens at the Laura Pels Theatre; John Kander and Greg Pierce's The Landing, starring Tony winner David Hyde Pierce and Julia Murney, begins previews at the Vineyard Theatre; Mike Daisey's All the Faces of the Moon closes at the Public; Rent and Hairspray alum Shayna Steele brings down the house at 54 Below; Sean Saves the World, starring Tony nominee Sean Hayes and Broadway faves Megan Hilty and Linda Lavin, premieres on NBC.


FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4
LOVE REIGNS SUPREME AT JOE'S PUB
Freestyle Love Supreme, the hip-hop crew led by In the Heights Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda (who will be absent from this gig), is ready to knock back a few rounds and rhymes at Joe's Pub! The improv rap group, which also features Christopher Jackson, Anthony Veneziale, Arthur Lewis and Chris Sullivan, has toured the country with their unique act, in which the performers take cues from the audience and turn them into full-scale musical numbers on the spot. Helmed by Miranda's In the Heights collaborator Thomas Kail, the crew will play five performances.

ALSO: 54 Below celebrates the 10th anniversary of the cult favorite film Camp with a screening of the movie and a talkback with Robin De Jesus, Sasha Allen and more.


SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5
UNCOVER THE MYSTERY OF JC LEE'S LUCE
Luce, written by JC Lee, deals with a teacher's startling discovery about a student adopted from a worn-torn African country, which shakes a family's image of their well-respected son. Neal Huff, Marin Hinkle and Okieriete Onaodowan star in the LCT3 world premiere of the mysterious drama (Lee's professional playwriting debut), which begins previews at the Claire Tow Theater. Consider our interest officially piqued!

ALSO: Final Analysis closes at the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre; Broadway Trivia Night tests fans' Great White Way knowledge at 54 Below.


SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6
BROADWAY REELS IN A BIG FISH
At long last, Big Fish is opening at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre, starring Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz and Tony nominees Kate Baldwin and Bobby Steggert. Based on the novel of the same name by Daniel Wallace and directed and choreographed by Tony winner Susan Stroman, Big Fish is the chronicle of an extraordinary man who tells tall tales about extraordinary things. Don't miss one the season's most fanciful, high-spirited and touching shows! 

ALSO: Breakfast with Mugabe closes at the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre; Brendan at the Chelsea closes at the Acorn Theatre; Broadway alum Frankie James Grande (Mamma Mia!) is Livin La Vida Grande at 54 Below.