This Week’s Picks: Hop a Crazy Train with Kristin Chenoweth & Spend V-Day with Jeremy Jordan & Anna Kendrick

Hey, you, trying to choose the right novelty teddy bear for your significant other. Who cares if you get “Doctor Love” or “Sir Hugsalot”? That thing will be coddled for three seconds before it’s tossed under the bed. There’s a better way to use your time. We have Scarlett Strallen’s arrival to Gentleman’s Guide, the debut of The Last Five Years (the movie!) and Kristin Chenoweth’s return to Broadway. Here comes this week’s picks!


See James Barbour Don the Mask
Begins February 9 at the Majestic Theatre
Playing the title role in The Phantom of the Opera is a major accomplishment for a Broadway actor. It’s bigger than getting to cut the line at the Times Square Olive Garden and grander than having the Naked Cowboy begging to have your photo taken with him. So congrats to James Barbour (Beauty and the Beast, Carousel), who starts his run as the Phantom, replacing Norm Lewis. Click for tickets!


Welcome a New Gal to Gentleman’s Guide
Begins February 10 at the Walter Kerr Theatre
Lisa O’Hare exits A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and who is replacing her as Sibella? Two-time Olivier nominee Scarlett Strallen. But this isn't the first time O'Hare and Strallen have played the same role—the stars both played our favorite nanny in London's Mary Poppins (and Strallen later went on to play the role on Broadway). This is getting weird, though not enough that it will diminish our enjoyment of a great show. Our priorities are in order. Click for tickets!


Enjoy a Madcap Twentieth Century
Begins February 12 at American Airlines Theatre
The mingling of the past and present can get awkward. Have you ever been to a family reunion? Or tried to explain Wi-Fi to your grandma? On Broadway, this co-mingling is most welcome. Here’s a perfect example: Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher tackle the lead roles in the revival of Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s train-bound, frenetic musical comedy On the Twentieth Century. And, yes, take grandma with you! Click for tickets!


Celebrate Valentine’s Day Broadway-Style
February 12 at 54 Below
Unless you like Zagat-ignored restaurants and lovestruck couples clogging sidewalks, don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day on the actual day. It’s all long lines and frustrated sighs, so love it up early. Head to A Very Broadway Valentine’s Day, which features the Great White Way’s favorite couples celebrating “Broadway romance, on and offstage.” Among the guests: Alysha Umphress, Amy Spanger, and Santino Fontana. Isn’t that romantic—and non-aggravating? Click for tickets!


Get Enchanted by Cathy & Jamie Again
Opens February 13 in movie theaters and on demand
Finally! The movie version of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years took forever to get here. Now that the day has come you may not know what to do. Do you throw party? Get a tattoo? Write a poem? Whatever you it is, don’t forget to actually watch the movie, which stars Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan in a rare instance of musical-to-movie casting that makes total sense.