Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick and More Stars Grace Our Must-Do Events for the Week of March 9 to 15

An original musical, a screen-to-stage adaptation and two high-profile revivals begin previews in a bustling week on Broadway. Now’s your chance to see Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rob McClure, Sharon D Clarke, Tony Yazbeck, Carmen Cusack and Harry Hadden-Paton, plus incoming Mean Girls star Sabrina Carpenter. Read on for details of these must-do events for March 9 through 15.

MONDAY, MARCH 9
MEET THE MANNY

After showing off his expertise at physical comedy in Chaplin and Beetlejuice, Rob McClure takes on an even bigger challenge as the unemployed actor-turned-Scottish nanny in the new Broadway musical Mrs. Doubtfire. Donning the gray wig and housedress made famous on screen by Robin Williams, McClure plays Daniel Hillard, a father desperate to spend time with his three kids in the wake of a divorce. Four-time Tony-winning director Jerry Zaks blends farcical numbers by Something Rotten! composers Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick into a heartfelt story of parental love. McClure’s transformation into the poppet-master has been kept under wraps, but with 30 quick changes, the Tony-nominated actor won’t have a dull moment on or off stage. 

INFO: Opens on April 5 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre (124 West 43rd Street). Tickets start at $59. For more details, click here. 

TUESDAY, MARCH 10
YOU CAN SIT WITH HER

Get in, losers! A new Cady is headed to North Shore High. As Mean Girls kicks off its third year on Broadway, pop singer and Disney Channel star Sabrina Carpenter will join the company on March 10 for a 13-week engagement as the heroine of the musical, who gets pulled into the gravity of the Plastics clique. Known for her work in Disney’s Girl Meets World, the 20-year-old actress immediately felt at home when she saw Mean Girls on stage. “I remember having the time of my life,” Carpenter told Broadway.com after her casting was announced, “falling in love with the characters and just feeling like I wanted to be a part of it in any way possible.” Also debuting on March 10: Chad Burris as Damian, Laura Leigh Turner as Karen and Olivia Kaufmann as Janis.  

INFO: Carpenter appears through June 7 at the August Wilson Theatre (245 West 52nd Street). Tickets start at $69.50. For more details, click here. 

THURSDAY, MARCH 12
HAVE A NICE TRIP

How do you turn an acid trip into a Broadway musical? Writer/director James Lapine, who made a matinee idol out of artist Georges Seurat, intends to answer that question in Flying Over Sunset. Set in 1950s Hollywood, the show centers on movie star Cary Grant, diplomat/playwright Clare Boothe Luce and writer Aldous Huxley, played by Tony nominees Tony Yazbeck, Carmen Cusack and Harry Hadden-Paton, respectively. These mid-century superstars seemed to have everything, but each felt the need to take LSD (which was legal at the time, under a doctor’s care) to deal with insecurity and loss. It’s a rare treat to see an original new musical on Lincoln Center Theater’s huge Beaumont stage, particularly a collaboration between Lapine, composer Tom Kitt and lyricist Michael Korie. 

INFO: Opens on April 16 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65th Street). Tickets start at $87. For more details, click here. 

FRIDAY, MARCH 13
SUITE LIFE

When Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker turned to each other and said, “Let’s do a play together!” you can bet producers whipped out their checkbooks. Besides a short stint together in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, the couple has rarely worked together. So, why are they reviving Plaza Suite, Neil Simon’s 1968 trio of one-acts set in the NYC hotel? Broderick won his first Tony at 21 in Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs and went on to star in Biloxi Blues and The Odd Couple. The challenge of playing three characters each in what Simon categorized as a drama, a satire and a farce appealed to the stars, especially with their pal John Benjamin Hickey as director. Check-in begins on March 13.

INFO: Limited engagement through July 12 at the Hudson Theatre (141 West 44th Street). Tickets start at $79. For more details, click here. 

FRIDAY, MARCH 13
CHANGE IS COMING

Caroline, or Change arrived on Broadway in 2004 at the end of a season where it was overshadowed by Wicked and Avenue Q. Featuring a sung-through score by Jeanine Tesori and Tony Kushner, the musical centers on an African-American maid earning $30 a week working for a southern Jewish family in 1963. It sounds straightforward, but the show also includes singing appliances, Caroline’s rebellious teenage daughter and a crisis of conscience experienced by the struggling single mom. Roundabout Theatre Company’s Broadway revival boasts a universally acclaimed, Olivier Award-winning performance by British actress Sharon D Clarke in the titanic title role. Caroline—the character and the show—gets a much-deserved second look, beginning on March 13. 

INFO: Opens on April 7 at Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street). Tickets start at $59. For more details, click here. 

Illustrations by Tug Rice for Broadway.com.