4/4/05 - 4/10/05

Want to see your New York City event listed in the Broadway.com Datebook? Just e-mail us the who/what/where/when for consideration.

— Robert Harling's Steel Magnolias opens at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre. This chestnut, concerning the lives of six Southern belles who frequent a beauty salon, stars Delta Burke, Christine Ebersole, Rebecca Gayheart, Marsha Mason, Lily Rabe and Frances Sternhagen.

— Kerry Butler, Eddie Korbach, Marc Kudisch (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), Karen Mason, Christiane Noll (The Mambo Kings) and Noah Racey will salute the Broadway Musicals of 1945 at the popular Town Hall series. Starting at 8PM, the evening will include selections from shows including Carousel, Up In Central Park and Billion Dollar Baby.

— Shoshana Bean and the rest of the company of Wicked present Broadway Unplugged at the Central Presbyterian Church on 64th Street and Park Avenue. A benefit for Quilts for Kids, the 7PM show features (in addition to Wicked stars David Ayers, Bean, George Hearn and Carole Shelley) Gavin Creel (La Cage aux Folles) Daniel Davis (La Cage), Sutton Foster (Little Women), Sara Gettelfinger (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Chester Gregory II (Brooklyn), Josh Tower (The Lion King) and the cast of Altar Boyz.

— Privilege, a new play by Paul Weitz (In Good Company, About a Boy, American Pie) starts a limited six-week engagement at off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre. Starring Bob Saget as a well-to-do Upper East Side dad accused of insider trading, this heartfelt comedy focuses on two teenage brothers who find their lives changed forever.

— Broadway favorite Kristin Chenoweth releases her second solo album with Sony Classical today. As I Am is a full set of inspirational songs with titles like "Upon This Rock," "When You Abide In Me," "Poor Wayfaring Stranger," "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee," "Because He Lives," "Word of God Speak" and (why not?!) Chenoweth's favorite benefit song "Taylor the Latte Boy." The star will appear at the Lincoln Center Tower Records at 6PM for an in-store signing.

— James Earl Jones and Leslie Uggams open in Broadway's new production of On Golden Pond at the Cort Theatre. Concerning a retired couple who take in their troubled grandchild for an unforgettable summer at their Maine lakeside cottage, director Leonard Foglia's staging also stars Craig Bockhorn, Peter Francis James, Alexander Mitchell and Linda Powell.

— The new Broadway production of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross starts performances at the Royale Theatre. Directed by two-time Tony winner Joe Mantello, this dramatic look at a group of competitive real estate salesmen stars Alan Alda, Gordon Clapp. Liev Schreiber, Jeffrey Tambor, Frederick and Tom Wopat.

— Dan Israely's Orgasm, which was a success on the west coast, starts performances at off-Broadway's Soho Playhouse. A comedy that explores what went wrong in God's creation of man and woman, the show features Ed Asner as the voice of God. Opening night is set for April 21.

— Gossip columnist and reality TV star Victoria Gotti plays her first performance as one of the stars of off-Broadway's We're Still Hot. A musical comedy about a group of friends attending their 35th high school reunion and celebrating menopause and sisterhood, the show will feature Gotti at select performances.

— HBO captures Whoopi Goldberg's recent Broadway return with Whoopi: Back to Broadway–The 20th Anniversary, premiering at 10PM. The comedy hit mixes beloved old characters like Fontaine, who now takes aim at the Bush administration, with new creations like Lurleen, a Southern belle facing menopause.

— After causing a sensation in the West End, Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman opens at Broadway's Booth Theatre. Starring Billy Crudup, Jeff Goldblum, Zeljko Ivanek and Michael Stuhlbarg, the comedy-drama concerns a fiction writer being interrogated about the gruesome nature of his short stories.

— Solange Sandy, who played Helene in the now-aborted Broadway revival of Sweet Charity in both Chicago and Minneapolis, joins the company of Chicago in the role of merry murderess Annie. A former Alvin Ailey dancer, Sandy has previously been seen on Broadway in Aida and Dance of the Vampires.

— Theatre for a New Audience's production of Souls of Naples, concerning a haunted house in 1940s Italy, opens at The Duke on 42nd Street. John Turturro, Aida Turturro, Didi Conn and Max Casella star.

— Well-loved Broadway star Annie Golden returns to Joe's Pub at 7:30PM for Annie Golden's Velvet Prison, a song cycle of tunes by composers like Lionel Bart, Adam Guettel, Marc Shaiman, Stephen Sondheim, Tom Waits and Tammy Wynette. Golden will be accompanied by Marsh Hanson.