4/25/05 - 5/1/05

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— Mary Testa becomes the Queen of Clink as she steps into the well-worn shoes of Mama Morton in the long-running revival of Chicago. The beloved show also currently stars Brenda Braxton as Velma Kelly, Michelle DeJean as Roxie Hart and Brent Barrett as Billy Flynn.

— Full House survivor Bob Saget makes a legit debut, opening as a Wall Street dad in the latest from filmmaker/playwright Paul Weitz (In Good Company, About a Boy, American Pie). The Second Stage production of Privilege also stars Conor Donovan and Harry Zittel as his teen sons.

— Which drag queen will win Best Impersonation--a Barbra Streisand, a Judy Garland or a Peggy Lee?! Best Piano Bar/Restaurant Entertainer? Best Technical Director?! The best and brightest in the cabaret world will come together at Symphony Space for the 2005 MAC Awards, presented by the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs.

— Anne Hathaway is one of the honorees at The Barrow Group's Celebrity Scribbles & Doodles Auction, an evening of "champagne, caviar, caricatures and cards." The festivities will be held at 312 West 36th Street from 6PM to midnight.

— With a scrapbook full of great reviews for her turn in Broadway's Wonderful Town earlier this season, beauty queen Brooke Shields heads to London's West End to tackle the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago.

— Will the unlikely casting of Natasha Richardson as Blanche and John C. Reilly as Stanley pay off for the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. The Edward Hall staging--which also features stage vets Chris Bauer and Amy Ryan--opens at Studio 54.

— It's a Dirty Rotten steal! From 11:30am to 1pm, the stars of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels will appear in front of the Imperial Theatre to sign free copies of their upcoming original cast recording. To get a limited edition CD, which won't be available in stores until May 10, all you have to do is show up!

— Author Elizabeth Spencer, who wrote the source material on which The Light in the Piazza is based, meets the musical's creators, Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas at LCT's Platform Series. The free event takes place at 6:30PM in the lobby of the Vivan Beaumont.

— Beast on the Moon, the new play about Armenian immigrants set in 1920s Milwaukee, opens at the Century Center for the Performing Arts. Omar Metwally and Louis Zorich head the cast.

— New La Cage aux Folles lead Robert Goulet and Lynn Redgrave wake up early to announce the nominees for the 2005 Drama Desk Awards at the Frairs Club.

— Elaine May watches the first performance of her new Broadway comedy After the Night and the Music at the Biltmore. It's actually three one-acts, about overweight chorus boys longing to dance, married couples longing for sex, and aging singles looking for love.

— Broadway's family-friendly new musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang opens at the newly-named Hilton Theatre. Theater faves Raul Esparza, Erin Dilly, Philip Bosco, Kevin Cahoon, Jan Maxwell, Marc Kudisch, Chip Zien and Robert Sella star.

— The cast of Rent celebrates 4,730,400 minutes since their 1996 opening at the Nederlander Theatre. The long-stalled film version of the rock opera arrives in movie theaters in time for the holidays later this year.

— Prospect Theatre Company premieres the new musical The Pursuit of Persephone, adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise. Broadway baby Jessica Grove stars in the world premiere, which will play at the Connellly Theatre in the East Village.

— A starry revival of Glengarry Glen Ross, David Mamet's tale of ruthless real estate salesmen, opens at the Royale Theatre. Alan Alda and Liev Schreiber have the juiciest roles in the ensemble play, staged by two-time Tony-winning director Joe Mantello.

— Brian Stokes Mitchell brings Love/Life, the cabaret act that he recently premiered at Feinstein's at the Regency, to the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center. Mixing classics of the American Songbook with the Broadway canon, the show will play eight performances through May 23 during off nights of The Light in the Piazza.

— Boozy: The Life, Death, and Subsequent Vilification of Le Corbusier and, More Importantly, Robert Moses, created by Les Freres Corbusier starts at off-Broadway's 45 Bleecker. Performances continue through May 28 with an opening set for May 11.

— Stephen Belber's McReele plays its final performance at the Laura Pels Theatre off-Broadway.

— So long, possums! Barry Humphries ends his run in Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance! at the Music Box Theatre.

— Romance, an all-male farce by David Mamet ends at the Atlantic Theater, with a possible West Coast production to follow.