2005 Wrap-Up: Looking Ahead

After reading through the Broadway.com 2005 Wrap-Up, you are undoubtedly thinking the same thing we are: What's coming up in 2006? To answer that question, we turned to Broadway.com's staff and contributing writers to tell us what they are most eagerly awaiting in the coming year.

"Several of my favorite writers have plays on tap for 2006: Martin McDonagh left has The Lieutenant of Inishmore in February at the Atlantic Theater Company, home of his first American hit The Beauty Queen of Leenane. I loved David Marshall Grant's Snakebit, and Playwrights Horizons is producing his new play, Pen, in March. Conor McPherson is known for his beautifully written ghost stories, and I'm excited to see Oliver Platt as a grieving husband in the Manhattan Theater Club's Broadway production of Shining City in April. Of course, everyone is looking forward to Three Days of Rain; I saw the original Manhattan Theater Club production of Richard Greenberg's fabulous play in 1997, and I can't imagine how Julia, Paul and Bradley can top Patricia Clarkson, John Slattery and Jon Tenney. But Miss Julia has selected a play that richly deserves a Broadway production, and I'm rooting for her." —Kathy Henderson, Feature Writer

"After seeing so many fun musicals and dramatic plays I am looking forward to some comedy on the stage. The revival of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park looks to be a funny show with a great cast of movie and theater stars leads Patrick Wilson and Amanda Peet are at right. I am also looking forward to another revival, A Chorus Line. Due to my young age wink, wink, I am forced to wait until these classic shows make their way back to the Great White Way to experience them. "—Alixandra Liner, Editorial Intern

"My adolescence perfectly coincided with the 1980s, which was the only era in my life when I listened to Top 40 radio. Thus, I'm looking forward to Chad Beguelin and Matthew Sklar's score for The Wedding Singer. The songwriting team somehow constructed the sound of that era's popular music with completely original songs. Gnarly! On a more serious note, I am eager to see the new cast of Doubt left Eileen Atkins's subtle stage work always amazes; David Hare's Stuff Happens at the Public New York is starved for political theater, and Tom Stoppard's sprawling The Coast of Utopia. I am also awaiting Grey Gardens at Playwrights Horizons. I can't think of richer source material than the eccentric Bouvier cousins rambling around their ramshackle East Hampton mansion. I'm prepared to be fascinated and delighted."—Beth Stevens, Managing Editor

"I'm looking forward to anything NOT based on a movie. Chief among these are Adam Rapp's gritty Red Light Winter at the Barrow Street Theater in January, Signature Theater's revival of John Guare's seldom produced Landscape of the Body in March; and Tom Stoppard's intriguing trilogy The Coast of Utopia in October at Lincoln Center." —Ron Lasko, Reviewer

"Nothing says 'Broadway' like a good comeback. As one of the participants on ABC's surprise hit Dancing with the Stars, Seinfeld alum John O'Hurley right showed that professionalism, personal style and What other word can one use? moxy don't measure up—at least in voters minds—to barely-there costumes and dime-a-dozen antics like those of his competitor Kelly Monaco. After Monaco was crowned series champ, ABC caved to the national outrage and allowed O'Hurley, and his equally graceful partner Charlotte Jorgenson, a rematch with Monaco. This time, the voters and the judges got it right, and O'Hurley got the gold. So what does a debonair character actor of a certain age do with this rekindled publicity? Why, take it to the Great White Way of course! Starting in January, O'Hurley will lend his suavity to the role of Chicago's resident sleazy lawyer, Billy Flynn. He's going out there a reality TV punchline, but with charm to burn not to mention those trademark eyebrows; he's coming back a star. The addition of a class act like O'Hurley makes even a long-runner like Chicago my must-see show of 2006." —Kevin Manganaro, Feature Writer and Reviewer

"I have a love/hate relationship with Bertolt Brecht. Despite dragging afternoons in a Northwestern classroom, subjected to rigorous blathering about the German icon's rejection of Stanislavksi's Method which I revere and a total rebuff of the mythical "Fourth Wall," behind which I, as an actor, love to hide, I find myself counting down the minutes to the March 24 opening of the revival of Brecht's illustrious The Threepenny Opera. If for no other reason than curiosity, I cannot wait to see the curtain go up on naughty Scottish Cabaret star Alan Cumming right, in all his smooth-talking glory as Mack the Knife, not to mention the looks on the audience's faces when the raucous musical shrieks out its unapologetic social commentary. OK, so maybe what was taboo in 1928 isn't so risque today… but I hope Studio 54 won't know what hit it. " —Lyssa Mandel, Editorial Intern

"Part tribute to childhood, part ode to musical theater, Wendy Wasserstein's children's book Pamela's First Musical left genuinely touched me when I read it. Thus I'm very excited to see the tuner it spawned, especially considering it features some of the last music by the late Cy Coleman, one of my all-time faves. I do have a little trouble picturing the story onstage, where it is going to have to be both innocent, in keeping with the source material, and savvy, in keeping with what theatergoers expect. But I'm still eager to hear the Coleman/David Zippel score and see how Wasserstein adapted her tale. So, while there are more mainstream things I am looking forward to seeing what the hell Tarzan is going to be like, Carol Kane in B'way's Wicked, Bradley Cooper in Three Days of Rain, Festen and The History Boys chief among them, Pamela's First Musical is honestly what I'm most psyched for. If director Graciela Daniele and the rest of the team can pull it off, this just could be the perfect family musical. " —Cara Joy David, Senior Newswriter

"Since I love my musicals short and sweet anyone else up for a Once On This Island or Grand Hotel revival?, I'm very curious to see if the 90-minute Vegas versions of Hairspray and Phantom are able to keep the magic intact. Since I love what director Michael Grandage and choreographer Rob Ashford did with Guys and Dolls, I'm eagerly anticipating their fresh take on Evita for the West End. But most of all—as I often praised her glory on American Idol in these pages and deemed her a worthy Effie White before she actually landed the part—I'm dying to see if Jennifer Hudson right will help make Bill Condon's Dreamgirls the must-see movie musical of the millennium. —Paul Wontorek, Editor-in-Chief

"Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore has taken a long time to get here, but then it took a while for someone to find the gumption to put on the original production in London. McDonagh's wildly hilarious satire on IRA violence was turned down by the National Theater and the Royal Court, purportedly because it was too hot to handle. In typical McDonagh fashion, it's rife with black comedy, but it's also incredibly bloody—the most gore-filled play since the great Jacobean dramas. The Atlantic Theater Company has chosen David Wilmot as the psychopathic title character, and it sounds inspired. Brian d'Arcy James is also featured; His starring role in another Irish play, Conor McPherson's The Good Thief, won him a Drama Desk nomination a few years back." —Ed Karam, Reviewer

"I know it's still in theaters but I personally can't wait for the DVD release of Rent fondly known to in my household as the “What You Own” edition where we'll finally take in the second half of “Goodbye Love,” Anthony Rapp's cut solo “Halloween,” and get to freeze-frame Idina Menzel's sexy leap onto the pool table in “Take Me Or Leave Me.” I'm crossing my fingers for a special bonus: a second version of “Out Tonight” starring Daphne Rubin-Vega! And even though I'll have to travel to Cincinnati and that's no Barcelona, I'm wound up over the casting of Raul Esparza left in John Doyle's production of Company. He's already proven he has the honesty tick, tick...BOOM!, the intensity Taboo, the charm Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, not to mention the grasp on Sondheim Sunday in the Park with George, Merrily We Roll Along to bring the multi-layered character of Bobby to life. Now we'll see if he can play an instrument at the same time!" —Katie Riegel, Site Producer/Feature Writer

"Many of the shows I'm looking forward to most in 2006 are off-Broadway plays by contemporary playwrights. I was a fan of Nilo Cruz's lyrical Anna in the Tropics, so I hope to also enjoy his Beauty of the Father at Manhattan Theatre Club. Next door at MTC's Stage I will be John Patrick Shanley's Defiance. It will be nearly impossible for him to equal Doubt, but if Defiance is half as good it will be worth seeing. Primary Stages is offering a comedy by another high-profile playwright, Charles Grodin—his The Right Kind of People about a fashionable Fifth Avenue co-op board sounds fun. Over at Playwrights Horizons, I can't wait to see the musical version of Grey Gardens, based on one of my favorite documentaries. If you haven't seen the movie, buy it or rent it! The other off-Broadway play I'm most looking forward to isn't by a living author, but it's one of the funniest farces ever written: Entertaining Mr. Sloane." —William Stevenson, Reviewer

"I love the spectacle that Broadway offers, and so there's a kid-like part of me that's ready to be dazzled like mad at three new musicals literally flying into town in 2006–Tarzan, Lestat and Mary Poppins. On the other hand, theater is such an actor-driven experience that I'm also eagerly anticipating being held captive by three masterful performers who'll be revving up their acclaimed Off Broadway hits for runs on the Great White Way–Sarah Jones in Bridge & Tunnel, Jay Johnson in The Two and Only and Lisa Kron and company in Well. As for experiencing both those theatrical sensations, can't wait for the revival of A Chorus Line." —David Drake, Feature Writer

"For my seven and a half cents, The Threepenny Opera is the show to watch. Difficult but tuneful, this Brecht/Weill masterpiece hasn't seen the lights of Broadway since that ill-fated Sting vehicle in 1989. This new production has pop stars, too—Nellie McKay as Polly and Cyndi Lauper as Jenny but will she play the dulcimer?—but it also has Wally Shawn adapting the book and Scott Elliott at the helm, in addition to such outsized theatrical talents as Jim Dale, Ana Gasteyer, and Alan Cumming. These are encouraging signs, though I have to wonder if this show will ever be a Broadway baby. Its seven-year run in the West Village—during the Eisenhower years, no less—was an off-Broadway watershed and, according to a recent account, it changed a young Bob Dylan's songwriting forever. Can an anti-capitalist screed succeed at three-digit ticket prices?" —Rob Kendt, Reviewer