Crank up the A/C, toss back some iced tea, and get ready to troll the box office circuit.

For veteran NYC theatergoers, the reason is a no-brainer: July and August are New York’s golden days for booking Broadway (great seats available), catching the shows and stars that scooped up 2009 Tonys (Billy Elliot and its Tony-toting trio of Billys; God of Carnage with Best Actress winner Marcia Gay Harden, e.g.) and succumbing to Off- and Off-Off Broadway’s dynamite summertime fare which this year includes such crowd-pleasers as the interactive Boychick Affair, the critically acclaimed Our Town, and the eye-opening -- and much-extended -- The Temperamentals.  

And while we’re on the subject of shows that have enjoyed multiple extensions, there are two other standouts this season: Ruined (to close on September 6th), and Krapp, 39 (to bow out on August 2nd).  

Ruined by playwright Lynn Nottage (recipient of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for drama along with just about every other Off-Broadway honor handed out) has -- in addition to rave reviews -- been courting word-of-mouth “must-see” buzz since it opened at New York City Center early this year. Admittedly, I took my sweet time getting there, but like everyone else was blown away by both the powerhouse script (set in a bar/brothel in a civil-war-plagued Democratic Republic of Congo) and haunting performances from a pitch-perfect cast.
   
As for Krapp, 39, my advice is to see it before it’s history (maybe twice!). Written and performed by Michael Laurence, this multimedia solo riff—a prefiguring of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape -- has been described in the New York Times as having “a sort of intoxicating fatalism, considerable humor and it’s an even more enlightening experience the second time around.”

And speaking of Beckett... In the event you missed the groundbreaking Broadway revival of his Waiting for Godot at Studio 54 (it closed July 12th), with John Goodman as a booming steamroller of a Pozzo, good news: you won’t have to wait indefinitely (pun inevitable) to see the balance of the cast (all past Tony winners) return to Broadway.  

John Glover (Lucky) will be moving into the role of Herbert Dean in the Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of The Royal Family (previews begin 9/15 for a 10/8 opening at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre). His costars include Rosemary Harris, Stephen Collins, Tony Roberts, Jan Maxwell and Reg Rogers.
   
Meanwhile, Bill Irwin (the actor formerly known as Vladimir) is teaming up with John Stamos and Gina Gershon for a revival of the 1960s musical Bye Bye Birdie. Irwin will be playing frazzled dad Harry McAfee -- a role originated by Paul Lynde -- when the preview curtain rises on 9/10 for a 10/15 opening at the new “green” Broadway venue, Henry Miller’s Theatre in the Bank of America Tower.

Finally, Broadway favorite son Nathan Lane will be starring as Gomez in the new musical The Addams Family (previews 3/4/10; opens 4/8). His Morticia? Bebe Neuwirth. (As far as I know, the role of “Thing” is still uncast, so you might want to brush up on your finger exercises -- just in case!)

In a similar vein... While playwright Tracy Letts’ long-running, Pulitzer-winning August: Osage County vacated the Music Box Theatre on June 28th, the theatre won’t remain empty -- or Letts-free -- for long. His newest work -- Superior Donuts -- will be taking up residence there as of September 16th
(official opening will be October 1st). Like August: Osage County, Superior Donuts comes to Broadway direct from a sold-out engagement at Chicago’s
legendary Steppenwolf Theatre Company. P.S.: This production marks Tina Landau’s “Broadway straight play directing debut,” her last Broadway gig being Bells Are Ringing with Faith Prince -- who, by the way, is currently starring as the very villainous Ursula in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, set to close on August 30th).