Perhaps it’s the whole St. Valentine’s Day thing. Or the urge to slip out of the cold and into a cozy New York City theatre. Most likely though, it’s the unprecedented list of major stars landing on the Great White Way in February.

High on the list of notables this month is Grammy Award-winning recording artist Michelle Williams as killer chorine Roxie Hart in the long-running musical Chicago. The former Destiny’s Child member first played Roxie in the London production last year where, due to audience demand, she extended her contract an additional three weeks. Her present limited engagement is scheduled through March 28th.

Classics like Chicago aside, February offers a rare opportunity for theatergoers to scoop the press and Tony-nominating committee by scoring tickets to preview performances -- and guaranteed bragging rights and good seats before rave reviews make for impossible lines at the box office.

Serious preview buzz starts February 12th when Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) steps in front of her first Broadway audience in the revival of William Gibson’s Tony-winning play, The Miracle Worker. Breslin portrays Helen Keller to Tony nominee Alison Pill’s (The Lieutenant of Inishmore) Anne Sullivan. And then there’s the high-profile supporting cast: Elizabeth Franz, Jennifer Morrison and Matthew Modine.

Next up on the 15th is Martin McDonagh’s A Behanding in Spokane, featuring a cast of four led by Oscar winner Christopher Walken. Should you be familiar with the playwright’s catalog of darkly hilarious works, it’s clear why the coming-together of McDonagh and Walken (with his penchant for embracing disturbing characters) was inevitable.  

On the 16th, Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts begins previews at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Nauffts is the Artistic Director of Naked Angels, the New York-based theatre company known as much for its quality work as the celebrities that continue to pass in and out of its doors -- people like Marisa Tomei, Matthew Broderick, Rob Morrow and Sarah Jessica Parker. Next Fall comes to Broadway with the original cast intact, including leads Patrick Breen and Patrick Heusinger -- both extraordinary and, while not big names yet, just wait.  

Then, beginning previews on February 19th is Looped, with Valerie Harper as bigger-than-life actress Tallulah Bankhead. Based solely on photos of Harper in full Tallulah mode (www.loopedtheplay.com), I’d be sold, but doesn’t hurt that she received some really nice press when the show debuted last summer at the Pasadena Playhouse.  

And finally, one of the most tantalizing couplings to come to Broadway: the primo entertainer known as “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” Michael Feinstein, and the ever-glamorous/occasionally glorious Dame Edna Everage in what promises to be a mesmerizing display of showbiz one-upmanship: All About Me. While very hush-hush in terms of what exactly will take place onstage at Henry Miller’s Theatre (starting February 22nd), it’s a safe bet that music, big hair and scenery of some sort will be involved.