The holidays, alas, are history, and January (for better or for worse) isn’t nearly as socially animated as holly-jolly December. Fortunately, as things quiet down on the family-and-friends circuit, New York’s vibrant theatre scene provides a savory antidote to post-party depression. Particularly when one turns one’s sights to The Three, a trio of outstanding musicals that arrived on the Great White Way this past October and November: Fela!, Finian’s Rainbow, and Memphis.  

Boasting some of Broadway’s finest talents -- including several shoo-in Tony nominees -- these fiercely entertaining shows prove high-profile film actors aren’t the only performers capable of generating standing ovations performance after performance after performance.  

Fela! -- a sell-out Off-Broadway in the fall of 2008 -- stepped up to the Great White Way with many original cast members, including Sahr Ngaujah, who rotates performances in the strenuous title role with Kevin Mambo. New to the Broadway company is Tony winner Lillias White (The Life), who plays Fela’s mother. She, along with Ngaujah/Mambo and the adrenaline-stirring cast and band, make this musical bio of Nigerian musician-activist Fela Kuti, unforgettable.

Certainly the Broadway version -- produced by Jay-Z and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith -- has been attracting some serious star power to the Eugene O’Neill Theatre. [Spotted in the audience recently were Kyra Sedgwick and husband Kevin Bacon, as well as actor Tony Shalhoub and wife Brooke Adams.]  
   
Finian’s Rainbow (closing Jan. 17th). Realizing its potential during a mounting by City Center Encores! last spring, the producers of this revival of the this beguiling revival of the 1947 musical fantasy made sure three key cast members were onboard for the Broadway transfer -- Jim Norton (Finian McLonergan), who won a Tony in 2008 for his performance in The Seafarer; Kate Baldwin (Sharon McLonergan); and Cheyenne Jackson (Woody Mahoney) -- and added two other noted Broadway veterans to the cast list: Young Frankenstein alum Christopher Fitzgerald (Og) and Tony winner Chuck Cooper (Billboard).

A progressive musical for its time, the show shines a light on the era’s racial bigotry and credit-driven mindset with whimsy, magic, romance and a killer score featuring “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?,” “Old Devil Moon” and an Act I finale that taps into our current hope-driven economy, “That Great ‘Come-and-Get-It’ Day.”

Memphis. Another show focusing on race relations (clearly a theme this season, presenting itself in all of The Three, and peaking with the arrival of the David Mamet’s stunning new play, Race), Memphis is set in the early 1950s and follows a white DJ’s two love affairs: one with an African-American singer; the other with emerging rock and roll music.

The score, choreography, storyline, supporting players and the show’s two charismatic leads -- Chad Kimball as Huey Calhoun and Montego Glover as Felicia Farrell, in their breakthrough Broadway roles -- pretty much launch this show over the top. We can look forward to watching Kimball and Glover’s careers escalate from this point on.