Tracking cast-member changes and new shows this time of year can be like trying to nail water to a wall: breaking theatre news in the months leading up to the Tony nominations is relentless. Still, having inside info is bound to pay off.

Cast replacements over the next couple of months are proving especially exciting, starting with Pippin, the show that picked up 2013’s Tony for Best Musical Revival. Annie Potts, who established herself as a TV favorite on Designing Women, recently took on the role of Prince Pippin’s outrageously awesome grandmother, Berthe. Potts replaced Tovah Feldshuh, who left to reprise her iconic performance in Golda’s Balcony, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2014.

Managing to become a Chicago triple-role threat, Bebe Neuwirth recently joined the ever-growing ranks of Broadway “Mama” Mortons. The long-running musical’s original Velma Kelly (for which she received a Tony Award), Neuwirth returned to the “scene of the crime” in 2007 as murderess Roxie Hart. So it was only a matter of time before the role of the duplicitous prison matron caught her eye. The Cheers/Frasier ex-pat will remain with the show through March 9th.

k.d. lang and Wynton Marsalis. Photo credit: Jenny Anderson/After Midnight on Broadway

Meanwhile, After Midnight’s pre-ordained revolving door of special guest artists is set to take its first spin on Tuesday, February 11th when Grammy winner k.d. lang makes her Broadway debut, replacing Fantasia as the nightclub musical’s headline vocalist. Notably, after lang’s contract ends on March 9th, star billing will be doubled as multi-Grammy/multi-platinum artists Toni Braxton and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds take up residence at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre from March 18th through March 30th.

And over at the Broadway Theatre, where tulle, sparkly shoes, and tiny tiaras are familiar audience fashion statements, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella is getting a new stepmom — Fran Drescher. The star of the ’90s sitcom The Nanny follows Tony winner Harriet Harris (Thoroughly Modern Millie), who originated the comedic, social-climbing character of Madame. Armed with her signature New York nasality, Dresher’s Broadway debut is certain to be a memorable one. Look for her from February 4th through April 13th.

Moving on to the New Year’s previews and openings so far, here are the shows that guarantee you seasonal bragging rights (in alphabetical order):

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Opened 1/12) – A sparkling biography spanning the singer/composer’s music and marriage to collaborator Gerry Goffin. Starring Jessie Mueller and Jake Epstein.

The Bridges of Madison County (Previews began 1/17 for a 2/20 opening) – The season’s most talked about musical romance, based on the bestselling novel, has a wealth of stage cred to usher it onto Broadway, including a book by Tony winner Marsha Norman (The Color Purple) and lead performances by four-time Tony nominee Kelli O’Hara (South Pacific), Rescue Me star Steven Pasquale, and two-time Tony nominee Hunter Foster.

Bronx Bombers (Previews began 1/10 for a 2/6 opening) – From the creative team that brought Lombardi and Magic/Bird to Broadway: a coming together of Yankee icons Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter, and, of course, Yogi Berra — played by Tom Hanks’s former Bosom Buddies costar, Peter Scolari. The diamond’s set at Circle in the Square Theatre… Play ball!

Hits Not to Miss

They’re so good they’ve been extended multiple times, but sadly all limited-run shows, no matter how brilliant or in-demand, are destined to take their final bows. With this in mind, a friendly warning: after the following shows are gone, so are your chances of falling under their once-in-a-Broadway-lifetime spell.

Two-time Tony-winning Brit Mark Rylance proves to U.S. audiences his chameleonic gifts — which have wooed and conquered Broadway in such diverse plays as Boeing Boeing, La Bête, and Jerusalem — stun on a whole other theatrical plane when he shifts gender in a killer two-play repertory from London’s celebrated Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre: Twelfth Night & Richard III.  Theatregoers have been packing the Broadhurst Theatre for both shows (the former featuring Stephen Fry as Malvolio to Rylance’s Olivia). Arrive 30 minutes early to catch the actors being dressed in accurately reproduced Elizabethan costumes. Final curtain: 2/16.

Zachary Quinto in The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie, playing at the Booth Theatre — in my opinion, the most effective and evocative of the beaucoup Broadway revivals of Tennessee William’s masterwork to be mounted over the past several decades — will be wrapping up its run on February 23rd. The cast, led by Tony winner Cherry Jones as Amanda, also includes Zachary Quinto, Celia Keenan-Bolger, and Brian J. Smith. Inspired performances; an unforgettable night (or matinee) of theatre. Final curtain: 2/23.