The upcoming weekend is turning into a bit of a theatrical “adieu fest” for several heavy-hitters – both shows and performers. Translation: Score your tickets now, because come March 31st, these five-star productions will be off the box-office grid. Click on the show titles for tickets, theater info, and more.
Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in No Man's Land. Photo: KevinBerne.com
Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land bows out on Saturday, March 29th (evening) while Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot plays it final performance Sunday at 3, meaning the killer quartet of actors – Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley -- are ending their brilliant extended (and extended again and again) run at Broadway’s Cort Theatre (which will welcome Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Inishmaan starting April 12th). Critically acclaimed with a reputation for theatregoer return visits, these productions (alone or in tandem) are already primed for theatre legend status.
Also closing on the 30th are two of Off-Broadway’s most talked-about sensations: Charles Busch’s The Tribute Artist and BIKEMAN: A 9/11 Play.
The Tribute Artist is without question a sublimely hilarious farce in which Mr. Busch unleashes his signature drag bells, whistles and female id alongside Julie Halston, his longtime stage cohort, who matches a couple of authentic tits to his tastefully bewigged tat. In short, this comedy of befuddled errors is one of the season’s coveted laugh riots; I’m so glad I caught it and, if you act fast, you’ll be, too.
Finally, I urge you to see Tom Flynn’s haunting BIKEMAN: A 9/11 Play starring Robert Cuccioli (Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark; Jekyll and Hyde), the author’s first-hand lyric poem adapted for the stage that revisits New York’s most heart-wrenching event. It, too, closes on March 30th and, frankly, its departure marks a serious loss for the City’s Off-Broadway theatre scene. Unforgettable.