Sing a Song of Broadway: The Great White Way is in need of a musical hit

Michael Kuchwara

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 1999 | 9:30 a.m.

NEW YORK -- Broadway is looking for a few good musicals.

Actually, one might be enough, preferably a hit as big as "The Lion King," the Disney extravaganza of nearly two years ago that raised the visibility of New York theater and helped contribute to the revitalization of a still rebounding Times Square.

Don't look for many plays, though, except for several high-profile revivals including "Amadeus," starring David Suchet, and an obscure Noel Coward comedy called "Waiting in the Wings," which will bring Lauren Bacall back to Broadway after an absence of more than 20 years.

As the fall begins, musicals are coming off a season where confidence faltered as several big-budget shows flopped, with only "Fosse" and probably "Annie Get Your Gun" having profitable runs.

Most of the big guns -- including Disney -- are waiting until after Jan. 1 to unveil new shows, but there are enough musicals definitely scheduled before Christmas to raise some modest hope.

First to appear will be "Saturday Night Fever," already boasting a $14 million advance and the benefit of a surefire title and score audiences know from the 1977 film that featured John Travolta and music by the Bee Gees.

The show comes from London where the musical has been a hit. On Broadway, "Fever" stars James Carpinello, not exactly a household name. Yet if Carpinello can swivel his hips as well as Travolta, a big career could be launched. Previews start Sept. 28, with an opening set for Oct. 21 at the Minskoff Theater.

Following "Fever" will be a revival of "Kiss Me, Kate," starring Brian Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazzie, two alums from "Ragtime," as the battling lovers. Michael Blakemore, who supervised such hits as "Noises Off" and "City of Angels," directs.

This backstage variation of "The Taming of the Shrew" was Cole Porter's longest-running show, featuring such Porter classics as "Wunderbar," "Another Openin', Another Show," "So in Love," "Too Darn Hot" and "Brush Up Your Shakespeare." "Kiss Me, Kate" arrives Nov. 18 at the Martin Beck Theater.

Carol Burnett hasn't been in a musical on Broadway since she did "Fade Out, Fade In" in 1964. That oversight will be corrected Nov. 21 when she opens at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in "Putting It Together." It is a collection of Stephen Sondheim songs that Burnett's good friend Julie Andrews first did off-Broadway in 1993.

Now the revue has been revised and recast with George Hearn, Bronson Pinchot, Ruthie Henshall and John Barrowman. Kathie Lee Gifford, cheery talk-show goddess, replaces Burnett on Tuesday nights only, starting Dec. 7.

Audra McDonald, another "Ragtime" veteran and a three-time Tony winner, finally gets to star in her own musical. "Marie Christine" is loosely based on "Medea," but set in New Orleans of the 1880s. Anthony Crivello, a Tony winner for "Kiss of the Spider Woman," plays her love interest.

Michael John LaChiusa, one of the musical theater's bright new lights, wrote the score. Look for "Marie Christine" at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater Dec. 2.

Swing music gets its due on Broadway with another revue, this one called, appropriately, "Swing!" New and old swing music will be featured in the show, which will headline jazz vocalist Ann Hampton Callaway. The opening: Dec. 9 at the St. James Theater.

Two high-profile off-Broadway musicals should be mentioned. If they succeed, can a transfer to Broadway be far behind?

The first, "Contact," is a dance musical created by choreographer Susan Stroman and writer John Weidman. The show, three stories about people who meet through dance, stars Karen Ziemba and Boyd Gaines. Stroman has been making a name for herself as a choreographer, first with "Crazy for You" and then the recent, acclaimed London revival of "Oklahoma!", expected in New York in the fall of 2000.

"Contact," which features a variety of classical and pop music, opens at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater in Lincoln Center Oct. 7.

There may not be a more stellar cast than the crew Playwrights Horizons has assembled for its musical version of "The Dead," based on a James Joyce short story.

Its tiny stage will be home to Christopher Walken, Blair Brown, Stephen Spinella, Sally Ann Howes, Marni Nixon and those Siamese twins from "Side Show," Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner. The highly anticipated opening is Oct. 28.

New plays seem to be an endangered species on Broadway this fall. "Epic Proportions," a comedy by Larry Coen and David Crane about the filming of a biblical epic in 1930s Hollywood, is a member of this select group. Kristin Chenoweth, Broadway's brightest new star, has a leading role as do two other newcomers, Alan Tudy and Jeremy Davidson. The laughs officially start Sept. 30 at the Helen Hayes Theater.

Another new entry is "Scent of the Roses," starring Julie Harris as a South African woman holding on to a prized possession. The drama by Lisette Lecat opens Dec. 12 at the Belasco.

Barry Humphries as Dame Edna Everage, modestly billed as housewife, megastar, chanteuse, adviser to British royalty, spin doctor, grief counselor and icon, arrives Oct. 17 at the Booth Theater in "Dame Edna: The Royal Tour." This one-man, er, one-woman show already has been seen in London and San Francisco.

Can Dame Edna compete with Bacall? The screen legend stars in Noel Coward's "Waiting in the Wings," with a gaggle of theater veterans including Rosemary Harris, Bernard Hughes, Dana Ivey, Elizabeth Wilson and Simon Jones. The play opens Dec. 16 -- Coward's 100th birthday -- at the Walter Kerr Theater.

The day before, Dec. 15, will see the opening of "Amadeus," with Suchet portraying the envious composer Salieri and newcomer Michael Sheen as Mozart. Sir Peter Hall directs at the Music Box Theater.

The Roundabout Theater, truly roundabout this season as it awaits the completion of its new home on 42nd Street, finds itself at the Brooks Atkinson Theater with a revival of "The Rainmaker." The N. Richard Nash play concerns a mesmerizing charlatan and his effect on a plain unmarried woman. Woody Harrelson plays the con man and Jayne Atkinson his willing subject. The opening is set for Nov. 11.

And if none of the above survives, the big guns arrive after New Year's -- musicals such as "The Wild Party," "Martin Guerre," Disney's "Aida," Stephen Sondheim's "Wise Guys" and a revival of "Jesus Christ Superstar." Stay tuned for further developments.