Theater: New Shows!

Nancy Opel and Nick Cordero in the "Toxic Avenger" (Credit: T. Charles Erickson.)

This week is the biggest that Gotham theater has seen in 2009 so far, with 12 shows beginning their runs and only one closing. There's a show for every audience: classics great and small, experimental work and rookie playwrights, rock operas and jukebox musicals. TFANA's “Hamlet”, suffering from outrageous fortune, has delayed their opening for some last-minute recasting. And I'm enthused to see the Wooster Group back in Brooklyn. But my Pick of the Week is “The Toxic Avenger”, a rock musical that's been adapted from a cult movie.

THE SECRET AGENDA OF TREES
where: The Wild Project
first night: March 15
opening night: March 19
closing night: April 11
URL: thewildproject.com
A new play in a new theater space! “Trees” is an Southern Gothic coming-of-ager, involving a teen's fantasy world, a monstrous mother, and a tattooed teen. It's garnered notice in many dramatic quarters – including Edward Albee himself – so check out a young playwright, Colin McKenna, establishing his rep.

RODS AND CABLES
where: 3LD
first night: March 16
opening night: March 20
closing night: April 11
URL: 3leggeddog.org
3LD (AKA Three-Legged Dog) has quickly become a necessary stop for hip auds who want to see the cutting edge of multimedia performance. “Rods & Cables” is an in-house production about anarchy and the unbounded impulses of human nature.

ROCK OF AGES
where: Broadway (Brooks Atkinson)
first night: March 17
opening night: April 7
closing night: open run
URL: RockOfAgesMusical.com
For once, a jukebox musical with songs you'd actually find on a jukebox: Journey, Bon Jovi, Foreigner, and Pat Benetar. This ham-and-cheese sandwich moves to Broadway after critics and audiences fell for its hair-metal charms. And star Constantine Maroulis was a finalist on "American Idol."

TARTUFFE
where: Pearl Theatre
first night: March 17
opening night: March 30
closing night: April 19
URL: PearlTheatre.org
The Pearl, a dusty library for the classics, revives Molière's comedy about hypocrisy and the clergy.

LA DIDIONE
where: St. Ann's Warehouse
first night: March 17
closing night: April 26
URL: StAnnsWarehouse.org
The Wooster Group returns with their radical mash-up of multimedia re-enactments. This time, LeCompte juxtaposes a 17th-century opera alongside a spaghetti sci-fi cult flick. Really, that's everything you need to know about the Group, but you should always see what they're up to!

THE TOXIC AVENGER
where: New World Stages
first night: March 18
opening night: April 6
closing night: open run
URL: TheToxicAvengerMusical.com
Jersey's own superhero, “Toxie” receives superstrength and extreme ugliness after a dip in nuclear waste. Based on a classic of 1980s late-nite cable, this Off-B'way musical features music by Bon Jovi's keyboardist and is helmed by John Rando, the director of “Urinetown”.

BELLES
where: Theatre Row
first/opening night: March 19
closing night: April 12
URL: HeiressProductions.org
A game of telephone in response to a hospitalized sister draws childhood resentments out of the closet. It sounds amiable enough, but like plays about letter-writing, it may be awfully undramatic. Proceeds from the production go to Joe's House, a non-profit serving cancer patients.

HAMLET
where: The Duke on 42nd Street
first night: March 19
opening night: March 26
closing night: April 19
URL: TFANA.org
Shakespeare's greatest play gets another revival – hopefully this one will be stronger than last summer's production in Central Park. It stars young Christian Caramago, who's earning buzz now, but disappointed as Coriolanus a few years back.

JAILBAIT
where: Cherry Pit
first night: March 19
opening night: March 25
closing night: April 25
URL: CherryLaneTheatre.com
The inaugural production at Cherry Lane's new second stage. “Jailbait” follows two teens who pose as college students at a Boston nightclub. It's got the potential for provocative ideas about sex and fun, and hopefully it won't descend into lurid moralizing.

JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE
where: Broadway (The Belasco)
first night: March 19
opening night: April 16
closing night: June 14
URL: LCT.org
Lincoln Center revives masterwork for a new audience. The late August Wilson said it was his favorite of the plays he wrote, and I wouldn't disagree. Set in the early years of the 20th century, "Joe Turner" is a modern classic and always welcome on Broadway.

RAMBO SOLO
where: Soho Rep
first night: march 19
opening night: March 21
closing night: April 12
URL: OKTheater.org
The Nature Theater of Oklahoma is as radical as they sound. Their latest, “Rambo Solo”, sees an obsessed hero remake Stallone's Vietnam flick in his studio apartment with only $100. It sounds a little like “Rushmore”, but trust this company to make the idea their own.

AN ORESTEIA
where: Classic Stage Company
first night: March 22
opening night: April 1
closing night: April 19
URL: ClassicStage.org
After last month's debacular “Mourning Becomes Electra”, I'm wary even of the original Greek sources. But CSC ambitiously takes two evenings to retell this core myth of Western Civ. Part Two is especially tempting, with work from local avant-gardists Annie-B Parsons & Paul Lazar.

Last chance!
THE AMERICAN PLAN
closing night: March 22
URL: MTC-NYC.org