Broadway Friday

- Disney's The Little Mermaid, now playing in Denver, opens at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 6th. The show features 11 new songs from 8-time Oscar winner Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater as well as the classic Alan Menken & Howard Ashman tunes from the 1989 movie, including the Oscar-winning Under The Sea. Ashman died of AIDS in 1991. The following year he was posthumously awarded (with Menken) his second Best Song Oscar for Beauty & The Beast, which was dedicated to him.

- Jennifer Garner will make her Broadway debut in a revival of Cyrano de Bergerac, starring opposite Kevin Klein and Daniel Sunjata (Take Me Out.)

- Walmartopia, a musical comedy about a world dominated by Walmart (it isn't already?) opened Off-Broadway yesterday at the Minetta Lane Theatre, directed by Daniel Goldstein. The show was a break-out hit at last year's NYC Fringe Festival.

- The Chicago-based Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of August: Osage County moves to Broadway's Imperial Theatre for a limited 16-week run beginning October 30th. The 3-1/2 hour play will be directed by Anna D. Shapiro. The show's Chicago run ends this Sunday.

- Playbill.com's Robert Simonson has posted a column discussing the slow evolution away from Broadway's standard schedule of 8 shows a week, dark on Monday, 8PM curtain times. Many shows now run at 7pm on Tuesdays, some run on Mondays, with other changes pondered.

And a couple of non-Broadway items.....

- Rosie O'Donnell will headline the opening of the New York Comedy Festival with a special benefit show at Avery Fisher Hall on November 6th. Proceeds go to Rosie's Broadway Kids, a children's arts charity. Tickets here. Other shows will headline Sarah Silverman, Bill Maher, and Denis Leary.

- A free tribute concert to the late Beverly Sills will be held at the Metropolitan Opera on September 16th. Speakers will include Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Placido Domingo, Henry Kissinger and Barbara Walters. Performing will be Natalie Dessay, Anna Netrebko, and Nathan Gunn. Tickets will be available at the Met box office beginning at noon on the day of the show, first-come, first-served, limit 2 tickets per person.