Broadway Friday

-One-man show A Bronx Tale, starring Chazz Palminteri in his Broadway debut, opens today after three weeks of previews at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Reviews have been great. Palminteri performed the show in Los Angeles and Off-Broadway in the late 80's.

-Minnesota's Guthrie Theatre has commissioned Tony Kushner (Angels In America) to write a new play. The work, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, will make its debut at the Guthrie in the spring of 2009.

-Tony winner Roger Bart, who plays the title character in Young Frankenstein, is temporarily out of the show due to back problems. Understudy Matthew LaBanca will perform while Bart recuperates. In previews now, the show officially opens on November 8th.

-According to this week's Ask Playbill, the largest house on Broadway is the Gershwin with 1809 seats, currently host to Wicked. The smallest is the Helen Hayes with 596, currently host to Xanadu.

-Lawrence Fishburne returns to Broadway on April 20th in Thurgood, a one-man show about late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Fishburne won a Tony in 1992 for his role in Two Trains Running. He last appeared on Broadway in 1999 with The Lion In Winter.

-Broadway Sings The Phone Book, a benefit for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, takes place November 12th at Studio 54. "Demonstrating the popular expression "I'd listen to 'so-and-so" sing the phone book," producers Jonathan Tessero, Sarah Melissa Rotker, and Joe Tropia have lined up a fun array of Broadway stars singing their trademark songs... with the lyrics replaced either mad lib style or with names from pages ripped randomly from the phone book. A third performance option includes a variation of the title where performances are crafted with words from pages ripped from a dictionary." Tickets are $40-$110.

-Harvey Keitel will play the lead in Jerry Spring: The Opera at Carnegie Hall on January 29 and 30. If successful, producers may bring the show to Broadway.

-The 75th Annual Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, starring the Rockettes, begins November 9th. Tickets $40-$250. Even at four to five shows a day, the show often sells out.