After its sold-out run at the Atlantic Theater off-Broadway this past summer, Spring Awakening is now in previews at Broadway’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre, where it will officially open on December 10. The show stars two wonderful Buffalonians, Christine Estabrook and Brian Charles Johnson (both pictured above). Johnson, who attended Kenmore East and was a member of Tom Doyle’s Company of Songs, is making his Broadway debut. He was attending NYU Tisch when he landed the role of Otto in the off-Broadway production of Spring Awakening. Theater veteran Estabrook portrayed Martha Huber in the first season of TV’s Desperate Housewives. She originated the role of Pfeni in the 1993 Broadway production of Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig. Spring Awakening has all the makings of a hit. If visiting New York, the show has a $25 Student Rush ticket sold on the day of the performance. There are also a limited number of on-stage seats which go for $31.25.

Speaking of The Sisters Rosensweig, the Jewish Repertory Theatre opens its production of the Wasserstein play on December 7 at 7:30pm at the Andrews Theatre. Prior to that there will be a panel discussion focusing on Wasserstein’s role as a popular and Pulitzer-Prize winning American playwright. The panel will feature Jewish theater scholar and author Eileen Schiff and Professor/director Susan Forbes. The event which is free and open to the public, takes place 4:15-5:30pm at CEPA Gallery in the Market Arcade. It is presented by the JRT and the Humanities Institute of SUNY Buffalo. Wasserstein died at 55 this past January.

Musicalfare Theatre will present the Paul Robeson Theatre production of Black Nativity for four performances December 15-17. The show has been a popular holiday presentation for the past two years at the Paul Robeson’s home in the African-American Cultural Center. This year’s production is supported by a grant from the John R. Oishei Foundation.

Coming up in January at the Irish Classical Theatre Company, 2005 Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter’s first full-length comedy, The Birthday Party. Directed by Greg Natale, the show will star Josephine Hogan, Vincent O’Neill, Gerry Maher, Todd Benzin, Guy Wagner, and Leah Russo. It runs January 12-February 11.

It appears that Pump Boys and Dinettes will no longer be the last show in Studio Arena’s 2006-07 season. The show made its Broadway debut back in 1982 and starred Cass Morgan, who was also one of its conceivers and writers. Morgan starred last year in Ring of Fire, both at Studio Arena and on Broadway. She is now playing the Bird Woman in the musical adaptation of Mary Poppins, which opened a few weeks ago at the New Amsterdam Theatre on Broadway.

Another Ring of Fire alum may be also on her way back to Broadway, in yet another film-to-stage musical adaptation. Beth Malone is now starring in Sister Act—The Musical at the Pasadena Playhouse. The show is a lot of fun, and Malone is terrific as the shy novice who breaks loose. Sister Act has just been extended through December 17. It will then travel to the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta with hopes for a Broadway transfer next year.

It seems that movie-to-stage adaptations are becoming very popular again. Legally Blonde opens in San Francisco in January and will move to Broadway in April. Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein will likely open in Chicago in summer 2007 with Cloris Leachman re-creating the role of Frau Blucher. And not content with just four shows on Broadway, Disney has finished a stage adaptation of The Little Mermaid with a book written by Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife).

Niagara University Theatre will present the popular musical Godspell, December 7-17 at The Church in Lewiston.

The fabulous Linda Eder returns to UB’s Center for the Arts for one performance, December 16 at 8pm.

Buffalo United Artists will present a staged reading of Angels in America—Part One: Millenium Approaches by Tony Kushner (pictured below). The play won both the 1993 Pulitzer Prize and 1993 Tony Award. Directed by Lou Colaiacovo, the reading will take place on December 1 (World AIDS Day) and 2 at 8pm at Main Street Cabaret. Kushner’s musical Caroline or Change just won London’s Evening Standard Theater award for best musical.