Broadway curtains going up on 2 new musicals

By Robert Osborne

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Previews begin Tuesday night at the Circle in the Square on the Eric Schaeffer-directed musical "Glory Days," which revolves around the strained reunion of four old high-school chums.

The Signature Theatre Company production, with book by James Gardiner and music-lyrics by Nick Blaemire, officially opens May 6, which squeaks it in for Tony consideration by one day. "Glory" will not, however, vie for this season's awards from the Drama Desk, Outer Circles Circle and Drama League groups; they all have earlier cutoff dates for eligibility.

Meanwhile, the new "Cry-Baby, the Musical," based on the 1990 John Waters movie that starred Johnny Depp as the B.B.B.B. (baddest bad boy in Baltimore), opens Thursday at the Marquis, directed by Mark Brokaw, following the show's premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse last year. This means that, in addition to two Stephen Sondheim creations in the Theatre District ("Gypsy," "Sunday in the Park With George"), we now also have two by John Waters (the other being "Hairspray"). Sondheim and Waters are two names rarely found in the same sentence.

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Another opening hits the big street Sunday: the revival of Clifford Odets' "The Country Girl," this version directed by Mike Nichols, with Oscar winners Morgan Freeman and Frances McDormand, along with Peter Gallagher, at the Jacobs.

Back when that theater was known as the Royale, Gallagher starred there as one of the many Danny Zukos during the original run of "Grease." At the moment, in addition to "Grease" being back on the Broadway boards, this time at the Brooks Atkinson, there's more deja vu for Gallagher lurking: In 1992 he co-starred with Nathan Lane and Faith Prince in a much-Tonyed revival of "Guys and Dolls." Now, 16 years later, all three are simultaneously back in town and above the title, with Lane at the Ethel Barrymore in David Mamet's "November" and Prince at the Walter Kerr in "A Catered Affair."

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Karen Akers will be returning to the famed Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel for her ninth consecutive spring engagement May 13-June 14, this session with a show she's calling "Move On," encompassing some of the potent words of legendary Algonquin roundtabler Dorothy Parker and the music and lyrics from a wide range of music masters including Cole Porter, Maury Yeston, Rodgers & Hart, Leiber & Stoller.