This Month in Theater: March 2009

EXIT THE KING
This is a revival of a dark comedy by the master surrealist, Eugene Ionesco, about a control freak who has misruled his kingdom, but refuses to step down, even though facing death. Two Academy Award winners head the cast: Geoffrey Rush, who plays the stubborn king, and Susan Sarandon, his lost-all-patience queen. The two other actors, who play members of the court, are pretty damn talented too: the lovely Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) and the scene-stealing Andrea Martin (Young Frankenstein). Neil Armfield directs.
Barrymore Theatre, 243 W. 47th St., (212) 239-6200. Previews Mar. 7, opens Mar. 26-June 14.

BLITHE SPIRIT
This is another revival (it opened on Broadway in 1941 and ran for two years), with a great cast, written by British playwright Noel Coward, known for his witty comedies. A re-married widower (Rupert Everett) discovers that his first wife (Christine Ebersole) just won’t let go. Maybe the clairvoyant (Angela Lansbury) did too good a job summoning her ghost. The supporting cast includes two fine actors who both made their bones off-off-Broadway: the veteran, very funny character actor Deborah Rush, and newcomer Susan Louise O’Connor. Michael Blakemore (Kiss Me Kate) directs.
The Shubert Theatre, 225 W. 44th St., (212) 239-6200. Previews Feb. 26, opens Mar. 15.

GOD OF CARNAGE
This new play (reportedly a triumph in London) by French playwright Yasmina Raza is about two sets of parents who meet for the first time to hash out what happened when their two sons got into a tooth-rattling tussle on the playground. Gauntlets are thrown. Again, the draw to this show is its cast: Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis play one couple, and James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden are the other concerned parents. Sparks should fly. The play is translated by the accomplished English playwright/screenwriter Christopher Hampton, and directed by Matthew Warchus (Boeing, Boeing).
Bernard Jacobs Theatre, 242 W. 45th St., (212) 239-6200. Previews Feb. 28, opens Mar. 22.

LA DIDONE
New York’s favorite avantists, The Wooster Group, have based their multi-media theater spectacles on almost every other form of entertainment. Here they mash together a baroque 17th-Century opera by Francisco Cavelli, about those classical ill-starred lovers, Dido and Aeneas, with Mario Brava’s 1965 sci-fi cult movie, Planet of the Vampires. Expect arias in space suits on an icy terrain. The ever-imaginative Elizabeth Lecompte directs, with music direction by Bruce Odland.
St. Ann’s Warehouse, 38 Water St., DUMBO, Brooklyn, (718) 254-8779. Mar. 17- Apr. 26.

THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION
Set in the South, The Savannah Disputation (by Evan Smith and directed by Walter Bobbie) is about a naïve Catholic spinster (played by Drama Desk winner Mary Louise Burke), who welcomes door-to-door Pentecostal minister (Kellie Overton) into the house, and finds her faith wavering under the visitor's evangelical fervor. Her sister (Dana Ivey) gets plenty pissed off, and brings in a local priest (Obie-winner Reed Birney) to straighten her out and return her to the fold. Expect some laughs, as nobody plays a woman confused better than Burke.
Playwrights Horizons Main Stage, 416 W. 42nd St., (212) 279-4200. Previews Feb. 26, opens Mar. 3.

Pictured above: The cast of The Blithe Spirit and a scene from La Didone