It’s no surprise that Broadway producers like to cast celebrities in their shows. If your show, let’s say, is a dramatic British play about horses that wouldn’t attract the average tourist (ahem, Equus), throw a naked Harry Potter on the stage and voila, you just made additional millions. (And this is good because Harry Potter probably doesn’t get naked for cheap.) To no one’s surprise, the 2009-2010 Broadway season is stacked with celebrities. Here’s who you can expect to see, for better or for worse. Let the celeb worship/bashing begin! (And I suppose it’s only fair to remind you that many of these celebs are stage actors with credible resumes.)
John Stamos, Gina Gershon
Bye Bye Birdie (musical, revival)
Performances begin September 10, 2009
Henry Miller’s Theatre
Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman
A Steady Rain (drama, new)
Performances begin September 10, 2009
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
Jude Law
Hamlet (Shakespearean classic)
Performances begin September 12, 2009
Broadhurst Theatre
Sienna Miller
After Miss Julie (drama, revival)
Performances begin September 18, 2009
American Airlines Theatre
Carrie Fisher
Wishful Drinking (one-woman show, new)
Performances begin September 22, 2009
Studio 54
Julia Stiles, Bill Pullman
Oleanna (drama, revival)
Performances begin September 29, 2009
John Golden Theatre
James Spader, Kerry Washington
Race (drama, new)
Performances begin November 17, 2009
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
Alicia Silverstone, Laura Linney
Time Stands Still (drama, new)
Performances begin January 5, 2010
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Evan Rachel Wood, Alan Cumming
Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark (musical, new)
Performances begin February 25, 2009
Hilton Theatre
Nathan Lane, Bebe Neuwirth
The Addams Family (musical, new)
Performances begin March 4, 2010
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre


Yes, Iowa and Vermont accomplished something much more important in April than writing a new Sugar Water column, though they’re welcome to sub for me at any time while I watch syndicated reruns of the so-bad-it’s-good TV show Boston Legal to prepare for my Supreme Court appearance. Unfortunately, the recently canceled “dramedy” hasn’t taught me a thing about how the law actually works. William Shatner doesn’t play a starship captain on this spin-off of The Practice, but it might as well be another self-punched notch on his science-fiction belt since it’s so far removed from reality. The attorneys at Boston Legal’s fictional firm are constantly being arrested or sued, and that’s when they’re not suing each other just to kill some time. In real life you’d take your business elsewhere if it weren’t for the fact that they win 99 percent of their cases, thanks to sanctimonious courtroom speeches delivered by 