"Walmartopia", a musical that was fairly successful at the International Fringe Festival in the summer of 2006 opened at the Minetta Lane on Labor Day evening.

Do yourself a huge favor and avoid this truly awful show with the most ungifted performers I have ever had the displeasure of seeing and head straight to K-Mart. If you want to know more about this show be my guest and go to Walmartopia.com, but you’ve been warned to steer clear of this mess. Incidentally Wal-Mart itself has gone to a great deal of effort to avoid any association with this show and frankly, if I were their lawyers, I’d sue.

There are two shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Both star the incredibly excellent Ian McKellen and if you can’t tickets from any sources (it will cost you $300 online) you will just have to be unhappy that you missed Shakespeare’s "King Lear" and Chekov’s "The Seagull". "King Lear" just opened and the only way to get a ticket is to hope somebody returns one. You might have better luck with the 3 performances of "The Seagull" so give that one a try. Visit Bam.org and good luck!

"Hair" is coming back for 3 days: September 22, 23 and 24. The Public Theater will present the short revival at the De La Corte in Central Park. In case you forgot it opened on October 17^th 1967 which will make it 50 years old next month. 26 actors and singers on stage and, if you want to go, check with the publictheater.org website to see how to get tickets. Plan to line up early!

"The 39 Steps", the old Hitchcock thriller will come back to Broadway as a comedy and will start previews at the American Airlines Theater on December 28^th for a January 10^th 2008 opening. 4 actors will play 150 roles and the show will contain every single scene in the movie including, in case you’ve forgotten, the jump off the Forth Bridge, the chase on the Flying Scotsman and the big ending at the London Palladium. It was a smash in London and won the Laurence Olivier award for best new comedy.

The 16^th annual Broadway on Broadway concert will be held this Sunday in Times Square starting at 11:30. Lance Bass, the new Corny Collins in Hairspray, will be the MC and you’ll be able to see scenes from both current and future plays and musicals Absolutely FREE!

Get there early….the producers expect 50,000 people.