Broadway slate falling into place

'Donuts' sweetens confirmed show schedule

By GORDON COX

'Superior Donuts,' after a 2008 run at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater, will begin previews Sept. 16 ahead of an Oct. 1 opening at the Music Box.

With the announcement that the Broadway production of Tracy Letts' "Superior Donuts" will play the Music Box Theater this autumn, details of the imminent Rialto season continue to fall into place.

Producers of "Donuts" have confirmed it will begin previews Sept. 16 ahead of an Oct. 1 opening at the Music Box -- the theater that houses Letts' Pulitzer winner "August: Osage County" through Sunday, when the play ends its 20-month run.

Meanwhile, it's said to be likely that Hugh Jackman-Daniel Craig starrer "A Steady Rain" will book the Schoenfeld, former home of "Impressionism"; that Trevor Nunn's London staging of "A Little Night Music" will play the Walter Kerr, where "Irena's Vow" shutters Sunday; and that the Kennedy Center production of "Ragtime" will land at the Neil Simon.

Those shows would join a fall lineup of confirmed offerings that includes two Simon play revivals ("Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Broadway Bound") running in rep; tuner revivals "Bye Bye Birdie" and "Finian's Rainbow"; and new musicals "Fela!" and "Memphis."

"Donuts" comes to the Rialto after a 2008 run at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater, which also launched "August." Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian and Jerry Frankel, the lead commercial producers of "August," are reteaming on "Donuts."

Tina Landau reprises her directorial duties on the show, with cast yet to be announced. Michael McKean starred in the Windy City preem.

The highly anticipated and all-but-announced "Steady Rain" also hails from Chicago. Keith Huff's 2007 play centers on two Chi cops, to be played by surefire B.O. magnets Jackman and Craig, who become tangled in a domestic dispute.

For "Night Music," on the other hand, casting remains a question mark. Hannah Waddingham plays the central role of Desiree in the current, well-received West End incarnation, which originated at the Menier Chocolate Factory last year.

The "Ragtime" revival, meanwhile, comes to New York after a lauded run at the Kennedy Center earlier this year. Scaled-down production -- which starred Ron Bohmer, Christiane Noll and Manoel Felciano in D.C. -- is helmed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge.