5 new Broadway productions that may wow you

By Alison Rohrs

updated 11:19 a.m. ET Dec. 16, 2008

Leading ladies are taking over the Great White Way in the coming months. Wonder which show is right for your next Big Apple tour? Here's a brief round-up of five new productions with wow potential:

‘9 to 5’
What: In a musical version of the 1980 film, three working girls plot revenge on their chauvinistic boss, belting an original score by everyone's favorite double-D diva, Dolly Parton.

When: Previews from April 7, open-ended run begins April 30

Women to watch: “The West Wing's” Allison Janney and “Wicked”-veterans Stephanie J. Block and Megan Hilty

Women to bring: Co-workers, job hunters, anyone who's ever visited Dollywood

‘Dividing the Estate’
What: This dark comedy by Horton Foote looks in on a dysfunctional Texan family fighting over the inheritance from their tight-fisted — and still very much alive — mother.

When: Currently in previews, Nov. 20 to Jan. 4

Women to watch: Established stage actress Elizabeth Ashley, who plays the matriarch, and Hallie Foote (the playwright's real-life daughter) as the greediest member of her brood

Women to bring: Sisters with a sense of humor

‘Hedda Gabler’
What: A staple of every Drama 101 syllabus, Henrik Ibsen's drama stars the original desperate housewife, who stirs up trouble with a piano and some pistols in her suburban living room.

When: Previews from Jan. 9, Jan. 25 to March 29

Woman to watch: Tony-winner and star of Showtime's “Weeds,” Mary-Louise Parker

Women to bring: The coffee klatch

‘Mary Stuart’
What: Straight from London's West End, Mary Queen of Scots and England's Elizabeth I tooth-and-nail their way through Friedrich von Schiller's depiction of the infamous 16th-century rivalry.

When: Previews from March 30, open-ended run starts April 19

Women to watch: British imports Harriet Walter as Elizabeth and Janet McTeer as Mary Stuart (returning to Broadway for the first time since her 1997 Tony-winning turn in A Doll's House)

Women to bring: Ambitious execs, history buffs, anglophiles

‘Vanities, A New Musical’
What: A trio of best friends sing their way through their differences in a comedy spanning three decades: the flower-power '60s through the power-suit '80s.

When: Previews from Feb. 2, open-ended run starts Feb. 26

Women to watch: A cast of pretty ingenues who have made the Broadway rounds — Lauren Kennedy, Sarah Stiles and Anneliese van der Pol

Women to bring: Long-lost high school friends, lifelong bosom-buddies, anyone who thought “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” should have involved singing

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