I must admit, sometimes even I miss things.  For instance, did you know that Alyssa Milano just joined the Broadway cast of Chicago?  Well, that’s likely not much of a surprise.  I mean…Melanie, Ariana, Christie, Pamela.  Why not Milano?  She’s there until November 10^th.  By the by, this marks Alyssa’s Broadway debut.  Now, I know someone out there is asking if Alyssa appeared in Annie as a kid.  Well, yes and no.  Yes, when she was 7 (or 8 – sources vary), she joined the second national tour of Annie.  Not as Annie herself, but as one of the orphans – at one point she was July, at another point she was Kate (the only difference likely being which scrub brush she used for “It’s a Hard Knock Life”).  But Alyssa never appeared on Broadway in any Annie production.

That said, Annie is returning to NYC – although Madison Square Garden sure ain’t Broadway.  But a bona fide Broadway star will be appearing in this latest incarnation – Whoopi Goldberg.  Prior to the NYC run, the show will play Chicago in November.  Then it will schlep to NYC, where Whoopi will join the cast during the second week of the run (her first show is December 11^th).  It’s there until January 5^th, and then continues touring sans Whoopi.

In case you haven’t heard, Whoopi’s Clara’s Heart co-star, Neil Patrick Harris, is also returning to the New York stage.  And he ain’t alone.  He’ll be co-starring with such folk as Jane Krakowski, Debra Messing, Billy Magnussen and Constance Wu.  The show is Robert O’Hara’s Shit. Meet. Fan. – which is a stage version of the 2016 film Perfect Strangers.  What might surprise you is that this starry production will take place at the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space, which only has 450 seats – talk about intimate!  Performances begin on October 10^th and run through December 1^st.  You can grab what few tickets are left at MCCTheater.org.

Several of you have asked me how Patti LuPone can be on Broadway (with and without Miss Farrow) since she famously gave up her Equity card – Equity being the union governing Broadway performers.  While Patti has not rejoined the union, she is working under an Equity contract through their “financial core” loophole.  This means the production has to treat her as a member, and she has to pay the equivalent of membership dues to the union.  But she does not have certain rights – such as the ability to vote in union matters or run for office.  So, for now, Brooke Shields is safe (FYI – she is Equity’s Madam President).