Icebreakers: Fran Drescher’s Wicked Stepmother, Shanley’s “Outside Mulligar’ and more!

If it’s 4° below zero here’s two perfect anecdotes guaranteed to put warm sunshine in your heart!
On Feb. 4, television and film icon Fran Drescher will make her Broadway debut as Cinderella’s wicked stepmother, “Madame”—for 10 weeks only. The world’s beloved “Nanny”, is also no stranger to the stage — with her turn in Nora Ephron’s long running “Love, Loss and What I Wore” a delicious memory. Honors and awards for her works with cancer patients and health organizations (including the coveted “Gilda Award” are just a smidgen of her accomplishments. Now here’s a role that could have been created for Drescher’s delicious brand of spunk and chutzpah! Rodgers and Hammerstein’s reworked revival of “Cinderella” gives Drescher the perfect opportunity to explore the new persona of the Queen of Mean — and surely raise the temperature of the laugh meter at the Broadway Theater.
The long-running revival has delighted grownups as much as their youngsters. With a contemporary book that takes a young woman with savvy and heart on a quest to develop a kinder world view — and find a suitable mate — this classic tuneful charmer in now worth a return visit (or your first) Drescher can only further enhance the musical’s glorious score, superb sets, costumes and choreography with her very special sparkle-dust of wicked humor. (Broadway at 53rd Street. Tickets now at CinderellaOnBroadway.com)
              ‘Outside Mulligar’ is a heart-warmer
Can a now middle-aged man and woman separated by life-long shyness (Anthony) and patient (if unorthodox) pursuit (self-assured tomboy Mary) break through the barriers of time and feuding families to allow them to find each other?

Because, thankfully, playwright John Patrick Shanley has written this very Irish (of course), very heartwarming (likewise) tale of two families who’ve let a small parcel of land between their homesteads take on the dimensions of a civil war — despite which the outcome is hardly in doubt.
Shanley’s play begins in a fierce downpour and the Irish weather seems to mirror the malaise that’s separated both families — where death, lost loves and the stubbornness of the Irish temperament has led to what would seem a sad ending. But ah! The Irish! Always resilient in making the best of their hard land, hard luck and renowned stubbornness, instead brings us a lovely, moving ending that will warm your heart into spring.
Shanley’s fulfilling charmer features elder kvetchers (fine Peter Maloney and Dearbhla Molloy) who are not outshone — but in gripping turns by Brian F. O’Brynes’s Anthony and Debra Messing’s tough Mary, the woman whose loved her neighbor since she was 6—relinquish the spotlight to the latter duo. Douglas Houghes’ direction provides the sparkplugs that help to avoid over-sentimentality. Go warm the cockles of your heart at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre 9261 West 47th Street, tickets at (212) 239-6200 or telecharge.com.
Finally, talk about sunshine mark your calendar. Feb. 22, is the night the newest version of beloved Gerard Alessandrini’s (whose kept the laugh meter running amok in his multi-decades of hilarious parodies of Broadway musicals) will debut, retitled “Forbidden Broadway: Alive and still Kicking.” New additions will include spoofs of “Pippin,” Kinky Boots,” Matilda” and “Motown” joining highlights from recent seasons. At the newly renovated Davenport Theatre, 354 West 45th Street. Tickets now at (212) 0239-6200 or telecharge.com.
                          Music hath charms to disarm the chill!
The brand new release of “A Night With Janis Joplin” is a special joy because its focus — unlike the musical — is strictly Mary Bridget Davies (star of the new musical) high-octane performance of Joplin’s treasured hit songs. The cast recording also marked the World Premiere of “I’m Gonna Rock My Way to Heaven”— a song legendary writer-producer Jerry Ragavoy wrote for Joplin just prior to her death in 1970.
If you can’t get enough of the soul-searing troubled singer whose singular life gave birth to some of the most searing, stunning unforgettable rock music ever written, “A Night With Janis Joplin” will make her genius come alive anew. The 19 songs in all will have you singing along with maybe with a tear or few in your eyes. Broadway Records is the producer. Come out of the deep freeze with this thrilling exalting sing-along, okay Bobby McGee!