New York's Public Theater is kicking off its 2009-2010 season with something it does pretty well: Shakespeare. More specifically, Hollywood stars performing in Shakespeare.

Coming off of the excellent Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night, starring Anne Hathaway, the Public heads over to the darker side of the Bard's spectrum with a production of Othello, starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman. The play is a co-production with LAByrinth Theater Company. Hoffman, an artistic director at LAByrinth, will star alongside fellow artistic director, John Ortiz.

It should be fun to see Hoffman sinking his teeth into the role of Iago, a slimy sidekick considered by some to be the prototypical villain. And because of the connection to LAByrinth, the production is likely to be a labor of love for the actors.

Tickets for Othello go on sale beginning August 3rd. With just 23 performances planned for the run, seats should go pretty quickly.

Broadway continues to stump the recession, with people heading to shows in droves last week, according to Broadway.com. Not surprisingly,  perennial favorites Wicked and The Lion King continue to rake in the most bucks. More interesting: the play God of Carnage brought in over $1 million and was packing in audiences beyond capacity.

Of course, anyone who has seen God of Carnage shouldn't be surprised. The 2009 Tony winner for Best Play Tony is excellent. The writing is funny and mean, and if you like your theater in small doses, the 90-minute running time is a perfect quick-fix.

Best of all are the performances of the Oscar-caliber Hollywood stars. The amazing Jeff Daniels is inspired. He chews all kinds of scenery. Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden, two wonderful actresses, are perfectly cast and hit all the right notes (Harden also won a Tony for Best Actress). And James Gandolfini is so good as a Brooklyn yuppie, you almost forget the Jersey thug. The show goes on summer hiatus beginning this week and will be back beginning September 8 -- and it appears the cast won't change. That's a good thing.  Another cast may be able to handle the material, but it's hard to imagine any other group of actors recreating such maniacal magic.

With the long lines at the TKTS booth in Times Square, it's pretty easy to spot that discount opportunity. (By the way, no matter how long that line looks, your wait time is 30 to 40 minutes. A small price to save 45 percent or so on a couple of Broadway tickets.) But there are less obvious discounts at most Broadway theater box offices.

The list of box office discounts includes $25 lottery tickets to shows, less-than-$40 general rush tickets, student rush tickets and standing room only tickets.

Not every show has them, The Lion King for instance, is a roaring success and doesn't offer any discounts. But even mega-hits like Billy Elliot and Jersey Boys offer fans a way to get cheaper seats.

My list is updated with all the Broadway musicals now, and I'll have the plays updated soon. Check it out.

Even though overall sales were down on Broadway for the week ended July 5, there were still 15 of 24 shows with more than 90 percent of seats sold, according to the The Broadway League's weekly recap.

Obviously, the July 4 holiday weekend - with world-class fireworks on the Hudson River - explains the drop. So, it's not a big deal.

Despite that, The Norman Conquests continued its conquest of Broadway, jumping over 9 percent in attendance. I guess it could have been Anglophiles boycotting the Fourth in favor of seeing Stephen Mangan (photo, right).

Photo by Joan Marcus

Stephen Schwartz called it "the best American Musical of the last 25 years." In 1998, it won Tony Awards for Best Book, Best Score and Best Orchestrations, though it lost Best Musical to Disney's The Lion King.

"It," of course, is Ragtime, a musical adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's book by writer Terrence McNally, lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty. And it is headed back to Broadway this fall after a successful restaging at Washington's Kennedy Center last spring.

Marcia Milgrom Dodge is directing this version, and Kevin McCollum is the lead producer. The show begins previews October 23 at the Neil Simon Theatre with the opening set for November 15.

This is a great musical, no doubt. And anyone who likes musical theater should be looking forward to hearing "Journey On," "Make Them Hear You" "Back to Before" and a whole lot more. I can't wait.

Image of the original cast CD courtesy of PriceGrabber

Broadway tickets for less than half price.

OK, have I got your attention? I thought so. Most people know of the TKTS booths that operate in Times Square and two other New York locations. They're great for "day-of" discount tickets for Broadway and off-Broadway theater and for concerts and events in New York. But who is behind TKTS?

It's the Theatre Development Fund, a non-profit organization founded in 1968 that sells otherwise unused tickets to Broadway and off-Broadway productions then funnels the money back into theater. The cost to join is only $30 a year and you get access to their web listing of available shows. Even if you're from out of town but come yearly to New York, it could be worth it.

The catch, you have to be a member of certain groups or organizations, but it is a far-ranging list, from entertainment professionals to civil servants.

Check it out. If you qualify, you could save a bundle on theater tickets and be helping the theater community.

Karl Malden, an Academy Award-winning actor best known for movie and TV roles, but who also acted in 20 Broadway productions, died today at age 97

He interpreted characters created by some of America's best-known writers, including Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. He was in the original Broadway productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Fathers and Sons, which had a Broadway revival just last year.

He starred in the movie version of Streetcar as well, but became known to the television generation with the police drama The Streets of San Francisco.

Photo by Frasier Harrison/Getty Images.

Disney Theatricals' The Little Mermaid will close August 30 after playing 735 performances since opening in January 2008 at the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre on Broadway, according to published reports.

Mermaid brought the hit animated movie and Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale to life with book by Pulitzer Prize-winner Doug Wright, music by Alan Menken, and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater.

No word yet on what show will take the Disney musical's place.

Photo by Joan Marcus

Grey's Anatomy star, or former star, T.R. Knight will star in the 2010 Broadway revival of Lend Me A Tenor, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Tenor is a good, old-fashioned farce and will be directed by Stanley Tucci. It's slated for a February 2010 opening.

Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images

With over six years at Broadway's Golden Theatre, the Tony Best Musical Avenue Q will close September 13 after 2,534 performances, Playbill.com reported.

The show started at The Vineyard Theatre off-Broadway and transferred to the Golden in 2003. The Vineyard is among the hit's producers along with Kevin McCollum, Robyn Goodman, Jeffrey Seller and The New Group.

For the last few months, beginning July 6, original cast member Ann Harada will reprise her role as Christmas Eve.