Jerry Orbach

So much is being said about cross-dressing and drag now that we thought we’d take a look at how musicals have looked at this aspect of theatre on this week’s Dress Circle (4/16 7:00 p.m.). Men portraying women on stage were a major part of Greek and Roman theatre as well as early European theatre mainly because women weren’t allowed to appear on stage. However, once that taboo was overturned, women often portrayed men, especially in operas and British Pantomimes.

The end is nigh! Well, the end of the year, that is. Welcome to December, and to kick off the month of wishes and gifts, we’re going to be looking at a dozen musicals that opened in New York this month on this week’s Dress Circle (12/7 7:00 p.m.). We’ll be looking at 125 years of musical history, from Victor Herbert’s “The Ameer” in 1899 through to the 2024 revival of “Gypsy” that starred Audra McDonald and Danny Burstein.

Burt Bacharach has been called “The King of Easy Listening” having amassed 73 Top 40 hits in the U.S. and 52 in the United Kingdom. His songs also appeared in eight productions on Broadway as well as in 772 film and television soundtracks, and on this week’s Dress Circle (9/22 7:00 p.m.) we’re going to look some of them.