Bringing the best of Broadway right to you is what we do best. And taking a look at what is opening in 2008 gives us a great idea of what may be coming your way. The Broadway season in New York has so much to offer, and we’ve hand picked a few generating big buzz.

Opening night recently took place for THE LITTLE MERMAID on January 10. The show's original opening night was scheduled for December 6, but that date was rescheduled due to the stagehands strike, which stalled the family-friendly musical for nearly three weeks. Inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen tale, THE LITTLE MERMAID features a score by Academy Award winner Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman, with new songs penned by Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater. GREY GARDENS book writer and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright for I AM MY OWN WIFE, Doug Wright, adapts the popular animated feature for the stage. After rescuing a handsome young prince, Ariel, a young mermaid, makes a faustian bargain with an unscrupulous sea witch that allows Ariel to be human, but at a terrible cost. Visit www.disneyonbroadway.com for the latest information.

Another Broadway opening just took place with THE 39 STEPS opening on January 15. Presented by Roundabout Theatre Company, the Olivier Award-winning Hitchcockian thriller-turned-stage-comedy is part espionage adventure and part slapstick humor. The production features four actors who portray all the characters and all the action from the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film, including the chase atop the Flying Scotsman train, a bi-plane crash and the death-defying finale in London’s Palladium Theatre. Charles Edwards, who played the role of Richard Hannay in the London cast, repeats his work for Broadway audiences. Maria Aitken, director of the original hit London production, also staged the work in New York. Visit www.roundabouttheatre.org for the latest information.

NOVEMBER, a political play by Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet, who wrote the screenplay for Wag the Dog, opened earlier this month as well. NOVEMBER is set in the month notable for elections as well as presidential pardons of Thanksgiving turkeys. President Charles Smith (Nathan Lane) is running for reelection, and some subjects (civil marriage, gambling casinos, lesbians, American Indians, presidential libraries, questionable pardons, campaign contributions) just won't go away. Joe Mantello (WICKED, TAKE ME OUT, GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS) directs the production.

Telling a gripping story of hope and self-discovery, IN THE HEIGHTS opens March 9 following a successful Off-Broadway run and critical acclaim. Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards went to the hip-hop-infused musical that takes audiences into New York City’s culturally diverse neighborhood of Washington Heights. A vibrant and tight-knit neighborhood full of lovers and dreamers whose roots are in the island nations of the West Indies and the Caribbean, HEIGHTS explores the joys, heartbreaks and bonds of a Latino community struggling to redefine home. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who conceived the show and wrote its music and lyrics, will again star as Dominican bodega operator Usnavi. Most members of the earlier Off-Broadway tryout cast,which included Tony Award winner Priscilla Lopez, will reunite for the Broadway run. Visit www.intheheightsthemusical.com for information, including a behind-the-scenes video.

The upcoming Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE opens January 25 at Studio 54. Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell, who starred as George and Dot, respectively, at London’s Menier Theatre, will reprise their work for New York audiences. Sondheim’s musical, winner of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, chronicles the life of maverick French impressionist painter Georges Seurat during the creation of his now celebrated masterpiece, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” 1884. Act Two is set in the 1990s, when Seurat’s great-grandson encounters different artistic struggles. Roundabout Theatre Company will present the musical as a limited engagement. Visit www.roundabouttheatre.org for more details.

SHREK THE MUSICAL, based on the William Steig book and the DreamWorks film, heads to Broadway in November. The musical features book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Tony Award Winner Jeanine Tesori. AVENUE Q’s Jason Moore will direct. The musical is being produced by DreamWorks Theatricals and Neil Street Productions and represents DreamWorks Animation's first venture in legitimate theater. The musical features the title character, a lovable green swamp-dwelling ogre; his wisecracking sidekick, Donkey; the lovely Princess Fiona; Lord Farquaad and a chorus of everybody's favorite fractured fairytale creatures.

Based on the Universal Pictures film written and directed by John Waters, CRY-BABY will debut on Broadway starting March 15. James Snyder will star in the title role opposite Tony Award winner Harriet Harris. Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, who penned the libretto for the last Waters based musical, HAIRSPRAY, provide the book for the musical. Baltimore, 1954. Everyone likes Ike, nobody likes communism and Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker is the baddest boy in town. He's a rebel with a cause — truth, justice and the pursuit of rock 'n' roll — and when he falls for a good girl, his square little suburb rocks around the clock.

By: Allison Thomas