'The Wiz,' 'The Great Gatsby,' 17 more shows on Broadway this spring

Long Island is playing a major role on Broadway this spring.

The Gold Coast is featured front and center in one of the season's most highly anticipated arrivals, “The Great Gatsby,” a new musical based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel about the title character, a mystery man with millions who lives in an area known as West Egg that bears a remarkable resemblance to Great Neck.

Also doing a star turn on Broadway is newcomer Nichelle Lewis, a 2021 Molloy University graduate of the Rockville Centre school's musical theater program. She plays Dorothy in the revival of the 1975 musical “The Wiz,” which puts an urban twist on “The Wizard of Oz.” Lewis, who first got swept up in a tornado playing the Kansas lass during the national tour last year, is now ready to take Broadway by storm as she joins the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion (but, alas, there's no Toto) down the Yellow Brick Road.

The season also promises musicals based on popular movie dramas (“Days of Wine and Roses,” “The Notebook”), page to stage adaptations (“Water for Elephants,” “The Outsiders”) and marquee names (Steve Carell, Jessica Lange, Jim Parsons).

DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (Studio 54, 254 W. 54th St., through March 31) Kelli O’Hara and Brian d’Arcy star in this musical based on the 1962 Blake Edwards movie about an alcoholic couple whose marriage is literally on the rocks.

DOUBT (American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St., through April 21) The show must go on for this revival of John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize winner. Amy Ryan takes over for a hospitalized Tyne Daly as a formidable nun who suspects a priest (Liev Schreiber) of inappropriate behavior with a student at an all-boys Catholic school.

THE NOTEBOOK (Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 W. 45th St., in previews, opens March 14) The 2004 big-screen weepie about the ill-fated romance between a mill worker and a blue blood is now a musical featuring songs by Ingrid Michaelson. Pass the Kleenex.

AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE (Circle in the Square Theatre, in previews, opens March 18 and runs through June 16) Amy Herzog’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s drama stars Jeremy Strong (“Succession”) as an idealistic doctor who goes from town savior to town pariah when he learns that the local spa waters are contaminated. Michael Imperioli (“The Sopranos”) co-stars as his brother, who also happens to be the mayor.

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (Imperial Theatre, 249 W. 45th St., in previews, opens March 21) Will this musical romance based on Sara Gruen’s bestselling novel about a young man’s experiences with a traveling circus be the greatest show on Earth? 

THE WHO’S TOMMY (Nederlander Theatre, 208 W. 41st St., begins previews March 8, opens March 28) This revival of The Who’s rock opera is more than just the story of a pinball wizard with such a supple wrist. In fact, there’s enough drama here for two musicals.

THE OUTSIDERS (Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 W. 45th St., begins previews March 16, opens April 11) The gangs are all here in this musical reworking of S.E. Hinton’s novel. Set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it follows the conflicts between two rival teen gangs — the blue-collar Greasers and the upper-crust Socs.

LEMPICKA (Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th St., begins previews March 19, opens April 14) In this musical, Eden Espinosa paints her own portrait of Polish artist Tamara de Lempicka, who fled Russia during the 1917 October Revolution for Paris where she found freedom and fame.

THE WIZ (Marquis Theatre, Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway, begins previews March 29, opens April 17) It only took 45 years for “The Wiz” to ease on down the road back to Broadway. In addition to Lewis, Deborah Cox plays Glinda and if ever, oh ever, a Wiz there was, it’s Wayne Brady.

SUFFS (Music Box Theatre, 239 W. 45th St., begins previews March 26, opens April 18) Hillary Rodham Clinton is one of the producers of this new musical by Shaina Taub about the Women’s Suffrage Movement in 1913. Much has changed since then, or has it?

STEREOPHONIC (John Golden Theatre, begins previews April 3, opens April 19 and runs through July 7) Will Butler, former member of Arcade Fire, wrote the score for this new show about a rock band on the verge of a breakthrough — or a breakup — as they record their first album.

HELL’S KITCHEN (Shubert Theatre, 225 W. 44th St., begins previews March 28, opens April 20) Don't expect an expletive-laden musical version of chef Gordon Ramsay’s TV reality competition. Instead, comes the story of a young woman living in the titular Manhattan neighborhood who finds her voice thanks to her piano teacher and the songs of Alicia Keys.

CABARET (August Wilson Theatre, 245 W. 52nd St., begins previews April 1, opens April 21) Willkommen, Eddie Redmayne, as he reprises his Olivier Award-winning performance as the Emcee in this latest incarnation of the Kander-Ebb musical that was a smash in London.

THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL (James Earl Jones Theatre, 138 W. 48th St., begins previews March 29, opens April 22) The songs of Huey Lewis and the News frame this jukebox musical about a 20-something who abandons music for “a real job” and has to deal with his ambitious female boss. It won’t be long before someone is singing “Do You Believe in Love?”

PATRIOTS (Ethel Barrymore Theatre, begins previews April 1, opens April 22) Peter Morgan, best known for his royal treatment of Queen Elizabeth II with “The Queen” and “The Crown,” now sets his sights on the power struggle between billionaire Boris Berezovsky and future Russian president Vladimir Putin in 1991.

MARY JANE (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 W. 47th St., begins previews April 2, opens April 23 and runs through June 2) Rachel McAdams, the meanest of the “Mean Girls” on screen, makes a 180-degree turn for her first Broadway outing as an eternally optimistic single mom coping with life’s adversities.

UNCLE VANYA (Vivian Beaumont Theater, 150 W. 65th St., begins previews April 2, opens April 23 and runs through June 16) Steve Carell can check off Chekhov on his bucket list as he makes his Broadway debut in this reimagining of the Russian playwright’s classic, which features a new translation by Heidi Schreck (“What the Constitution Means to Me?”).

THE GREAT GATSBY (Broadway Theatre, 1681 Broadway, begins previews March 29, opens April 25) The '20s will be roaring again with this venerable saga about the Gold Coast during the Jazz Age. Can Broadway succeed where so many film adaptations have failed?

MOTHER PLAY (Hayes Theater, 240 W. 44th St., begins previews April 2, opens April 25) Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel’s latest work is set outside of Washington, D.C. in 1962 and centers on a domineering matriarch and her children. Jessica Lange, so memorable as Joan Crawford in FX's “Feud,” here plays mommie dearest to Jim Parsons and Celia Keenan-Bolger.