THIS WEEK IN PICTURES: December 10-16

David Turner, Harry Connick Jr., Jessie Mueller. Photo Credit: Walter McBride

Grammy and Emmy Award winner, Tony Award nominee and multi-platinum recording artist Harry Connick, Jr. stars as Dr. Mark Bruckner in the newly imagined production of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER, which opened Sunday night, December 11, 2011 on Broadway at The St. James Theatre. Previews began on November 12, 2011. Click here for complete coverage of the premiere curtain call!

Scott Wittman, Marc Shaiman, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Megan Hilty, Savannah Wise. Michael Mayer, Katharine McPhee, Theresa Rebeck, Jack Davenport & Raza Jaffrey. Photo Credit: Walter McBride

On December 12, 2011, the Broadway community descended on New York City's glamorous Museum of Modern Art to get their first official look at NBC's upcoming new musical drama series SMASH, which is nothing less than an ongoing love-letter to Broadway. The attendees, from the casts of nearly every show on the Great White Way, were enthralled from start to finish. Click here for more photos from the star-studded event!

Greg Keller, Carra Patterson, Lynne Meadow, (Director), Cynthia Nixon, Suzanne Bertish & Michael Countryman. Photo Credit: Walter McBride

Manhattan Theatre Club’s upcoming Broadway premiere of WIT, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Margaret Edson, directed by Lynne Meadow, will start previews Thursday, January 5 and open Thursday, January 26 at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. WIT features Pun Bandhu, Olivier Award winner Suzanne Bertish, Michael Countryman, Jessica Dickey, Chiké Johnson, Greg Keller, Tony and Emmy Award winner Cynthia Nixon, Carra Patterson, and Zachary Spicer. The cast met the press this week, and you can check out more photos from the event here.

simon bowman, Earl Carpenter, Ramin Karimloo and John Owen-Jones with Nicole Scherzinger. Photo Credit: Ken McKay/ITV/Rex / Rex USA

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the musical THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Andrew Lloyd Webber introduced a unique performance of the title number from the musical at this year's Royal Variety Performance. Starring four acclaimed ‘Phantoms' - simon bowman, Earl Carpenter, Ramin Karimloo and John Owen-Jones, the performance also featured international pop-star Nicole Scherzinger as ‘Christine'. Click here for more photos from the gala.

AMERICAN IDIOT Company. Photo Credit: Doug Hamilton

The North American tour of Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT will premiere in Toronto on December 28 and run through January 15 before continuing on to 14 other markets across the United States. Original Broadway cast member Van Hughes will star as Johnny, the role in which he concluded AMERICAN IDIOT’s Broadway run, along with Jake Epstein as Will, Scott J. Campbell as Tunny, Leslie McDonel , Gabrielle McClinton, Joshua Kobak, and Nicci Claspell. Check out more rehearsal shots here.

Kids ensemble. Photo Credit: Dan Rest

On Wednesday, December 14, A Christmas Story, The Musical! celebrated its opening night at Chicago's legendary Chicago Theatre with producer Peter Billingsley, who starred as Ralphie in the original 1983 film, there to cheer the company on. America's #1 Christmas movie comes to life on stage as hilarious holiday musical featuring a bright holiday score by composer/lyricist team Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Joseph Robinette based on the writings of radio humorist Jean Shepherd and the 1983 holiday film favorite. Check out more photos from opening night here!

The cast of Lysistrata. Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski

Lysistrata Jones began preview performances Saturday, November 12th at the Walter Kerr Theatre and opened officially on December 14, 2011. Written by Tony nominee Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn, Lysistrata Jones is directed and choreographed by Tony nominee Dan Knechtges. Click here for full photo coverage from opening night!

Adam Driver, Charlotte Parry, Director Sam Gold, Sarah Goldberg & Matthew Ryhs

Roundabout Theatre Company’s new off-Broadway production of John Osborne’s play Look Back in Anger will begin performances on January 13, 2012 and will open officially on February 2, 2012 at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street). The production will play a limited engagement through April 8, 2012. The cast features Adam Driver as “Cliff,” Sarah Goldberg as “Allison,” Charlotte Parry as “Helena,” and Matthew Rhys as “Jimmy”.