Check out the stars on Broadway

Buying tickets in advance ensures you'll be able to see the show you want.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
NEW YORK -- The biggest, bounciest hit of the new Broadway season arrived in the waning days of a scorching summer. And no matter how many Tony Award contenders open between now and the official end of the season in May, none is likely to eclipse "Hairspray" for bouffant joy, broad popularity and box-office muscle. It's the Ultra Hold of this season's hits.
On the other hand, if you find great "Hairspray" tickets hard to get (they are) or don't fancy seeing Harvey Fierstein in a dress (though he's the hottest leading man/woman on Broadway at the moment), you'll have many other choices this season, some escapist, others engrossing.
Prices for most big Broadway shows hover at or just under the $100 mark; if you want relative bargains, you have to look Off-Broadway.
Stars
Stars? You can see lots of them this season, though most limit the length of their runs, so their far more lucrative film work won't take a hit.
Antonio Banderas, so hypnotic as Che in the movie version of "Evita," is making his Broadway musical debut in a revival of "Nine." Al Pacino heads one of the season's starriest casts in the National Actors Theatre production of Bertolt Brecht's "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui." Danny DeVito stars in the revival of David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross." Neil LaBute has Sigourney Weaver as his star in his new play "The Mercy Seat."
Film stars Edward Norton and Catherine Keener are headlining the revival of Lanford Wilson's "Burn This," and two other hot film personalities, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rachel Weisz, will star in a production of August Strindberg's "Miss Julie."
As for big theater names, lots are returning to Broadway and Off-Broadway this season: Bernadette Peters in a revival of "Gypsy," Michael Crawford in the musical spoof "Dance of the Vampires" (with music by Meatloaf muse Jim Steinman), Cherry Jones and Swoozie Kurtz in "Imaginary Friends," Brian Stokes Mitchell in "Man of La Mancha," Roger Rees and Faith Prince in "A Man of No Importance."
In the director-as-star category, the two biggest entries are Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann's production of the opera "La Boheme" and Twyla Tharp's production of "Movin' Out," a dance-driven piece built around Billy Joel pop songs.
Getting tickets
To be sure you get to see the show you want when you're in New York, buy tickets as far in advance as possible. The simplest way is to go to the Telecharge or Ticketmaster Web sites (www.telecharge.com or www.ticketmaster.com) or order via those services' 800 numbers (800-432-7250 for Telecharge, 800-755-4000 for Ticketmaster).
You can, of course, take your chances and visit the box office once you've arrived in New York, saving yourself a service fee. Or if you really want to save money -- if you want to pay half or three-quarters, plus a $3 fee, for a ticket -- and aren't determined to see one of the hotter shows, you can stand in line at the Times Square TKTS booth, at Broadway and 47th Street, or, to skip a typically huge line, visit the downtown TKTS, at 186 Front St.