Play Date
Broadway Baby: New star explodes with a Bang.
She’s played the lead fowl in The Ugly Duckling. And just as the little quacker came to realize that he belonged with the more sophisticated swans, 11-year-old Ellen Marlow quickly figured out that she surpassed her Texas public-school stage and was real Broadway material. Last summer, her dad, a Republican lobbyist in Austin, Googled “Broadway casting calls” and found that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, already a hit in London, was headed to New York. With virtually no experience and certainly no agent, Marlow and her mom flew to New York and lined up with 600 other hopeful kids at the cattle call. Three weeks later, Chitty’s new Jemima, the little girl whose dad invents a flying car, was trading her southern drawl for a British lilt, and doing so for 153 lines and eight songs. “I loooove New York,” says the lanky blonde, rising from her seat for emphasis, just after a recent matinee. But wait: If she’s been spending some twelve hours a day in rehearsals plus three hours a day with a mandatory academic tutor, how does she have time to love us? “I am a shopaholic,” Marlow says as her mom nods resignedly. “On Mondays, my day off, I love to look at clothes, especially at Saks. Other things that make her excited to be here? Her own American idol, the Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth (You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Wicked) will be at Chitty’s opening night this Thursday. What about a pop star, like Britney Spears? “Pfffffffttttth,” says the petite up-and-comer, approximating your standard Bronx cheer. “She’s not a real singer.”

• Hilton Theatre, 213 W. 42nd St., nr. Seventh Ave., 212-307-4100 or ticketmaster.com. In previews for a 4/28 opening.

Event
Much to Rapunzel's Surprise
In Manhattan Children's Theatre's slightly twisted version of Rapunzel, the young girl is snatched by an evil witch only to find out that her rescuer, the prince, is her twin brother. The two set out to defeat the witch and bring good to the world.

• Manhattan Children's Theatre, 380 Broadway, nr. Canal St., 212-352-3101 or mctny.org. Through 5/22.