So If All The World's A Stage, What's On?

New Theatrical Offerings On Broadway, Across The U.S. And In London

(CBS)  In Chicago, Arthur Miller's classic "The Crucible" opens today, but people are still buzzing about the Steppenwolf Theater's last production - "August: Osage County" is a drama about a family in the Midwest and it was a hit with theatre-goers in the Midwest.

"A lot of people came up and said, 'You've been spying on my family. When did you meet my mother?'" said playwright Tracy Letts.

The sold-out play's universal appeal has not only earned it rave reviews but also a ticket to New York. As if this Chicago production going to Broadway isn't honor enough, it's taking its cast with it, which is virtually unprecedented.

"I'm hopeful that it's going to find its audience in New York as well," Letts told CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Cynthia Bowers.

On Broadway, CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason reports there's no question there'll be an audience for the new Mel Brooks musical "Young Frankenstein." The long-awaited production opens later this fall.

Then there's "Walmartopia," an Off-Broadway satire about the retail giant and its perennially perky workforce, which opened to a packed house on when else Labor Day.

Ian McKellen is King Lear in this Royal Shakespeare Company production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. After its New York run, the show moves on to Minneapolis, L.A., and then London.

But as CBS News correspondent Richard Roth reports, until the return of King Lear, London will have to make do with Shakespeare's "Macbeth." The Scottish play opened this past week with Patrick Stewart of "Star Trek" leading the cast.

And there's "All About My Mother," based on Pedro Almovodar's Oscar-winning film, now on stage at London's Old Vic. The play stars Dame Diana Rigg.

In Southern California, the new theatre season begins with something very, very old: A 2000-year old Roman play at the Getty Villa, an outdoor amphitheater in Malibu. "Tug of War" is a bawdy musical, originally in latin. But Michael Brand, director of the Getty Museum, says nothing's lost in translation.

"There's no Latin, no togas, no attempt to be authentic in the costumes or the music," Brand told CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes. "The bottom line is it's a comedy."

And its producers say it all goes to show that what was funny then … can be funny now.

"The tradition doesn't mean that everything has to be serious," Brand said. "They had a sense of humor 2000 years ago. You should never forget that."