![Cedric Neal in front of the \"Porgy and Bess\" sign. The show opens Jan. 12, 2012. He plays \"The Crab Man\"](http://www.theaterjones.com/media/m120112133932.jpg "Cedric Neal in front of the \\"Porgy and Bess\\" sign. The show opens Jan. 12, 2012. He plays \\"The Crab Man\\"")
As you surely know, Dallas Theater Center Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company members Liz Mikel and Cedric Neal have been in New York, performing in shows on Broadway, which had some crossover time with each other.
Mikel was the raved-about featured star of Lysistrata Jones, which began at the Dallas Theater Center in 2010 as Give It Up! It closed on Jan. 8, 2012 after just more than a month on Broadway (it also ran off-Broadway in the spring of 2011). We're keeping our fingers crossed that the Tony voters remember her in a few months.
Neal is in the ensemble of the revival of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, which stars Audra McDonald, Norm Lewis and David Alan Grier. On The Internet Broadway Database, Neal is listed as playing The Crab Man. He's been with the show since it debuted in Massachusetts last fall. It opens tonight, Jan. 12, after beginning previews on Dec. 17. It runs through June.
Our photographer Robert Hart was in New York last weekend, and caught Mikel and Neal between the matinee and evening performances of their respective shows. Mikel is busy signing autographs for her fans. There are surely a lot more of those in the world now.
We've long been fans of both.
Click on the sideshow link above to see the images. 
