Roger Rees, left, and Chita Rivera are headlining 'The Visit' on Broadway after appearing in the play last summer at Williamstown Theatre.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — For the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the hits just keep on going ... to Broadway.

 

No fewer than three productions from the WTF's summer 2014 schedule are slated to hit the Great White Way in 2015.

 

Last week, it was announced that Chita Rivera and Roger Rees will headline the Kander and Ebb musical "The Visit" at the Lyceum Theatre with previews starting March 26.

 

Those are the New York previews, of course. Berkshire theatergoers had a preview of their own in Williams College's '62 Center back in July.

 

At the time, the show's principals made no secret of their hopes that "The Visit" would visit Gotham after a tortuous route delayed by, among other things, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

 

WTF producer Stephen M. Kaus emphasized last year that the festival did not stage plays primarily with hopes of seeing them make it to Broadway.

 

"When we put on plays here, the goal is to put on plays here," Kaus said in June. "If it's wildly successful and commercially viable, it's a bonus."

 

This winter, the WTF hit the jackpot.

 

Early last month, it was announced that Sam Shepard's "Fool for Love" will get a revival at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in October with the same creative team that staged the drama in Williamstown last summer — director Daniel Aukin and stars Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell.

 

Late last month, theater fans found out that "Living on Love" will get another life at the Longacre Theatre with opera star Renee Fleming as one of the leads and director Kathleen Marshall at the helm. No word has been announced on whether either Justin Long or Anna Chlumsky will return for a run scheduled for April 20 to Aug. 2 with previews slated for April 1.

 

None of the three productions were "hidden gems" that burst from nowhere last summer in the final WTF season programmed by former Artistic Director Jenny Gersten.

 

Attaching Fleming's name to "Living on Love" was an artistic choice and an opportunity to capitalize on her rising popularity and crossover appeal. Shepard's dramas have a long history of success on Broadway and Arianda is a rising star with two Tony nominations and one win. "The Visit" is the work of John Kander and Fred Ebb, best know for collaborations like "Chicago" and "Cabaret."

 

"I think Broadway needs [Kander and Ebb]," Rivera said in June. "I think Broadway needs a play like this story that is rich and makes the audience think and care and feel. Kander and Ebb ... you sit in Yankee Stadium and hear 55,000 people sing 'New York, New York.' People sing and live by Kander and Ebb music. We need it, I think."

 

Speaking of songs people sing and Broadway and Williamstown, "The Visit" is not the only production in the works with ties to the Village Beautiful. Disney is hard at work on a Broadway production of the animated film "Frozen," for which Williams College alumna Kristen Anderson Lopez won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for its wildly popular "Let it Go."