NEW YORK — It's been a booming season for Broadway shows, and the momentum continues to pick up this fall with new arrivals.

Hit shows, such as "Billy Elliot the Musical,""9 to 5" and "Shrek the Musical," are fueled by their previous lives as films. Familiarity breeds attendance.

Further, there are socko options for adults — inventive, funny, even with star casting.

In a seven-day visit this summer, I saw 11 musicals and plays — including three comedies of a trilogy in a rare Sunday marathon, if you can believe it.

While there's a lot to recommend, there are caveats. Language might be too intense for young ears; one musical also features nudity; rock and pop tempos target a younger breed of show-goers as well as the nostalgia-hungry crowd.

• 'GOD OF CARNAGE,' JACOBS THEATRE

What's it about: Two couples bicker over the wrongdoing of one son to another, yielding a powerful comedy by Yasmina Reza.

Insider cue: Expletives, verbal fisticuffs unfold; avoid front-row seats, because there's a splattering puke scene.

Who's in it: Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis play one couple, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden the other.

Distinguishing notes: Harden won a best-actress Tony for her role; she shrieks and shines, in a surge of foibles and relationships; Gandolfini ("The Sopranos") hits all the right comedic notes; Daniels plays dumb and dumber, sort of. A new cast, Jimmy Smits, Christine Lahti, Ken Stott and Annie Potts, takes over Nov. 17. The play won a Tony for 2009 best play, best director.

• 'NEXT TO NORMAL,' BOOTH THEATRE

What's it about: Mental illness rocks but unites a family — and it's a musical, directed by Michael Greif.

Insider cue: An edgy rock-tempoed score (best-score Tony winner) by Tom Kitt, and Brian Yorkey is an unexpected, inventive delight.

Who's in it: Alice Ripley plays the wife who challenges her suburban family to fight her illness together; she earned a best-actress-in- a-musical Tony; J. Robert Spencer plays Dan, the husband (you might recognize him as an original "Jersey Boy"); Kyle Dean Massey is the son Gabe (disclosure: his status is revealed later in the show) and Jennifer Damiano is daughter Natalie.

Distinguishing notes: This is a "chamber musical," staged in a small house, with ingenious three-tiered staging, with musicians part of the landscape/soundscape. The compactness and decked staging add intimacy and versatility. Now, that's not normal.

• 'SHREK THE MUSICAL,' BROADWAY THEATRE

What's it about: A stage version of the film, with green ogre Shrek and his Princess Fiona, who encounter the denizens of the forest with all the usual suspects: Donkey, Lord Farquaad, and more.

Insider cue: Matinees are like a children's playground, with kids, grandmas, moms and dads jostling kids and dodging the souvenir counters where commerce is king.

Who's in it: The green ogre (Brian D'Arcy James), his beloved Fiona (Sutton Foster), Donkey (Daniel Breaker), Lord Farquaad (Christer Sieber, performing on his knees), who aspires to marry a princess to gain a kingdom. Plus a bevy of characters, from Pinocchio to the Three Blind Mice, from Humpty Dumpty to the Three Bears.

Distinguishing notes: Donkey's a slam-dunk fave, with nonstop wisecracks; not the greatest musical for families, but not the worst, either. Bring greenbacks to buy something green ... like hairbands and ogre horns.

• 'BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL,' IMPERIAL THEATRE

What's it about: A wondrous life-affirming show with a believe-in-your-dreams theme, about a Brit kid who makes a detour from boxing to ballet in Britain's bleak coal country during the miners strike of 1983. It's a classic underdog-wins tale.

Insider cue: Takes a while to get accustomed to the Brit speech.

Who's in it: Kiril Kulish (the Billy I saw) is lanky, sweet-voiced and a terrific hoofer, who not only does ballet, but taps; he shared best-actor-in-a-musical laurels with David Alvarez and Trent Kowalk, who alternated in the role; Haydn Gwynn, who originated the ballet mistress Mrs. Wilkinson in London, recreates the role here; Gregory Jbara is the blue-collar dad who thinks boys should box, not dance ballet.

Distinguishing notes: The score, by Sir Elton John, lacks a knockout hit song, but the spectacle of tap dancing is a plus; and the uplifting theme of determination is irresistible.

• 'ROCK OF AGES,' BROOKS ATKINSON

What it's about: A rock concert with a story line, about a small-town girl (blonde, of course), who meets a city boy (a rocker, natch) in a Sunset Strip club, and falls in and out of love, with songs from the school of hard rock: Styx, Journey, REO Speedwagon and Poison.

Insider cue: It's kinda a party targeting a young demographic normally not heading to a Broadway show; you can buy red chips ($50), blue ones ($20) or green ones ($10) to purchase wine and beer during the performance — cabaret style, without the cocktail tables. Only thing missing: the whiff of pot smoking.

Who's in it: "American Idol's" Constantine Maroulisis Drew, who dreams of making it big, and "Rent's" Amy Spanger is Sherry, the small-town girl seeking fame. Mitchell Jarvis is Lonny, the congenial clown in the club.

Distinguishing notes: Power ballads from the '80s slip in, and everyone sings "Don't Stop Believin' " at key moments, flashlights flicker as arms wave, instead of lighter fire; the illumination is from mini collectible flashlights shaped like lighters — a great effect.

• 'WEST SIDE STORY,' PALACE THEATRE

What's it about: "Romeo and Juliet," set on New York's West Side; a 2009 revival of the beloved film and stage about the Sharks and Jets gang warfare.

Insider tip: Local boy Isaac Calpito is Inca, one of the Sharks.

Who's in it: Josefina Scaglione as Maria leaps to the head of the pack (she copped a Tony for best featured actress in a musical) in a competent ensemble that includes Matt Cavenaugh as Tony, Karen Olivo as Anita, George Akram as Bernardo.

Distinguishing notes: Hispanic segments, sung and spoken in the native tongue, highlight this 2009 revival, with Arthur Laurents updating his book and also directing — the change giving authenticity to the Sharks, but perhaps isolating younger folks not familiar with this classic. The Leonard Bernstein score and the Jerome Robbins choreography still unfold with jewel-like precision.

• 'HAIR,' AL HIRSCHFELD

What's it about: Forty years after its origins, "Hair" is the ultimate protest-the-war, uphold-the-peace musical. The clamor may seem dated, but the theme is as current as today's headlines. Only the war has changed.

Insider cue: You can "let the sunshine in" and join the tribe onstage at the final curtain, for your personal love-in and protest; and no, you don't have to take off your clothes. There is nudity, prior to the end of Act I. Also, look for local girl Kaitlin Kirin in the tribe.

Who's in it: Will Swensen is Berger, Gavin Creel is Claude, Caissie Levy is Sheila, Sasha Allen is Dionne, Darius Nichols is Hud and Bryce Ryness is Woof, all in transcendental meditation and tribunal harmony.

Distinguishing notes: "Hair" won a 2009 Tony for best musical revival. There's sweetness and pain, love and heartache, echoes of today and memories of yesterday via a landscape of songs that were the bedrock of a generation that went to pot: "Aquarius," "Easy to Be Hard," "Hair," "Where Do I Go," "Manchester, England," "Good Morning Starshine," and "Let the Sunshine In."

• 'THE NORMAN CONQUESTS,' CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE

Ever see all parts of a trilogy in the sequences intended ... all in the same day?

I did: "The Norman Conquests," by Alan Ayckbourn, which had a limited run, closing this summer.

What's it about: Three dysfunctional British couples interact and intersect during one weekend in three settings: "Table Manners," set around a dinner table; "Living Together," situated in a living room; and "Round and Round the Garden," set in an outdoor garden.

Insider cue: The opportunity to see all three works in one day takes fortitude and determination; we ate breakfast and went to the first; took a lunch break, then sat in on the second; had a bath break, then the finale; then dinner to recount the hilarity.

Who was in it: Stephen Mangan, as the conqueror Norman of the title, was the focal point; he's married to Ruth; he also is vulgar, vulnerable, adorable, reprehensible, riveting, maddening, predictable, indefatigable ... and clearly the buffoonish glue that keeps "Norman" together.

Distinguishing notes: Won a Tony for best revival play this year. You see elements and fragments of one play in another, so by the finale, you get all the pieces of this outrageous comedy to see the big picture. Directed by Matthew Warchus (who also helmed "Next to Normal").

IF YOU GO ...

Eats in theater district: Havana Grill, on W. 46th Street, for fantastic Cuban; Brazil Grill, on Eighth Avenue at W. 49th Street, for Brazilian/Cuban; Pigalle, a bistro at 790 Eighth Ave., for continental fare; Applebee’s (two locations, on W. 42nd Street and another on W. 50th Street), for family-friendly burgers, ribs and salads; Bar Americain, on W. 51st Street, for Bobby Flay’s Southwestern fare; Olive Garden, opposite the TKTS booth at Times Square, for informal and affordable Italian.
Where to stay: Buckingham Hotel, on W. 57th Street, an all-suite hotel including kitchen, microwave, refrigerator, coffeemaker; Belvedere Hotel, on W. 49th Street, also with kitchen, micro, fridge and coffeemaker; chain hotels include the Sheraton on 7th Avenue, Hilton on Avenue of the Americas and also on 42nd Street, Marriott at Times Square, Renaissance at Times Square, Embassy Suites at Times Square.
Best bargain: Metrocard, for subway and bus; single fares, $2.25; seven-day pass, $27.

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