Lean and ‘Mean’

I T’S only summer, but two Broadway-bound shows are already generating buzz.

First, “The Band’s Visit,” a pocket-size musical that won a bunch of awards during last season’s sold-out run at the Atlantic Theater Company. It’s being expanded (slightly) to fill the Barrymore, where it begins previews in October. Producers Orin Wolf and

John N. Hart Jr. are keeping costs lean: about $5 million capitalization, with a weekly running cost of $400,000. So far, they’ve pulled in about $2 million. They expect to hit $5 million to $6 mil- lion by opening night.

Based on the 2007 film of the same name, “The Band’s Visit” tells the story of an Egyptian band of police-officer musicians who mistakenly end up in a remote town in Israel. Itamar Moses adapted it for the stage;

David Yazbek wrote the score. “The Band’s Visit” is being compared to “Once,” another intimate show that won eight Tonys in 2012 and ran for nearly three years on Broadway.

Modesty has its charms. And so does Katrina Lenk, who was sensational as the sulky Israeli cafe owner. She’s currently on Broadway in “Indecent,” closing Aug. 6, and she’s sure to be one of this season’s breakout stars.

“The Band’s Visit” has the terrain pretty much to itself in the fall. But there’s competition on the horizon in the spring: Tina

Fey’s “Mean Girls.” Its producers, led by “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne

Michaels, are keeping mum so as not to inflame expectations. But sources who saw a workshop told me the musical is in “rock-solid shape.”

Fey’s script is as funny as her 2004 screenplay without being “a carbon copy of the movie,” says a source. “It doesn’t feel dated at all.” The music, by Fey’s husband,

Jeff Richmond, is being called tuneful and witty. Nell Benja

min’s lyrics are in sync with Fey’s sense of humor. Casey

Nicholaw is directing. Investors are begging to be let in, but there’s not much room. Michaels is said to have a 60-percent stake in the show.

“Mean Girls” begins performances Oct. 31 at the National Theatre in Washington, DC. Firm dates haven’t been set for the Broadway run yet, but mark my words: It will open before the Tony cutoff date in May. A TTENTION, critics! Watch what you say: Theatergoers can hear you. At Sunday’s performance of “Hello, Dolly!” a gaggle of critics, on hand to review Donna

Murphy’s performance, were squawking about Sam Gold’s production of “Hamlet,” which opens Thursday at the Public Theater.

“Of course, it’s terrible,” said one. “When was the last time we liked anything Sam Gold did?”

“We all liked ‘A Doll’s House, Part 2,’ ” said another.

A third piped up, “Surely, we’re not going to pin the success of ‘A Doll’s House, Part 2’ on Sam Gold, are we?”

Talk about mean girls!