If March is indeed supposed to be going out like a lamb, then it must be a very exhausted lamb with an English accent. In the final days of March, both “The Glass Menagerie” (open, at Ethel Barrymore Theater), starring Jessica Lange and directed by David Leveaux (the Brit who brought us “Fiddler on the Roof”) and “Spamalot” (open, at Schubert Theatre), the Monty Python musical, made their bows on Broadway.

March will also be the time to catch the previews for Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” (April 3, at Connelly Theater), since spunky young newcomer Denzel Washington will surely be playing to sold-out houses. If the fake mid-Atlantic accents sure to be on show in “Caesar” aren’t your slab of Marmite, then check out Natasha Richardson trying to drown her “real” accent with a drawl in “A Streetcar Named Desire” (April 26, at Studio 54). Her director, Edward Hall, had Chicagoans speaking Shakespeare with lilt and life in his “Rose Rage”; surely he can get John C. Reilly to scream “Stella!” convincingly. Previews begin March 26.

Brian F. O’Byrne has himself had plenty of practice burying his brogue, and now Broadway opens its arms to him in “Doubt” (March 31, at Walter Kerr Theater). He is sure to find the same magic he and Cherry Jones conjured up for Manhattan Theatre Club earlier this season. While the Brooklyn Academy of Music is no stranger to erudite British imports, there won’t be any trouble at all understanding Matthew Bourne’s “Play Without Words” (open, at Harvey Theater). If a half-dressed dancer can’t communicate it, it’s not worth saying. Also from across the puddle jumps “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (in previews March 29, at Ford Center for the Performing Arts), which will mean $100-dollar seats for the under-12 set.

Early April gets its pep from an overdose of viciousness. Early on, Michael Friedman of the Civilians scores “God Hates the Irish: The Ballad of Armless Johnny” (March 31), at the Rattlestick. If that isn’t mean-spirited enough for you, catch Martha Plimpton in “The False Servant” (April 10) at Classic Stage. Nobody can beat Pierre Marivaux for slowly dripping acid. And if its faster-acting acid you want, mixed with a nice healthy snort of cocaine, David Rabe’s “Hurlyburly” careers out of the Acorn Theater and onto the stage of the 37 Arts Complex on April 4. Go for Ethan Hawke’s up-all-night mania, but stay for Josh Hamilton’s well-oiled ooze.

The granddaddy of dysfunctional families, Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (open, at Longacre Theatre) has just started rattling Broadway with Kathleen Turner’s famous growl. Joining it, officially on March 27, our newest relationship pessimist, Neil LaBute, will stomp on our hearts with his “This Is How It Goes” at the Public.

Elevating the paranoia to a socio-political level, Martin McDonagh’s “The Pillowman” (April 10, at Booth Theater) bounds into town after being a smash hit at the National. The show, now in previews, has ratcheted theater-going hopes to a nearly painful point: Many who saw it in London say it will clobber all competition in the States, and here its cast includes the electric Billy Crudup and New York stalwart Michael Stuhlbarg.

For those who prefer a little sugar with their medicine, “Steel Magnolias” (April 4, at Lyceum Theatre) will let Frances Sternhagen tug at our heartstrings, Craig Lucas’s “Light in the Piazza” (April 18, at Vivian Beaumont Theatre) will beam musically from Lincoln Center, and James Earl Jones will reduce us to damp tissues with “On Golden Pond” (April 7, at Cort Theatre). “Sweet Charity” will twinkle starting April 21 (at Al Hirschfeld Theatre).

April also sees guru/pivotal 20th-century director Peter Brook up at Columbia University with “Tierno Bokar” (March 30, at Miller Theatre). As is appropriate for the man who brought us a “Mahabharata,” the show’s pitch is for cultural communication and understanding. Since Columbia just bought Harlem, they could use the outreach.

The year of the straight play continues, with Jeffrey Hatcher hanging “A Picasso” (April 19) at Manhattan Theatre Club and Peter Nichols (“A Day in the Death of Joe Egg”) starting previews of “Passion Play” whenever “Twelve Angry Men” finally vacates the American Airlines Theater. The ultimate straight play – no girls allowed – has to be “Glengarry Glen Ross” (May 1, at Royale Theatre). David Mamet gets dream casts every time this play goes on the boards, but Liev Schreiber, Alan Alda, and Jeffrey Tambor should bark their lines with particular relish. This will be Mamet at his bloodiest, so even if this season’s “Romance” didn’t woo you, don’t miss the master at his best.

May, bucking its reputation for sunlight and flowers, also brings the American premiere of “Terrorism” (May 24, at Theatre Row), a hit in both Russia and London. The Presnyakov Brothers’s ominous piece, directed by Will Frears, starts previews May 9. And though the Roundabout is still being coy about an opening date, Jon Robin Baitz’s new play “The Paris Letter” will debut there in the second half of the month. Though it takes up an off-Broadway space, peripatetic director Doug Hughes will surely make it an opening of size.

After years of grousing about the offerings on the Great White Way, whiners have finally been given what they want. A season of quality pieces stretches out before us. See you at the theater.