Broadway Daily

ANDY WARHOL clocked fame at 15 minutes, but his just won’t end. This month he made news when his silk-screen painting “200 One Dollar Bills” went for $43.7 million at auction. There are new museum and gallery shows in both London and New York; a new Bond No. 9 perfume named after him; a new book, “Pop: The Genius of Andy Warhol”; a new swimwear collection with his flower prints from his friend Diane von Furstenberg; and a new forgery case, involving his Brillo boxes. His face stares out from this month’s ARTnews magazine with the headline “Warhol Inc.” in hot pink.

Now he is putting in an appearance in a genre not much associated with his work and world: the stage musical.( ... )

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( 10 photos from Pop! )

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Kerry Ellis is getting ready to rock Oliver!



The award-winning actress has one of the best voices in theatre. She can sing along to a gentle melody or soar with a strong rock ballad, qualities she displayed in the musical Wicked which she performed in the West End and on Broadway.

Kerry will take over the role of Nancy in Oliver! on March 29. Jodie Prenger gives her last performance two days before on March 27.

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Broadway Will Run Out of Superior Donuts by January



Superior Donuts, the new play by Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts (August: Osage County), will end its Broadway run at the Music Box Theatre on Jan. 3, 2010, the producers announced on Nov. 26.

The workplace comedy-drama about the stagnant life of a doughnut shop owner, and how it gets shaken up by a new employee, stars Michael McKean. A booking period through March 28, 2010, had been previously announced.

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Twelve Thirt (1230)

Concerned that Sue is up to no good, Will pays a visit to an instructor of a competing Glee Club to see what information Sue may be leaking, which leads to the club getting a look at their hair-rising competition. Meanwhile, Kurt gives Rachel a makeover to impress Finn, but he may have ulterior motives.

Episode #11 starts in a little over an hour, so get some snacks, a Snuggie if you are so inclined, and your computer and let your inner fangirl out!

Casting News

• The hit production of Waiting for Godot that ended a sell-out run at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in August 2009 is to return to the same address in the New Year, but with Ian McKellen's Estragon newly joined by Roger Rees as Vladimir. The earlier star, Patrick Stewart, is not available.
• Adam James will complete the cast of MCC Theater’s The Pride. The American premiere production begins performances January 27, 2010, with opening set for February 16. The limited engagement plays through March 20.
• Elizabeth Marvel is set to star in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of Polly Stenham’s That Face, directed by Sarah Benson. The play will begin performances on April 29 at at MTC at New York City Center – Stage I and open on May 18, 2010.
• Dean-Charles Chapman is returning to the London production of Billy Elliot on November 23. The young performer, who has previously played the parts of Small Boy and Michael in the smash musical, will now take on the title role at the Victoria Palace Theatre.

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Events/Shows/Concerts

• Michael Feinstein and Cheyenne Jackson are among the celebrities who will appear at the Lincoln Triangle Barnes and Noble in December. They will appear Dec. 3 at 5 PM. On Dec. 1 at 7:30 PM "Gigi" star Leslie Caron (who is also slated to star in A Little Night Music for Paris' Théâtre du Châtelet in 2010) will discuss her memoir "Thank Heaven." John Treacy Egan (The Little Mermaid, Bye Bye Birdie) will perform from his new recording, "On Christmas Morning," Dec. 2 at 6 PM. Tony Award winner Twyla Tharp will discus her book "The Collaborative Habit: Life Lessons for Working Together," Dec. 2 at 7:30 PM.

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Extensions/Transfers

• The Irish Repertory Theater’s production of Eugene O’Neill “The Emperor Jones” will transfer Off Broadway to the Soho Playhouse. Previews are scheduled to begin on Dec. 15 and an opening night set for Dec. 22.
• Anna Deavere Smith’s new solo show Let Me Down Easy has extended for a second time at Second Stage. The new extension continues the run for three extra weeks, through January 3, 2010.

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A/V

• Exclusive Clips! Broadway's A Tale of Two Cities Gets Second Curtain on PBS
• It'll Make You Happy: Extensive Video from a Glittering New Dreamgirls
• Photo Flash: 'Rhythm and Rhyme' - RAGTIME Opens on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre
• Photo Flash: Ben Crawford is SHREK THE MUSICAL's 'Big, Bright & Beautiful' New Leading 'Ogre'. A chat with Ben can be found here.

Ruhl and Benanti Discuss the "V" Word



The play with the quirky name, In the Next Room or the vibrator play, touches upon some serious subjects.

A couple of women enjoying brunch at a Manhattan café, talking about men, women, relationships and...vibrators? Sounds like a scene straight out of "Sex and the City." But it's actually Tony-winning actress Laura Benanti and playwright Sarah Ruhl, engaging in a serious discussion about Ruhl's provocatively titled new comedy, In the Next Room or the vibrator play (in a Broadway production by Lincoln Center Theater at the Lyceum). It marks both Ruhl's debut on the Great White Way and the first time the word vibrator has appeared on a Broadway marquee.

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PLAYBILL.COM'S CUE & A: Maria Dizzia

Maria Dizzia — who co-stars in the new Broadway play In the Next Room, or the vibrator play — fills out Playbill.com's questionnaire with random facts, backstage trivia and pop culture tidbits.

• Full given name: Maria Teresa Dizzia
• Hometown: Cranford, NJ
• Zodiac sign: Capricorn
• Audition monologue: Emma from Nicky Silver's Pterodactyls
• First Broadway show ever saw: Cats
• If you could go back in time and catch any Broadway show, what would it be? Uta Hagen in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• Current show you have been recommending to friends: Circle Mirror Transformation
• Favorite show tune: Every song from Cabaret
• MAC or PC? Mac, but I'm writing this on my mom's PC.
• Most played song on your iPod: "Sophisticated Boom Boom" by The Shangri-Las and "There is No Sun" by Jay Reatard
• Web obsession: tinyartdirector.blogspot.com (start at the bottom and work your way back to the most recent post) and tavi-thenewgirlintown.blogspot.com (I want to be her when I grow up.)
• Last book you read: "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin
• Must-see TV show: "30 Rock"
• Last good movie you saw: "Amarcord" on DVD
• Favorite card game: Spit
• Performer you would drop everything to go see: Peggy Shaw
• Pop culture guilty pleasure: Bejeweled Blitz 2
• How you got your Equity card: My Three Angels and I Hate Hamlet at Summer Theater Mount Holyoke
• Worst onstage mishap: In Two Gentlemen of Verona at Alabama Shakespeare Festival, I started a quick-change too early. I heard Launce, Aaron Cabell, reciting a random sonnet onstage, got back in my nightgown and ran on with the back of it attached to my wig. And then I had a coughing fit.
• Who have you played on "Law & Order"? Which edition? I played the girlfriend of a suspect on "Law & Order: CI." And a meth-addicted prostitute on "Law & Order" regular.
• Worst costume ever: Green and white muumuu as Princess Ozma
• Favorite junk food: Reeses Peanut Butter Cups
• Who would play you in the movie? Zoe Lister-Jones
• Worst job you ever had: Selling lingerie at Bloomingdale's. During a sale a woman leaned towards me and said, "I'd hate to see you under real pressure."
• TV or commercial gig you most enjoyed: Getting my neck and shoulders cast in latex so I could be my own headless body on "Fringe."
• Would Eurydice and Mrs. Daldry, your character in In the Next Room, get along: I don't know if they would get along, but they both love reading the Greeks.

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Gossip Girl Queen Bee Leighton Meester Parties at Rock of Ages



Hey there, gossip-hounds. You’ll be happy to know that tongues were wagging on November 22, when Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester rocked her high-fashion walk over to hit musical Rock of Ages at Broadway’s Brooks Atkinson Theatre. We’re not sure whether Meester sang along to the mix-tape classics that have made the show one of the most popular on the Broadway strip (though she’s got a solo album out, so she shouldn’t be shy!), but we do know the queen bee of the CW series was cavorting backstage with the ‘80s-chic cast post-show, rubbing elbows with stars Constantine Maroulis, James Carpinello, Mitchell Jarvis, Lauren Molina and more! Then, once she got “High Enough” with the extroverted cast, Meester gave us her best “xoxo” and kissed the show goodbye. Click here to catch the Gossip Girl star at Rock of Ages.

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Former Governor Mario Cuomo Races to See Mamet’s Newest Work



Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo has never shied away from tough subjects and has a knack for giving memorable speeches, so it’s a no-brainer that the esteemed politico would be attracted to David Mamet’s Race. Cuomo and his wife took in the new play, which is directed by the playwright, on November 23. After the rousing performance, which takes place at a law firm—a place in which Cuomo is all too familiar—headed backstage at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre to greet the cast and Mamet. Take a look as the politician and the playwright had the ultimate meet and greet. HERE.

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Finian's Rainbow Will Get a Cast Album; February Release Planned



The cast and musicians of Broadway's Finian's Rainbow were told Nov. 24 that a studio date has been set to preserve their work on a new cast album of the classic Yip Harburg-Burton Lane score.

Producers David Richenthal, Jack Viertel and Alan D. Marks announced that the cast and orchestra of the critically-acclaimed revival will head into a Manhattan recording studio on Dec. 7. The new Broadway cast album will be produced by Tommy Krasker for PS Classics. The label anticipates an early February street date.

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Making Music Mightier Than the Sword


THEATER REVIEW | 'FELA!'

There should be dancing in the streets. When you leave the Eugene O’Neill Theater after a performance of “Fela!,” it comes as a shock that the people on the sidewalks are merely walking. Why aren’t they gyrating, swaying, vibrating, in thrall to the force field that you have been living in so ecstatically for the past couple of hours?

The hot (and seriously cool) energy that comes from the musical gospel preached by the title character of “Fela!,” which opened on Monday night, feels as if it could stretch easily to the borders of Manhattan and then across a river or two. Anyone who worried that Bill T. Jones’s singular, sensational show might lose its mojo in transferring to Broadway can relax.

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Red Carpet Arrivals are here.
Opening night curtain call can be found here.
After Party photos can be found here.

Band Geeks!, a new musical about high school musician-marchers, will get a developmental full production by Goodspeed Musicals at its intimate Norma Terris Theatre in spring 2010.

Emerging at a time when TV's musical series "Glee" — about a high school glee club — is popular, this new musical about a teen marching band was tested in Goodspeed's 2009 Festival of New Artists and got a presentation in the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's 2009 Festival of New Musicals.

Performances under the direction of Gordon Greenberg will play the Norma Terris in Chester, CT, May 13-June 6, 2010.

Band Geeks! features music by Mark Allen, Gaby Alter and Tommy Newman with lyrics by Gaby Alter and Tommy Newman, and book by Tommy Newman and Gordon Greenberg. The concept is by Tommy Newman.

The show is billed as "a high-stepping tribute to high school marching bands and misfits everywhere."

According the Goodspeed, "With just nine members and dwindling funds, the Cuyahoga High Marching Beavers are close to extinction. When a troubled athlete is relegated to their ranks, Elliott, the tuba-playing band captain and Laura, his best friend, must find a way to unite the band, embrace their inner geek and save the Marching Beavers. A rousing and triumphant musical for all ages!"

in January 2009, Band Geeks! was part of Goodspeed's 2009 Festival of New Artists. "Since then the writing team has been working together to develop and fine tune" the show, "through work with the Music Theatre Program at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford."

Casting will be announced. Tickets for Band Geeks! will go on sale in early 2010.

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