I haven’t done a theatre related news chum in a while, so here are some tidbits of interest noted during lunchtime reading to stir the waters:
- From the “Inspired Casting” Department: Folks may know that work is afoot to develop “The Addams Family” into a stage musical, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa (“The Wild Party”). Well, the casting for an industry reading has just been announced, and it is truly inspired: Nathan Lane as Gomez, and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia. Also on the reading cast is Kevin Chamberlain (who would make a great Fester) and Jeff McCarthy (Officer Lockstock from Urinetown). Although this is just a reading cast and might change, I could just see these folks doing this in my head. In other interesting casting news, Henry Winkler (“The Fonz”) will be playing Captain Hook in a UK production of “Peter Pan”.
- From the “Prequels, Sequels, and Remakes” Department: And speaking of “Peter Pan”, La Jolla Playhouse and Disney Theatricals are working on a new-Peter Pan play (not musical) based on Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson novel “Peter and the Starcatchers”. The new play, written by Rick Elice, directed by Roger Rees and co-directed by Alex Timbers, will play the La Jolla Playhouse’s Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, in California, from Feb. 13-March 8, 2009. “Peter and the Starcatchers” was also in the news today because of the little impcess Tinker Bell, who is launching a new marketing line. Going back to our theme and moving from prequels to sequels, John Waters is writing a sequel to “Hairspray”, which looks to be a followup movie musical. Will this be “Grease 2” or “Bring Back Birdie”? One thing that may surely be a disaster is MTV’s effort to remake “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” as a TV Movie. Why tamper with perfection?
- From the “Los Angeles is the New Boston” Department*: A number of new stage musicals are moving from Los Angeles to the Great White Way. A while back, “13” played the Ahmanson… and now it is opening on Broadway on October 5th. Also planning the move are the upcoming musical “Vanities”, which has tryouts at the Pasadena Playhouse before moving to Broadway (supposedly in late 2008 or early 2009). “9 to 5”, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton, is premiering next month at the Ahmanson, and plans a move to Broadway after that. Of course, there are some musicals that premiered in LA that still haven’t made it to NYC: in particular, we had high hopes for “Sister Act” when we saw it, but it hasn’t made it there yet. We also hope that “Mask” makes it there one day — it had great music. As a PS: One musical coming to Broadway whose score I highly recommend is “Billy Elliot: The Musical”: Give it a listen (it is available through Amazon) and you’ll enjoy.
*: This title was chosen just for talonvaki.
