Updated Theatre News

Ok, I know some of this may be old news, and there's nothing that irritates me more, especially on radio morning shows, than people getting excited about old news. The worst is Q101's new morning show (please, let's start a petition, bring back The Shuffle). About a week after news confirming the last Harry Potter book's title and release date, the woman who does the entertainment reporting suddenly acted like she'd just heard of it and got really excited proclaiming that the last installment would be called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and nobody'd better be bothering her for two days when it comes out, and the days were. . .(I don't remember, but they had been announced a week earlier and she thought she was breaking new news to us). If anyone knows of a morning show in the Chicago area that's actually listenable, please let me know. So, please keep in mind that this news is delayed because of my previously mentioned work committment, and I'll try not to act too excited and remember that most of you have probably heard this already. Speaking of Harry Potter, while the London run of Equus is coming to an end in June, the production, complete with a naked Daniel Radcliff will be coming to New York next summer. They have to wait until he turns 18 to stage it here (of course, if he was in Sweeney Todd and slashing everyone's throats, he could come over now and play it), and then the production is currently planned to play in June and July of next year. You know who's going to be there, front and center!

News of a movie version of Doubt has been circulating for a while, and it appears that Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman will be the stars. Interesting casting, I'm not sure I would have gone there for either of the roles, but they're both good, and since Shanley's both writing and directing, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

Unlike the recent production of The Apple Tree, 110 in the Shade will be releasing a cast album on June 5, just in time for the Tony's. I'll be picking up that one, and I would strongly encourage Roundabout to give us a cast album of Apple Tree. I'd love to here Kristin Chenoweth's take on What Makes Me Love Him.

Speaking of Kristin Chenoweth, she's going to be on the season finale of Ugly Betty. I can barely keep track of the divas on that show anymore. If I had to guess who was next, my money would be on Idina Menzel showing up in the season 2 premiere with twice as much screen time as Kristin and a song to boot.

After a dismal tryout in Chicago, The Pirate Queen opened on Broadway a few weeks ago. Entertainment Weekly gave it a C-, but I'm impressed by the civility of the review. Most Chicago critics were downright nasty and mean spirited in their assessment of the show. It wasn't a bad show, it just wasn't good either, especially when you consider that this is the team that created Les Miz and Miss Saigon. They obviously know how to tell a complex story and keep it understandable without dumbing it down. I think they just couldn't figure out whose story they wanted to tell. Entertainment Weekly was able to point out the shortcomings without making it personal, which was nice to read.

Lastly, the Outer Critics Circle Award nominations were announced today. In a big surprise, at least for me, Mary Poppins leads the pack with 11 nominations, dramatically shaking up the Tony race. Grey Gardens was completely shut out, not getting a single nomination. I'm not sure if that's because its Off-Broadway incarnation was last year's big winner, but even so, Spring Awakening also had an Off-Broadway incarnation, and that got nominated for several awards this time, so I don't know why it got a second chance but not Grey Gardens. Regardless of the reasons, it's going to slow down Grey Gardens' momentum going into awards season. It's still guaranteed several nominations, but it's not going to be in the front of everyone's mind while they fill out their ballots. I would caution several sources who have already declared Christine Ebersole the best actress winner to remember two words: Patti LuPone. While Christine is most certainly going to be nominated, it's far more likely that we'll see Lea Michelle, Rebecca Luker, or even Karen Ziemba walking down the aisle on Tony night. Granted, part of Mary Poppins' sweep is due to a similar reason that Dreamgirls got the most Oscar nominations: it's a lock for all the technical awards. Even for those of us that are sick and tired of movies, whether musical or not, being turned into stage shows (although Xanadu was such a craptacular movie that seeing it live is worth being excited about, only a musical Roller Boogie could excite me more), there's no denying the creative team's achievement on this one. I think Company was more tastefully done and would really like to see it win Stage Design and Costumes, but I think Poppins will take it. Whether it goes on to take the music, acting, and best musical awards is still yet to be seen. I'm still betting on Michael Meyer to get the directing award, although Doyle could take it again, after all Joe Mantello got it two years in a row, so you can't count Doyle out. I have a feeling Spring Awakening could be this year's Avenue Q, although I'd really like to see Grey Gardens play that part. Fuck the file limitations on my mp3 player, I'm getting the Broadway cast recording of Grey Gardens after all, someone's got to keep the show alive. Check playbill.com for a list of all the nominations.

It seems that the email posting option is working well, although it's harder to do the hyperlinks. So, for now anyways, I'm getting around the internet filters, which by the way, won't let me access the US Ticketmaster site, but I was able to access the UK Ticketmaster this morning with no problem to get my Billy Elliot tickets. There's no slowing me down. Except for death and taxes, there's ways to get around just about everything in life. See you soon.