The Cast of Hair To Be On Countdown with Carson Daly

Even though all of the Broadway shows have closed down for the holiday, you can still celebrate the New Year Broadway-style by tuning into the NBC network's special "Countdown with Carson Daly" starting at 10pm on New Year's Eve, December 31st. The Broadway cast of the Tony Award-winning mega-hit revival of the 1960s hippie musical Hair will be participating in the on-camera festivities during the broadcast of "Countdown". Also performing on the program are major music stars such as hip-hop artist Jay-Z, pop-punk band Green Day, and Rihanna. Although Hair canceled its evening performance for New Year's Eve, it will be back on its regular schedule as of tomorrow night when the show has its regular 8pm Friday night performance on New Year's Day.

Patti Lupone To Appear At the 92nd Street Y

Broadway diva extraordinaire Patti Lupone, who recently garnered kudos for playing Mama Rose in the latest Broadway revival of Gypsy, will appear in conversation at the 92nd Street Y's Buttenwieser Hall on February 4 at 8:15pm. Tony Award winner Lupone, whose most notable credits include Evita, Anything Goes, and Sweeney Todd, will discuss her distinguished career at the event.

New Year's Broadway Schedule Changes

As with Christmas, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day bring many schedule changes for Broadway shows. Apparently the shows are expecting that few people will want to ring in the new year inside a theater because nearly every Broadway show has canceled its evening performance on December 31. However, a few of the more popular musicals such as Jersey Boys and The Lion King have added a matinee performance for that day instead. On Friday, January 1, New Year's Day itself, the majority of Broadway shows are still doing their usual 8pm performance, but there are still a few that have canceled that performance. So if you have any plans of taking in a Broadway musical or play around New Year's, be sure to check the schedules of the shows you're interested in ahead of time, to make sure that you haven't set your sights on a show that won't actually be playing.

Kristin Chenoweth To Be Guest Judge on American Idol

It's that time of year again, when Fox's ratings juggernaut American Idol takes over the airwaves and a new slate of aspiring performers become incessant water cooler talk (a select few even go on to superstardom). During the audition episodes of American Idol, several guest judges will be sitting in on the panel, and among them will be a couple of Broadway babies. Kristin Chenoweth (of Wicked fame) will serve as a guest judge on January 20 for the Orlando auditions, and Neil Patrick Harris (who has several Broadway credits but is more recently known for TV's How I Met Your Mother) will join the Dallas auditions on January 26.

Merry Christmas! And Beware Strange Holiday Scheduling

If you're planning to celebrate Christmas Day by seeing a Broadway or Off-Broadway show, bear in mind that the theater schedules are quite unusual over this holiday. Some shows have altered performance schedules for the holiday, and many shows don't have a performance at all today, so be aware of this if you're thinking of last-minute Broadway ticket buying. However, for the adventurous, this could be a good opportunity to snag some great deals at the box office. Broadway shows frequently hold back premium seats and then release them at regular price at the last minute. Good luck, and Merry Christmas!

Holiday Shows Bring Theatrical Joy To New York City

'Tis the season to see holiday-themed theater. For decades, the ultimate Christmastime show has been the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, which continues to bring eager audiences in by the droves to Radio City Music Hall at Rockefeller Center to see the world-famous Rockettes. But in recent years, other holiday shows such as a stage version of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas and a new musical of A Christmas Carol have turned up in New York City in November and December. This year we have Cirque du Soleil's winter wonderland of a show, Wintuk, and at the Marquis Theater on Broadway Irving Berlin's White Christmas has returned for another limited holiday engagement. These shows are closing by New Year's or shortly thereafter, so if you want to get into the holiday spirit Broadway-style, you should act fast. If you miss them, they may very well be back - and, if not, they will have likely been replaced by something similarly jolly.

Broadway Death Row: See Them While They Last

As always, January is a brutal month for Broadway, which unfortunately gets a chilly reception from the ticket-buying public. The tourists have all gone home following the December holiday season, and locals are staying in the warmth of their homes as they recover from the financial blow dealt by all that Christmas and Chanukah merriment. Knowing this, Broadway producers frequently decide in advance that they will close their more monetarily troubled shows in early January. This year, those doomed Broadway shows include Burn the Floor and The 39 Steps (closing January 10), and Shrek the Musical and Superior Donuts (closing January 3). The limited-run shows In the Next Room and Irving Berlin's White Christmas will also be shuttering in January. So if you have been dragging your feet on seeing any of these Broadway shows, be sure to get tickets while you can. Even these plays and musicals might not be discounting right over the Christmas holiday, but for most of them you can get good discounts on tickets for January performance dates.

Snow Doesn't Slow Broadway Shows

Through rain, sleet or snow may be the credo of the U.S. postal service, but it applies to Broadway as well, where the show must always go on. Despite heavy snowfall and even blizzard-like conditions in New York City overnight on Saturday, Broadway shows are still running as usual. Fortunately the snow didn't get heavy until after curtain last night, and it had ceased by morning, meaning that Sunday matinee-goers won't have to brave a flurry of flakes. Of course, the accumulation on the ground is another story, so anybody traveling more than a few blocks to Times Square may want to give themselves plenty of time to get to their theater. For people outside the city who can't get out of their driveway and want to cancel their tickets, they can try calling Ticketmaster or Telecharge to see if they would be willing to exchange the tickets for another date. However, please be aware that technically both of those services have a 'no refunds or exchanges' policy.

The 39 Steps Pulls An Avenue Q

The Alfred Hitchcockian comedy The 39 Steps, scheduled to conclude its lengthy Broadway run in January, appears to have its eye on Off-Broadway. Earlier this year, Avenue Q raised eyebrows when, immediately following its Broadway closing at the John Golden Theatre, it announced that the production would be re-opening at New World Stages for another Off-Broadway run. It looks like the producers of The 39 Steps were inspired to try the same strategy, as they are now posting casting notices for a new Off-Broadway production of the show. Like Avenue Q, The 39 Steps is a small show (it only has a four-person cast) that could work quite well Off-Broadway. The fact that it survived two years on Broadway - a major feat for a play - indicates that there is a good audience for the show, so Off-Broadway may be the perfect place for it. There will not be pressure to sell as many tickets to a smaller theater, and the running costs will be lower.

Kenny Ortega To Direct In the Heights Movie Musical

It has recently been announced in Variety that director/choreographer Kenny Ortega will be helming the forthcoming film version of the multiple Tony Award-winning hit Broadway musical In the Heights. This development could bode very well for the movie of In the Heights, as Ortega has already led the High School Musical franchise on to multi-millionaire dollar success and worldwide fame. Kenny Ortega also directed the Disney cult favorite musical Newsies (starring Christian Bale) and the recent Michael Jackson concert film This Is It. Other details are still sketchy about the upcoming In the Heights musical film, but it is known that the current plan is for co-creator and original star Lin-Manual Miranda to reprise his lead role as Usnavi. And the show's Tony-nominated bookwriter, Quiara Alegria Hudes, will be writing the adapted screenplay.

Soundtrack To Film Musical Nine Now Available For Digital Download

The original motion picture soundtrack to Rob Marshall's film adaptation of the musical Nine is now available to be purchased and downloaded online. The actual CD will be released in stores on December 22. The 16-track recording features several songs from the original Broadway score, including "Guido's Song" (sung by Daniel Day-Lewis), "A Call From the Vatican" (Penelope Cruz), "Be Italian" (Fergie), "My Husband Makes Movies" (Marion Cotillard), "Cinema Italiano" (Kate Hudson), and "Unusual Way" (Nicole Kidman). There are also a couple new songs that composer/lyricist Maury Yeston wrote specifically for the movie, as well as four bonus tracks. The film Nine, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a troubled Italian movie director, opens nationwide on December 25.

Jennifer Morrison Joins Cast of Broadway's The Miracle Worker

Jennifer Morrison, who recently left the popular Fox television show House, is now heading for Broadway. Morrison will be joining the cast of the Broadway revival of William Gibson's The Miracle Worker in the role of Helen Keller's mother, Kate Keller. Also joining the cast is actor Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket, Married To the Mob), who will play Captain Keller. This production, which opens on Broadway this Spring, will mark the Broadway debuts for both Jennifer Morrison and Matthew Modine.

One Broadway Stage Family Enters, As Another Exits

The Royal Family, the classic George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber comedy about a family of stage stars, concludes its limited run at Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre today. The production, which was extended twice due to ticket demand, featured a glittery cast of theater regulars including Jan Maxwell, John Glover, Tony Roberts, Ana Gasteyer, Reg Rogers, and Rosemary Harris. Meanwhile over at the Walter Kerr Theatre, the Trevor Nunn-directed production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's charming A Little Night Music is having its official opening. This is the first-ever Broadway revival of the 1973 musical based on Ingmar Bergman's film Smiles of a Summer Night, and it stars Catherine Zeta-Jones as a glamorous actress and Angela Lansbury as her mother. It was recently announced that PS Classics and Nonesuch will be releasing a new recording of the musical with this production's cast.

Broadway's Ragtime To Begin Talkback Series on 12/15

The Broadway revival of Ragtime, now playing at the Neil Simon Theatre, is starting a new post-performance talkback series called "Ragtime Talk Time". The discussion series will kick off on December 15 with a post-show chat with Ragtime's composer/lyricist team, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. The duo will talk about the process of working on their Tony Award-winning score for Ragtime, as well as other aspects of their 25-year creative partnership. The post-show Tuesday talks will continue on a monthly basis and are free to anyone attending that night's performance.

Corbin Bleu To Join Cast of In the Heights in 2010

High School Musical star Corbin Bleu is bound for Broadway, scheduled to join the cast of the Tony Award-winning hit musical In the Heights for a limited time, from January 25th to April 25th 2010. Although Bleu played second banana in the High School Musical franchise as Zac Efron's best friend, he will be taking the lead in In the Heights, assuming the demanding role of bodega owner Usnavi, originally played by the show's co-creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Michael Feinstein and Dame Edna To Play Henry Miller's Theatre

All About Me, the forthcoming Broadway show featuring Dame Edna Everage and Michael Feinstein, is still a few months away from opening but has already re-located. Instead of playing the John Golden Theatre as originally announced, All About Me will instead take over Henry Miller's Theatre. The Henry Miller's is set to be vacated by current tenant Bye Bye Birdie, which recently announced that it will be closing in late January. This is an interesting development considering that it now appears that Roundabout Theatre Company, which acquired the theater as its third Broadway space, may actually be regularly renting it out to commercial productions to raise money for the company.

Al Pacino To Join Shakespeare In the Park

The Public Theater is bringing out the big guns once again for its annual Shakespeare in the Park summer season. As previously announced, the season will be two William Shakespeare dramas, The Merchant of Venice and The Winter's Tale, in rep. While most of the casting has yet to be announced, the Public just revealed that The Merchant of Venice will feature legendary actor Al Pacino in the role of Shylock. Actors already set to appear in both productions include Jesse L. Martin (Rent, Law & Order), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (TV's Modern Family), Lily Rabe, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and Max Wright. The first 2010 Shakespeare in the Park production will kick off on June 1st at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

Superstars Exit Broadway

Hollywood called its flock back today, as several of this season's movie star-driven productions closed. The most conspicuous, A Steady Rain, was a big ticket seller and probably could have easily run for the rest of this Broadway season, but stars Hugh Jackman (X-Men, Wolverine) and Daniel Craig (James Bond franchise) both had film commitments that prevented an extension. Hamlet starring Jude Law and After Miss Julie featuring Sienna Miller (Jude's former flame) and Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone) also ended their limited Broadway engagements today. The revival of David Mamet's two-hander Oleanna, which starred Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You) and Bill Pullman (Independence Day), prematurely closed this weekend, even though it had earlier been scheduled to shutter in January.

Several Broadway Show Albums Nominated For Grammys

The Grammy Award nominations were announced yesterday, and the Best Musical Show Album category was almost entirely made up of Broadway musicals. The nominated show recordings were: Ain't Misbehavin' (30th anniversary cast recording featuring American Idol's Ruben Studdard and Frenchie Davis), Hair (Broadway revival cast album), 9 To 5 The Musical (featuring a score by country music superstar Dolly Parton), Shrek The Musical (Original Broadway cast recording), and West Side Story (new Broadway revival cast recording). If you want to hear what the fuss is about, three of the musicals - Hair, Shrek, and West Side Story - are still playing on Broadway. The winners of the Grammy for Best Show Album will be announced in January.

Early Closings For Two Broadway Revivals

Although it has been a hit with audiences (if not critics), the producers of the Broadway revival of Bye Bye Birdie just announced that the musical will be closing on January 24. Technically, that counts as a two-week extension for the limited-run production, but the closing announcement is still a bit of a surprise considering that Bye Bye Birdie had started selling tickets through late April, thus indicating that the show was settling in for a long extended run. The problem may be that star John Stamos is set to exit on January 24 and couldn't be persuaded to renew his contract - nor could a suitable star be found to replace him. Another surprise early closing is the Broadway revival of David Mamet's drama Oleanna. A closing date in January was announced only a couple weeks ago, but the producers have now decided to shutter the show even earlier, on December 6.

Kelsey Grammer To Star In New La Cage Aux Folles Revival

Seeing as how there was a (not all that impressive) revival of La Cage aux Folles on Broadway just a few years ago, there hasn't been a great deal of excitement about the incoming production, scheduled to hit Broadway this Spring. But a recent casting announcement has just made this La Cage a bit more intriguing. Kelsey Grammer, the TV star best known for his character on Cheers and Frasier, will star in the new La Cage aux Folles revival in the role of Georges, the owner of a St. Tropez drag club whose son is about to marry into a very conservative family. The role of his longtime lover Albin will be played by Douglas Hodge, who has received much acclaim for his turn in the London production of the show.