Cast of American Idiot To Perform At Grammys

You can get a preview of the upcoming Broadway musical American Idiot tonight during the broadcast of the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony when the show's cast perform along with band Green Day. The rock musical, which premiered last year at California's Berkeley Rep, is based on Green Day's acclaimed album American Idiot as well as its recent release, 21st Century Breakdown. The Grammy Awards will be broadcast live on CBS at 8pm Eastern standard time.

South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone To Bring New Musical To NYC

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have teamed up with Avenue Q co-composer/co-lyricist Bobby Lopez to create a new musical, which it has been announced will be presented at the New York Theatre Workshop in downtown New York City this summer. The details given by NYTW were scant, but it appears that the show (presumably a comedy) will play in August and September. Parker and Stone are not new to the musical genre, having created the South Park movie musical and the cult film Cannibal the Musical (which has subsequently had several stage productions).

Lucy Liu To Join Broadway Cast of God of Carnage

The Tony Award-winning Broadway play God of Carnage will have a second interesting cast shake-up on March 2. Lucy Liu (Charlie's Angels, Kill Bill) and Dylan Baker (recently on Broadway in Mauritius and David Mamet's November) will play one of the two couples in this play about parents who meet following a fight between their two children. Also joining the cast is Janet McTeer (Broadway's Mary Stuart), who was in the original London cast, and re-joining this Broadway cast is Jeff Daniels - except, in a little twist, he will be playing the role previously played by James Gandolfini instead. The current cast of the show - Ken Stott, Jimmy Smits, Annie Potts, and Christine Lahti - will finish their time with God of Carnage on February 28.

20at20 Program Offers Big Off-Broadway Discounts

Off-Broadway fans take note, the 20at20 program is back, now through February 7. Nowadays, when even Off-Broadway show prices are skyrocketing, this seasonal offer is a godsend for theater lovers who want to see exciting New York plays and musicals for a mere $20. How it works is that you go to the box office for any participating Off-Broadway show at 20 minutes until show time, and they will sell any remaining tickets for just twenty dollars. This means that in the event that a show is actually sold out by that time, or if fellow bargain hunters beat you to the punch, you won't be able to get tickets. So it might be wise to make a short list of the Off-Broadway shows that you are most interested in, and if the first one you go to is without tickets, then run over to the next theater on your list. There are dozens of participating shows, including The Awesome '80s Prom, Black Angels Over Tuskegee, Dear Edwina, Fuerzabruta, Naked Boys Singing!, Perfect Crime, The Fantasticks, Venus in Fur, and Zero Hour. For a complete list and more info, visit www.20at20.com.

Broadway's Bye Bye Birdie Goes Bye-Bye

The Roundabout Theatre Company production of the musical Bye Bye Birdie, the first-ever Broadway revival of this regional and amateur theater mainstay, is closing at the newly refurbished Henry Miller's Theatre today. Starring John Stamos (Full House on TV, Cabaret on Broadway), Gina Gershon, and Bill Irwin, Bye Bye Birdie was disliked by the critics but managed to do good enough ticket sales early in the run to merit an extension. Initially, the production was selling tickets through to April, but, presumably due to low ticket sales or to a failure to get suitable replacements for Stamos and Gershon when their contracts expired, Roundabout moved up the show's closing date to January 24. The Dame Edna/Michael Feinstein show All About Me will take up residence at the Henry Miller's Theatre following Birdie's departure.

The 39 Steps To Re-Open Off-Broadway in March

What was only speculated a couple months ago is now final: The 39 Steps, which recently enjoyed a two-year run on Broadway before closing at the Helen Hayes Theatre on January 10, will re-open Off-Broadway at New World Stages. The new production, which has yet to be cast, will start performances on March 25. In making this move, The 39 Steps has copied the route recently taken by Avenue Q, the popular musical that had a long Broadway run and then, very shortly after closing its Broadway production, moved to New World Stages Off-Broadway. The theory is that shows like these, which have relatively low production costs (because of small casts and simple sets) and still have some selling power (just not enough to fill an entire Broadway theater), can prolong their New York life by transferring to a smaller Off-Broadway theater where running costs are lower. When Avenue Q made the move, it appeared to be a fluke. But now that The 39 Steps is attempting the same strategy, Broadway wags think it could be a trend.

Spice Girls Musical Now In the Works

Mamma Mia! producer Judy Craymer will soon be seeing if she can do for The Spice Girls what she did for ABBA. Craymer has worked out an agreement with American Idol creator Simon Fuller and The Spice Girls themselves that is to result in the creation of a brand new musical based on the song catalog and the personalities of the five-woman "girl power" pop band The Spice Girls. No creative team has yet been announced, but the show's tentative title is Viva Forever. The Spice Girls' biggest hit was the single "Wannabe," and they also had a hit film called Spice World. Although the quintet will be involved in the development of Viva Forever, they will not actually be in the musical.

New Showtime TV Series To Be About Creating a Broadway Musical

Variety has just reported that playwright and television writer Theresa Rebeck (Mauritius on Broadway, The Understudy Off-Broadway, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent on TV) will script the pilot for a new Showtime TV series about all the drama surrounding the creation of a new Broadway musical. The idea is that each season of the show will cover the development and creation of a fictional Broadway musical, culminating in a final episode where we see the musical in its entirety. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray) will write the songs for the series. Depending upon the success of the TV show, it is possible that the musical created in the show will even be developed for a live production on Broadway.

High School Musical TV Show Glee Wins Golden Globe

Glee, the new hit Fox TV series that marries the High School Musical concept with pop hits, took the award for Best Television Series (Comedy or Musical) at the Golden Globe Awards last night. The show is a particular favorite of many Broadway fans because it is the closest thing to musical theater that can be found on TV, it occasionally features showtunes (such as Wicked's "Defying Gravity"), and it stars several Broadway actors, including Matthew Morrison (Hairspray) and Lea Michele (Spring Awakening). A number of actors that won Golden Globes last night are in fact experienced Broadway and New York theater actors, including John Lithgow (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Retreat From Moscow), Michael C. Hall (Cabaret), and Alec Baldwin (A Streetcar Named Desire).

No Pot of Gold For Broadway's Finian's Rainbow

The revival of Finian's Rainbow, starring Cheyenne Jackson and Kate Baldwin, closes at Broadway's St. James Theatre today, in yet another of the seemingly endless series of Broadway show closings that have been happening this month. Although the colorful musical enjoyed a very warm reception from critics and fans of the old-style Broadway musicals, the show simply wasn't able to find a large enough audience to stay open any longer. Also closing today at Studio 54 is the Roundabout Theatre Company's limited-run production of writer/performer Carrie Fisher's Hollywood tell-all, Wishful Drinking. The one-woman comedy by Star Wars's Princess Leia was originally scheduled to shutter at the beginning of this month, but was extended due to poplar demand.

Broadway Community Reaches Out To Help Haiti

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) and The Broadway League have both pledged $100,000.00 to disaster relief in Haiti following the country's recent devastating earthquake. The Shubert Organization and Disney have also announced that they will be making contributions, and there are several other fundraising initiatives in the works from members of the Broadway community working to collect funds for Haiti.

Antonio Banderas Reportedly To Star In Zorba on Broadway

The New York Post is reporting that Antonio Banderas is going to be playing the title role in a forthcoming Broadway production of the John Kander & Fred Ebb musical Zorba, to be directed by Gary Griffin (The Color Purple) and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys). Banderas made a splash in his Broadway debut, playing the role of Guido in the recent Broadway revival of Nine, and theater fans have anxiously been awaiting his return to the New York stage ever since.

Passing Strange Film Airs On PBS Tonight

Spike Lee's docu-film of the recent Broadway musical Passing Strange airs on PBS this evening. In the New York City area, the movie will be on WNET at 9pm. If you are in another city, check your local listings for the exact date and time of the broadcast. Passing Strange is the electric rock musical co-written and co-starring Tony Award winner Stew, and starring Daniel Breaker (Shrek the Musical) as his alter-ego, a young black man who leaves his middle-class L.A. home for a journey that takes him through Europe and back again.

Spiderman Musical Finally Officially Announces Postponement of Opening

Amidst all of the Spider-drama of late last year, the producers of the forthcoming musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark failed to actually confirm that the show would not start performances on February 25, 2010, as originally announced. Most people inferred that it wouldn't be opening that soon, given all of the Spiderman musical's financial trouble, but ticketholders were left to wonder whether or not they'd actually get to use their Spider-Man tickets at all. Finally today the producers of the big-budgeted Broadway show formally announced that Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will not be opening in February, and that people who already purchased tickets can get a refund through Ticketmaster now if they so choose. However, the Spiderman production team does plan on announcing an actual opening date (most likely to be some time late this year) shortly, so ticket-holders also have the option of waiting until the revised performance schedule is announced, at which point they can simply exchange their current Spider-Man tickets for a suitable date.

James Roday Faces Extinction Off-Broadway

James Roday, the charismatic star of USA's comedy/mystery series Psych, will be coming to Off-Broadway next month in Gabe McKinley's play Extinction, which is transferring from Los Angeles's Elephant Space Theatre to the Cherry Lane Theatre Off-Broadway. Also starring in the production is another television actor, Michael Weston, who plays recurring character Lucas Douglas on Fox's popular medical mystery show House. The play is about two college buddies whose annual outing goes awry. The production will begin performances on February 13, with an opening on February 17.

Burn the Floor Burns Out, Ragtime Stops Playing, and The 39 Steps Run Out

Broadway is bereft once again as the January closings continue today. Burn the Floor is all danced out and has finally ended its run at the Longacre Theatre following extensions due to popular ticket demand. Also closing today, the Hitchcock-inspired mystery/comedy The 39 Steps, which enjoyed an unusually long run for a play, lasting two years on Broadway. One of the most unfortunate Broadway closings so far this season is the excellent revival of the musical Ragtime, which only made it a few months at the Neil Simon Theatre. The audiences were enthusiastic, but the show just couldn't sell enough tickets to keep this production running. And then there is also a significant Off-Broadway closing today, the long-running production of the Christian boy band musical Altar Boyz, which shutters following over 2,000 performances at New World Stages.

Norbert Leo Butz To Star In Enron on Broadway

It has officially been announced that Norbert Leo Butz will play lead villain (i.e. corporate executive) Jeffrey Skilling in the forthcoming Broadway production of Lucy Prebble's Enron, which is hot off a run at London's Royal Court Theatre. Tony Award winner Butz has been seen on Broadway in numerous shows, including Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Is He Dead?, Thou Shalt Not, Rent, and recently as a replacement for Jeremy Piven in David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow.

Time Stands Still At Broadway's Friedman Theatre Tonight

Time Stands Still, the new play by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Marguilies (Dinner With Friends), begins performances at the Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre tonight. The drama stars Laura Linney (most recently on Broadway in Roundabout Theatre Company's Les Liaisons Dangereuses) and Brian d'Arcy James (the original man behind the big green costume in Shrek on Broadway) as a couple, a photographer and a journalist, who have been covering war-torn lands. But, ironically, their lives are turned upside down when an injury means that they have to settle down into a more conventional lifestyle at home in New York City. Time Stands Still, which is directed by Daniel Sullivan, also stars Alicia Silverstone (Clueless, The Graduate on Broadway) and playwright/performer Eric Bogosian (Law & Order: Criminal Intent). The limited-run production will have its official Broadway opening on January 28 and has an expected closing date of March 21.

Twyla Tharp's Sinatra Musical To Arrive on Broadway in March

Come Fly Away, Twyla Tharp's new dance show based around the music of Frank Sinatra, will come to Broadway's Marquis Theatre on March 1. The piece was originally called Come Fly With Me and had its world premiere at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre. Tharp has created other dance shows using the catalogues of popular musicians, including the Broadway hit Movin' Out (using the music of Billy Joel, sung above stage by Michael Cavanaugh) and the Broadway flop The Times They Are A Changin' (featuring the music of Bob Dylan, as sung by a cast headed by Michael Arden). Come Fly Away, which has master recordings of Frank Sinatra's voice played against a live onstage band, includes such classic Sinatra songs as "My Way" and "Fly Me To the Moon". The show is about four couples who fall in and out of love during a music-filled evening at a nightclub.

Broadway Closings Now, Soon, and Postponed

As usual, today, the first Sunday after New Year's, brings a rash of New York show closings. Some are the limited-engagement holiday shows (Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Cirque du Soleil's Wintuk, and Irving Berlin's White Christmas) that will no longer have an audience with Christmas come and gone. Other closings are struggling Broadway shows (Shrek the Musical and Superior Donuts) that could no longer afford their running costs because of low ticket sales. Meanwhile, Ragtime, a Broadway musical revival that was just recently scheduled for the January 3 chopping block, received a last-minute extension to January 10. If ticket sales increase, perhaps it could receive yet another reprieve before next Sunday. It was also just announced that the Broadway musical revival Finian's Rainbow will be closing this month, on January 17.

Present Laughter Begins Today On Broadway

The new Roundabout Theatre Company production of the classic Noel Coward play Present Laughter begins performances today at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway. Broadway veteran Victor Garber (Alias and Eli Stone on TV, Titanic on film, and most recently on Broadway in Yasmina Reza's Art) stars in the comedy as a vainglorious actor whose life is made quite chaotic by the sudden arrival of troublesome theater folk and equally troublesome women. Also starring in the production, which is directed by Nicholas Martin (The 39 Steps, Mauritius), is Tony Award winner Harriet Harris (Thoroughly Modern Millie) and Brooks Ashmanskas (Fame Becomes Me). A limited run production, Present Laughter is scheduled to play on Broadway through March 21.

Film Musical Nine Barely Makes the Box Office Top Ten

The latest Hollywood movie musical, Nine, opened to wide release on Christmas Day, and as usual the Broadway wags have all been keeping a close eye on it and its public reception. Theater fans are a notoriously difficult group to please, and the word of mouth has skewed negative on this film, helmed by Rob Marshall, the director of the Oscar-winning movie musical version of Chicago. Unfortunately Nine has not managed to get either the critical or public acclaim that Chicago received. Based on the Broadway stage musical of the same name (which recently had a successful Broadway revival starring Antonio Banderas), Nine stars Daniel Day-Lewis as a troubled Italian filmmaker alongside a slew of famous actresses (Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Fergie, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren) who play the many women in his life. All of that star power didn't translate into big box office receipts, though, as Nine only came in at Number 8 during its opening weekend. With so little positive buzz and continued competition from blockbusters like Avatar and Sherlock Holmes, there seems to be little hope that the movie's fortunes will improve during New Year's weekend. Even if Nine does better internationally, which seems likely given its cast of international stars, the movie will still likely be regarded as a flop in the U.S., which is never a good sign for other film musicals in development. Of course, even the string of previous Broadway-turned-movie-musical failures (such as The Producers and The Phantom of the Opera) has not stopped the production of further film musicals which has amounted to a musical Renaissance in Hollywood. As long as there is an occasional success (Hairspray and Mamma Mia were recent box office favorites), hopefully Hollywood will continue looking to Broadway for inspiration.