New Screen Version of The 39 Steps On PBS Tonight

For those who enjoyed the long-running Broadway (and now Off-Broadway) play The 39 Steps, you may want to tune into your local PBS station tonight to check out a new movie version. This is an update of the original Alfred Hitchcock film on which the play was based. The big difference between the movie versions and the stage version is that the 39 Steps play took a far more wacky and comedic approach to the story of a man who unwittingly gets caught up in murder and international intrigue.

Mammia Mia Offers Big Discount On Tickets Tonight

Mamma mia, what a savings! Because of the snowy weather, which is undoubtedly sending both potential and current Broadway show ticketholders into hiding tonight, Mamma Mia is offering a great deal to entice audiences to make the trip to the show's appropriately named Winter Garden Theatre. For tonight, the February 26 at 8pm performance, Mamma Mia is offering a snow day special. These tickets are just $31.50 a piece. To buy them, go to the box office at 1634 Broadway (between 50th and 51st streets). Even if you're not interested in this particular show, brave Broadway fans might want to venture out to the theater district tonight and see if any other Broadway shows are offering bargains. During New York City's last snowstorm, attendance was way down and many shows are probably anxious to fill those seats. And for those wondering if their Broadway show is canceled tonight, the answer is no. The show must go on! But continue checking www.broadwayleague.com for any updates on how the weather might be affecting Broadway shows.

Avenue Q Poster Too Racy For Colorado Springs

Lucy T. Slut, that troublemaker of a puppet in the musical Avenue Q, has been causing problems in Colorado Springs as well. Not wishing to create a fuzz, er, fuss, Lamar Advertising rejected promotional posters showing her likeness (and, more to the point, her cleavage) for the Avenue Q tour that will be visiting the town March 16-17. Instead, the denizens of Colorado Springs will be seeing the face of another less seductive Avenue Q puppet on bus shelter posters advertising the show. A Lamar exec said the reason for the change was that Colorado City is rather conservative, so it made sense to adjust the advertising accordingly. Whether or not locals enjoy the production itself remains to be seen next month.

Florence Henderson Hosts Broadway Backwards

Broadway Backwards, the popular annual event now in its fifth year, is being held at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre (current home to the hit South Pacific revival) tonight. Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch) hosts this year's concert, which, as in previous years, will feature a slew of Broadway performers singing reversed gender songs. The event gives actors the chance to sing songs that they have always loved, but never actually get the chance to perform onstage because they were written for someone of the opposite gender. The starry cast of Broadway Backwards will include Raul Esparza, Mario Cantone, Len Cariou, Lea Salonga, Douglas Sills, Becki Newton, Bruce Vilanch, Dan Butler, Tony Goldwyn, Robert Cuccioli, Ann Harada, Lee Roy Reams, and many more.

Phantom Sequel Love Never Dies Released on CD March 9

The Phantom of the Opera fans who can't make it to London for opening night of the musical's new "sequel," Love Never Dies, will still be able to hear the new Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Glenn Slater (lyrics) score for the show, which will be released on CD on March 9. The Decca Broadway cast recording (featuring The Little Mermaid's Sierra Boggess as Christine and Ramin Karimloo as The Phantom) will be released in both regular and deluxe editions. Both versions are full two-disc sets, but the deluxe will also include a bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews, as well as a 40-page booklet. Love Never Dies is expected to open on Broadway in November 2010.

South Pacific To Close On Broadway This Summer

Lincoln Center Theatre has announced that it will be closing its much-acclaimed Broadway revival of the classic Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II musical South Pacific on August 22nd. The Tony Award-winning production, which will have played more than 1,000 performances when it ends its run at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, was a tremendous hit for LCT and will live on as the national tour continues through 2011 (London and Australian productions are also in the works). South Pacific, which originally appeared on Broadway in 1949 and is based on James Michener's stories "Tales From the South Pacific," is about a Navy nurse who finds love with a French plantation owner during World War II. The current cast of the show features Laura Osnes (Broadway's Grease) as nurse Nellie Forbush and David Pittsinger as her love interest Emile de Becque.

Valerie Harper Throws Broadway For a Looped

Emmy Award-winning actress Valerie Harper takes on the role of the notorious, outrageous, and hard-drinking performer Tallulah Bankhead in the new play Looped, beginning performances on Broadway today at the Lyceum Theatre. Looped takes place in a sound recording studio in 1965, where Bankhead has gone to "loop" (i.e. re-record) a single line of dialogue from her latest movie, Die! Die! My Darling. Having arrived inebriated, she can't get the line right, frustrating her film editor (played by Brian Hutchison, recently on Broadway in Exit the King) and forcing the studio sound technician (Michael Mulheren, whose Broadway credits include Kiss Me, Kate and The Farnsworth Invention) to play referee. Written by Matthew Lombardo and directed by Rob Ruggiero, Looped will have its official Broadway opening on March 14.

There's a New Dame In Town

Dame Edna Everage has her Honorary Understudy, and his name is Scott Mason. The honor was bestowed upon Mason on Wednesday morning when he won a contest being held at Henry Miller's Theatre, where Dame Edna's new show All About Me is soon opening. Among the contest's judges, which scored the participants on criteria such as make-up, costume, and accent, were Michael Musto and New York Post columnist Michael Riedel. Dame Edna herself (aka Barry Humphries) and All About Me co-star Michael Feinstein had their say as well, of course. Although he will receive a credit in the show's Playbill, Scott Mason's role as official understudy will be purely honorary (after all, there is only one Dame Edna Everage). However, Mason is no stranger to playing the good Dame - he has worked extensively as a professional Dame Edna impersonator.

A Behanding in Spokane Begins on Broadway Tonight

The world premiere production of Martin McDonagh's new play A Behanding in Spokane begins on Broadway tonight at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. This is the first time that one of McDonagh's works, which usually take place in Ireland, is set in the United States, and it is also the first McDonagh play to premiere on Broadway. Directed by John Crowley, the intermission-less comedy stars Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Anthony Mackie, and Zoe Kazan. A Behanding in Spokane, which is sure to include its author's signature mix of black humor and violence, is about a man looking for his missing hand, a couple of con artists out to make a score, and a curious hotel clerk. The play is set for a limited run of 16 weeks and will have its official Broadway opening on March 4.

13th Edition of Broadway Bears Roars Into Town

It's going to be a very cuddly Valentine's Day for those attending "Broadway Bears VIII" today at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in the theater district. The annual event, which serves as a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA), features a myriad of teddy bears which have been fashioned and costumed to resemble characters from Broadway shows. Most of the bears that will be up for auction at the event represent current or recent Broadway shows, such as 9 to 5, 33 Variations, A Little Night Music, A Steady Rain, Billy Elliot, Exit the King, Hair, Liza's at the Palace, Rock of Ages, and Wishful Drinking. But there are also bears representing older Broadway shows, such as M. Butterfly and Victor/Victoria. Most bears are actually autographed by the original person who played their character, and many also feature autographs from other people involved with the show as well. Tickets for "Broadway Bears", which is hosted by John Bolton (Spamalot) and Sotheby's auctioneer Lorna Kelly (and featuring a musical performance by Felicia Finley), are $35 or $150 for VIP tickets. If you want to bid on a bear, though, prepare to fork over a lot more cash. Last year's top bear, a Spamalot bear signed by Clay Aiken, went for $16,000.

The Miracle Worker Begins Performances on Broadway

The new Broadway revival of the classic William Gibson play The Miracle Worker (based on the true story of Helen Keller) starts performances at the Circle in the Square Theatre today. The production features Alison Pill (most recently on Broadway in The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Off-Broadway in reasons to be pretty) as Annie Sullivan and Abigail Breslin (on film in Little Miss Sunshine and Zombieland) as her famous pupil, the blind and deaf Helen Keller. Jennifer Morrison (TV's House), Matthew Modine (And the Band Played On), and Elizabeth Franz (on Broadway in Death of a Salesman and Morning's at Seven) co-star in the drama, set in 1880s Alabama. The Miracle Worker, which is directed by Kate Whoriskey, will have its official opening on March 3.

Times Square Pedestrian Mall To Become Permanent

Good news for those who have been enjoying the freedom to literally walk right down the middle of Broadway in the Times Square area - Mayor Bloomberg has announced that the temporary pedestrian mall will become permanent. Closing Broadway to traffic between 42nd and 47th streets began as an experiment in the summer of 2009, the idea being to relieve some traffic congestion in midtown while giving New York visitors and locals alike the opportunity to enjoy the theater district without dodging cars and taxis. Statistics showed that the street closure did not do much to improve NYC traffic, but it did reduce pedestrian injuries in the area considerably while providing tourists more space to take pictures and local office workers a nice place to have lunch outside. Although the current set-up is a bit ramshackle in places, with chairs and tables strewn about over the concrete of Broadway, the pedestrian mall will gradually be transformed into a proper plaza with a more aesthetically pleasing design.

The Broadway Shows Will Go On

It may be blizzarding in New York City, but a little (or a lotta) snow doesn't faze showbiz folks who believe that the show must go on. The Broadway League announced this morning that there will be no cancellations today, and both the matinee and evening Broadway shows will play as scheduled. If you have to travel into NYC and are worried about dealing with the bad weather, you may want to contact your show's ticketing agent to see if they will be willing to exchange your tickets for another date. Not all shows are willing to offer exchanges, but some will, so it is worth asking. So far Telecharge has announced that it will offer exchanges to people holding tickets to these Broadway shows: Billy Elliot, Chicago, Fela!, God of Carnage, Hair, Jersey Boys, A Little Night Music, Mamma Mia!, Memphis, The Phantom of the Opera, Race, South Pacific, Time Stands Still, and A View from the Bridge.

Hair Gives Discount Tickets To City Students On Snow Day

Following reports that New York City is primed to get dumped by a whole lot of snow tomorrow, it was announced that New York City's public schools would be closing up shop on Wednesday, February 10th. To give New York City students an opportunity to have some extra fun on their snow day, the producers of the Broadway revival of the musical Hair are offering New York City students $40 tickets for the matinee and evening performances on Wednesday. Students must purchase the tickets at the show's box office (the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on West 45th Street), they have to show a valid ID, and they are permitted to purchase as many as four of these discounted tickets. Snow or no snow, the people at Hair are always determined to let the sun shine in!

Sean Hayes and Nathan Lane To Headline Broadway Talks Series

A new discussion series known as "Broadway Talks" will debut at the 92nd Street Y in March. Producer and Jujamcyn Theaters president Jordan Roth will host the evening talks, each of which will feature a notable Broadway personality. In the first installment on March 1, Roth will chat with respected actor Liev Schreiber, who is currently starring in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge. Subsequent evenings will feature Time Stands Still's Laura Linney (March 28), The Addams Family's patriarch Nathan Lane (May 23), and star of the upcoming Broadway musical revival Promises, Promises, Sean Hayes (May 24). Tickets for "Broadway Talks" are $27. Get more info at www.92Y.org/lectures.

Time Stands Still To Run Longer on Broadway

The positively reviewed new Broadway play Time Stands Still will be getting a week-long extension in its limited run. The acclaimed Manhattan Theatre Club production will now play until March 27 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Laura Linney (most recently on Broadway in Les Liaisons Dangereuses) stars in the Donald Margulies-penned drama as a restless war photographer who is forced to settle down in her New York apartment to recover following a bad injury while on the job. Also starring in the show is Brian d'Arcy James (Shrek the Musical) as her longtime partner and a war journalist, Eric Bogosian as her photo editor, and Alicia Silverstone (The Graduate on Broadway, Clueless on film) as his much younger girlfriend. Because of the Time Stands Still extension, MTC's next show, Collected Stories, will be slightly delayed. That production will now start on April 9 instead of April 6.

National Tour of Phantom To End This Year

The national tour of The Phantom of the Opera, the road company version of the long-running Broadway musical, will finally be ending in November of this year. The massively successful tour, which recently celebrated its 7,000th performance, has been bringing the Tony Award-winning Broadway show to cities and towns across the United States for an astounding 17 years (only a few years less than the Broadway production has been playing at the Majestic Theatre in New York City). With the tour coming to a stop, Phantom phans will have to get their phix by either seeing the original Broadway production in New York, or by catching Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular out in Vegas.

Lincoln Center Theater To Build Third Space For LCT3

When Lincoln Center Theater announced that it was creating the LCT3 "new works" theater series, and that a small theater would eventually be built especially for LCT3 productions, nobody realized that to find the new space they would simply need to look up. Lincoln Center Theater has just announced its intention to build this intimate new 131-seat theater right on top of the Vivian Beaumont Theater, which is LCT's Broadway house, located on the Upper West Side in the Lincoln Center complex. The new two-story addition will include not only the LCT3 theater (which is to be named the Claire Tow Theater), but also rehearsal space, office space, and an outdoor terrace.

Nine Nabs Four Oscar Nominations

The Academy Award nominations were announced this morning, and despite a lukewarm reception from both audiences and critics, the Rob Marshall-directed film version of the Broadway musical Nine earned four Academy Award nods. These include a Best Supporting Actress nom for Penelope Cruz, a Best Original Song ("Take It All") nomination for Nine composer/lyricist Maury Yeston, Best Art Direction for John Myhre, and a Best Costume Design nod for Colleen Atwood. The winners will be awarded on March 7.

American Psycho To Become Musical

Tony Award-winning Spring Awakening composer Duncan Sheik and playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa have announced that they are going to create a new musical based on the notorious 1991 novel American Psycho (which also has a film version starring Christian Bale) about a yuppie Wall Street banker who turns murderous. American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis has given his blessing to the endeavor, but there is not yet any production schedule planned, nor is there word on whether or not the musical will be headed for Broadway.