"Death Takes a Holiday". Photo by Joan Marcus.
It’s so hot out there, I thought it might be time for a super cool round-up of theater news.
- The new Maury Yeston-Peter Stone-Thomas Meehan musical Death Takes a Holiday opened last night with one major thing missing: Death himself. According to playbill.com, the titular leading man Julian Ovenden had to bow out of the performance due to laryngitis. It seems he took the title a little too much to heart…damn method actors. All ironies aside, we wish him a speedy recovery; it must be heartbreaking to miss out on your big moment.
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Andrew Rannells. Photo by Joan Marcus.
In a rare crossover between the music theater and comic book geek worlds (other than that Spider-Man show), the producers of The Book of Mormon are offering the chance to win free tickets to the show to fans visiting the South Park Experience at San Diego’s Comic Con today and tomorrow. Stop by and try your luck (and while you’re at it, enjoy a South Park-themed sno-cone named by yours truly…Papa’s got to pay the bills and he does it by working as a writer at Comedy Central).
- Hold onto your hats (which I hope are lovely, wide-brimmed sunhats); this week was stuffed with big Broadway casting announcements. Hollywood website Deadline.com scooped word that Glee‘s Darren Criss is in final talks to take over for Daniel Radcliffe when he exits How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in January. I guess the folks at the Al Hirschfeld Theater won’t have to remove the swooning couches after all.
- For us actress lovers, the news got even more interesting. Look for Tony-winner Cynthia Nixon to go for a repeat in the Broadway premiere of Wit. I loved Emma Thompson in the filmed version but this casting is also prickly perfection.
- The line-up has fallen into place, as well, for Other Desert Cities to make its move to the Great White Way after a successful Lincoln Center run earlier this year. Entertainment Weekly reports that talented Aussie Rachel Griffiths (Brothers and Sisters) will make her Broadway debut in the role Elizabeth Marvel played and Judith Light (sure Who’s the Boss, but also a Tony-nominee this year for Lombardi) will take over for Linda Lavin. And ready for the spooky factoid to tie it all together: Judith Light starred in the Off-Broadway and touring productions of Wit. Ooh. Ahh.
- Finally, I know for a theater blog we’ve done marriage equality news out the ying yang but I’ve got two more quick bites as we prepare for the big wedding weekend. As our sistah blog Global Cocktails reported, gay puppets Rod and Ricky from Avenue Q will be among the couples tying the knot at City Hall. (They’re here. They’re felt. Get used to it.) In addition, one of our favorite stage divas (and twitterers) Audra McDonald announced via tweet the following, “Gonna sing at the celebration of the first gay marriage officiated by Mayor Bloomberg this weekend. So honored and excited!” And, get ready for some goosebumps, Audra McDonald was also in the movie of Wit. Dang, I’m good.
