The Theatre Round-Up

We haven't talked theatre in awhile and I did do some catching up tonight.

Apparently, Newsies is on its way to becoming a stage musical at the Paper Mill Playhouse, with Menken back at the musical helm and Harvey Fierstein with a new script. The newest additions/changes to the familiar story are the addition of a reporter love interest and "Santa Fe" now being at the top of the show. Take a look at the video and tell me what you think.
Also, you should note Andrew Keenan-Bolger's name in the lineup as Crutchie - you may remember his sister Celia Keenan-Bolger as Olive in the Broadway version of 25th Putnam County Spelling Bee.



Check this out: George Lee Andrews has played in Phantom of the Opera ever since it opened on Broadway in 1988 and will be performing his final show tomorrow night. This will be his 9,382nd performance. That's nine-thousand. He currently holds the Guinness World Record for the longest run in the same show (I would certainly hope so!) He played Firmin for years, but to give some fresh life to his performance, they switched him over to Andre in 2000. I've never seen Phantom on Broadway, but now I wished at some point I had to possibly catch his performance. Sure, I wouldn't have known it at the time, but I would've loved to have gone back to that playbill now to see.
I'm so sad I had never heard of this guy until now! Bravo to an insanely long run, Mr. Andrews!

Eh. This is totally rumor mill, but here you go anyway. Supposedly, they're back to making a movie musical rendition of Les Miserables. This is nothing new. This has been on again, off again for years. According to the article, its being currently developed by Working Title & Universal and will be directed by Tom Hooper of Kings Speech. And, of course, the rumors are the stars involved and the most recent one is Anne Hathaway as Fantine.
While we're discussing rumors, here's other names being bandied about:
"According to www.itsonthegrid.com, additional actors being courted for the film have included Russell Crowe for Javert, Geoffrey Rush for Thenardier, Helena Bonaham Carter for Madame Thenardier, Hayden Panettiere, Miranda Cosgrove, Lucy Hale and Emma Watson for the roles of Eponine and Cosette, and Amy Adams and Rebecca Hall for Fantine."

While in the midst of looking up some of those names, I learned Rebecca Hall is actually the daughter of director Peter Hall! Interesting. And though not in that particular listing, Hugh Jackman is supposed to be set for Javert and one of the ones pushing the project.
After Phantom, I'm not really crazy about this. The idea of a star-studded cast trying to sing its way through this score doesn't really thrill me. Blah blah blah, they only have to get it right once, blah blah blah.
Buuut who knows, maybe they will be able to sing this time. Sacha Baron Cohen rocked Sweeney. Ewan McGregor caught everyone totally off guard. I'm totally willing to go with it if they can find singers. And who knows if it will ever actually be made anyway.

Frank Wildhorn's new show will be arriving soon on Broadway: Bonnie & Clyde will be in previews November 4th with opening set for December 1st. Lyrics by Don Black of Andrew Lloyd Webber fame: Sunset Boulevard, Aspects of Love and Tell me On a Sunday. (Also, apparently his first big hit was writing the lyrics for Bond's Thunderball theme. Thank you, Wikipedia!)

And I kept trying to find one more piece of news, but nothing else has really caught my attention. Anything interest anyone else?