Issue #220: November 15, 2008

• The dynamic Canadian team of director Des McAnuff and choreographer Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys) are on board for the upcoming revival of Guys and Dolls, which will open on March 1. Joining previously mentioned Oliver Platt, as Nathan Detroit will be former Gilmore Girl Lauren Graham as Miss Adelaide.
  

• Currently in development is another movie to stage musical….this time it is based on Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho. No date or theater secured yet for the production.

• Blithe Spirit returns to Broadway in February with Christine Ebersole starring along side Broadway and television veteran Angela Lansbury, in the revival.

• Saturday Night Live veteran Will Ferrell tries his hand at the stage when he makes his Broadway debut in the one-man show You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George Bush” set to open on January 20, inauguration day.

• Matthew Broderick returns to Broadway in the revival of The Philanthropist scheduled to open in late April.

• After more than four decades, Jane Fonda plans to return to Broadway in 2009, in Moises Kaufman play 33 Variations. Fonda’s Broadway career began in 1960 in There Was a Little Girl. Her other appearances include Invitation to a March, The Fun Couple and Strange Interlude. Kaufman will also direct.

• In the “everything old is new again” file it looks like Hair is returning to Broadway in February, forty years after it first debuted.

• That 1930s curvy cartoon Betty Boop will be making her Broadway debut during the 2010-11 season. This new musical will feature music by legendary composer David Foster.

• A number of productions on the West End are discounting heavily this fall, however the producers of Grease are going the “stunt casting” route by bringing in Jimmy Osmond in for the role of “Teen Angel.”

• Note from Webcrone: Stevie Vallance has teamed up with composer David Warrack and bass player David Young to take their trio on the road with great jazz to small theatres in southern Ontario. Vallance has moved home to Canada after many years in Los Angeles as voice and producer of animated movies. She has settled in an area where several other notables from theatre and television are adding to the regional musical theatre scene, among them Dinah Christie, another jazz diva with an acting background.
  
  The revitalization of regional little theatre has benefited somewhat from professionals moving away from big cities. For more info on Stevie Vallance see Webcrone’s blog My Foggy Day at cybersquibbs.com/myfoggyday/
  
  Listen to one of the songs by David Warrack for a taste of their music. [mp3 file]