Andrew Lloyd Webber (the man behind Cats and Phantom of the Opera) plans to bring the 2003 film School of Rock to the stage, according to an interview he did on the CBC radio show, Q.
He said that while there are opportunities for his own songs in the musical, the film already has some great songs that will work well on stage.
With the right casting and perfectly hysterical musical performances, this has the potential to be an amazing show. This is unlike anything Webber has ever taken on, but I have a sneaking feeling Webber will find success in this totally different brand of show.
Some might have reservations of an iconic theatre composer taking on a modern piece, but he has the experience and knowledge to put into this project.
HERE’S 5 REASONS WHY WE’RE EXCITED FOR THE SCHOOL OF ROCK MUSICAL
1) Finding out who gets to play this kid
2) This monologue will make a great ballad
3) Seeing the movies performances as over the top musical numbers
4) Hearing the movies most quotable lines on stage
5) Jack Black can sing, therefore this should be his Broadway debut 3:12 mark
Now more than ever we are seeing young stars who got their start on Broadway find their way onto the big screen.
But there’s one Broadway show that seems to be the breeding ground for young actors and actresses: Duncan Sheik’s Spring Awakening. While it is common to see one star rise above the rest, majority of the Broadway stars who have landed roles in Spring Awakening went on to achieve wide recognition. Basically, if you don’t know who Lea Michele is, you probably live under a rock, and I pity you.
Read Below to learn more about your favorite stars who have been in Spring Awakening.
Lea Michele
While Lea Michele has been in Les Misérables and Ragtime as a child, but she broke through when starred in Spring Awakening. In Spring Awakening, Lea Michele’s character Wendla Bergman bares her breast, has an abortion, and dies. A little heavy for a high school student (Michele was 17 when the show made it to the stage), but it paid off after Glee producer Ryan Murphy spotted her in the show. Murphy initially casted Jonathan Groff for his pilot of Pretty/Handsome, and naturally Groff introduced Murphy to Michele. The rest is history. Lea Michele has rose to fame as Rachel Berry on Glee, and snagged award nominations and a new boyfriend in the process. Lea Michele and her indescribable voice has found her way from the stage to the screen, and we are so lucky it did because this way her voice now raises goose bumps on a weekly basis.
Skylar Astin
Skylar Astin took television and film by storm this year when he starred in Pitch Perfect and landed a guest role on Lena Dunham’s Girls. Since Pitch Perfect, his popularity sky rocked as the movie has built itself an almost a cult-like fan base. He most recently starred in 21 and Over, which many have described as the college version of The Hangover. Before breaking out in comedy, Astin started as Georg in Spring Awakening alongside Lea Michele and the rest of the gang. It’s become common knowledge that Spring Awakening gang are still incredibly tight knit. Lea Michele is constantly tweeting about Astin’s new projects, and has been campaigning to get him on Glee. It worked for Jonathan Groff, so keep your fingers crossed for a Astin guest spot on Glee.
Jonathan Groff
This morning Broadway.com and Huffington Post confirmed Tina Fey has plans to send Mean Girls to the Great White Way. Fey told E! News: “I’m trying to develop it, actually, with my husband, who does all the music for 30 Rock. And I think Paramount’s onboard.” She’s also thinking of Mariah Carey for Amy Poehler’s role.
Um, WHAT? Some might find this sad, but I find this oddly exciting. I’m already thinking of the great power houses and melodramatic ballads that need to be included. Naturally, I think Lea Michele needs to be involved. No one does powerhouse, dramatic ballads like her!
People are generally really excited:
The internet has been casting for this musical before Tina Fey confirmed the musical this morning. Lets take a look shall we? Read more…
In the world of celebrity news, there’s no shortage of hits and misses. This week, Jennifer Lawrence gets in a fender bender because she thought she saw Honey Boo Boo and One Direction calls Piers Morgan stinky.
HIT: Jennifer Lawrence car accident caused by wishful Honey Boo Boo thinking
With each and every uninhabited Jennifer Lawrence interview, the actress continues to give us more and more reasons to love her. This week, The Hunger Games starlet had to explain how she rear-ended a family in Georgia because she thought she saw Honey Boo Boo. On the 0.00001 per cent chance Lawrence reads this, we can totally be BFFs, nerd out on Harry Potter and watch Here Comes Honey Boo Boo together. Call me!
MISS: CNN’s Piers Morgan vs. One Direction
On the heels of the news that David Beckham was leaving the L.A. Galaxy, CNN’s Piers Morgan tweeted, “No serious top flight team would sign Beckham for football reasons any more- he should retire gracefully.” 1D’s Liam Payne and Harry Styles harmlessly replied to Morgan saying that Beckham is their hero. Apparently, that was enough for Morgan to throw in a couple of unwarranted 1D quips of his own, including a suggestion that Beckham should join the group and Harry should grow a pair. Was it a feeble attempt on Morgan’s part to finally get some publicity in America since joining CNN? Maybe, maybe not. But we do know the boys got the last laugh as #PiersMorganisSmelly trended on Twitter.
HIT: Journalists go crazy on 777 tour
Hands down some of the best stories of the week had to be the ones filtering out of the 777 Boeing airplane Rihanna and her crew hired to take her, 150 or so journalists and fans to seven cities in seven days for her 777 tour (see where she’s going with the 7s?). While the singer stayed up till 6 a.m. slinging out shots from behind the bar, some music journalists were going crazy due to lack of sleep and access to the singer. During one airplane ride, a radio DJ from Australia went streaking down the airplane aisles to the delight of his tired and frustrated peers. Another reporter, this time from GQ, somehow managed to keep typing a story out on his laptop even though he was falling asleep. At the end of the tour on Tuesday, Rihanna apologized for her absence and mentioned that she would do it all again (I can hear the invitations being ripped apart now).
MISS: R. Kelly wants to bring Trapped in the Closet to Broadway Read more…
This hypothetical musical about Liam Neeson would easily be one of the most dramatic and successful Broadway sensations of our time. I mean, dude was a Jedi Knight, Grecian god and was hunted by a pack of wild wolves.
This musical, which was created and edited by Jon and Al Kaplan (Conan the Barbarian: The Musical, Off-Broadway’s Silence! The Musical) remind us that every season is Neeson season. We’re basically going to find these guys, wherever they are in the world and give them a gigantic high five.
If Liam Neeson: The Musical was a real thing, I’d totally watch it.
Watch it here:
By Jasmine Williams
It’s the return of the all-stars! After tackling the most memorable Mia Michaels’ routines last week, the dancers faced an all-new challenge. This week, we got to see the top ten perform with the shining stars of So You Think You Can Dance yesteryear. Also, choreographer Benjamin Millepied was on the judging panel! He was the genius behind the moves in Black Swan and he’s Natalie Portman’s new hubby.
Here are my favourite moments from this week’s episode:
1. Opening group routine
This energetic homage to Gene Kelly choreographed by Tyce Diorio was so much fun! I couldn’t take my eyes off of Eliana, playing the glamourous Hollywood ingénue and the addition of funky trash can lids on their feet was a cool percussive touch. I only wish I could hear them better. And last but certainly not least, Tyce made a cameo as one of the dancers. He fit in so well I didn’t even notice he was there until the end, which I think is a good thing?
2. Tiffany’s disco routine
It seems that Tiffany was born for disco. This dance was electric and full of energy from beginning to end and the 11 (yes, 11) lifts were all executed perfectly. Plus, she had great chemistry with her all-star, season five’s Brandon. And the sparkly disco ball lighting and glittery ripped jumpsuit didn’t hurt either. It was dizzyingly amazing.
3. Witney’s jazz Read more…
Screw Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber’s “Beauty and the Beat,” let’s bring it back to Disney. Controversial American Idol contestant and Broadway veteren Todrick Hall spoofed Beauty and the Beast in a modern day parody of a bougie Belle living in the hood, called Beauty and the Beat.
Belle leaves her French-country home in the morning with a basket of hopes and dreams, making her way to the salon where she unofficially adopts a child. Then she bumps into a persistant Gaston who’s after her for the wrong reasons. The parody features American Idol stars Katie Stevens and Vonzell Solomon as well as YouTube stars GloZell and Antoine Dodson.
Watch it here:
Not to speak poorly of my gender but SOMETIMES ladies can overreact about inconsequential things. Sometimes guys can overreact too but we’re just focusing on the ladies right now.
Anyway, if you’re a particularly daft guy that doesn’t know why it’s not okay to make a comment about appearance or if you like to watch the game when you’re supposed to be having quality “us” time, then you’ll probably relate to this face-slapping musical Men We Don’t Know What We Did.
Inspired by Family Guy, it’s the musical where yes means no and no means yes and everything else is freaking confusing.
By Melissa Novacaska
Last night’s return of Glee proved Ryan Murphy’s unwillingness to kill any characters from the hit show so far. After a 7-week hiatus, I expected there would have been some sort of shocking revelation, either Quinn’s sudden death or the end of Finchel as we know it (even though I admit, I wouldn’t be crying tears of joy about this).
It might seem crazy, but I was overly excited to learn more about Sue’s pregnancy and discover the sex of her little monster. It was also much appreciated to get a glimpse of Blaine’s older, obnoxious, actor brother Cooper Anderson (Matt Bomer). Was it just me, or did anyone else notice the how close his name resembles that of Anderson Cooper? And did anyone else wish they’d been Sue and had Bomer take a look at their breasts before signing them? Oh well, a girl can dream can’t she?
Besides the obvious, here are five things I learned from last night’s episode “Big Brother.”
1) Broadway is apparently dead and in order to become a big name Hollywood actor, according to Mr. Anderson, one must literally point and yell whenever they read lines. He also advises the gleeks to think of a roast beef sandwich when working with a fellow cast mate to distract yourself from making eye contact with them. Somehow they buy it.
2) Blaine and Cooper really love each other and are more than just brothers, they are friends. After taking constant criticism from his older bro, Blaine lashes out at him and they recover by singing Gotye. Ummm… Blaine, do you not see how much more talented you are than your brother? Cooper mentions how jealous he is of his younger bro’s talents. I guess that’s why they call it tough love or is it in brotherly love?
Nick Jonas will be taking his talents to Broadway. The singer will be starring in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying starting January 24. He will be filling in for Daniel Radcliffe.
EW reports Nick is no stranger to musical theater. He made his Broadway debut in 2001 in the musical revival Annie Get Your Gun, then played Chip in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in 2002, and then young Gavroche in Les Misérables in 2003.
It seems like the Jonas Brothers continue to be on hiatus as the brothers pursue solo projects.
Neil Patrick Harris will return as host for the upcoming Tony Awards, reports CTV.
Producers of the show announced Tuesday that the ‘How I Met Your Mother’ star and a stage veteran will take over for ‘Will & Grace’ actor Sean Hayes, who hosted last year.
The ceremony honouring Broadway’s best will be at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, after several years at Radio City Music Hall. The awards will be handed out June 12 in a telecast aired on CBS.
“What could possibly go wrong?” Harris asked, joking the producers of the show had borrowed the rigging equipment from the troubled ‘Spider-Man’ musical.
Harris, 37, has starred in three Broadway productions, including ‘Assassins,’ ‘Proof,’ opposite Anne Heche, and as the exuberant master of ceremonies in ‘Cabaret.’
He also recently joined Stephen Colbert, Christina Hendricks and Patti LuPone in the New York Philharmonic’s production of ‘Company.’
Harris previously hosted the 2009 Emmy Awards the same year he hosted the Tonys. The last time Harris hosted the Tonys, the audience was up 19 per cent from the previous year.
Harris is a great choice. He’s funny, appeals to a large demographic, and knows his stuff when it comes to the theatre scene. Hopefully he does a better job than Anne Hathaway and James Franco at the Oscars.
From a successful album to a hit Broadway musical, “American Idiot” is now coming to the big screen.
“American Idiot,” the hit Broadway play based on the Grammy-winning Green Day album of the same name, is in talks to sell its screen rights to Universal. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will be produced by Tom Hanks through his Playtone label, and Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who wrote “Milk”, is in talks to write the screenplay.
Green Day, best known in the mid-90s as a California punk band, matured and took a political turn with their 2004 album ‘American Idiot’. An anti-Bush rock opera, the album inspired the Broadway show about the record’s main character, Jesus of Surburbia.
The band’s frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong, wrote the book for the broadway show, which won two Tonys for production and was nominated for Best Musical. Currently, he is starringi n the show for the second time, as it closes out on its run.
Sounds exciting! From the success of both the album and the Broadway musical, it will be interesting to see how the film turns out or if Armstrong reprises his role.
As reported by celebrity-gossip.net, powerhouse actors, Nicole Kidman and James Franco are set to appear in a revival of Tennessee William’s 1959 play, “Sweet Bird of Youth”.
This news comes alongside the Oscar Nominations in which Kidman and Franco are both up for leading actor/actress. “Sweet Bird of Youth” follows the story of a young gigolo and aspiring actor, Chance Wayne, who returns to his hometown to seek the help of Princess Kosmonopolis (also known as Alexandra Del Lago), a fading movie actress, in hopes that she will help him break into Hollywood. Wayne also returns to win back his former girlfriend whose father kicked him out of town years ago.
The play was adapted for the screen in 1962 with Richard Brooks directing and starring Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, and Rip Torn. It also went on to win an Oscar for Ed Begley in a best supporting role.
The play features very strong writing. With Kidman and Franco starring it should go on to receive rave reviews.
The stage musical version of rock band Green Day’s album American Idiot will begin its run at Broadway’s St. James Theatre starting with preview performances on March 24, the musical’s producers announced today, according to rollingstone.com.
American Idiot, which is directed by the musical Spring Awakening‘s Michael Mayer and features songs from Green day’s American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown, enjoyed eight sold-out weeks at the Berkeley Rep in California before announcing plans to move to Broadway in 2010. The show’s official New York opening night is set for April 10.
“Experiencing American Idiot onstage in Berkeley was incredible,” said Green Day’s guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong in a statement. “Michael Mayer was able to bring life to the characters of American Idiot, and Tom Kitt’s musical arrangements are breathtaking. We’re so proud that the show is coming to Broadway!”
Matthew Broderick will soon return to Broadway.
The actor, who last graced the stage in 2005, will star in the revival of “The Philanthropist” in April 2008. Broderick will play a college professor named Phillip.
“The Philanthropist” will be directed by David Grimley and performed at the American Airlines Theatre.
Broderick’s 2005 theatre venture, a revival of “The Odd Couple,” had a run of 64 performances.
Canadian heartthrob Joshua Jackson has reportedly reunited with lost love Katie Holmes.
The “Dawson’s Creek” stars had an emotional moment when Jackson visited Holmes at her Broadway show.
“It was really sweet, he just turned up unexpectedly with a bunch of flowers and said: ‘Hello stranger,’” claims a source for the UK Daily Mail. “Katie was shocked, but so happy to see him. It was a wonderful surprise. She gave him such a big hug.”
Jackson is said to be a steadying force for Holmes, as her life becomes more and more of a paparazzi circus. He is currently in a long-term relationship with “Troy” actress Diane Kruger.
Daniel Radcliffe loves his new home.
“I love New York very much, yes! Everyone’s been wonderful,”” said Radcliffe in a statement to E! News.
Radcliffe continues to add that he loves Broadway and that his move from the show’s original West End, London, locale to N.Y.C wasn’t difficult.
Radcliffe stars in the Broadway play’ Equus.’ The “Harry Potter” actor portrays a horse in the dark psychological drama.
Opening night is scheduled for Sept. 25, and the production will play through Feb. 8, 2009. Radcliffe has already been receiving rave reviews for his performance.
Kevin Federline has been dumped by another rich “Blonde” – Elle Woods to be specific.
Britney Spears’ ex, who has tried his hand at acting on “CSI” and “One Tree Hill,” was set to play small roles on the Broadway stage version of “Legally Blonde.” But his diva demands have resulted in a quick firing.
“The producers gave Kevin his walking papers,” a source told Star magazine. “Kevin was acting like a Broadway diva, and he hasn’t even stepped onto the stage yet!”
There is now an open casting call to fill Federline’s roles, including that of the UPS man.
The neon lights will be bright again on Broadway tonight.
The stagehands union Local One reached a tentative agreement with League of American Theatres and Producers yesterday. Stagehands will be back at work tonight, though the union will take ten days to approve the agreement.
In a statement, Local One president James J. Claffey proclaimed, “Brothers and sisters of Local One, you’ve respresented yourselves and your families and your union proud. That’s enough said right there.”
Charlotte St. Martin, the executive director of the League, also made a statement to the press. “We are pleased to announce that we have a tentative agreement with Local One of IATSE ending the Broadway strike, and we’re happy about that. The agreement is a good compromise that serves our industry. What is most important is that Broadway’s lights will once again be shining brightly with a diversity of productions that will delight all theatre-goers during this holiday time. We look forward to celebrating the season and welcoming our talented stagehands and the theatre-going public back to Broadway.”
A continued strike would be devastating during the holiday season.
