We adore acerbic Broadway veteran Elaine Stritch, so you can imagine our surprise last night when the 85-year-old star was the top trending Twitter topic in NYC. (If you don't use Twitter, this means a lot of people were buzzing about her.) That's because Stritch, along with Nathan Lane, was performing at the White House for a PBS "salute to Broadway." Stritch has won fans with roles in everything from Albee to Beckett to Sondheim, but last night she reportedly got into a train wreck during her rendition of "I'm Still Here" from from Sondheim's Follies. According to the message board All That Chat, this involved: more ›

Producers of a forthcoming Broadway version of The Addams Family have confirmed that Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth have signed on to star in the new musical. According to the Post, Lane will play family patriarch Gomez, and Neuwirth will co-star as his wife, Morticia. The production, expected to premiere next March (rights were granted two years ago), will mainly riff on the aesthetic of Charles Addams' old New Yorker cartoons—not the classic TV series they spawned. Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (Jersey Boys) have written the book, and Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party) has penned the music and lyrics. The Times reports that "the plot will revolve around the couple’s daughter Wednesday, now 18, and her family’s adjustment to her coming of age, her new boyfriend and his parents." Krysta Rodriguez, the cute In the Heights vet, will play Wednesday, and Terrence Mann (Les Misérables) and Carolee Carmello (Parade) will play her boyfriend's parents. more ›

Earlier this week, it was announced that 9 to 5: The Musical, adapted from the movie and eponymous Dolly Parton song, will open on Broadway April 30th, the last day that a show can open and still be eligible for a Tony award. Broadway g'nerds rejoiced, but according to the Times, there's just one problem: The Broadway production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, starring Bill Irwin and Nathan Lane, had already planned to open that same night at Studio 54. Now there's a lot of drama, because they'll have to share the same narrow publicity spotlight! Who will blink? Who really cares? We're more excited about today's news that Will Ferrell will get his own one-man show on Broadway in January, titled You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush. Oh, and speaking of Lane, Matthew Broderick will return to Broadway the same month as his old Producers cast-mate in a revival of Christopher Hampton 1970 play The Philanthropist. Also, you'll now have "9 to 5" stuck in your head for the rest of the weekend. more ›

My endorsement of this measure, issued in blue covers, first referred to as the “blue Bills”, have come to be known, on late night Talkshows, as “The Blue Balls.” This, while accurate, is disrespectful to my Office. more ›

MOVIES: A lavishly restored print of Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s visionary film The Holy Mountain has been making the rounds this year; it’s back again this weekend at IFC Center for a pair of midnight screenings. First released in 1973, The Holy Mountain has grown into a cult classic for its surreal, psychedelic imagery and a serpentine, metaphysical storyline, which takes as inspiration, among other things, "The Ascent of Mt. Carmel" by St. John of the Cross and the idea of a mountain uniting heaven and earth. more ›

Michael Riedel has double-the-entendre fun with his rumor-laced news that the London revival of Equus – yes, that Equus starring the Harry Potter kid naked as a jaybird – is going to Broadway! According to Riedel’s sources, “one problem, though, is the length.” Wait for it... Wait for it... “Of the play, people, the play!” But producers seem cocksure, despite a couple small problems regarding young Daniel Radcliffe: “Where he comes up short (at least in one instance) is in the sex-appeal department… he's bulked up. But he's surprisingly asexual, my spies say.” more ›

We don't kow whether to cheer or chastise after hearing that a musical of Nick Hornby's book, High Fidelity, will be coming to Broadway this December. We can see it now: A recurring song called "Top Five List," a ballad about Laura, an ensemble dance piece at the end when Rob opens the club. The musical will be set in New York City, which makes it the third stop for the concept (book was in England, movie was in Chicago), which makes us wonder if songs mentioned in the book, like Katrina and Waves' Walking on Sunshine (in both the book and movie) or anything Bruce Springsteen-related, will make it to the Great White Way. The record for rock/pop on Broadway is pretty mixed - for every Mamma Mia or Movin' Out, you've got a Lennon, Good Vibrations and All Shook Up. Hmm, the more we think about it, what with bringing The Wedding Singer to Broadway, it seems like producers are desperately trying to reach the 18-34 - heck, the 25-45, year old male demographic. But will it work? more ›

more ›

Unless you’re luckier than we are, you pass the posters advertising The Odd Couple’s revival with a bitter harrumph. It’s starting previews today for an Oct. 27th opening to a run that’s been sold out since practically the first minute someone had the idea for casting Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. So why even bring it up, since those who have the tickets are sitting pretty and those who don’t are more or less S.O.L.? Well, if masochism isn’t a good enough answer, let's just say it gives us a segue to remind everyone that there is quite a lot more to see. Quite a lot. more ›

- Governor Pataki officially ousts the Freedom Center from Ground Zero more ›

- Concierge Service (assistance with story development, scouting assistance, budget analysis, and discounts on participating vendors)More details from the city. Mel Brooks yukked it up with Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki, saying, "It was breaking my heart to think that we had to go to Bucharest or Toronto or Vancouver to somehow mimic this incredible city," he said. "Without the tax benefits, the truth is, the horrible truth is that this movie would probably be made in Kabul, wherever the cheapest place in the world to shoot is." Newsday covered the event, and the Mayor's and Mel's salty attitudes were on display:

When Bloomberg suggested he be cast as Max Bialystock, the swindler who seduces old ladies to finance his Broadway schemes, Brooks quipped, "We wanted somebody a little taller."
But Bloomberg -- slightly taller than Brooks but shorter on comedic stature -- got the biggest laugh of the day.
When Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver suggested Brooks get a second Bar Mitzvah during filming, Bloomberg shot back, "Or a second bris."

I want to see a Broadway play and know I can get tickets for half off at the TKTS booth in Times Square. What time do they open and when do I have to get there? I'm usually very busy and can't wait in line for five hours more ›

After seeing Johnny Depp's bravura peroformance in Pirates of the Caribbean and agreeing he is what makes the film, Gothamist started to think about his portrayal of Jack Sparrow. Who is it is based on? Critics have been tripping over themselves tyring to deconstruct it. Some say Keith Richards, who Depp admits he used as inspiration, but Keith meets Pepe Le Pew. Some say drag queen. David Denby offered W.C. Fields, Toshiro Mifune, and Keith Richards. Gothamist thought it was a little like Nathan Lane in The Birdcage as well, hence the drag queen. We must say this: Depp's tan and eyeliner looked really hot. more ›