Academy Award winner Jane Fonda will return to Broadway for the first time in 46 years. Fonda will star in “33 Variations,” a play by Moises Kaufman about a present-day musicologist and her study of Beethoven’s fascination with a particular piece of music. The play, which is being directed by Kaufman, will feature an on-stage pianist and is described as “a feast for the senses and the spirit.”

“I am very excited about being in Moises’ new play,” Fonda said in a statement. “I can’t wait to get back on stage with him in this role that I understand so well. It’s been 40-some years.”

Fonda made her Broadway debut in 1960 in the play “There Was a Little Girl,” for which she earned a Tony Award nomination. Her last appearance on Broadway was in the 1963 drama “Strange Interlude.”

“33 Variations” will open this winter at a theater and date to be determined.

Source: Broadway.com

Christine Ebersole will play ghostly Elvira in the spring 2009 Broadway revival of Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit”. The Tony Award-winning actress, who played dual roles in the musical “Grey Gardens”, will be joined by four-time Tony Award winner Angela Lansbury as psychic Madame Arcati and film star Rupert Everett, who will be making his Broadway debut playing the part of Elvira’s former husband, Charles Condomine.

In Blithe Spirit, one of Coward’s biggest successes, novelist Condomine, living with his second wife, Ruth, invites a local medium, Madame Arcati, to his house. His intention is to do some research into the spirit world for his new book. But he gets more than he bargained for when Arcati conjures up the ghost of Charles first wife, Elvira. Caught between one live wife and one dead wife — both jealous of the other — Charles thinks matters couldn’t be worse.

The original Broadway production starred Clifton Webb as Charles, Peggy Wood as wife Ruth and Leonora Corbett as Elvira. Mildred Natwick was eccentric medium Madame Arcati. The play originated in London, with Coward starring as Charles.

Michael Blakemore will direct “Blithe Spirit” which is scheduled to begin preview performances on February 26, 2009, with regular performances starting in March at the Shubert theater.

Source: Playbill

Controversial British film maker Ken Russell will make his New York stage debut this fall, when he directs the Off Broadway thriller “Mindgame.”

Russell (”Women in Love,” “Tommy,” “Altered States”) will stage a new production of Anthony Horowitz’s play, which premiered in London’s West End, in 2000.

“Mindgame” centers on a pulp crime novelist who visits an asylum to interview an infamous serial killer, “but when he arrives at the asylum, he finds nothing can be trusted, not even his own eyes. Through a series of lies, manipulations and memories, dark secrets are revealed”. Keith Carradine (”Deadwood”, “Dexter”) plays a doctor at the institution, with Lee Godart portraying the scribe.

In a statement director Russell said, “After reading Mindgame, I was convinced that I had to direct this play in New York. Anthony has written a fascinating thriller with a new surprise every five minutes. I am delighted and honored to have this intriguing play as my off-Broadway debut.”

“Mindgame” is set to open in previews at the SoHo Playhouse October 28 with a November 9th general opening.

Official site: MindgameThePlay.com
Source: Playbill

I took a week off from posting while I worked on redesigning the site, I’m still toiling away and probably won’t have the finished results for another few days, in the mean time however, it seems in seven days since, not much has changed. The media is still fixated on Paris Hilton and covering her jail sentence as if she were that of Nelson Mandela’s and the average Joe could care less –goes to show how out of touch the entertainment media can be at times.

In my honest opinion, if you hear one piece of gossip about Paris Hilton or the other media mess, Lindsay Lohan, you’ve read them all. Seems the same program is always playing on those channels. Here then, is what happened this week outside of rehab and Paris’ jail cell.

Turner And Waters Hit P-Town Drive-In

Actress Kathleen Turner and director John Waters hosted a double-feature at the Wellfleet Drive-In in Cape Cod last Friday, where their 1994 camp classic, “Serial Mom,” was paired with Turner’s 1989 comedy, “War of the Roses,” as part of the Provincetown International Film Festival‚Äö?Ñ?¥s “Family Night.”

“I’ve never been to the drive-in before,” said Turner. “And I haven’t seen ‘Serial Mom’ for some time, so I was looking forward to this.”

Her date for the evening, John Waters, had a different story: “I grew up at the drive-in,” he said. “I got arrested at the drive-in for underage drinking!”

This was Turner’s first visit to Provincetown, the Golden Globe-winning, Oscar and Tony-nominated actress, was in P-Town for the weekend to receive the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award. “It‚Äö?Ñ?¥s beautiful here,” she said. “But I wish it would warm up.” Source: Boston Herald

Brazilians Don’t Think Bigger Is Better

Here’s something right up John water’s alley, ads for Itamb?¬© Fit Light Yogurt in Brazil are stirring up controversy with their re-working of classic movie scenes featuring plus size models.

The heavily Photoshoped ads (no pun intended), recreate memorable moments from “Basic Instinct,” “The Seven Year Itch” and “American Beauty,” and sport the tag-line “Forget about it. Men’s preferences will never change.”

While American women seem to be on a campaign to embrace their girth with Dove Soap’s “Real Beauty” ad campaigns and Tyra Banks’ recent “kiss my fat ass!” declaration on her talk show, Brazilians are clearly sending the message that fat is not fabulous and BBWs need to stay away from the BBQs. Source: Pop Bytes

FOX And CBS Are Prudish On Trojans
Meanwhile, advertisers here in the U.S. are not without their own bit of controversy. The FOX and CBS TV networks have deemed a new Trojan condoms ad as “not appropriate” for TV despite the fact that their regular program line-ups contain material which is far more objectionable than anything in the 30-second ad.

The commercial shows a bunch of pigs ( literally ), going through the routine of trying to pick up hot women at a bar. Upon scoring with one of the babes, a hog is seen going off to a bathroom and buying a condom, which in turn “evolves” him into a man. According to a press release from Trojan, the hog is a “hero who demonstrates responsibility by choosing to keep his little piggy in a latex blanket.” Nothing wrong with that.

TMZ reports that CBS justified their decision by saying “While we understand and appreciate the humor of this creative (ad), we do not find it appropriate for our network, even with late night only restriction. Also, the hard liquor references/props are not allowed.”

FOX, on the other hand, told Trojan that “Contraceptive advertising must stress health related uses rather than the prevention of pregnancy.” Yes, much like the high quality, educational programming FOX provides. Gimme’ a break.

ABC and NBC have chosen to run the spots, which will be airing after 11:30PM later this month. Source: TMZ

If You Wanna Be My Lover
Someone who could’ve profited from watching those Trojan ads is Eddie Murphy. People Magazine reports a DNA test Murphy took on June 11, proved he is the father of “Scary Spice” Melanie Brown’s 2-month-old daughter.

“He’s the baby’s father, it’s official. The baby is undoubtedly, 110 percent his,” says a source close to Brown. “There was no doubt in people’s minds anyways, least of all hers. It wasn’t a surprise to her. She knew all along.”

Angel Iris Murphy Brown was born to Melanie Brown on April 3, 2007 and Brown maintained from the beginning that Eddie Murphy is the child’s father. Murphy’s reps declined to comment. Source: People Magazine

Witches Conjure Up Magic in The U.S.
Following favorable reviews from D.C. area theatre critics, Signature Theater’s U.S. premier of the Cameron Mackintosh-produced musical “The Witches of Eastwick” has extended its engagement by one week.

The musical, based on the John Updike novel and the 1987 Warner Brothers film, made it’s debut on the London stage in 2000, to mixed reviews and less than magical business. Following extensive revisions to add a darker edge, Mackintosh is hoping the revamped production will click with U.S. audiences and perhaps propelling it to Broadway or other regional theatre dates.

Mackintosh is the mastermind behind the Broadway phenomenon, “Les Miserables,” and more recently co-produced “Mary Poppins” on Broadway for Disney Theatricals. Source: Variety

Happy Birthday Nicole!

And finally, a Happy Birthday to Nicole Kidman, who celebrated her 40th birthday Wednesday, June 20th with friends.

Spacey Retires
Is Kevin Spacey really calling it quits? In an interview with Hollywood.com, the Academy Award-winning star of such films as “American Beauty” and “The Usual Suspects”, confessed he’s tired of the Hollywood system.

“I don’t care about my personal acting career anymore. I’m done with it,” said Spacey. “After 10 years of making movies and going better than I ever could have imagined, I sort of had to ask myself, ‘What am I supposed to do with all of this success that I have had?

“Am I just going to keep making movie after movie and be concerned with all of that ‘Are you up, are you down, are you hot, are you not?’–and I don’t really care.”

The multi-talented Spacey said he’s quitting his acting career in order to concentrate on his position as artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre in London. He went on to say, “what I really care about is the remarkable experience of being able to be a part of bringing people together.”

Brad Pitt’s “Mother” Talks
In an interview with Blackfilm.com, actress Taraji P. Henson talks about playing Brad Pitt’s mother and working with Pitt and co-star Cate Blanchett, in director David Fincher’s “The Curse of Benjamin Button.”

Henson plays Queenie, the mother of Pitt’s character Benjamin Button, a man who ages backwards. “This role is certainly the biggest role of my career and most challenging to date because I age from 26 to 71, prostethics, fat suit and all,” said Henson. “It’s a period piece. Early 1900 period piece. It’s incredible work. This is the film that I can’t wait for to come out.”

“The Curse of Benjamin Button” is based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, the screenplay was adapted by Eric Roth, who wrote “Forrest Gump” and “Munich”. The film was shot on location in New Orleans and is set for a November 26, 2008 release.

Mystique Is The New Face Of Bebe
Rebecca Romijn makes a quick return to her modeling roots in these photos from Bebe’s Summer 2007 ad campaign.

The 5′ 11″ star of the “X-Men” and “Ugly Betty,” replaces Mischa Barton as the face of the popular clothing line and will next be seen co-starring opposite Sissy Spacek, in the searing Southern drama, “Lake City.” See the rest of Rebecca’s ads for Bebe at the Gotham Journal Flickr gallery.

Ryan And Eva At Starbuck’s
Dad of the century, Ryan Phillippe, is seen here taking his 7-year-old daughter, Eva, out for a stroll. Eva is growing up to be quite the dead ringer for her mom, actress Reese Witherspoon.

Unlike most celebrity dads, Ryan takes great care to spend as much time with his kids as possible, opting to maintain a relatively low profile which includes staying out of the L.A. party scene. Click the images for a larger view.

Brokeback Broadway
“Brokeback Mountain” star, Jake Gyllenhaal, might be making his Broadway debut this fall. The 26-year-old Oscar nominee is said to be considering taking on the lead role in the political stage drama “Farragut North.”

Gyllenhaal would play an idealistic communications director for an unorthodox presidential candidate said to be based on 2004 Democratic candidate Howard Dean.
Source: People

After sitting through the three-hour long Tony Awards ceremonies tonight, I ended up feeling rather disappointed that my favorite new musical, “Grey Gardens”, only walked away with three wins out of the 10 nominations it received. Disappointed, but happy for “Garden’s” two leading ladies, Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson, both of whom took home the much coveted statuette for best actress and best featured actress in a musical, respectively, for their portrayals of eccentric mother and daughter socialites, Edith Bouvier Beale and “Little” Edie Beale.

The night clearly belonged to the coming-of-age alt-rock musical “Spring Awakening,” which all but swept every major category, winning eight awards including best musical of the year. I’ve yet to see “Spring Awakening,” so I can’t comment on weather it deserved to thumb up it’s nose at the rest of the night’s competition or not, but in what previews I’ve seen, the show struck me as being somewhat reminiscent of “Rent,” a production which in my opinion, failed to live up to all the hype it generated. Musicals such as this are part of a trend which I refer to as “New Broadway,” meaning the production is geared more towards iPod enthusiasts and vacationing tourists than to the avid New York theatergoer. For all intents and purposes, I prefer theatre in the more traditional sense, minus an MTV video.

In any event, congratulations go out to Christine Ebersole, Mary Louise Wilson and the entire company of “Grey Gardens” for their well deserved win. I’m due for another visit with the Beales and “Grey Gardens” very soon.

A new musical adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind” is set to open in London’s West End in April 2008.

The production, which has been in development for three years, features music and lyrics by unknown composer Margaret Martinhis and will be directed by Trevor Nunn, one of the best theatrical directors of recent times. Nunn’s credits include Les Mis?¬©rables, Cats, Starlight Express, Nicholas Nickleby, and Sunset Boulevard.

The show’s producer, Aldo Scrofani, says the musical will “remain true to Margaret Mitchell’s original story and characters while also revealing its relevance to our lives today.”

Source: Broadway.com

Scarlett Johansson may be playing Nellie Forbush in a planned 2008 Lincoln Center revival of South Pacific. Johansson and Reese Witherspoon are two of the superstars under consideration for what’s being described as a “sexy revival”. Scarlett has long expressed an interest in starring in a Broadway show and is said to be a big fan of the classic Rogers and Hamerstein musical. Johansson was recently in negotiations to star in the London revival of The Sound of Music and even went as far as to meet with producer Andrew Lloyd Webber, but the deal didn’t go through.

In movie news, Scarlett and director Woody Allen will be teaming up for a third time in Allen’s upcoming Spain-set film project. This marks Scarlett’s third starring role in an Allen film, his most frequent use of one particular actress since Mia Farrow and Diane Keaton.

In the April edition of Vogue magazine, Johansson had nothing but praise for the 71-year-old film director, telling the publication “I’d sew the hems of his pants if he asked me to.” Allen, in turn describes his new muse as “criminally sexy”. He goes on to say “she is unlike anyone who has come before her, and while she is a much stronger actress in every way, there is a tiny bit of Marilyn Monroe in her zaftig humidity.” - got that Soon-Yi?

Scarlett and Woody’s untitled Spain project co-stars Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz and will be shooting for seven weeks in Barcelona and Asturias this July.

Sources: Broadway World, Variety, People

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical “South Pacific” gets a fresh makeover in this production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning blockbuster performed live in concert at Carnegie Hall on June 9th, 2005.

Based on James Michener’s collection of short stories “Tales of the South Pacific”, this version restores Robert Russell Bennett’s original orchestrations from the 1949 Broadway production of “South Pacific” and is presented without the use of sets or backdrops, placing the focus instead on the brilliant musical score and the cast’s breath-taking performances.

The all-star lineup includes Reba McEntire, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jason Danieley, Alec Baldwin and Lillias White as Bloody Mary performing live on a bare stage with just the orchestra.

PBS aired “South Pacific’ in Concert from Carnegie Hall” on April 26th, 2006 as part of their long-running “Great Performances” series.

For more information check out the official “South Pacific” page on the “Great Performances” website.

After enjoying an extended, sold out run off-Broadway at the Playwrights Horizon theatre, Grey Gardens, the critically acclaimed musical about real life mother and daughter eccentrics Big Edie and Little Edie Bouvier, transfers to the Walter Kerr Theater on Broadway this fall.

Previews begin Tuesday, October 3rd 2006 with regular performances commencing on Thursday, November 2nd 2006. Original cast members Christine Ebersole and Mary-Louise Wilson will once again reprise their much-lauded performances as Little Edie and Big Edie Bouvier Beale.

If you get the chance to see “Grey Gardens,” run, don’t walk to see it. I can’t recommend this show highly enough, it is undoubtedly one of the best productions to hit the New York stage in quite some time. The performances, particularly by Ebersole and Wilson, are nothing short of amazing.