Eli Stone, with Benanti and Garber, Picked Up by ABC

E! Online reports that "Eli Stone," a pilot with Broadway's Laura Benanti among its stars, has been picked up by ABC for a mid-season start this fall.

The Wedding Singer star - who was previously featured on the short-lived FX show "Starved" - joins Jonny Lee Miller and Victor Garber ("Alias," Damn Yankees, Sweeney Todd) in "Eli Stone."  The show is directed by Ken Olin ("Alias," "Brothers and Sisters"), with Greg Berlanti ("Brothers and Sisters") as executive producer.  It also stars theatre veteran Loretta Devine (Dreamgirls), with Natasha Henstridge, James Saito and Sam Jaeger.

The legal drama stars Miller as, according to the article, "a San Francisco attorney who is diagnosed with a brain aneurysm and begins to suspect that instead of a medical problem he has been given a higher calling."  Benanti plays Beth, a single mother and Eli's first love from his college days.

Benanti, who recently played Laura in The Wedding Singer, received a Tony nomination for her performance as Cinderella in the 2002 revival of Into the Woods, as she did for Swing! in 1999. She made her Broadway debut as Maria in the revival of The Sound of Music the year before. Her last Broadway appearance was as Claudia in the revival of Nine, and other New York credits include the Actors' Fund Benefit Concert of Hair, Time and Again at MTC and Wonderful Town at Encores!.  Regionally, she has been seen in A Little Night Music, Man of La Mancha and A Winter's Tale.  Her film credits include Take the Lead, opposite Antonio Banderas, and the upcoming East Broadway, with Gale Harold and Christine Baranski.

Other new ABC shows featuring theatre veterans include "Dirty Sexy Money," with Peter Krause and Donald Sutherland, "Pushing Daisies," with Swoosie Kurtz, Kristin Chenoweth, Lee Pace and Anna Friel, "Sam I Am" with Christina Applegate, and "Miss/Guided" with Judy Greer, among others.

Visit www.abc.com for more information.

Photo of Laura Benanti by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.